Ingested Articles

Two major league players and two staff members were positive for COVID-19 during the past week among 13,978 tests, a 0.03% positive rate. There have been 17 positive tests — 12 for players, five for staff — among 72,751 monitoring tests during spring training, a rate of 0.02%. The positive tests were among 11 of the 30 teams. Including intake testing upon arrival at spring training, there have been 33 positive tests — 25 players, eight staff — among 78,227 tests, a positive rate of 0.04%. The positive tests were among 18 teams.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s elections agency has withdrawn ballot registration for a ruling-party state candidate who was nominated despite accusations of rape against him. The decision drew the wrath Friday of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has defended…

The Museum of Science in Boston is paying tribute to city native Leonard Nimoy with a 20-foot high sculpture shaped like Mr. Spock's split-fingered “live long and prosper” gesture. The museum and the actor’s family said Friday the stainless steel monument will be placed in front of the museum. It will be designed by artist David Phillips. The announcement was made the same day former Mayor Marty Walsh proclaimed Leonard Nimoy Day in the city. Nimoy's daughter Julie says her father truly believed in the gesture's message of peace, tolerance and diversity.

President Joe Biden is nominating Gayle Manchin, the wife of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, to be the co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission. The commission is an economic development partnership involving the federal government and 13 states. Gayle Manchin has held multiple government positions linked to education in a state where her husband is a political force. A former teacher, she was on the West Virginia Board of Education from 2007 to 2015 and served a two-year term as its president. Manchin was also the state’s secretary of education and the arts in 2017 and 2018, but was removed from the post by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice after releasing a statement critical of a bill to dismantle the department.

What’s better than a powerful voice from the Black theater community singing about change? How about 13 such voices? Vanessa Williams, Billy Porter and Audra McDonald and other founding members of Black Theatre United have recorded the song and video “Stand for Change,” with all proceeds donated to social justice efforts. It’s the latest step by Black-led groups trying to make the Great White Way look more like America. Other groups created in the past few years to spur change include We See You White American Theatre, Black Theatre Coalition, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Design Action, Musicians United for Social Equity and Broadway for Racial Justice. Williams thinks “people are listening and people are willing to make changes.” 

COVID-19 vaccines are being rolled out to adults who are most at risk from the coronavirus, but ending the pandemic will require vaccinating children too. Researchers are beginning to test younger and younger kids to make sure the shots are safe and work for each age. Pfizer and Moderna expect to release results soon showing how their two-dose vaccines performed in people ages 12 and older. The companies recently launched studies involving younger ages.  In Britain, AstraZeneca began a study among 6- to 17-year-olds. And Sinovac recently announced it has submitted preliminary data to Chinese regulators showing its vaccine is safe in children as young as 3.

Nearly 500 philanthropy leaders, mostly from foundations, signed a letter Friday calling on grant makers to increase their support of nonprofits that benefit Asian people and put efforts to combat anti-Asian racism squarely in the broader fight for racial justice.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers spending and personal incomes both fell sharply in February as severe winter storms disrupted shopping in many parts of the country and the government wrapped up distribution of $600 relief payments. However, both are expected rebound…

A Maine legislator who appeared for Zoom meetings twice with a background that made a joking reference to convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein is being investigated by the Legislature's human resources department. A spokesperson for House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said Thursday that the investigation will focus on whether Rep. Bruce Bickford's actions violated the Legislature’s harassment policy. The image had the words “Harvey Weinstein Charm School Rehab Center." Bickford quickly changed it both times it was shown. Bickford apologized and called it inappropriate and in poor taste. But he also told a newspaper that the joke would have been funny “in the private setting with the proper people.”

BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen is seeking damages from two former top executives for their role in the diesel emissions scandal that cost the German automaker billions of euros and a hefty dent in its reputation. VW said after a board…

U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah has been named this year's recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for being the only Republican to vote to convict former President Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial. The honor was announced Friday by the JFK Library Foundation in Boston. Trump’s first trial in 2020 focused on the president’s relationship with Ukraine. The 74-year-old Romney says he is inspired by his late father to do what's right regardless of consequence. The award was created by the family of the late President Kennedy to honor public figures who risk their careers by embracing unpopular positions for the greater good. 

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German businesses grew more optimistic in March, despite a growing number of coronavirus cases and a looming tightening of pandemic restrictions, according to a closely watched survey released Friday. The Ifo institute's index of business sentiment…

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he expects to invite President Joe Biden to the Tokyo Olympics when he visits the White House next month. That may become a bigger diplomatic arena as Suga is open to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un or his powerful sister, if either of them visits Tokyo for the Games. Suga was asked by a lawmaker in Parliament if he would invite Biden. Suga says "I expect we will.” The Tokyo Olympics open on July 23. They were postponed a year ago because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

At first, Vignesh Sundaresan and Anand Venkateswaran weren't sure they had just spent $69.3 million on a digital artwork by an artist called Beeple, securing their place in art history. The March 11 auction at Christie’s in London immediately catapulted Beeple’s artwork into the realm of the most expensive pieces ever sold by living artists, alongside a well-known swimming pool painting by David Hockney and an iconic stainless steel rabbit sculpture by Jeff Koons. And it has also kicked off a new explosion of interest in non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, a sort of cryptocurrency-adjacent technology that provides the digital equivalent of a certificate of authenticity.

A coalition of nongovernmental organizations is calling on President Joe Biden to develop plans to share an expected surplus of hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses with the world, once U.S. demand for shots is met. In a letter sent Friday and obtained exclusively by The Associated Press, the groups call on Biden’s administration to commit to sharing excess doses through the World Health Organization-backed COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access facility, or COVAX. The groups include the ONE Campaign, the International Rescue Committee, Catholic Relief Services and Save the Children. Biden has repeatedly said his primary focus is on ensuring all Americans can get vaccinated.

Dominion Voting Systems has filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, arguing the cable news giant falsely claimed in an effort to boost faltering ratings that the voting company rigged the 2020 election. Friday's defamation lawsuit is the first filed against a media outlet by the Denver-based company at the center of false claims spread by President Donald Trump and his allies after Trump's election loss to Joe Biden. Those claims helped spur on rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Some on-air reporting segments by New York-based Fox News have debunked some of the claims targeting Dominion.