Associated Press stories, Page 2189
Season that wasn’t: Spring claimed by coronavirus pandemic
By the time spring arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, the pandemic had the world firmly in its grip. The vernal equinox arrived March 19, the day California handed down the first statewide stay-at-home order in the United States. Most of the country would soon follow suit. In the coming weeks,...
‘A pressure cooker’: Gov. Wolf aims to contain GOP revolt in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — By many accounts, Gov. Tom Wolf has helped mitigate Pennsylvania’s coronavirus outbreak and avoided the full-blown disasters seen elsewhere. His success in the next challenge — containing the growing resistance to his efforts — is to be determined. The Democrat at the helm in one of the premier...
Trump, GOP launch broad attack on Russia probe foundations
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Republicans are launching a broad election-year attack on the foundation of the Russia investigation, including declassifying intelligence information to try to place senior Obama administration officials under scrutiny for routine actions. The effort has been aided by a Justice Department decision to dismiss its...
911 call, text hint at confrontation days before Ahmaud Arbery shot
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Days before Ahmaud Arbery was pursued by two white men and fatally shot after being spotted inside a home under construction, neighbors — including one of the suspects — reported an earlier encounter with a person wandering through the open-framed structure. Owner Larry English found nothing stolen...
Ex-judge asked to evaluate whether to hold Michael Flynn in contempt
WASHINGTON — The judge presiding over Michael Flynn’s criminal case appointed a retired jurist on Wednesday to evaluate whether the former Trump administration national security adviser should be held in criminal contempt. The judge’s order is the second signal in as many days registering his resistance to swiftly accepting the...
Milwaukee officer charged with homicide in off-duty fight
MILWAUKEE — Prosecutors charged a Milwaukee police officer Wednesday with first-degree reckless homicide, accusing him of fatally choking a man during a fight at the off-duty officer’s home. Michael Mattioli, 32, was charged Wednesday, more than two weeks after 25-year-old Joel Acevedo died of asphyxiation. Police were called April 19...
Wisconsin high court tosses out governor’s stay-home order
MADISON — The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ coronavirus stay-at-home order Wednesday, ruling that his administration overstepped its authority when it extended the mandate for another month without consulting legislators. The 4-3 ruling essentially reopens the state, lifting caps on the size of gatherings, allowing people to...
Trump presses for schools to reopen, makes dig at Dr. FauciVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called on governors across the nation Wednesday to work to reopen schools in their states, pointedly taking issue with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s caution against moving too quickly in sending students back to class. The president accused Fauci of wanting “to play all sides of the...
NFL teams eyeing West Virginia resort as training facility, despite reports of ghostsVideo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Several NFL teams are eyeing a resort owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice as a potential training facility during the coronavirus pandemic, a spokesman for the retreat said Wednesday. The Greenbrier, a lavish resort in southern West Virginia, has previously hosted training camps for New Orleans...
Nassar-related case dismissed against ex-Michigan State presidentVideo
DETROIT — A judge dismissed criminal charges Wednesday against former Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon, who was accused of lying to investigators in 2018 as they tried to learn what she knew years earlier about sexual assault complaints involving Larry Nassar. Simon last year was ordered to trial in...
Vince McMahon defends firing Oliver Luck just before shutting down XFLVideo
STAMFORD, Conn. — Lawyers for XFL owner Vince McMahon argued in court filings Wednesday that the wrestling magnet was justified in firing league CEO Oliver Luck last month just before the football operation shut down. Luck filed a federal lawsuit last month over his April 9 termination, alleging McMahon breached...
Republican Mike Garcia claims victory in special California House vote
LOS ANGELES — A former Navy combat pilot claimed victory Wednesday in the fight for an open U.S. House seat north of Los Angeles, a win that would mark the first time in over two decades that a Republican captured a Democratic-held congressional district in California. “I’m ready to go...
Florida governor says his state is willing to be restart site for pro sportsVideo
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida is willing to be a restart site for professional sports leagues, just like Arizona, when play resumes after shutdowns caused by the new coronavirus. “One thing I am going to do, probably this week, is all professional sports are welcome here for practicing and for playing,”...
Michigan strikes back by suspending elderly barber’s license
DETROIT — State regulators on Wednesday suspended the license of a 77-year-old Michigan barber who insisted on cutting hair despite an order to stay closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Karl Manke has pledged to keep his shop open “until Jesus comes.” A judge declined the state’s request to shut down...
Georgetown guard Mac McClung transferring to another schoolVideo
WASHINGTON — Georgetown guard Mac McClung plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal so he can switch schools after taking his name out of consideration for the NBA Draft. “Mac was an integral piece of our program, and when he let me know his decision, I was disappointed, but he...
NBA now up to 10 teams back for voluntary workoutsVideo
MIAMI — The NBA is now one-third of the way back, at least in terms of voluntary workouts. With Miami re-opening its doors Wednesday, 10 of the league’s 30 teams have gone forward with on-court individual workouts — the first permitted sessions since the league ordered teams to close their...
Los Angeles County reopens beaches closed by coronavirus concerns
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County reopened its beaches Wednesday in the latest cautious easing of coronavirus restrictions that have closed most California public spaces and businesses for nearly two months. County beaches and many city-owned beaches along the 75 miles of coastline are open only for “active recreation” such...
Chargers center Mike Pouncey cleared to play whenever NFL returnsVideo
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Mike Pouncey said he is ready to go whenever NFL teams are allowed to return to their facilities to hold workouts or training camp. The Los Angeles Chargers center said during a conference call Wednesday that he has been cleared to return by doctors who did...
Native American tribe says sovereignty allows checkpoints in South DakotaVideo
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The head of a Native American tribe said Wednesday it won’t comply with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s demand to remove coronavirus checkpoints it set up on federal and state highways that run through its reservation. Harold Frazier, the chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe,...
Judge sets deadline for abuse claims vs. Harrisburg diocese
HARRISBURG — A federal judge is giving most claimants until Nov. 13 to seek compensation over child sexual abuse from the Harrisburg Roman Catholic Diocese, which sought bankruptcy protection earlier this year. The order signed last week by Chief Bankruptcy Judge Henry Van Eck also gave governmental entities until Dec....
Louisville mayor calls for thorough probe of police shooting of Breonna TaylorVideo
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Calls for an outside investigation into the fatal police shooting of a Kentucky emergency medical technician are growing, two months after the 26-year-old black woman was killed in her home. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday evening that the state’s attorney general and U.S. attorney should review...
Trump ramps up expulsions of migrant youth, citing coronavirus
HOUSTON — The young migrants and asylum seekers swim across the Rio Grande and clamber into the dense brush of Texas. Many are teens who left Central America on their own; others were sent along by parents from refugee camps in Mexico. They are as young as 10. Under U.S....
Whistleblower: U.S. could face coronavirus rebound ‘darkest winter’
WASHINGTON — America faces the “darkest winter in modern history” unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus, says a government whistleblower who alleges he was ousted from his job for warning the Trump administration to prepare for the pandemic. Immunologist Dr. Rick Bright makes his sobering...
Florida teen learning to park truck runs over dad, killing him
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — A Florida teenager accidentally drove a pickup truck over her father while learning how to park the vehicle on Tuesday evening, police said. The 46-year-old man died at the scene. He was teaching his 15-year-old daughter to park the truck at a park in Tarpon Springs,...
Coronavirus restrictions fuel anti-government ‘boogaloo’ movement
SILVER SPRING, Md. — They carry high-powered rifles and wear tactical gear, but their Hawaiian shirts and leis are what stand out in the crowds that have formed at state capital buildings to protest covid-19 lockdown orders. The signature look for the “boogaloo” anti-government movement is designed to get attention....
