Associated Press

Associated Press

Couple charged with felonies for Empire State Building climb-turned-proposal

NEW YORK (AP) — A skyscraper-scaling daredevil told police that he and his girlfriend climbed the Empire State Building’s antenna and unfurled a banner about love and peace because he wanted to “do something special” for their engagement, prosecutors said Thursday at the couple’s arraignment on felony reckless endangerment, burglary and other charges. The couple, […]
2 months ago

Alex Ovechkin returning for a 22nd NHL season after re-signing with the Capitals

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin is returning for a 22nd NHL season after re-signing with the Washington Capitals on Thursday. The league’s career goal-scoring record holder inked a deal with a $1 million salary and bonuses worth an additional $8 million. Ovechkin turns 41 in September. Ovechkin has 929 goals after scoring 32 last […]
2 months ago

The hot dog: We need to be frank about how German sausages became an American icon

Nineteenth-century Indiana passed some of the country’s toughest “blue laws” to protect Sunday’s rest and worship from alcohol and … hot dogs? But Indiana’s push was noteworthy for another reason: It produced the country’s earliest known use in print of the culinary term that now sits at the center of American culture. “Even the innocent […]
2 months ago

Rescue teams in Venezuela cling to hope as US rebuffs criticisms of government earthquake response

CATIA LA MAR, Venezuela (AP) — Black smoke from fires in flattened buildings and the smell of decomposing bodies spread across ruins Thursday, eight days after Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes, while rescue teams pulled on a thread of hope that they might still find survivors trapped beneath the rubble. As officials carried body bags and stacked […]
2 months ago

‘Awesome.’ ‘Sad.’ ‘Let’s keep democracy going.’ Americans weigh in on state of a 250-year-old nation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Across the United States, many Americans are celebrating their country’s 250th birthday by closing their ears to all the partisan shouting. All the fingernails-on-chalkboard screeching out of Washington. All the clamor of social media agitprop. Instead, in varied ways, they are tuning into their own personal concepts of America the Beautiful. In […]
2 months ago

Finding freedom from the heat on July 4th will be a challenge in eastern US

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Heat as oppressive as British colonial rule is bearing down on the eastern U.S. heading into the long Fourth of July weekend, prompting some communities to cancel, postpone or otherwise alter their Independence Day plans. Dangerous, record-breaking heat will continue across much of the central and eastern U.S. through Friday and […]
2 months ago

Heat adds to strains on areas with data centers, raising the temperature on AI debates

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — Eileen Castle’s swimming pool, the only one for blocks around, was once a refuge for neighborhood children on hot summer days. But even as temperatures soared this week, Castle, 82, said she won’t be filling the pool — not with the data center behind her house buzzing with the sound of […]
2 months ago

The Supreme Court tackled race, history and the law in fraught and reflective major rulings

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court just wrapped up a term that yielded significant rulings in cases involving race and discrimination that could have lasting effects on U.S. politics and society. Justices were at times bitterly divided — and critical of one another — in rulings that winnowed key provisions of a landmark voting rights […]
2 months ago

Soccer fans are into this year’s World Cup, but the US still isn’t a soccer nation, new poll finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — This World Cup has given U.S. soccer fans plenty to cheer about — even if a new survey shows most Americans are still on the sidelines. New polling from Ipsos Sports, provided exclusively to The Associated Press, shows that the World Cup has excited soccer fans and piqued many Americans’ interest, even […]
2 months ago

Goal of higher voter turnout remains elusive in California as changes have extended ballot counting

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California is finally nearing the end of the ballot counting from its June 2 primary, a tediously slow process that is largely the result of multiple changes over the years intended to boost turnout by making voting easier and more accessible. State data and experts who study voting trends suggest those […]
2 months ago

Last-minute launch problem delays satellite rescue mission for NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A rush rescue mission to save a NASA space telescope remains grounded, this time because of a last-minute launch problem. Northrop Grumman’s rocket-launching plane took off from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific on Thursday, following weather delays all week. But an issue prevented the team from releasing the Pegasus […]
2 months ago

Trump administration proposes a rule it says could save Medicare patients $1.1 billion on drugs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is proposing a new rule on Thursday to keep hospitals from charging markups on discounted drugs for Medicare patients and says that could save consumers $1.1 billion next year, according to estimates obtained by The Associated Press. The rule would apply to hospitals that serve low-income patients under what […]
2 months ago

Trump Accounts launch July 4, giving newborns $1,000. Here’s what to know

WASHINGTON (AP) — On Saturday, President Donald Trump’s administration plans to launch Trump Accounts, tying the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence to an effort to boost financial independence for American kids. Under the program, parents can open investment accounts for any child born during Trump’s second term and automatically receive […]
2 months ago

The Latest: Ex-CIA Director seeks court order requiring records from investigations be preserved

Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations he says are targeting him for “what amounts to phantom criminal conduct.” The lawsuit says the records would shed light on the motivations of government officials who are investigating Brennan. Meanwhile, President […]
2 months ago

Trump administration’s $46 billion ‘smart wall’ races ahead on the US-Mexico border

PHOENIX (AP) — For decades, all that separated the U.S. from Mexico was barbed wire. Now, after a massive infusion of cash from Congress, President Donald Trump’s administration is swiftly building what it has dubbed a “smart wall,” a combination of 30-foot-tall (9-meter-tall) steel fencing and an array of sophisticated technology like sensors, cameras and […]
2 months ago

Shark attack on Alabama teen inspires the start of a national alert system

Lulu Gribbin was 15 when she survived a shark attack off the coast of Florida. She lost her left hand, part of her right leg and almost her life. What she didn’t know when she entered the water on that day in 2024 was that another woman had been bitten by a shark 90 minutes […]
2 months ago

Trump and Republicans return to communist attacks against Democrats ahead of the midterm elections

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans are reviving a line of attack against Democrats heading into the midterm elections: They’re communists. In just the past week, Trump has issued dark warnings that members of the Democratic Party’s ascendant left are communists who want to “completely destroy the traditional American way of […]
2 months ago

Kate, the Princess of Wales, visits Wimbledon tennis

LONDON (AP) — Kate, the Princess of Wales, visited Wimbledon on Thursday in her latest public appearance since announcing her cancer was in remission. As the patron of the All England Club, Kate last year was at Centre Court on consecutive days to present the winners’ trophies to singles champions Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner. […]
2 months ago

FACT FOCUS: Iran claims a foreign ship got stuck in Strait of Hormuz. But it is tied to Tehran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian state television claimed this week that a foreign ship got stuck in the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring instructions to use a route laid out by the Islamic Republic’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. But the ship is tied to Iran — and seems to have been in the strait […]
2 months ago

Iran warns oil tankers to use approved routes in Strait of Hormuz or face a ‘forceful response’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s joint military command warned Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz must use its approved routes or face a “forceful response,” again ratcheting up tensions over a waterway crucial for international energy supplies. The strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has emerged […]
2 months ago

Russia waged a drone campaign in Europe and likely launched drones from shadow ships, report says

Russia likely used shadow ships to launch drones over Europe that repeatedly disrupted civilian aviation, as it monitored military sites and tested the air defenses of NATO nations, according to a report published Thursday by the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank. The report, which was shared before publication with The Associated Press, plotted […]
2 months ago

Asian stocks mostly decline on a sell-off of chip shares

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares mostly declined Thursday on heavy selling of computer chip stocks, while U.S. futures were little changed after modest losses on Wall Street. Oil prices fell after negotiators from the U.S. and Iran met separately with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan on Wednesday, as traders eyed developments in achieving a […]
2 months ago

The Onion’s new parody of Alex Jones’ Infowars starts with $100,000 to Sandy Hook families

The satirical news site The Onion isn’t waiting to take possession of Infowars to launch a parody of Alex Jones ’ conspiracy platform. More than a year after first trying to buy Infowars, The Onion on Thursday will debut a send-up under its own website with plans to give some of the revenue to families […]
2 months ago

The Declaration’s forgotten (non)signer: John Dickinson’s missing 1776 signature haunts his legacy

NEW YORK (AP) — For a quarter century, Jane Calvert has been on a mission shared by few scholars of the Revolutionary War era. She has championed a founder mostly remembered, when remembered at all, as the man who wouldn’t sign the Declaration of Independence — the lawyer and statesman John Dickinson. “It has been […]
2 months ago