Associated Press stories, Page 2661
U.S. job openings jump to record high of 7.3 million
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted the most open jobs in December in the nearly two decades that records have been kept, evidence that the job market is strong despite several challenges facing the economy. The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings jumped 2.4 percent in December to 7.3 million....
Shoes pulled from Katy Perry line after blackface criticism
LOS ANGELES — Katy Perry’s fashion line has pulled two types of shoes after some people compared them to blackface. The Ora Face Block Heel and Rue Face Slip-On Loafers were released last summer in nine different colors. They included protruding eyes, nose and red lips. In a statement released...
Police investigating shots that broke synagogue’s windows
LIMA, Ohio — Police are investigating several shots that broke windows at a synagogue in Ohio. Officers in Lima say they believe it’s a case of vandalism and not a hate crime. They say it appears that several windows at the Temple Beth Israel-Shaare Zedek synagogue were broken Friday night...
Archaeologists discover ancient workshop in Egypt’s Sinai
CAIRO — Egypt says archaeologists have uncovered an ancient workshop used to build and repair ships that dates back to the Ptolemaic era (332 B.C.-30 B.C.) in the Sinai Peninsula. The Antiquities Ministry says Tuesday that excavations took place in the Tel Abu Saifi archaeological site in Northern Sinai. The...
Police: Man charged with DUI in funeral procession crash
LILBURN, Ga. — A hearse was struck and flipped several times during a funeral procession in metro Atlanta and police say the man who hit it is charged with DUI, drug and traffic offenses. News outlets cite a Lilburn police report as saying Troy Hickey is accused of ignoring officers...
Nicki Minaj pulls out of BET concert after network’s tweet
LOS ANGELES — Nicki Minaj says she’s canceling her appearance at the BET Experience Concert after the network tweeted about her and fellow rapper Cardi B. Minaj said Monday on social media that she won’t perform at the concert or BET Awards. It comes after BET tweeted Sunday that Minaj...
Ex-congressman Tom Marino now cites health for resigning
HARRISBURG — Recently resigned U.S. Rep Tom Marino now says problems with his remaining kidney prompted him to leave Congress just three weeks after starting his fifth term. The 66-year-old Marino abruptly announced his resignation last month, saying he was taking a job outside government. But Marino told The Daily...
Mark Kelly announces run for McCain Senate seat in Arizona
PHOENIX — Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who rocketed to the national spotlight when his congresswoman wife Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday he’s running to finish John McCain’s last term in the U.S. Senate. Kelly, 54, is a top Democratic recruit to take on Republican...
Police: Pot smokers find caged tiger in abandoned house
HOUSTON — Houston police say some people who went into an abandoned home to smoke marijuana found a caged tiger. They called police on Monday and the major offender animal cruelty unit and animal shelter volunteers arrived on the scene. Authorities nicknamed the tiger “Tyson” after the movie “The Hangover.”...
2 Parkland moms now divided over guns
PARKLAND, Fla. — It’s an image that has become emblematic of the Parkland school massacre : two terrified moms outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, one of them a tall, weeping blonde with the black smudge of Ash Wednesday on her forehead, the other a petite redhead crying in despair on...
Budget deal allows far less money than Trump wanted for wall
WASHINGTON — Congressional negotiators reached agreement to prevent a government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, overcoming a late-stage hang-up over immigration enforcement issues that had threatened to scuttle the talks. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown. They tentatively agreed Monday night to...
Will there ever be another Kyler Murray in specialization era?
Kyler Murray has chosen football over baseball, at least for now. It is anyone’s guess when the world will see another athlete with the skills and opportunity to have such a choice. The Oakland Athletics selected Murray ninth overall in the MLB Draft last June. He then went out and...
Pennsylvania college student charged with stabbing homeless woman
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A college student from Pennsylvania has been charged with what police call the unprovoked stabbing of a homeless woman in downtown Providence. Police say 22-year-old Conor Noll, of Blandon, Berks County, was arraigned Monday on a felony assault charge. He’s a student at Johnson and Wales University....
Impatient CEO Derek Jeter eager to see Marlins become winners
MIAMI — Derek Jeter stood and chatted a few rows from home plate Monday morning at Marlins Park. His words were sometimes drowned out by noises coming from construction crews: steel clanging against steel in an area getting built behind the center-field wall, or the whirring of engines moving heavy...
Texans star J.J. Watt to serve as Daytona 500 grand marshal
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Houston Texans star J.J. Watt will serve as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, making him the first NFL player to give the command for drivers to starts their engines before NASCAR’s most famous race. Daytona International Speedway made the announcement Monday, six days before...
Toys R Us plans second act by holiday season
NEW YORK — Toys R Us fans in the United States should see the iconic brand re-emerge in some form by this holiday season. Richard Barry, a former Toys R Us executive and now CEO of the new company called Tru Kids Brands, told The Associated Press he and his...
Pair of starters kicked off WVU men’s basketball team
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia starters Esa Ahmad and Wes Harris were dismissed from the team for undisclosed violations of athletic department policies. The Mountaineers announced the dismissals Monday night without elaboration. Ahmad was the team’s third-leading scorer this season at 12 points per game and the third-leading rebounder at...
Troubled running back Kareem Hunt signs with Browns
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns’ signing of Kareem Hunt once again shines a spotlight somewhere other than the team’s on-field performance. Hunt, who was released 2½ months ago by Kansas City after a video surfaced showing the star running back pushing and kicking a woman, signed with Cleveland on Monday....
Kyler Murray chooses NFL over baseball and Athletics
MESA, Ariz. — When Kyler Murray won the Heisman Trophy, the Oakland Athletics knew there was a chance he might choose football over baseball. That is exactly what happened. On the day the A’s started spring training workouts, Murray said he will pursue a career in the NFL. “We took...
W.Va. GOP chief rebukes delegate’s remarks on gay community
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The head of the West Virginia Republican Party has denounced comments from a GOP member of the House of Delegates about the gay community. State GOP chairwoman Melody Potter says in a statement Mercer County Delegate Eric Porterfield’s comments were “hateful, hurtful, and do not reflect the...
GOP pummels Gov. Tom Wolf’s minimum wage proposal
HARRISBURG — Hearings on Gov. Tom Wolf’s $34.1 billion budget plan kicked off with a volley of Republican attacks on the Democrat’s new proposal to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage. Monday’s first House budget hearing featured Republicans repeatedly criticizing the broader impact of a minimum wage increase, including whether it would...
Tennessee remains at No. 1 in AP poll, ahead of Duke
The NCAA Division I Basketball Committee slated Duke as the No. 1 overall seed in its initial tournament rankings over the weekend. Voters in the AP Top 25 stuck with Tennessee as their top team. The Vols received 40 of 64 first-place votes from a media panel in the poll...
Phil Mickelson finishes off record 5th win at Pebble Beach Pro-Am
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Phil Mickelson is closing in on three decades on the PGA Tour and a half-century on Earth, and he still feels his best golf is good enough. He was at his best at Pebble Beach, and no one had a chance. A Monday finish brought on...
NBA All-Stars break out specialty shoes for weekend
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NBA players once again will be sharing personal stories this weekend during All-Star festivities — and using basketball shoes as a platform to get their message out. When Kevin Durant takes the floor on Sunday he’ll be wearing pink Nike KD 11 Aunt Pearls shoes bearing the...
Michael Jackson wax statue removed by Danish mall
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s oldest shopping mall has removed a wax statue of Michael Jackson out of fears it could offend customers and may be vandalized because of accusations that the late pop star molested boys. Charlotte Andersen, marketing manager for the Roedovre Centrum mall in suburban Copenhagen, told Denmark’s...
