Associated Press

Recent Articles

  • Mega Millions jackpot jumps to $970M as drawing approaches

    DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed to $970 million, inching ever-closer to the $1 billion mark. Officials raised the estimated jackpot Thursday for the second time due to strong sales ahead of Friday night’s drawing. The prize is the second-largest jackpot in U.S. history, behind only a $1.6 billion Powerball prize won in 2016. No one has matched all six numbers and won the Mega Millions grand prize since July 24. That reflects the game’s long […]

  • Gov. Ivey disputes assertion she had mini-stroke in 2015

    TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s doctor confirmed she was hospitalized during a 2015 trip to Colorado, but Ivey disputed a statement from the state’s former top law enforcement officer that she had suffered a mini-stroke. Ivey said she had altitude sickness and is in good health. The health of the 74-year-old Republican governor has become a periodic issue in the state’s gubernatorial race. Spencer Collier, the former head of the state law enforcement agency, said Tuesday that the […]

  • Puppeteer who played Big Bird for nearly 50 years on ‘Sesame Street’ is retiring

    WOODSTOCK, Conn. (AP) — The puppeteer who has played Big Bird on “Sesame Street” is retiring after nearly 50 years on the show. Caroll Spinney tells the New York Times that Thursday will be his last day on the program, which he joined from the start in 1969. In addition to Big Bird, the 84-year-old was also Oscar the Grouch. Spinney says “I always thought, how fortunate for me that I got to play the two best Muppets?” Spinney says the physical […]

  • Social Security checks will grow in 2019 as inflation rises

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Tens of millions of Social Security recipients and other retirees will get a 2.8 percent boost in benefits next year as inflation edges higher. It’s the biggest increase most retired baby boomers have gotten. Following a stretch of low inflation, the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2019 is the highest in seven years. It amounts to $39 a month for the average retired worker, according to estimates released Thursday by the Social Security Administration. The COLA affects […]

  • Tagovailoa one of 5 Alabama midseason AP All-Americans

    AP — Tua Tagovailoa and four of his Alabama teammates highlight The Associated Press midseason All-America team. Tagovailoa, the prolific quarterback of the top-ranked Crimson Tide, has 21 touchdown passes and no interceptions without having to attempt a pass in the fourth quarter because Alabama has been so thoroughly dominant. The Tide is averaging 53.6 points per game. Joining Tagovailoa on the first-team offense is receiver Jerry Jeudy and offensive linemen Jonah Williams and Ross Pierschbacher. Tide safety Deionte Thompson […]

  • Official: Tennessee woman, 4 kids killed in murder-suicide

    COLUMBIA, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee official says a mother and four children have been found shot to death at a home in Columbia. Maury County District Attorney Brent Cooper tells news outlets that the family died in an apparent murder-suicide. The dead children, who ranged in age from 8 to 16, and woman were found by a family member Monday evening. Maury County Sheriff Bucky Rowland said it was an “isolated” crime and while nobody else is suspected, they will do […]

  • Government spends millions to guard Confederate cemeteries

    ALTON, Ill. (AP) After last year’s deadly clash between white nationalists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, the federal government quietly spent millions of dollars to hire private security guards to stand watch over at least eight Confederate cemeteries. That’s according to documents from the Department of Veterans Affairs reviewed by The Associated Press. The security runs around the clock at all but one of those VA-operated cemeteries. The effort is aimed at preventing the kind of damage that befell Confederate […]

  • Officials say a child is first to die in Florida flu season

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Florida health officials say a child is the first to die during this year’s flu season. The Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Epidemiology said in a report the unidentified child tested positive for influenza B and died between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6. The report did not say where the child died but did say the child was otherwise healthy. The child had not been vaccinated. In the first week of the flu season, the state […]

  • Michael’s destruction reveals region’s weaker building codes

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Unlike in South Florida, homes in the state’s Panhandle did not have tighter building codes It was once argued that the trees would help save Florida’s Panhandle from the fury of a hurricane, as the acres of forests in the region would provide a natural barrier to savage winds that accompany the deadly storms. It’s part of the reason that tighter building codes — mandatory in places such as South Florida — were not put in […]

  • President Trump to visit Florida, Georgia; search ongoing for missing

    MEXICO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Upon touring the damage in several towns along Florida’s Panhandle, Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long called the destruction left by Hurricane Michael some of the worst he’s ever seen. On Monday, President Donald Trump plans to visit Florida and Georgia and see the recovery effort for himself. Trump declared a state of emergency for Georgia late Sunday. In hurricane-flattened Mexico Beach, crews with backhoes and other heavy equipment scooped up splintered boards, broken […]

  • Tennessee, other states ask for action on illegal robocalls

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee’s attorney general has joined several dozen other states to ask the federal government to take action on illegal robocalls. Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III’s office said in a news release that a document signed by officials from almost three dozen states asks the Federal Communications Commission to create new rules to allow telephone service providers to block more calls. The document says scammers using illegal robocalls are able to get around a call blocking order […]

  • Tagovailoa, No. 1 Alabama race past Missouri 39-10

    TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Tua Tagovailoa passed for 265 yards and three touchdowns before leaving with an injury in No. 1 Alabama’s 39-10 victory over Missouri on Saturday night. The Crimson Tide (7-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) shrugged off another would-be challenger in the league, but got a scare when the star quarterback went down after sliding at the end of a run in the third quarter. Playing with a sprained right knee, Tagovailoa went to the medical tent on the […]