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Drummond leaves debut with bruised toe, Bucks beat LA 112-97

Andre Drummond left his Lakers debut with a bruised right toe, and Jrue Holiday scored 28 points in the Milwaukee Bucks’ 112-97 victory over Los Angeles. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Khris Middleton added 17 points and eight assists as the Bucks snapped their three-game losing streak with a workmanlike victory over the depleted defending NBA champions, who are still without LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Drummond scored four points in 14 minutes before limping off the court early in the third quarter. X-rays were negative on Los Angeles’ new center.

New Mexico primed to join US recreational pot wave

New Mexico’s Legislature has approved the legalization of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in a bill that the governor plans to sign, extending the legal cannabis market in the American Southwest by April 2022. The state House concurred with Senate amendments Wednesday to provide the Legislature’s final approval. A companion bill would automatically erase some past marijuana convictions and reconsider criminal sentences for about 100 prisoners. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called a special legislation this week to push for legalization of marijuana in efforts to spur employment and a stable new source of state income. She is expected to sign the package of bills.

Hats off: Donskoi scores 3 in 1st, Avs beat Coyotes 9-3

Joonas Donskoi scored three times during Colorado’s five-goal first period, and the Avalanche beat the Arizona Coyotes 9-3 in front of home fans for the first time this season. The team invited health-care workers, first responders, players’ families and employees into Ball Arena. Gabriel Landeskog and Andre Burakovsky each added two goals, while Mikko Rantanen and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare both added another. There were 14 different Avalanche players who had at least a point. Michael Bunting, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland scored for the Coyotes. 

LEADING OFF: Crowds back on opening day, Cole starts season

From Fenway Park to Petco Park, ballparks will again be buzzing with real fans, rather than pumped-in crowd noise, as Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and MVPs José Abreu and Freddie Freeman step to the plate on opening day. All 30 teams are scheduled to be in action on Thursday, with Gerrit Cole set to throw the first pitch of the season against Toronto at Yankee Stadium. Clayton Kershaw and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers start in Colorado. A year after no fans were allowed during the virus-shortened 60-game season, every stadium is open, in varying degrees as teams adhere to coronavirus protocols.

Ancient coins may solve mystery of murderous 1600s pirate

A handful of 17th-century Arabian silver coins unearthed around New England may help solve one of the planet’s oldest cold cases. Amateur historian and metal detectorist Jim Bailey found the first intact coin in a Rhode Island orchard and discovered it was minted in 1693 in Yemen. Other coins have turned up in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and Bailey has found documents tying them to English pirate Henry Every. The murderous pirate became the subject of the first worldwide manhunt after plundering an Indian ship carrying Muslim pilgrims home from Mecca. Bailey and other historians say it's evidence that Every, who was never captured, hid in the American colonies for a time.

A closer look at Biden's infrastructure and tax proposals

President Joe Biden says his proposal for an aggressive series of infrastructure investments would require $2.3 trillion in spending over eight years but could create millions of jobs. It would be funded by higher corporate taxes. A closer look at…

Osaka's win streak ends, Medvedev also loses at Miami Open

No. 2-ranked Naomi Osaka’s 23-match winning streak ended when she lost to Maria Sakkari of Greece in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open, 6-0, 6-4. The defeat was Osaka’s first since February 2020 and ended any chance of reclaiming the No. 1 ranking this week from Ash Barty, who is in the semifinals. In men's play, No. 1-seeded Daniil Medvedev lost to Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in straight sets. Bautista Agut improved to 3-0 against Medvedev. Sakkari will next play Bianca Andreescu of Canada, who dropped serve eight times but still outlasted unseeded Sara Sorribes Tormo in three sets. 

Biden to hold first Cabinet meeting amid infrastructure push

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's first Cabinet meeting will be used to promote his new infrastructure plan, but the gathering will look very different from those held by his predecessor. To begin with, the full Cabinet won’t meet Thursday…

Biden plan would spend $16B to clean up old mines, oil wells

President Joe Biden’s plan to transform America’s infrastructure includes $16 billion to plug old oil and gas wells and clean up abandoned mines. Hundreds of thousands of “orphaned” oil and gas wells and abandoned coal and hardrock mines pose serious safety hazards, while causing ongoing environmental damage. The administration sees the longstanding problem as an opportunity to create jobs and remediate pollution, including greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Many of the old wells and mines are located in rural communities that have been hard-hit by the pandemic. Some sites have sat unattended for decades.

AP source: Lindor, Mets agree to $341 million, 10-year deal

Francisco Lindor and the New York Mets have agreed to a $341 million, 10-year deal. It will keep the All-Star shortstop in Queens for the long haul after New York acquired him from Cleveland in the offseason. The deal was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn’t been announced. Lindor was eligible for free agency after this season and said this spring he wouldn’t negotiate with the Mets on a long-term deal after opening day. The agreement was reached less than 24 hours before New York starts its season Thursday night in Washington.

Company at heart of J&J vaccine woes has series of citations

The company at the center of quality problems that led Johnson & Johnson to discard a batch of its coronavirus vaccine has a string of citations from U.S. health officials for quality control problems. Emergent BioSolutons, the little known pharmaceutical company, was a key to Johnson & Johnson’s plan to deliver 100 million doses of its vaccine to the U.S. by the end of May. But it has been has been cited repeatedly by the Food and Drug Administration for problems ranging from poorly trained employees to cracked vials and mold around one of its facilities, according to records obtained by The Associated Press. 

Bank of Japan 'tankan' survey upbeat over economic recovery

TOKYO (AP) — A closely watched economic survey by the Bank of Japan shows growing optimism as the world’s third-largest economy grapples with the damage from the coronavirus pandemic. The quarterly “tankan” survey’s headline index for big manufacturers’ sentiment stood…

Sabres end 18-game skid with 6-1 win over Flyers

Linus Ullmark stopped 31 shots and the Buffalo Sabres snapped an 18-game skid with a 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was the first off the bench as the final horn sounded and led a line of Sabres players high-fiving Ullmark in an arena without fans. It was the first win for Buffalo since a 4-1 victory at New Jersey on Feb. 23, and ended an 0-15-3 streak. The slump was tied for the league’s 14th longest, and worst since the Pittsburgh Penguins had a 0-17-1 stretch during the 2003-04 season.

Nets lose Harden but beat Rockets, move into first in East

Kyrie Irving had 31 points and a season-high 12 assists, and the Brooklyn Nets overcame the loss of James Harden to beat the Houston Rockets 120-108 and move into first place in the Eastern Conference. Harden sat out the fourth quarter against his former team with right hamstring tightness, finishing with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists. The Nets put together the pivotal run without him, scoring 12 straight midway through the final period to turn a six-point deficit into a 107-101 lead, winning a game they trailed by 18 points. 

Junta's foes woo ethnic allies with new Myanmar constitution

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Opponents of Myanmar’s military government declared the country’s 2008 constitution void and put forward an interim replacement charter late Wednesday in a major political challenge to the ruling junta. The moves, while more symbolic than practical,…

EXPLAINER: Use-of-force experts evaluate Floyd arrest

Jurors have been watching police body camera footage showing how an initial confrontation over an alleged counterfeit $20 bill last year spiraled into an encounter that left George Floyd begging for his life underneath the knee of a police officer as two other officers held him down. Experts on policing have questioned whether the Black man needed to be arrested at all, and say the officers should have at least questioned Floyd on whether he knew the bill was fake. They also wondered why the officers appeared to not follow standard de-escalation techniques to calm Floyd and the situation. Fired Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin is on trial, charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death.

Microsoft wins $22 billion deal making headsets for US Army

Microsoft won a nearly $22 billion contract to supply U.S. Army combat troops with its virtual reality headsets. Microsoft and the Army separately announced the deal Wednesday. The technology is based on Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets, which can superimpose virtual imagery over real scenery. Tech companies originally designed such goggles for the video game and entertainment industries but have increasingly pitched other uses for them. Military officials have described the futuristic technology — which the Army calls its Integrated Visual Augmentation System — as a way of boosting soldiers’ awareness of their surroundings and their ability to spot targets and dangers.

3 high school teammates become MLB opening day starters

Lucas Giolito, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty were teammates nine years ago at Harvard-Westlake, a prestigious prep school in Los Angeles. On Thursday, all three will be opening day starting pitchers in the major leagues. And they didn’t even win a California state title the year they all played together. Giolito will throw the season's first pitch for the Chicago White Sox, Flaherty for the St. Louis Cardinals and Fried for the Atlanta Braves.

Black man's death moves Georgia to end citizen's arrest law

Georgia lawmakers have given final passage to a bill to repeal the state’s citizen’s arrest law, which the governor has promised to sign into law. Wednesday's final legislative approval came little more than a year after the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man pursued by white men who said they suspected him of a crime. The state House voted 169-0 on Wednesday to approve Senate changes to the bill and sent it to Gov. Brian Kemp for his expected signature. Arbery was fatally shot while running through a neighborhood near Brunswick on the Georgia coast in February 2020. 

Iowa Democrat drops bid for House seat she lost by 6 votes

A defeated Democrat has abruptly dropped her bid to overturn her six-vote loss for a House seat from Iowa, abandoning what loomed as a long legal and political battle in the face of shaky support from her own party. In a three-paragraph statement Wednesday, Rita Hart blamed a “toxic campaign of political disinformation” that she said had “effectively silenced the voices of Iowans.” But she also congratulated Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks, the Republican who won the November election and was seated when the new Congress took office in January, even as Hart’s appeal proceeded. Miller-Meeks’ victory was certified by a bipartisan board of Iowa officials after a recount. 

LEADING OFF: Crowds back on opening day, Cole starts season

From Fenway Park to Petco Park, ballparks will again be buzzing with real fans, rather than pumped-in crowd noise, as Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and MVPs José Abreu and Freddie Freeman step to the plate on opening day. All 30 teams are scheduled to be in action on Thursday, with Gerrit Cole set to throw the first pitch of the season against Toronto at Yankee Stadium. Clayton Kershaw and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers start in Colorado. A year after no fans were allowed during the virus-shortened 60-game season, every stadium is open, in varying degrees as teams adhere to coronavirus protocols.

1 Nationals player positive for COVID; 4 others quarantined

Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo says a player for the team has tested positive for COVID-19. Rizzo says four teammates and a staff member have been quarantined on the eve of the start of the regular season after contact tracing. The positive result came from a test conducted while the Nationals were still in Florida for spring training. They then traveled to Washington. The club is scheduled to host the New York Mets on Thursday night for opening day. Rizzo said the players involved will not be available to play in that game.

Under pressure, some Ga. corporate leaders slam voting bill

Some of Georgia’s most prominent corporate leaders are beginning to more forcefully criticize the state’s sweeping new election law. They're acknowledging the concerns of civil rights activists and Black business executives who say the law targets non-white voters and threatens the democratic process. The chief executives of Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola have now called the law “unacceptable.” Their criticism is opening an unusual rift with Republican leaders who championed the restrictions and typically enjoy a cozy relationship with Georgia’s business community. The Major League Baseball Players Association also has raised the idea of moving the summer All-Star Game from the Atlanta Braves' home stadium.