Associated Press stories, Page 2299
‘Birds of Prey’ flies low on Oscars weekend with tepid debut
LOS ANGELES — “Birds of Prey,” the DC Comics’ Harley Quinn spinoff, made a tepid debut in theaters over the weekend, opening in No. 1 but below expectations with $33.3 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” an R-rated...
NH poses a last chance for some struggling 2020 Democrats
PLYMOUTH, N.H. — Bounding onto a stage at a conference center in New Hampshire, tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang beamed a smile to a cheering crowd and launched into his pitch for votes heading into Tuesday’s first-in-the nation primary. Yang didn’t mention his poor showing in Iowa, his back-of-the-pack polling in...
Man carrying knife arrested outside White House after threat
WASHINGTON — A man carrying a knife was arrested outside the White House after he told a U.S. Secret Service officer that he was there to kill the president, police said. Roger Hedgpeth, 25, was arrested Saturday afternoon on a charge of making threats to do bodily harm, the Metropolitan...
Robert Conrad, star of ‘The Wild Wild West,’ dies at 84
LOS ANGELES — Robert Conrad, the rugged, contentious actor who starred in the hugely popular 1960s television series “Hawaiian Eye” and “The Wild Wild West,” died Saturday. He was 84. The actor died of heart failure in Malibu, California, family spokesperson Jeff Ballard said. A small private service is planned...
New XFL kicks off with entertaining debut in D.C.
WASHINGTON — The debut of the new XFL had a punt blocked for a touchdown, a juiced-up crowd roaring for big plays and a player swearing during an in-game television interview. The actual football was hit and miss. College national championship-winning former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones was the biggest...
From Pitt to ‘1917,’ what to anticipate at Sunday’s Oscars
LOS ANGELES — The Oscars are here, already. After the shortest awards season in decades, the 92nd annual Academy Awards will get underway Sunday evening at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The red carpet is being rolled out two to three weeks earlier than usual in a bid to...
Police: 2nd officer shot in Bronx hours after ambush
NEW YORK — A gunman walked into a police station in the Bronx and started shooting early Sunday, wounding an officer just hours after a similar unprovoked attack that injured a different officer in a patrol van, according to police officials. Sunday’s shooting happened at the headquarters of the 41st...
‘QAnon’ conspiracy theory creeps into mainstream politics
MILWAUKEE (AP) — President Donald Trump was more than halfway through his speech at a rally in Milwaukee when one of his hand gestures caught the eye of a supporter standing in the packed arena. The 51-year-old woman believed the president had traced the shape of the letter “Q” with...
Kevin Harvick parks distractions, keeps eyes squarely on NASCAR roadVideo
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kevin Harvick put a mic drop on his TV broadcasting career and turned off the dial on his radio show. The moonlighting gigs have been parked, minimizing his distractions, maximizing his family time, but certainly not accelerating any thoughts about retirement. If he kept his talk...
China’s virus death toll surpasses SARS but new cases fall
BEIJING — Mainland China’s death toll from the new virus outbreak has risen to 811, surpassing the number of fatalities in the 2002-2003 SARS pandemic. However, the number of new cases reported over the last 24 hours on Sunday fell significantly from the previous period, something experts see as a...
No. 1 Baylor earns top seed in NCAA committee’s initial rankingsVideo
San Diego State has rolled through its schedule, charging into February as the only Division I team still undefeated. But if teams were selected for the NCAA Tournament today, the Aztecs would travel across the country to play in New York. The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee gave San...
Robert Morris beats Sacred Heart, runs win streak to 5 games
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Charles Bain scored 16 points, AJ Bramah added 14 and Robert Morris held off Sacred Heart, 61-58, on Saturday to win its fifth straight. Sacred Heart closed to 60-58 on Aaron Clarke’s 3-pointer with 10 seconds left, but Jon Williams iced it with a free throw, and...
Lamar Stevens leads No. 22 Penn State over MinnesotaVideo
UNIVERSITY PARK — Lamar Stevens was celebrated as an elite scorer and a published author Saturday. Penn State’s do-it-all forward, who wrote a children’s book that was distributed to fans before No. 22 Penn State’s game against Minnesota, is well on his way to authoring another story. Maybe one for...
New XFL kicks off with entertaining debut in DCVideo
WASHINGTON — The debut of the new XFL had a punt blocked for a touchdown, a juiced-up crowd roaring for big plays and a player swearing during an in-game TV interview. The actual football was hit and miss. College national championship-winning former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones was the biggest...
Spring training: time for pitchers, catchers and cheatersVideo
ORLANDO, Fla. — Baseball returns to the field next week when pitchers, catchers and cheaters report to spring training. Fans await the annual sunny scenes of favorites stretching on bright green grass in Florida and Arizona. This year the players bring along dark clouds of scandal — the 2017 World...
Pennsylvania’s big higher education problem gets a spotlight
HARRISBURG — Gov . Tom Wolf’s proposal to start a major new scholarship program for students at Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities caused a stir over his idea to divert the money from a sacred cow, but it also spotlit an uncomfortable truth about Pennsylvania’s ragged performance on higher education funding. By...
No. 13 West Virginia falters at Doolittle-led OklahomaVideo
NORMAN, Okla. — It had been awhile since Kristian Doolittle was Oklahoma’s top offensive option. The Sooners needed it Saturday and Doolittle delivered, scoring 27 points and grabbing 12 rebounds as Oklahoma knocked off No. 13 West Virginia, 69-59, at home. Doolittle hadn’t scored in double figures in three weeks,...
U.S. says 2 soldiers killed, 6 wounded in Afghanistan attack
KABUL, Afghanistan — Two U.S. soldiers were killed and six wounded in a so-called insider attack in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province late Saturday when an Afghan dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire, the U.S. military said. Afghanistan’s defense ministry said one Afghan soldier was also killed and three...
Soldier kills 27 in bloodiest shooting spree in Thailand
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand — Thai officials said a soldier who went on a shooting rampage and killed a reported 27 people and wounded 57 others has been shot dead inside a mall in northeastern Thailand. Thailand’s prime minister said 27 people are dead, including the gunman who went on the...
New virus has infected more than 34,800 people globally
A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 34,800 people globally. The latest figures reported by global health authorities as of Saturday in Beijing: — China: 722 deaths and 34,546 confirmed cases on the mainland. In addition, Hong Kong has had 25 cases, including one death. Macao...
Actor-comedian Orson Bean, 91, hit and killed by car in LA
LOS ANGELES — Orson Bean, the witty actor and comedian, was hit and killed by a car in Los Angeles, authorities said. He was 91. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office confirmed Bean’s Friday night death, saying it was being investigated as a “traffic-related” fatality. The coroner’s office provided the...
Ben Platt named Hasty Pudding’s 2020 Man of the Year
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Award-winning actor and musician Ben Platt was named 2020 Man of the Year by Harvard University’s famed Hasty Pudding theater troupe on Monday. Platt, 26, is the youngest recipient in the 54-year history of the award, handed out annually by the troupe that dates to the late...
Payback: Trump ousts officials who testified on impeachment
WASHINGTON — Exacting swift punishment against those who crossed him, an emboldened President Donald Trump ousted two government officials who had delivered damaging testimony against him during his impeachment hearings. The president took retribution just two days after his acquittal by the Senate. First came news Friday that Trump had...
Keegan-Michael Key still making people laugh but flexing his drama chops
Keegan-Michael Key is transitioning out of over-the-top comedies to focus more on dramatic films, and for him, it’s no laughing matter. “We’ve been moving in a little bit of a new direction, where it’s a Keegan with a little more gravitas and a Keegan that still does humor, but it’s...
AP fact check: Democrats skew health care, Iraq facts in debate
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says the world is witnessing a great American economic revival that he brought on by reversing course from the Obama years. Yet the economy is not so different from the robust one he inherited and disparages at every turn. Trump’s State of the Union speech...
