Associated Press stories, Page 279
NASCAR deals Daytona 500 pole winner massive fine for 2nd consecutive yearVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Daytona 500 pole-winner Chase Briscoe was dealt a major penalty Wednesday when NASCAR said Joe Gibbs Racing had a modified spoiler on the No. 19 Toyota in time trials. Joe Gibbs Racing was docked 100 driver/owner points and 10 playoff points. The spoiler base is a single-source...
U.S., Canada want to put new Cold War on ice in 4 Nations final
BOSTON — The U.S. and Canadian hockey teams tried to skate back the geopolitical tension that has infiltrated the 4 Nations Face-Off as they looked ahead to the championship game Thursday night for what has turned into one of the best international hockey tournaments in decades. Setting aside the animosity...
Agriculture Department tries to rehire fired workers tied to bird flu response
OMAHA, Neb. — The Agriculture Department is scrambling to rehire several workers who were involved in the government’s response to the ongoing bird flu outbreak that has devastated egg and poultry farms over the past three years. The workers were among the thousands of federal employees eliminated on the recommendations...
7 Chilean men charged with burglarizing homes of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, other star athletesVideo
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Seven men from Chile have been charged in Florida federal court with orchestrating burglaries at the homes of prominent professional athletes around the country, according to a criminal complaint. The FBI complaint doesn’t name the athletes but lists burglaries already made public involving the Kansas City...
White man who pleaded guilty to shooting a Black teen who rang a wrong doorbell dies
MISSION, Kan. — An 86-year-old Missouri man has died just days after pleading guilty to a lesser charge in the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who rang the white man’s doorbell by mistake, prosecutors announced Wednesday. Andrew Lester of Kansas City was charged with first-degree assault...
Winter-weary East Coast hit with another storm as temperatures plunge elsewhereVideo
NORFOLK, Va. — The latest in a long line of storms took direct aim at the East Coast on Wednesday, threatening to dump heavy snow and some ice across several states on winter-weary residents. A storm that dropped snow in the Midwest spread across the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, bringing...
Historic ocean liner departs Philadelphia on voyage to become the world’s largest artificial reefVideo
The historic, aging ocean liner that a Florida county plans to turn into the world’s largest artificial reef departed from south Philadelphia’s Delaware River waterfront on Wednesday, marking the opening segment of its final voyage. The SS United States, a 1,000-foot vessel that shattered the transatlantic speed record on its...
Brazil’s former President Bolsonaro has been charged over an alleged coup. What’s next for him?Video
SAO PAULO — Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been charged with orchestrating a plot to stay in office despite losing the 2022 election — a plot that the country’s top prosecutor says included a plan to poison his opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The unprecedented charges handed down...
A worried NATO holds large-scale combat drills as U.S. stance on Europe shifts under TrumpVideo
SMARDAN, Romania — NATO members continued their largest combat exercises of 2025 on Wednesday, testing their ability to rapidly deploy large-scale forces on the 32-nation alliance’s eastern border as worries grow over its most powerful member, the United States. The drills in Romania, which borders Ukraine, come as a shaken...
Trump administration orders halt to NYC toll meant to fight traffic, fund mass transit
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday ordered a halt to congestion pricing tolls in New York City, which thin traffic and fund mass transit by making people pay to drive into some parts of Manhattan. Launched on Jan. 5, the city’s system uses license plate readers to...
2 people dead after small plane collision in southern Arizona
A midair collision involving two small planes in southern Arizona killed at least two people Wednesday morning, authorities said. Federal air-safety investigators said two people were on board each plane as they collided near Marana Regional Airport on the outskirts of Tucson. One plane landed uneventfully while the other hit...
A look at the 8 Latin American crime groups designated as terrorist organizations by U.S.
MEXICO CITY — The United States government is formally designating eight Latin American organized crime groups that also operate in the U.S. to be “foreign terrorist organizations.” They are involved in drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and extend their territory through violence. The Trump administration is applying a “terrorist” designation that’s...
Trump officials want to ban junk food from SNAP. Past efforts show it’s not easy
A push to ban sugary drinks, candy and more from the U.S. program that helps low-income families pay for nutritious food has been tried before — but it may soon get a boost from new Trump administration officials. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed health and human services secretary,...
No pain, no gain? Hardly. This year’s fitness buzzword is ‘recovery’
If you ever turned on the TV in the 2000s after midnight, you might have seen an informercial for P90X. The exercise program promised shredded abs and bulging biceps for anyone who pushed themselves to their limits for 90 days of 90-minute workouts. So it may come as a surprise...
Researchers confirm Hall of Famer Bobby Hull had CTE when he died 2 years ago
CHICAGO — Bobby Hull, the Hall of Fame forward and two-time NHL MVP who helped the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 1961, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy when he died two years ago, his widow said in a statement released on Wednesday. Researchers at Boston University’s CTE Center found...
Really, who were those masked men? New series of books probes backstories of Marvel superheroes
NEW YORK — If you love movies or comics, you’ve likely followed the adventures of Spider-Man, Iron Man and other superheroes. A new line of books will let you explore the back stories of their creation. On Wednesday, Bloomsbury and Marvel announced a multi-year, multi-volume licensing agreement for “Marvel Age...
Justice Department and New York Mayor Adams face judge’s scrutiny in bid to dismiss criminal charges
NEW YORK — Justice Department lawyers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams are set to face a federal judge who is signaling that he’s unlikely to rubber stamp their request to drop the mayor’s corruption charges weeks before an April trial. Judge Dale E. Ho in Manhattan scheduled the...
Americans’ confidence in air travel safety dips slightly after Washington plane crash: AP-NORC poll
WASHINGTON — Americans’ confidence in air travel and the federal agencies tasked with maintaining air safety has slipped a little from last year, following a recent crash in Washington, according to a new poll, but most still believe air transportation is generally safe. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center...
Trump moves swiftly on his agenda in a departure from his first-term stumbles
WASHINGTON — Months into his first term as president, Donald Trump was furious with the snowballing Russia investigation and ordered White House counsel Don McGahn to make sure that special counsel Robert Mueller got fired. “Mueller has to go,” McGahn recalled Trump saying. “Call me back when you do it.”...
Palestinian families flee West Bank homes in droves as Israel confronts militants
FAR’A REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank — By car and on foot, through muddy olive groves and snipers’ sight lines, tens of thousands of Palestinians in recent weeks have fled Israeli military operations across the northern West Bank — the largest displacement in the occupied territory since the 1967 Mideast war....
Trump, Zelenskyy trade barbs as U.S.-Ukraine relations sour over war with Russia
KYIV, Ukraine — Relations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump deteriorated rapidly Wednesday as Zelenskyy said Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space” and Trump called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” in comments that were sure to complicate efforts to end the war. Zelenskyy also...
Despite ‘tranquil night,’ the pope now has pneumonia in both lungs, Vatican says. How worrying is that?
LONDON — Vatican officials said late Tuesday that Pope Francis had developed pneumonia in both lungs, further complicating the pontiff’s recovery. The 88-year-old pope was hospitalized Friday after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened. On Monday, doctors said he had developed a mix of infections in his respiratory tract. On...
Trump suggests Ukraine is to blame for war, saying they ‘could have made a deal’
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Top U.S. and Russian officials had their most extensive high-level engagement since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine almost three years ago, meeting for four hours Tuesday before President Donald Trump suggested that Kyiv was to blame for the conflict. Trump showed little patience for Ukraine’s objections...
Trump’s firing of 1,000 national park workers raises concerns about maintenance and operating hours
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has fired about 1,000 newly hired National Park Service employees who maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and perform other functions as part of its broad-based effort to downsize government. The firings, which weren’t publicly announced but were confirmed by Democratic senators and House members,...
Rob Manfred calls A’s new park in Sacramento charming but still expects to be in Vegas by 2028Video
PHOENIX — Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred called the Athletics temporary home charming but reiterated he expects the franchise will open its new stadium in Las Vegas in 2028. Manfred recently visited the 14,000-seat minor league stadium in West Sacramento, Calif., and said the owners of the Triple-A River Cats and...
