Associated Press stories, Page 655
Judge rejects Trump’s First Amendment challenge to indictment in Georgia election case
ATLANTA — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others rejected on Thursday arguments by the former president that the indictment seeks to criminalize political speech protected by the First Amendment. The indictment issued in August by a Fulton County grand jury accused Trump and...
Seton Hall scores final 9 points to win NIT championship by 2
INDIANAPOLIS — Dre Davis scored on a layup with 16 seconds left Thursday night to cap Seton Hall’s decisive late run, giving the Pirates a 79-77 victory over Indiana State and their first NIT championship since 1953. Seton Hall (25-12) scored the final nine points in a battle between two...
ACC wants March Madness success to translate into more NCAA Tournament bids
GLENDALE, Ariz. — No one expected N.C. State to be in the Final Four after needing a miracle run through the ACC Tournament to even make the NCAA Tournament. It’s no surprise, however, to see the ACC here based on recent history. The league has been in transition with the...
1 killed, 2 others hospitalized after crane section falls from a South Florida high-riseVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — One person was killed and two others were hospitalized Thursday afternoon when a section of crane fell from a building in downtown Fort Lauderdale, officials said. Crews were in the process of “stepping the crane” during the construction of a high-rise building when a section being...
Akshay Bhatia opens with a 63 to lead Texas Open by 3. Rory McIlroy is 6 backVideo
SAN ANTONIO — Akshay Bhatia rode the rare experience of knowing a PGA Tour course with a sublime day with his irons for a 9-under-par 63 on Thursday, giving him a three-shot lead in the Valero Texas Open and taking a small step toward a potential trip to the Masters....
Masters ’24: Competing tours converge on Augusta National chasing the same prizeVideo
Jon Rahm went from wearing a Masters green jacket in April to an LIV Golf black letterman’s jacket in December. Those two images — one in Butler Cabin with Scottie Scheffler, the other in a New York studio with Greg Norman — illustrate the great divide in golf that has...
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, UConn’s Paige Bueckers cross paths in Final Four
CLEVELAND — Their memories are blurry. Of AAU tournaments and Team USA practices. Of gold medals and deep 3s. Of the girl with the brown ponytail with the unlimited range who always seemed to know what was coming next and the blonde who never got rattled with the ball in...
Final Four serves up usual menu of fun stories — and UConn looks to snuff out all of them
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Final Four this week delivers the last entry in college basketball’s heartwarming yearbook, an annual assortment of legendary longshots, coaches looking for hugs and magic oozing from every corner of the bracket. Only problem with the 2024 version: UConn doesn’t believe in magic. The only thing...
April nor’easter with heavy, wet snow bears down on Northeast, 630,000 still without powerVideo
A major spring storm brought heavy snow, rain and high winds to the Northeast into Thursday, downing trees and power lines and leaving nearly 700,000 homes and businesses without power at some point. A woman was reported killed by a falling tree in a New York City suburb and a...
Tennessee lawmakers pass bill to require anti-abortion group video, or comparable, in public schools
NASHVILLE — Tennessee would become the latest state to require public school students to watch a video on fetal development produced by an anti-abortion group, or something comparable, under legislation that is headed to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. The GOP-dominated Senate passed the legislation Thursday, with the five Democrats...
No Labels abandons third-party campaign after trying to recruit a centrist presidential candidate
NEW YORK — The No Labels group said Thursday it will not field a presidential candidate in November after strategists for the bipartisan organization failed to attract a high-profile centrist willing to seize on the widespread dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. “No Labels has always said we...
80-year-old American tourist killed in elephant attack during game drive in ZambiaVideo
HARARE, Zimbabwe — A bull elephant charged a truck that an 80-year-old American was riding in with other tourists on a game drive in a Zambian national park, flipping over the vehicle and killing her, a safari company said. The attack injured five others on March 30 in the vast...
Masters ’24: Capsules of 10 key players at Augusta NationalVideo
A capsule look at 10 key players for the Masters, to be played April 11-14 (listed in predicted order of finish): SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER Age: 27. Country: United States. World ranking: 1. Worldwide victories: 9. Majors: Masters (2022). Masters appearances: 4. Masters memory: Having such a large lead that he could...
Judge denies Trump bid to dismiss classified documents prosecution
WASHINGTON — A federal judge refused Thursday to throw out the classified documents prosecution against Donald Trump, turning aside defense arguments that a decades-old law permitted the former president to retain the sensitive records after he left office. Lawyers for Trump had cited a 1978 statute known as the Presidential...
Biden tells Israel’s Netanyahu future U.S. support for war depends on new steps to protect civiliansVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden issued a stark warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that future U.S. support for Israel’s Gaza war depends on the swift implementation of new steps to protect civilians and aid workers. Biden and Netanyahu ‘s roughly 30-minute call just days after Israeli...
South Carolina’s Dawn Staley is the AP Coach of the Year for the 2nd time
Dawn Staley did a masterful job guiding a young South Carolina team back to the Final Four with an undefeated record for the second straight season. Staley was honored Thursday as The Associated Press women’s college basketball Coach of the Year for the second time. She received 27 votes from...
Athletics announce plans to play the next 3 seasons in minor league park near Sacramento
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Athletics will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park near Sacramento until their planned new stadium in Las Vegas is built. The A’s announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an...
Caitlin Clark of Iowa is the AP Player of the Year in women’s hoops for the 2nd straight season
Caitlin Clark is capping her illustrious college career with another record-breaking season and another set of prestigious awards. The star guard from Iowa was honored Thursday as The Associated Press Player of the Year in women’s basketball for the second consecutive year. Clark received 35 votes from the 36-member national...
Border Patrol must care for migrant children who wait in camps for processing, a judge says
WASHINGTON — Migrant children who wait in makeshift camps along the U.S.-Mexico border for the Border Patrol to process them are in the agency’s custody and are subject to a long-standing court-supervised agreement that set standards for their treatment, a judge ruled. The issue of when the children are officially...
New rule strengthening federal job protections could counter Trump promises to remake the government
WASHINGTON — The government’s chief human resources agency issued a new rule on Thursday making it harder to fire thousands of federal employees, hoping to head off former President Donald Trump’s promises to radically remake the workforce along ideological lines if he wins back the White House in November. The...
Lawsuit challenges Alabama restrictions on absentee ballot help
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Civil rights organizations and other groups filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging a new Alabama law that criminalizes certain types of assistance with absentee ballot applications. The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and other groups are plaintiffs in the lawsuit that says...
Free blue checks are back for some accounts on Elon Musk’s X — not everyone is happy about it
NEW YORK — Elon Musk’s social platform X has begun restoring complimentary blue checks for some of its users, the latest unexpected shift to cause a lot of confusion on the platform. For years, Twitter’s blue checks mirrored verification badges that are common on social media, largely reserved for celebrities,...
President Macron says France and its allies ‘could have stopped’ the 1994 Rwanda genocide
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron says France and its allies “could have stopped” the 1994 Rwanda genocide and “lacked the will to do so.” Macron’s office said in a statement that the French president will release a video on social media on Sunday as Rwanda commemorates the 30th anniversary...
Rights group says Israeli strike on Gaza building killed 106 in apparent war crime
JERUSALEM — Human Rights Watch says an Israeli attack on a Gaza apartment building in October killed at least 106 civilians, including 54 children. The New York-based rights group says its investigation, published Thursday, found no evidence that the attack targeted any militant activity inside the building, making it an...
EPA awards $20 billion in green bank grants for clean energy projects nationwide
DETROIT — The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday awarded $20 billion in federal green bank grants to eight community development banks and nonprofit organizations to use on projects combating climate change in disadvantaged communities and helping Americans save money and reduce their carbon footprints. The money could fund tens of...
