AP Trending SummaryBrief at 8:39 p.m. EDT (2024)

Angie Harmon is suing Instacart and a former shopper who shot and killed her dog, Oliver

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Actor Angie Harmon has filed a lawsuit against Instacart and a former Instacart shopper who fatally shot her dog in March while delivering groceries at her North Carolina home. The lawsuit was filed last week in Mecklenburg County. It seeks to hold the shopper and Instacart liable for accusations of trespassing, gross negligence, emotional distress and invasion of privacy, among other allegations. Police say the shopper told them he shot the dog after it attacked him. Instacart says it immediately suspended the shopper then later removed him permanently. The company says it runs comprehensive background checks on its shoppers.

Man pleads guilty in theft of Arnold Palmer green jacket, other Masters memorabilia from Augusta

CHICAGO (AP) — A former warehouse assistant for the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia has pleaded guilty to transporting millions of dollars' worth of stolen Masters tournament memorabilia and historic items, including one of Arnold Palmer’s green jackets. Richard Globensky of Georgia entered the plea Wednesday in federal court in Chicago. Federal prosecutors say the 39-year-old took items from the warehouse to another party in Florida for sale online. They say the scheme lasted nearly a decade and Globensky made roughly $5 million from the sales. He's to be sentenced Oc.t 29. Prosecutors say the memorabilia also included stolen jackets won Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen.

Netflix will carry NFL games on Christmas Day for 3 years, including 2 this upcoming season

Netflix and the NFL announced a three-year deal for the streaming giant to carry games on Christmas Day. Netflix will have both games this year and at least one game in 2025 and ’26. Netflix announced during its upfront presentation to advertisers that it will have defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City at Pittsburgh followed by Baltimore at Houston. Netflix began airing NFL programming last year with the series “Quarterback.” A series on wide receivers will premiere this year. Netflix began airing live sports events last year, but it was exhibition events in golf and tennis. It is also scheduled to air the July 20 bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul and next year will start carrying World Wrestling Entertainment’s flagship show, “Raw.”

Brazilian dance craze created by young people in Rio’s favelas is declared cultural heritage

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The passinho is a Brazilian dance style created in the 2000s by kids in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. And it has been declared an “intangible cultural heritage” of the state of Rio, bringing recognition to a cultural expression born in the working-class neighborhoods. The creators were of passinho were young kids with plenty of flexibility — and no joint problems. They started trying out new moves at home and then showing them off at funk parties in their communities and, crucially, sharing them on the internet. Dancing also became a means for young people to move seamlessly between communities controlled by rival drug gangs. It offered young men from favelas a new way out, besides falling into a life of crime or the all-too-common pipe dream of becoming a soccer star.

The WNBA's challenge: How to translate the Caitlin Clark hype into sustained growth for the league

The stars have aligned for the WNBA with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese joining the ranks of A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi and others. The league is getting unparalleled attention. Now the challenge for the WNBA is to translate this hype and hoopla into a movement and not just a moment in its history. Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said everyone involved in the game needs to be more innovative in how players and games are marketed and promoted to take advantage of the potential tsunami for both the league and women’s sports. That means fans spending money and the WNBA making all the right moves ahead of its next media deal after the 2025 season.

Blinken's Kyiv song choice raises eyebrows as Ukraine fights fierce Russian attacks

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, an amateur musician, may have thought he had the perfect upbeat song to perform with a Kyiv bar band. Fresh from a day of delivering optimistic prognoses about the war with Russia despite gloomy news from the front lines, he played “Rockin’ in the Free World" in a packed club, ostensibly to encourage Ukrainians to keep up the fight. The 1989 song sounds like it should be an homage to the glory of living in the West uncompromised by communism or authoritarianism. In fact, it's a lament about despair caused by homelessness, drug addiction and poverty.

The Mirage casino, which ushered in an era of Las Vegas Strip megaresorts in the '90s, is closing

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The iconic Mirage hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip will shut its doors on July 17. It marks the end of an era for a property credited with helping transform Sin City into an ultra-luxury resort destination. The closure will clear the way for major renovations and construction on the property. It is expected to reopen in 2027 as the Hard Rock Las Vegas with a 700-foot hotel tower in the shape of a guitar. The Mirage opened in 1989 as the Strip's first megaresort, and its success ushered in a building boom through the 1990s.

Chiefs kicker Butker congratulates women graduates and says most are more excited about motherhood

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker is getting attention for comments he made during a commencement address at Benedictine College last weekend in which he congratulated the women receiving degrees, but then said most were probably more excited to get married and have children. The three-time Super Bowl champion also railed against President Joe Biden’s stance on abortion and his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Catholic leaders he said were “pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.” Butker delivered his roughly 20-minute address Saturday at the Catholic private liberal arts school in Atchison, Kansas, which is located about 60 miles north of Kansas City.

Miniature poodle named Sage wins Westminster Kennel Club dog show

NEW YORK (AP) — A miniature poodle named Sage has won the top prize at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Sage bested six other finalists to claim the best in show award Tuesday night at the United States’ most illustrious canine event. A German shepherd named Mercedes placed second. Each stood, strode and sought to shine before the judge at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the home of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. In all, more than 2,500 dogs spanning about 200 breeds and varieties entered the show. They’re judged according to which one best matches the “standard,” or ideal, for its breed.

Sun shoots out biggest solar flare in almost 2 decades, but Earth should be out of the way this time

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The sun isn't done yet. That's the message from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as the biggest flare in nearly two decades erupted on the sun Tuesday. A NASA spacecraft photographed the bright flash of the X-ray flare, which was classified as a rare and extreme X8.7. It follows a weekend of severe solar storm activity caused by mass ejections of coronal plasma that slammed Earth. NOAA says Earth should be out of the line of fire this time. That's because this flare occurred on the limb of the sun.