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WASHINGTON (AP) — While some Republicans blame the COVID-19 vaccine or “wokeness” for the Army’s recruiting woes, the military service says the bigger hurdles are more traditional ones: Young people don’t want to die or get injured, deal with the stress of Army life and put their lives on hold. They “just don’t see the Army as something that’s relevant,” said Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, head of Army marketing. “They see us as revered, but not relevant, in their lives.” Addressing those longtime issues has taken on greater urgency as the Army tries to recover from its worst recruiting year in decades, a situation aggravated by the tight jobs market. The Army is offering new programs, advertising and enticements in an effort to change perceptions and reverse the decline. One incentive gives recr...

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes was magical when the Kansas City Chiefs desperately needed him to pull off another Super Bowl comeback. Playing on an injured ankle, Mahomes threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and scrambled 26 yards on the go-ahead drive before Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left to give the Chiefs a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. The Chiefs won their second NFL title in four years and two-time NFL MVP Mahomes earned his second Super Bowl MVP award. “I thought guys just embraced the moment,” Mahomes said about rallying from a 10-point halftime deficit. “In that first half, we were playing and doing some good stuff, but I felt like the guys were getting consumed by everything around us.” Mahomes...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The head of a union representing most of the Memphis Fire Department said three employees who were fired after the death of Tyre Nichols weren’t given enough information as they responded to the call for medical help. Thomas Malone, president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association, also wrote in a letter to city councilmembers that information was withheld from those first responders by people on the scene. Nichols, who is Black, was beaten by Memphis police after he was pulled over Jan. 7 for an alleged traffic violation. However, police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis has said publicly released footage failed to show why Nichols was stopped at all. The union leader came to the defense of the fire department as a whole, saying its more-than-1,600 employees “serve this ...

PHOENIX (AP) — From Super Bowl opening night to the night before the big game, the party was on all week long. The frenzy was back in full force this year after COVID-19 restrictions limited the wild, zany atmosphere that surrounds the most-anticipated and most-hyped week on the sports calendar. More than 6,000 media members from 24 countries were accredited to provide coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Philadelphia Eagles and related events onsite in Arizona, per the NFL. Officials estimated 100,000 visitors were passing through the area surrounding the downtown convention center where the NFL set up its Super Bowl Experience, an interactive theme park. That doesn’t count the hundreds of thousands of people who came out for the WM Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, 20 miles from down...

VIENNA (AP) — Austria has come under heavy criticism for granting visas that will allow sanctioned Russian lawmakers to attend a Vienna meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The issue highlights the delicate balancing act the European country has engaged in while trying to maintain its longstanding position of military neutrality during the war in Ukraine. The Austrian government has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago but also stressed the need to maintain diplomatic relations with Moscow. Austria hosts several U.N. agencies and international organizations such as the OSCE, which was established during the Cold War as a forum for dialogue between East and West. Russia is one of the 57 nations in North America, Europe and Asia that parti...

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes shook off an ankle injury, turned back into a magician and pulled out another comeback on the biggest stage to help the Kansas City Chiefs win their second Super Bowl in four years. Mahomes threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and scrambled 26 yards on the go-ahead drive before Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left to give the Chiefs a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. Mahomes and Hurts excelled in the first Super Bowl matchup featuring two Black starting QBs. But Mahomes, the two-time AP NFL MVP, turned it up in the second half after reaggravating a sprained right ankle. Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who couldn’t win the big game in Philadelphia, beat his former team to earn his second ring...