Associated Press stories, Page 2606
Reba McEntire: Female country stars being overlooked at ACMs
Kacey Musgraves made history when she won the 2019 Grammy for album of the year and swept the country music categories, but there’s one award she won’t win: entertainer of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards. That’s because no women are nominated for the show’s top award...
After 2016 loss, Democrats know they need white male voters
UPPER ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP — When he moved to Pennsylvania about five years ago, it was a coin toss which party Brian Heitman would register with. No longer. Since Donald Trump’s election in 2016, Heitman, who is 42 and white, has become a reliable Democrat. Last week, he voted for...
Kim Kardashian West plans CBD-themed baby shower
NEW YORK — Kim Kardashian West is “high key freaking out” about the arrival of her fourth child and wants nothing more than to Zen out at her baby shower. Hence, her planned CBD-themed bash, the reality star and makeup mogul told E! News. There will be massages and a...
Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson made honorary citizen of Bosnia’s capital
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnia’s capital has declared Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson an honorary citizen for the concert the heavy metal band performed while the city was under siege during the 1992-95 war. Sarajevo Mayor Abdulah Skaka on Saturday presented the award at city hall. He says Iron Maiden’s...
Senate GOP game plan means more Trump nominees, fewer bills
WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell says the Senate will be in the “personnel business” this year. But the majority leader’s focus on confirming President Donald Trump’s nominees is coming at the expense of any big legislative priorities. Nearly 100 days into the new Congress, the drive to confirm is adding more...
French priest’s 150-year-old heart being venerated in NYC
NEW YORK — The 150-year-old heart of a French priest is on a U.S. tour — a Roman Catholic relic with New York City as its latest stop. It was on display Saturday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, where both the faithful and the curious lined up to...
Kyle Guy hits 3 FTs with 0.6 left, Virginia shocks Auburn 63-62
MINNEAPOLIS — From one-and-done to NCAA Tournament miracle men, Virginia will play in the national championship game for the first time after pulling off another last-second stunner on a disputed foul with 0.6 seconds left. Kyle Guy made three free throws as debate immediately started over the call, and Virginia...
Short track at Bristol latest test for new NASCAR rules package
BRISTOL, Tenn. — NASCAR’s second stop at a short track this season is another race that is impossible to predict. There is a new rules package, a traction strip around Bristol Motor Speedway and the general crankiness that short-track racing tends to produce. Moods were mixed following Saturday’s final practice,...
Ex-firefighter, woman charged in Pa. barn fires
NORTHAMPTON, Pa. — A former volunteer firefighter is charged along with a woman in a series of barn fires in eastern Pennsylvania. State police said 20-year-old Justin Emmons was arrested during a Friday evening traffic stop in Bucks County and returned to Northampton County to face charges including causing or...
Connecticut Medical Examiner seeks to ID bodies from 1944 circus fire
HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut’s medical examiner is seeking to exhume two female bodies found after the 1944 Hartford circus fire in an attempt to identify at least one of them. Chief State Medical Examiner James Gill told The Hartford Courant he is hoping modern DNA testing can put a name...
Trump to make case for Jewish voters to back his 2020 bid
LAS VEGAS — President Donald Trump is set to make the case for Jewish voters to back his re-election as he takes a victory lap with Republican donors in Las Vegas. Trump is appearing at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which supported his 2016 campaign and is...
Ex-US Sen Ernest ‘Fritz’ Hollings of South Carolina dead
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, the silver-haired Democrat who helped shepherd South Carolina through desegregation as governor and went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Senate, has died. He was 97. Family spokesman Andy Brack, who also served at times for Hollings as spokesman during his...
Vietnam vet who died Christmas Eve is finally laid to rest
RALEIGH, N.C. — When a Vietnam War veteran died Christmas Eve with no family nearby, a community of veterans, a friend and military supporters in North Carolina stepped up to make sure he was finally laid to rest with military honors. They ensured that Phillip “Flip” Drye’s military paperwork, delayed...
Anti-government protests prompt talk of ‘Balkan Spring’
PODGORICA, Montenegro — It all started with a video posted on social media: a secret recording from 2016 that appears to show a well-known local tycoon hand over an envelope containing bundles of cash to a party associate of Montenegro’s long-standing leader. The prominent businessman, a former close friend and...
Mormons bracing for more changes at church conference
SALT LAKE CITY — Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are preparing for more changes as they gather in Utah for a twice-yearly conference to hear from the faith’s top leaders. Church President Russell M. Nelson has implemented a host of changes in his first year...
FBI: NY man threatened to kill Minn. Congresswoman
NEW YORK — A western New York man has been charged with threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Federal prosecutors announced Friday that Patrick Carlineo Jr. was arrested after placing a threatening call to Omar’s office in Washington D.C. last month. Authorities did not say when Carlineo...
Kansas lawmakers OK mandating notice on abortion ‘reversal’
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas legislators passed a measure Friday that would require abortion providers to tell patients who are taking medication to terminate their pregnancies that the process can be reversed after they take the first of two pills. Abortion opponents contend the bill ensures that women who harbor doubts...
Avengers help unveil $5M donation for seriously ill children
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Some of Marvel’s top Avengers have assembled to support a $5 million donation to benefit seriously ill children in hospitals around the globe. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd and Brie Larson helped unveil the donation of money and toys to benefit...
Fans mourn grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain 25 years after death
SEATTLE — On the 25th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, dozens of people left flowers, candles and handwritten messages at a Seattle park near the house where the Nirvana frontman killed himself. Cobain, whose band rose to global fame in the city’s grunge rock music scene of the early 1990s,...
‘Our country is full’: Trump says migrants straining system
CALEXICO, Calif. — Declaring “our country is full,” President Trump on Friday insisted the U.S. immigration system is overburdened and illegal crossings must be stopped as he inspected a refurbished section of fencing at the Mexican border. Trump, making a renewed push for border security as a central campaign issue...
Colorado educator accused of taking gun to school, threatening staff
AURORA, Colo. — An administrator at a suburban Denver high school was arrested after police said he brought a handgun to the school and threatened other staff members. Tushar Rae was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed weapon at a school and making violent threats, The Aurora Sentinel reported...
Ex-cop’s attorneys join media access request at murder trial
MINNEAPOLIS — Attorneys for a former Minneapolis police officer accused of fatally shooting an unarmed woman joined the media’s challenge Friday to a judge’s restrictions on what video evidence may be seen by the public during the trial. Hennepin County District Judge Kathryn Quaintance heard a request from a media...
Belgium apologizes for kidnapping mixed-race African babies
BRUSSELS — The Belgian government has apologized for the country’s role in kidnapping thousands of mixed-race babies from their African mothers during colonial times. Thousands of children in what are now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi were taken away and raised in Belgian institutions. Prime Minister Charles...
Crane operator’s arm nearly severed in accident 300 feet up
A crane operator in Cincinnati had to call 911 for rescue after his arm was partially severed in an accident nearly 300 feet up in the air. A fire official says the crane operator made the call after a cable sliced underneath his arm Friday. Rescue crews used a basket...
Harvard reviews sale of coach’s home to prospect’s father
BOSTON — Harvard’s longtime fencing coach sold his suburban Boston home for nearly double its assessed value to a man whose son was later admitted to the school and joined the team — a transaction now under review by the university. The coach, Peter Brand, received nearly $1 million in...
