Associated Press stories, Page 2656
Aurora shooter’s permit was revoked but gun wasn’t seized
AURORA, Ill. — An initial background check failed to detect a felony conviction that should have barred the man who killed five co-workers and wounded six others at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant from buying the gun. Months later, a second background check of Gary Martin found his 1995 aggravated...
Report: Former Maine governor Paul LePage spent $22K on Trump hotel stays
AUGUSTA, Maine — Documents obtained by a Maine newspaper show the state’s former Republican governor and his staff spent at least $22,000 in public money at a hotel owned by the family of President Trump. The Portland Press Herald reports Sunday that former Gov. Paul LePage and staff paid for...
NYC’s Chinatown welcomes Year of the Pig with vibrant parade
NEW YORK — Drums, dragons and dancers paraded through New York’s Chinatown on Sunday to usher in the Year of the Pig in the metropolis with the biggest population of Chinese descent of any city outside Asia. Confetti and spectators a half-dozen or more deep at points lined the route...
Authorities remove cougar from tree outside California home
HESPERIA, Calif. — Firefighters have rescued a very big cat — a mountain lion — from a tree outside a home in the Southern California desert. The homeowner called authorities Saturday after spotting the animal near the edge of the San Bernardino Mountains. San Bernardino County firefighters found the large...
Marco Rubio warns Venezuelan soldiers to let aid enter
CUCUTA, Colombia — U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is warning Venezuelan soldiers that they would commit a “crime against humanity” if they block the entry of U.S. aid that is being channeled through rivals of socialist President Nicolas Maduro. The Florida Republican on Sunday visited the border town of Cucuta, where...
Taliban claim they can’t attend Pakistan talks because of blacklist
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban has postponed an unscheduled round of peace talks with the United States set for Monday in Pakistan saying “most” members of their negotiating team are unable to travel because they’re on the U.S. and United Nations’ blacklists. The statement Sunday offered no other details. It...
‘Alita’ leads a slow Presidents Day box office weekend
LOS ANGELES — The sci-fi fantasy “Alita: Battle Angel” topped the charts and beat out a number of newcomers including the meta romantic comedy “Isn’t It Romantic” and the horror sequel “Happy Death Day 2U” in its first weekend in theaters, but it is a victory with a few caveats....
Work-release inmates help rescue Florida baby locked in SUV
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Some work-release inmates made a Valentine’s Day rescue when a Florida couple accidentally locked their baby inside their SUV. Pasco County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kevin Doll told WFLA-TV the parents could not afford a locksmith, and the father intended to break a window. That’s when...
Uncertainty shadows Pennsylvania’s debate over nuclear power
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Four decades after Three Mile Island became shorthand for America’s worst commercial nuclear power accident, financial rescues of nuclear power plants are stirring the highest levels of government. In Pennsylvania, nuclear power plant owners have been working for two years to build support for the kind of...
Country star Miranda Lambert reveals secret marriage
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Country star Miranda Lambert celebrated Valentine’s Day weekend with the announcement that she secretly got married. A representative for the singer confirmed the marriage after Lambert posted photos on social media Saturday showing her in a white lace gown with her new husband, Brendan Mcloughlin. She wrote...
Tradition of nonpartisan selection of judges may end in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa was in the forefront of a national effort to reduce partisanship in the courts nearly 50 years ago when it decided to stop electing judges and instead rely on nominations by a panel of citizens and lawyers. In all, about three dozen states adopted similar...
White House indicates Trump to veto disapproval of emergency
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A top adviser to President Donald Trump indicated Sunday that Trump is prepared to issue the first veto of his term if Congress votes to disapprove of his declaration of a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border. The West Wing is digging in for fights...
Firefighters monitor burning ship docked on Lake Erie
OREGON, Ohio — A fire continues to burn inside a Lake Erie docked vessel as Ohio firefighters try to cool the ship in an incident with no injuries. The fire broke out on the deck of the St. Clair Saturday night at the Port of Toledo in northern Ohio. The...
Chicago police: Jussie Smollett assault case has ‘shifted’
CHICAGO — Chicago police said Saturday the investigation into the assault reported by Jussie Smollett has “shifted” because of information received from two brothers questioned in the case, and attorneys for the “Empire” actor blasted reports alleging he played a role in his own attack. Chicago police had arrested, then...
Lee Radziwill, stylish sister of Jackie Kennedy, dies at 85
NEW YORK — Lee Radziwill, the stylish jet setter and socialite who found friends, lovers and other adventures worldwide while bonding and competing with her sister Jacqueline Kennedy, has died. She was 85. Anna Christina Radziwill told The New York Times her mother died Friday of what she described as...
Don Cheadle sports political shirts as he hosts ‘SNL’
NEW YORK — Don Cheadle delivered some political messages along with jokes as he hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the first time. The actor sported a T-shirt that said “Protect Trans Kids” as he introduced musical guest Gary Clark Jr. And in closing Saturday’s show, Cheadle wore a jersey with...
No. 12 Purdue pulls away from Penn State for share of Big Ten lead
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Carsen Edwards scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half Saturday and Matt Haarms added a career-high 18 points to lead No. 12 Purdue past Penn State, 76-64. The Boilermakers (18-7, 11-3 Big Ten) reclaimed a share of the conference lead with their ninth...
Michael Annett wins Xfinity Series opener at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Michael Annett stretched the Speedweeks streak of first-time winners to three with a victory Saturday in the Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Annett won for the first time at NASCAR’s national level, a career that spans 345 races in three series. He gave...
Fresh faces, new sponsors give Daytona 500 throwback feelVideo
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Among those trying to win the Daytona 500 this year are a Florida watermelon farmer, a short-track champion from New England, a TV analyst and a 22-year-old whose career nearly was derailed by a brain tumor. The front row is the youngest in Daytona 500 history,...
Florida firefighter blames coca tea for failing drug test
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida firefighter fired for a positive drug test got his job back after arguing the cocaine in his system was from a tea made with coca leaves. The Orlando Sentinel reports that public records show firefighter Kevin Reynolds told investigators he brought a box of coca...
Gone in a New York minute: How the Amazon deal fell apart
NEW YORK — In early November, word began to leak that Amazon was serious about choosing New York to build a giant new campus. The city was eager to lure the company and its thousands of high-paying tech jobs, offering billions in tax incentives and lighting the Empire State Building...
Climate change means more floods, great and localized
COLUMBIA, S.C. — When he took the job 15 years ago, Horry County Emergency Manager Randy Webster figured his biggest disasters would be wind and surge rolling over his county’s beaches, South Carolina’s top tourist destination. Instead, his worries have shifted inland, where rivers overflowing their banks have caused two...
Elizabeth Warren returns to Nevada, heart of 2008 economic crisis
LAS VEGAS — Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who made her name as a consumer advocate following the 2008 financial crisis, will make her first appearance Sunday as a presidential candidate in Las Vegas, the boom-and-bust town that made Nevada the epicenter of the country’s foreclosure crisis. The Massachusetts senator is trying...
Coroner: Cambria Co. woman, 97, found dead in home died of hypothermia
PORTAGE, Pa. — A coroner says a woman found dead inside her western Pennsylvania home earlier in the week died of hypothermia. Cambria County Coroner Jeffrey Lees says 97-year-old Mary Sopata was found by a neighbor Tuesday in her Portage Township home. The (Johnstown) Tribune-Democrat reports that the home apparently...
Mikaela Shiffrin fights illness, wins 4th straight slalom at worlds
ARE, Sweden — An unprecedented victory for Mikaela Shiffrin. And easily the most dramatic. Skiing through illness, the American barely had the energy to celebrate becoming the first ski racer — male or female — to win the same event at four straight world championships. The 23-year-old Shiffrin won the...
