Associated Press stories, Page 803
Cabbage Patch Kids, NERF, baseball cards make Toy Hall of Fame
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Fans have pushed the Fisher-Price Corn Popper into the National Toy Hall of Fame, elevating it from perpetual finalist to 2023 inductee, alongside baseball cards, Cabbage Patch Kids and NERF foam toys, the hall announced Friday. But Barbie’s kind-of boyfriend, Ken? He was left out, despite having...
2024 Grammy nomination snubs and surprises: No K-pop, little country and regional Mexican music
LOS ANGELES — With new categories, SZA, and “Barbie” — there’s a lot to discuss regarding the 2024 Grammy Award nominations. Who didn’t make the cut? What were the best surprises of all? Let’s take a look. New blood? There’s a lot to love about the nominations for the 66th...
Groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State take root on the coast of West Africa
ATACORA, Benin — The insurgents pressured Zackari to join their movement, and he turned them down. Now he’s frightened of their revenge. He has been on the run from the jihadi fighters for more than a year. They regularly call the 33-year-old, warning: “We haven’t forgotten about you.” Groups linked...
The great grift: Covid-19 aid thieves bought fancy cars, a Pokemon card — even a private island
YANKEETOWN, Fla. — A freshwater spring bubbles amid the mangroves, cabbage palms and red cedars on Sweetheart Island, a two-acre uninhabited patch of paradise about a mile off the coast of this little Gulf Coast town. Pelicans divebomb nearby into the cool waters of Florida’s Withlacoochee Bay and the open...
Author Philip Pullman honored in Oxford, tells fans when to expect his long-awaited next book
OXFORD, England — Fans of Philip Pullman have been waiting almost five years for the final instalment in the author’s sextet of books about his intrepid heroine Lyra and her adventures in multiple worlds. They won’t have to wait too much longer. Pullman says he has written 500 pages of...
Palestinian evacuees say thousands of people sheltering at Shifa hospital have fled after strikes
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Thousands of Palestinians on Friday fled from around Gaza City’s main hospital after a series of strikes that staff blamed on Israel hit in and around several hospitals overnight. They joined a growing exodus of people toward the south amid intensified fighting as Gaza officials...
West Virginia visits No. 17 Oklahoma in Big 12 showdown
NORMAN, Okla. — Oklahoma believes it still has plenty to play for, despite dropping out of first place in the Big 12 and likely falling out of the race for a College Football Playoff berth. The 17th-ranked Sooners won their first seven games before close losses to Kansas and Oklahoma...
College football’s top defenses to square off when No. 2 Michigan visits No. 9 Penn StateVideo
STATE COLLEGE — As their teammates filed out of practice earlier this week, Penn State defensive ends Adisa Isaac, Chop Robinson and Dani Dennis-Sutton lingered at the far end of the facility. The ninth-ranked Nittany Lions’ most disruptive defenders stutter-stepped and bull-rushed their way around and through assistant coaches, putting...
U.S. childhood vaccination exemptions reach their highest level ever
NEW YORK — The proportion of U.S. kindergartners exempted from school vaccination requirements has hit its highest level ever, 3%, U.S. health officials said Thursday. More parents are questioning routine childhood vaccinations that they used to automatically accept, an effect of the political schism that emerged during the pandemic around...
Former Arizona senator reports being molested while running in Iowa
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — A former United States senator from Arizona has said she was molested while jogging along the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Martha McSally described the attack on Wednesday morning in a video she posted online. “A man came up behind me and he engulfed me...
Election offices are sent envelopes with fentanyl or other substances. Authorities are investigatingVideo
WASHINGTON — Authorities were hunting Thursday for whoever sent suspicious letters — including some containing fentanyl — to elections offices in at least five states this week, delaying the counting of ballots in some local races in the latest instance of threats faced by election workers around the country. The...
FBI offers $10,000 reward for info leading to capture of Jan. 6 attack fugitive from New Jersey
HELMETTA, N.J. — After two days of searching for a suspect in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol who fled as federal agents approached his home, the FBI on Thursday offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the New Jersey man. The agency said...
Man accuses riverboat co-captain of assault during Alabama riverfront brawl
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A Black riverboat co-captain at the center of an Alabama riverfront brawl that drew national attention has been accused of misdemeanor assault in the melee by one of the white boaters charged in the fight. Court records show one of the white men accused of assaulting the...
Out of nowhere, Keaton Mitchell has given the Ravens yet another running threatVideo
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Keaton Mitchell has become a bit of a celebrity after his breakout performance for the Baltimore Ravens last week. His father — who, like Mitchell, went undrafted before reaching the NFL — apparently is trying to keep him grounded. “He told me, ‘You have the 24-hour...
Cleveland Browns leaning on 3-back committee to keep running game rolling without star Nick ChubbVideo
BEREA, Ohio — When Nick Chubb crumpled to the ground in Week 2 with a season-ending left knee injury, the Cleveland Browns knew there was no way of replacing one of the NFL’s best running backs. One player couldn’t possibly do it. Turns out, it takes at least three. The...
Jury awards $1.2 million to Robert De Niro’s former assistant in gender discrimination lawsuit
NEW YORK — A jury said Robert De Niro’s company should pay more than $1.2 million to his former personal assistant after finding his production company engaged in gender discrimination and retaliation. While the jury found De Niro was not personally liable for the abuse, they said his production company,...
Pastor’s suicide brings grief, warnings of the dangers of outing amid erosion of LGBTQ+ rights
SMITHS STATION, Ala. — After the 2019 suicide of a local teenager, small-town mayor and pastor F.L. “Bubba” Copeland helped students place roadside signs in his Alabama community to try to reach others who might be hurting. “You are worthy of love.” “Don’t give up.” “You matter.” Those were the...
Trump ally Steve Bannon appeals conviction in Jan. 6 committee contempt case
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon on Thursday appealed his criminal conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Bannon’s attorney argued he didn’t ignore the subpoena, but was trying to avoid running afoul of executive...
Movie Review: Iman Vellani is a scene-stealer in low-stakes ‘The Marvels’Video
The stakes feel immensely low in ” The Marvels,” and it’s not because this is a movie that spends a fair amount of time following cats or has an out-of-nowhere musical number. It’s possibly because somewhere along the way, Marvel movies just stopped feeling like events. And this galactic trifle...
Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin won’t seek reelection, giving GOP a key pickup opportunityVideo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced Thursday that he won’t seek reelection in 2024, giving Republicans a prime opportunity to pick up a seat in the heavily GOP state. Manchin, 76, said in a statement that he had made the decision “after months of deliberation...
From Hollywood to auto work, organized labor is flexing its muscles. Where do unions stand today?
NEW YORK — Once again, U.S. labor unions are flexing their muscles in the national spotlight. In Hollywood, the actors union reached a tentative deal with major studios late Wednesday to end a months-long strike. Las Vegas hotel workers also scored breakthough agreements with Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International...
The man accused of attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband was caught up in conspiracies, defense says
SAN FRANCISCO — The man accused of bludgeoning former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer was caught up in conspiracies when he broke into her San Francisco home last year, his defense attorney said at his trial opened Thursday. The attack on then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi in the early...
Can Michigan activists keep Trump off the ballot? A judge heard arguments today
A judge in Michigan heard arguments Thursday on whether Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has the authority to keep Donald Trump’s name off state ballots for president. Activists sued Benson in the Michigan Court of Claims to force her to keep Trump’s name off ballots and to assess Trump’s constitutional...
Review: The Hunger Games return in ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,’ with the odds in its favorVideo
Two hours and 37 minutes is pretty long for a “ballad,” but you can’t call it “The Hunger Games: The Three-Cycle Opera of Songbirds and Snakes” now, can you? Concision was never much in favor in the four “Hunger Games” films, which reached a seeming finale with 2015’s “The Hunger...
Hollywood’s strikes are both now over as actors reach deal with studios, return to work with writers
LOS ANGELES — On Thursday, for the first time in more than six months, neither Hollywood’s actors nor its writers will be on strike. The long-awaited clearing in the industry’s stormiest season in decades comes as a deal was reached late Wednesday to end what was, at nearly four months,...
