Associated Press stories, Page 311
Indiana pulls away late to beat Penn State
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Oumar Ballo had 20 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, Myles Rice scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and Indiana beat Penn State, 83-78, on Wednesday night. Trey Galloway made a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions and Anthony Leal capped the 8-0 run with...
IndyCar starts season with big stars, big hopes, new TV partnerVideo
Fox Sports marked its new oversight of the IndyCar Series with glossy new commercials that have been showcased everywhere from the Super Bowl to the Daytona 500. The network partnership begins in earnest this weekend with the season-opening race on the streets of downtown St. Petersburg, Fla. There is hope...
Pope Francis shows further slight improvement as he battles pneumonia, the Vatican says
ROME — Pope Francis has shown further slight improvement as he battles double pneumonia, but doctors said Wednesday his prognosis is still guarded. A chest CT scan taken Tuesday evening showed the “normal evolution” of an infection as it is being treated, the Vatican said in its late update. The...
Mississippi judge vacates her order that a newspaper remove its editorial criticizing local leaders
A Mississippi judge on Wednesday vacated her order that a newspaper remove its editorial criticizing local officials, days after a city decided to drop the lawsuit that spurred it. The judge’s order had been widely condemned by free speech advocates as a clear violation of the paper’s First Amendment rights....
Pentagon orders new purge of social media sites to dump diversity, inclusion mentions by March 5
WASHINGTON — Building lethality in the military may be the buzzword for the new Trump administration, but busywork and paperwork have become the reality at the Pentagon, as service members and civilian workers are facing a broad mandate to purge all of the department’s social media sites and untangle confusing...
49ers GM John Lynch says team has started contract talks with QB Brock PurdyVideo
San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch said the team has begun negotiations with quarterback Brock Purdy about a long-term contract and believes both sides want to get a deal done. Purdy’s contract extension is one of the main items on the offseason to-do list for San Francisco. He is...
Saints GM, coach indicate they plan to stick with QB Derek CarrVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis sees 11-year veteran quarterback Derek Carr as “a guy we can win with, and we’re excited about it.” Loomis made those comments Wednesday to a small group of New Orleans-based reporters who traveled to Indianapolis for the NFL scouting combine. Carr...
Fendi celebrates 100 years with lush runway show and Sean Paul rocking the after-party
MILAN — Fendi celebrated 100 years with a mega runway show Wednesday that highlighted the Roman fashion house’s roots as a maker of luxurious fur stoles that grew into a touchstone of Italian craftsmanship under the creative direction of the late Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi. Five Fendi Generations...
Diesel evokes zombie apocalypse at Milan Fashion Week with milky gazes and spray-painted smilesVideo
MILAN — The zombie apocalypse is now, according to Italian denim brand Diesel, which sent models onto a heavily graffiti-ed runway with unsettling milky gazes and spray-painted smiles. Revealing silhouettes set the tone for the Fall-Winter 2025-26 co-ed collection premiered Wednesday on the second day of Milan Fashion Week. Mini...
Burning Man art plane gets a new life as a Las Vegas party venue
A hulking section of a decommissioned jumbo jet that was transformed into a party venue at the 2017 Burning Man Festival is getting a new life off the Las Vegas Strip. The cockpit and section of the fuselage of the Boeing 747 were towed Wednesday from a spot at the...
Private company rockets toward the moon in the latest rush of lunar landing attempts
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private company launched another lunar lander Wednesday, aiming to get closer to the moon’s south pole this time with a drone that will hop into a jet-black crater that never sees the sun. Intuitive Machines’ lander, named Athena, caught a lift with SpaceX from NASA’s...
NFL reviewing possible changes to overtime rules; 1st downs to be measured electronicallyVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL is considering changing overtime rules in the regular season to decrease the advantage for teams that win the coin toss. “It’s time to rethink the overtime rule,” league executive Troy Vincent said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. Vincent said the competition committee agrees overtime rules...
Trump administration sets March 21 deadline for New York to end traffic congestion pricing
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s administration has given New York until next month to comply with its order to halt Manhattan’s new congestion pricing system, but state officials on Wednesday vowed to continue the tolling program, which is meant to thin traffic and pump new revenue into the nation’s...
Trump administration says it’s cutting 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Wednesday it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad. The...
New Orleans Privateers suspensions related to possible NCAA violations
NEW ORLEANS — Four New Orleans players who’ve been suspended since late January are under investigation for possible NCAA violations related to sports gambling, a person familiar with the situation said. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the university’s only public statement about...
Vagabond A’s enter Sacramento era with playoff expectations
MESA, Ariz. — The Athletics have moved about an hour east from Oakland to the Sacramento area, where they will be based in a minor-league ballpark for the next three seasons while hoping a more permanent home in Las Vegas will be ready in 2028. If this doesn’t sound like...
Heisman winner Travis Hunter already has NFL convinced he can be 2-way playerVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Travis Hunter arrived at the NFL Scouting Combine with a Heisman Trophy resume, an invitation to work out at two positions and ready to answer all doubters. The former Colorado star already appears to have completed one task this week in Indianapolis — convincing coaches and general managers...
Famous Ludvig Aberg, unknown Brian Campbell are both important to PGA Tour
One week the PGA Tour winner was Ludvig Aberg, a Swede so supremely talented that he played in a Ryder Cup before his first major, entered the top 10 in the world ranking just nine months after he left college and has been there ever since. The next week it...
Bell tolls as New York marks the anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
NEW YORK — New York City on Wednesday marked the anniversary of the 1993 bombing at the old World Trade Center, when Islamic extremists first attempted to bring down the twin towers with 1,200 pounds of explosives in a parked rental van. Six people, including a pregnant woman, died in...
Here’s what to know about the Oscars, from presenters to performers
After devastating wildfires tore through Los Angeles, the 97th Academy Awards are going forward. Like the Grammys and other awards shows this year, the ceremony will be transformed by the fires and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has pledged to help its members and the broader film...
Egg prices could jump another 41% this year, USDA says, as Trump’s bird flu plan unveiled
WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department predicts the current record prices for eggs could soar more than 40% in 2025, as the Trump administration offered the first new details Wednesday about its plan to battle bird flu and ease the cost of eggs. With an emphasis on tightening up biosecurity on...
Hamas hands over to Red Cross 4 dead hostages from Gaza, as Palestinians leave Israeli prison
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hamas handed over four dead hostages to the Red Cross early Thursday in exchange for Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, days before the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was to end. An Israeli security official confirmed that Hamas handed...
Michelle Trachtenberg, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Harriet the Spy’ star, dies at at 39
NEW YORK — Michelle Trachtenberg, a former child star who appeared in the 1996 “Harriet the Spy” hit movie and went on to co-star in two buzzy millennial-era TV shows — “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl” — has died. She was 39. Police responded to a 911 call...
The Trump administration sets the stage for large-scale federal worker layoffs in a new memo
WASHINGTON — Federal agencies must develop plans to eliminate employee positions, according to a memo distributed by President Donald Trump’s administration that sets in motion what could become a sweeping realignment of American government. The memo expands the Republican president’s effort to downsize the federal workforce, which he has described...
Supreme Court seems likely to rule for Ohio woman claiming job bias because she’s straight
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely Wednesday to side with an Ohio woman who claims she suffered sex discrimination from her employer because she is straight. The outcome of the case could remove an additional requirement that some courts apply when members of a majority group, including those who...
