General news

• NASCAR fines Tony Stewart $35,000 for criticizing officials

  21-04-2016 23:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR fined Tony Stewart $35,000 on Thursday after he criticized the series about a potential safety hazard during races.
  
  Read more

• Top Senate Republican: Zika funding to get floor vote

  21-04-2016 23:54 via news.yahoo.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan measure to partially fund President Barack Obama's $1.9 billion request to combat the Zika virus will soon get a vote, a senior Senate Republican said on Thursday.
  
  Read more

• U.S. dealers hope Volkswagen's steps will get owners back on board

  21-04-2016 23:53 via news.yahoo.com
  By Alexandria Sage and Bernie Woodall SAN FRANCISCO/DETROIT (Reuters) - Volkswagen dealers in the United States said they were cautiously optimistic consumers will be drawn back into the fold by the German automaker's plans to buy back or fix owners' polluting diesel vehicles. "You only get one shot with doing this and doing it right," said Lewisville, Texas dealer Alan Brown. Volkswagen did not disclose details Thursday of how much owners of diesel models would be compensated or what a fix woul
  
  Read more

• La'Porsha Renae of "American Idol" hits high note back home

  21-04-2016 23:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — "American Idol" runner-up La'Porsha Renae has delivered a soulful rendition of "Amazing Grace" to a standing ovation in the Mississippi House, closing the session on a high note in her home state.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Girl who wrote Obama excited about Tubman on $20 bill

  21-04-2016 23:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts fifth-grader has a special reason to celebrate the announcement that African-American abolitionist Harriet Tubman will be featured on the $20 bill.
  
  Read more

• Starbucks cafe sales growth falls short, shares fall

  21-04-2016 23:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp on Thursday reported cafe sales growth that fell short of expectations in every region where it operates, sending shares of the world's largest coffee chain down 4.6 percent.
  
  Read more

• Microsoft revenue, profit misses estimates

  21-04-2016 23:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp reported results that fell short of analysts' expectations, showing its high-profile cloud business cannot quite make up for weakness in its core PC market. Two categories showed lower operating profits, led by what Microsoft calls its intelligent cloud division, which includes its Azure cloud-services business as well as traditional server software. Despite revenue at Azure more than doubling, operating profits at the division shrank 14 percent while revenue grew 3 pe
  
  Read more

• Rabbi sues Manischewitz, saying it let kosher standards slip

  21-04-2016 23:44 via news.yahoo.com
  NEW YORK (AP) — A rabbi is accusing kosher foods manufacturer Manischewitz of pushing him out as its longtime inspector of holiday matzos after he complained it wasn't sticking to strict Jewish religious practices.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Google's parent Alphabet misses Wall Street view

  21-04-2016 23:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Google's parent Alphabet Inc missed Wall Street targets for first-quarter profit and revenue on Thursday, driving shares of the Web search company down more than 4 percent in late trading on Thursday. Alphabet, the world's No.2 publicly traded company by market capitalization, said consolidated revenue rose to $20.26 billion from $17.26 billion. Rosenblatt Securities analyst Martin Pyykkonen said the effect of foreign currency was worse for Alphabet than expected.
  
  Read more

• Arkansas GOP governor uses veto to save Medicaid program

  21-04-2016 23:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday effectively saved Arkansas' first-in-the-nation hybrid Medicaid expansion by voiding part of a budget bill that would have ended the subsidized insurance for more than 250,000 poor people.
  
  Read more

• Trump, Cruz spar as Republican Party rejects rules change

  21-04-2016 23:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Amanda Becker and Steve Holland WASHINGTON/HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (Reuters) - Republican presidential contenders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz vied on Thursday for the support of party leaders who view them as outsiders, and turned a national controversy over a law on transgender bathroom use into a campaign issue. Saying the law, passed by the Republican-controlled legislature, was unnecessary, Trump said North Carolina was "paying a big price" because of reaction from businesses that have halted or ca
  
  Read more

• Old school: Why his music isn't streamed

  21-04-2016 23:33 via edition.cnn.com
  
  When a musician dies, interest in his or her catalog skyrockets. Imagine that response on steroids now that Prince has passed away.
  
  Read more

• The Latest: Hutchinson uses veto to save Medicaid program

  21-04-2016 23:28 via news.yahoo.com
  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Latest on the effort to preserve Arkansas' hybrid Medicaid program expansion (all times local):
  
  Read more

• Limp Bizkit gas station concert hoax disappoints Ohio fans

  21-04-2016 23:28 via news.yahoo.com
  DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A hoax claiming that Limp Bizkit planned to give a concert at an Ohio gas station has rallied many of the band's fans and left some disappointed.
  
  Read more

• 2016: So much talent has gone

  21-04-2016 23:28 via edition.cnn.com
  
  A look back at notable people who died in 2016.Popular: Guns in America | Sanders Demands Clinton Apologize | Blindsided: How ISIS Shook The World
  
  Read more

• Man who landed small aircraft on Capitol lawn gets 4 months

  21-04-2016 23:27 via news.yahoo.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida man who piloted a one-person gyrocopter through some of the most restricted U.S. airspace and landed on the lawn of the Capitol in Washington in 2015, was sentenced Thursday to 120 days in jail.
  
  Read more

• Silver: Change in NC law needed for All-Star in Charlotte

  21-04-2016 23:22 via news.yahoo.com
  NEW YORK (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says he believes the league has made it "crystal clear" that a change in a North Carolina law is necessary to stage the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte, though is resisting setting a deadline for a decision.
  
  Read more

• VW forges U.S. deal arising from diesel emissions scandal

  21-04-2016 23:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Alexandria Sage and David Shepardson SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG, driving to move beyond a scandal that has disrupted its global business and sullied its reputation, announced a sweeping U.S. deal on Thursday to buy back or potentially fix about a half million polluting diesel cars and set up environmental and consumer compensation funds. The settlement, which sources and analysts said could cost VW at least $10 billion, is not likely to end the Dieselgate controversy t
  
  Read more

• The Latest: Sanders reminds PA voters of Clinton speeches

  21-04-2016 23:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign (all times Eastern Daylight Time):
  
  Read more

• Sanchez sinks West Brom to settle Arsenal nerves

  21-04-2016 23:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  In-form Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez struck twice as Arsenal defeated West Bromwich Albion 2-0 on Thursday to re-assert their hold on a Champions League berth in the Premier League. Booed off following Sunday's 1-1 draw at home to Crystal Palace, Arsenal delivered a more clinical display at the Emirates Stadium as Sanchez took his tally to five goals in four games, and 16 for the season, with a first-half brace from outside the box. After consecutive draws, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will h
  
  Read more

• Prince: Superstar who loved to provoke

  21-04-2016 23:19 via edition.cnn.com
  
  Prince, a multi-talented entertainer famed for his eclectic sound, glittery wardrobe and provocative lyrics, has died at age 57.
  
  Read more

• Google/Alphabet profit falls short of forecasts

  21-04-2016 23:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Google parent Alphabet on Thursday reported profit climbed 20 percent, but the rise fell short of investor expectations, sending shares sharply lower. Alphabet said that net income hit $4.2 billion in the first three months of this year, but shares sank five percent to $721.89 in after-market trades that followed release of the report. The results "represent a tremendous start to the year," said Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat.
  
  Read more

• Criminal charges in Flint water crisis raise stakes

  21-04-2016 23:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DETROIT (AP) — Flint's water crisis has taken a dramatic turn with criminal charges being filed against two state employees and a city worker. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette alleges the three men knew that a lack of corrosion control in drinking water was a threat to public health and intentionally tampered with lead-level reports to cover up the fiasco.
  
  Read more

• Guantanamo shrinking but Obama goal of closing prison still elusive

  21-04-2016 23:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Matt Spetalnick GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Observed from behind a one-way mirror and heavy chain-link fence, a handful of bearded detainees in baggy t-shirts mill around inside a communal cellblock at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, vastly outnumbered by U.S. troops guarding them. This is the shrinking world of America’s notorious offshore prison, a scene that underscores how U.S. President Barack Obama is running out of time – and options – to meet
  
  Read more

• The Latest: Man who flew gyrocopter to Capitol gets 4 months

  21-04-2016 23:04 via news.yahoo.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on sentencing of man who piloted gyrocopter to Washington, D.C., landing in 2015 (all times local):
  
  Read more

• Microsoft profit down 25 percent to $3.8 bn

  21-04-2016 23:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Microsoft on Thursday reported a 25 percent plunge in quarterly profits as the company navigated away from its role as a software seller to a services model. Shares in Microsoft, once the world's largest company, were down 4.3 percent in after-hours trade following the results, which were weaker than expectations. Chief executive Satya Nadella said Microsoft was pursuing its shift to business and cloud computing services.
  
  Read more

• Feds: No nuke waste to be used in possible South Dakota test

  21-04-2016 23:02 via news.yahoo.com
  PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Organizers of a federal effort to assess whether nuclear waste can be stored in 3-mile-deep holes are trying to better explain their intentions to South Dakota residents after getting rebuffed in North Dakota over concerns that waste might eventually be stored there.
  
  Read more

• News on Prince death another scoop for TMZ

  21-04-2016 22:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The first outlet to break the news of music legend Prince, TMZ, is no stranger to scoops in the entertainment world. The celebrity news and gossip website was first with the 2009 news of the death of Michael Jackson, broke the story on Mel Gibson's arrest for drunken driving and his subsequent anti-Semitic rant, and posted the infamous video of NFL star Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee in an elevator. "There's nothing wrong with it," Harvey Levin, the founder of TMZ, told Fox News when asked a
  
  Read more

• Wall Street bonuses targeted in new US rules

  21-04-2016 22:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Senior executives with large banks would have to wait four years before collecting much of their bonus pay under a proposed regulation in response to the 2008 financial crisis. The proposal was accepted by the National Credit Union Administration Board, one of six federal agencies that have been working on the rule. The others, including the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission, are expected to take up the rules in the coming weeks.
  
  Read more

• Legal hurdles remain for Volkswagen in U.S. clean-diesel cases

  21-04-2016 22:55 via news.yahoo.com
  Volkswagen AG faces further legal fights on several fronts in the United States despite its announcement on Thursday it reached a preliminary deal to resolve consumers' and regulators' claims over vehicles outfitted with software to cheat on diesel-emissions tests. The U.S. Department of Justice said its criminal investigation into the conduct of Volkswagen remained ongoing, and a multi-state probe into consumer and environmental violations will continue, according to New York Attorney General E
  
  Read more

• Starbucks profit jumps, but sales fall short of expectations

  21-04-2016 22:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks said its profit rose 16 percent during the first three months of the year, helped by positive sales around the world.
  
  Read more

• Trump's Twitter provokes huge following, trouble

  21-04-2016 22:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump says there's genius in his tweets, but his wife wishes he would stop.
  
  Read more

• Alphabet spells big gains for investors, despite 1Q letdown

  21-04-2016 22:51 via news.yahoo.com
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Larry Page's five-year tenure as CEO of Google — and its newish corporate parent Alphabet — is reminding investors that patience pays off, despite a letdown in the first quarter.
  
  Read more

• Trump presses GOP leaders to embrace him as certain nominee

  21-04-2016 22:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump's chief lieutenants pushed skeptical Republican leaders Thursday to embrace him as their likely presidential nominee, declaring he can deliver big electoral gains this fall despite his contentious ways.
  
  Read more

• Factbox: The life of pop superstar Prince in music and film

  21-04-2016 22:46 via news.yahoo.com
  Music superstar Prince died on Thursday at the complex that housed his recording studio and home in a Minneapolis suburb on Thursday at age 57. Here is a look at his legacy: 'PURPLE RAIN' Prince's best-selling album was released in 1984 to accompany the semi-autobiographical film of the same name, which starred him as an up-and-coming singer known as "The Kid" trying to make his mark in the Minneapolis music scene. The album of the same name spent a total of 24 straight weeks atop the Billboard
  
  Read more

• The Latest: CO GOP wants sheriff with convention delegates

  21-04-2016 22:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign (all times Eastern Daylight Time):
  
  Read more

• U.N. Syria envoy to pursue peace talks next week

  21-04-2016 22:41 via news.yahoo.com
  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. Special Envoy for Syria said on Thursday peace talks will continue next week despite the main opposition's decision to leave early, a move he dismissed as "diplomatic posturing". Staffan de Mistura, in an interview with French-language Radio Television Suisse (RTS), said 400,000 people had been killed in the five-year-old war, far higher than the previous U.N. toll which has varied from 250,000 to 300,000. All members of the main Syrian opposition
  
  Read more

• Microsoft quarterly profit down 25 percent to $3.8 bn

  21-04-2016 22:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  San Francisco (AFP) - Microsoft on Thursday reported a 25 percent plunge in quarterly profits as the company navigated away from its role as a software seller to a services model.
  
  Read more

• Alphabet profit misses expectations as cost per clicks falls

  21-04-2016 22:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Google's parent Alphabet Inc reported a first-quarter adjusted profit that was lower than analysts' estimates, as cost per clicks fell.
  
  Read more

• Wall Street cedes ground after mixed bag of earnings

  21-04-2016 22:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Verizon's shares dropped 3.32 percent after the telecom said a strike by its wireline workers would likely hurt earnings this quarter. Nine of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower, with the telecom sector down 2.74 percent, thanks largely to Verizon. Of the S&P companies that have reported so far for the first quarter, 77 percent have beaten profit estimates, compared with the 63 percent that surprise in a typical quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
  
  Read more

• European drivers bristle as VW reaches U.S. diesel deal

  21-04-2016 22:38 via news.yahoo.com
  By Edward Taylor and Kirstin Ridley FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - European owners of Volkswagen cars read the details of a deal to compensate U.S. drivers for the diesel emissions scandal with frustration as their wait for settlement enters its eighth month. European lawyers say their clients deserve a similar offer to the one that was announced by a U.S. judge on Thursday and includes buybacks or possible fixes at an estimated cost to VW of more than $10 billion. VW has said about 11 million car
  
  Read more

• Judge is weighing New Hampshire killer's bid for freedom

  21-04-2016 22:37 via news.yahoo.com
  CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire judge says he'll rule at a later date after hearing from a convicted killer on his bid to have his sentenced reduced to the 10 years he has already served.
  
  Read more

• US stocks retreat as oil prices fall

  21-04-2016 22:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  New York (AFP) - Wall Street stocks pulled back Thursday from 2016 peaks as oil prices fell and investors digested a deluge of earnings reports.
  
  Read more

• SunEdison seeks examiner to probe recent transactions

  21-04-2016 22:35 via news.yahoo.com
  The company cited in the request a subpoena it received from the U.S. Department of Justice related to financing activity, an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a lawsuit filed against it by TerraForm Global Inc, one of its affiliates. SunEdison, once the fastest-growing U.S. renewable energy company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday after a short-lived but aggressive binge of debt-fueled acquisitions proved unsustainable.
  
  Read more

• Volkswagen owners will get a choice: a buyback or repairs

  21-04-2016 22:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The owners of nearly half a million polluting Volkswagens in the U.S. will have the option of selling them back to the company or getting them repaired at VW's expense, under a deal announced Thursday by a federal judge.
  
  Read more

• Microsoft profit misses estimates, shares fall

  21-04-2016 22:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's quarterly adjusted profit missed analysts' estimates as a continued slump in personal computer sales hurt the company's core Windows business, sending its shares down 4 percent in extended trading. The company's net income fell to $3.76 billion, or 47 cents per share, in the third quarter ended March 31, from $4.99 billion, or 61 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $20.53 billion from $21.73 billion. Adjusted revenue rose to $22.08 billion from $21.73 bi
  
  Read more

• Trump, Cruz spar over transgender bathroom law, delegates

  21-04-2016 22:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Amanda Becker and Steve Holland WASHINGTON/HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (Reuters) - Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Ted Cruz vied on Thursday for the support of party leaders who view them as outsiders, and turned a national controversy over a law on transgender bathroom use into a campaign issue. Trump was asked during a NBC Today Show town hall about the North Carolina law, which was passed last month and requires transgender people to use government and school bathrooms that correspon
  
  Read more

• Prince found unresponsive in elevator, CPR failed: sheriff

  21-04-2016 22:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Los Angeles (AFP) - Emergency personnel tried and failed to revive music legend Prince, who died Thursday at age 57, after finding him slumped unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park studios in Minnesota, the local sheriff said.
  
  Read more

• Prince, among most inventive musicians of modern era, dies

  21-04-2016 22:24 via news.yahoo.com
  
  CHANHASSEN, Minn. (AP) — Prince, one of the most inventive and influential musicians of modern times with hits including "Little Red Corvette," ''Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry," was found dead at his home on Thursday in suburban Minneapolis. He was 57.
  
  Read more

• 13 dead, 18 missing after Mexico petrochemical plant blast

  21-04-2016 22:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MEXICO CITY (AP) — An explosion killed at least 13 people and injured dozens at a petrochemical plant on Mexico's southern Gulf coast, forcing evacuations as a fire billowed a toxin-filled cloud, officials said Thursday. Eighteen workers were reported missing.
  
  Read more

Follow @newslock_news on Twitter!