Associated Press stories, Page 121

BILLINGS, Mont. — The Biden administration said Wednesday it will continue protecting about 2,000 grizzly bears in the Rocky Mountains despite opposition from Republican-led states. Federal officials also said they would ease some restrictions as conflicts between bears and humans rise. Ranchers operating outside of designated grizzly recovery zones would...

An international team of scientists announced Thursday they’ve successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet, penetrating nearly 2 miles to Antarctic bedrock to reach ice they say is at least 1.2 million years old. Analysis of the ancient ice is expected to show how Earth’s atmosphere and climate...

WASHINGTON — A former FBI informant who fabricated a story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes that became central to Republicans’ impeachment effort was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison. Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty last month in Los Angeles federal court to tax evasion and...

TAMPA, Fla. — Baker Mayfield had the best statistical year of his career, Mike Evans topped 1,000 yards receiving for a record-tying 11th consecutive season and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are NFC South champions for a franchise-best fourth straight time. It would be safe to say, though, the Bucs (10-7)...

WASHINGTON — The Service Employees International Union is returning to the AFL-CIO after 20 years, betting that a united labor movement will do more to help workers overcome legal challenges to organize and join unions. The union groups’ executive boards each unanimously approved the combination on Wednesday, with plans to...

WINDER, Ga. — A 14-year-old student has been arrested after bringing a gun on Wednesday to Apalachee High School, the same Georgia high school where a shooting in September killed two teachers and two students and wounded others. The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office said school resource officers arrested the boy...

U.S. longshoremen reached a contract agreement with ports and shippers Wednesday, averting a potential strike that could have damaged the American economy. The International Longshoremen’s Association union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance of ports and shipping companies said they had reached a tentative agreement for a six-year contract, a week...

NORFOLK, Va. — A Virginia man accused of stockpiling the largest number of finished explosives in FBI history and using President Joe Biden’s photo for target practice must stay in jail until trial, a federal judge ruled, writing that he has “shown the capacity for extreme danger.” Brad Spafford, 36,...

ASHBURN, Va. — Tress Way does not like using the word “darkness” to describe the losing he has endured over the past decade as Washington’s longest-tenured player because of the fun he has had along the way. The two-time Pro Bowl punter even got to take part in a couple...

HONOLULU — The royal palms on a Waialae course that runs along the Pacific Ocean give a peaceful ambiance to the Sony Open, the ideal place for the full PGA Tour membership to start the year. But a new season has brought a small degree of stress in paradise. The...

JUNEAU, Alaska — The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday said no bids were submitted for this week’s oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — a sale the state has challenged as too restrictive and at odds with a 2017 law aimed at opening the refuge’s...

The U.S. Justice Department wants a judge to declare that a Pennsylvania city’s method of electing council members citywide instead of by districts has illegally diluted the political power of its growing Hispanic population, arguing in a lawsuit that Hazleton is violating the federal Voting Rights Act. A complaint filed...

WASHINGTON — A former police officer who stormed the U.S. Capitol with fellow members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Wednesday to 14 months in prison for joining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Donald Trump supporters, court records show. Nathaniel Tuck and...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two staff members at a northern West Virginia long-term care facility have been charged in the death of a patient who was left in a scalding hot bathtub a year ago, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Wednesday. Registered nurse Delilah Clyburn-Hill and certified nursing assistant Kylah Beard...

KYIV, Ukraine — A daytime Russian missile attack on the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 13 civilians and injured about 30 others Wednesday, officials said. Footage posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel showed civilians lying in a city street littered with debris. They were being...

JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers recovered the body of a 53-year-old hostage in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday, and the army was determining if another set of remains belongs to the man’s son. The discovery of Yosef AlZayadni’s body comes as Israel and Hamas are considering...

MIAMI — Hockey. Outdoors. In Florida. Next season, the NHL is making it happen — twice. The NHL announced Wednesday that the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will play host to the New York Rangers at loanDepot Park in Miami — home of baseball’s Marlins — on Jan. 2, 2026,...

LOS ANGELES — The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires still burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers...

DANIA BEACH, Fla. — It’s been a long time since Notre Dame or Penn State reached college football’s mountaintop as national champion. It was 1988 for the Fighting Irish, 1986 for the Nittany Lions. There’s been good seasons and bad seasons in the three-plus decades that have followed, coaching changes...

DANIA BEACH, Fla. — The Big Ten plays nine conference games in football. So does the Big 12. The SEC and the ACC are among those playing eight-game league schedules. The Mountain West played a seven-game league slate. Notre Dame doesn’t have a league. Enough, Penn State coach James Franklin...