Most Recent Posts

DENVER (AP) — Authorities say two police officers in suburban Denver were shot and wounded as they tried check on the welfare of a man.

The Lakewood Police Department dispatch office says that the officers were shot Saturday night and the suspected shooter is in custody.

Lakewood police spokesman Steve Davis tells station KUSA that the officers' injuries aren't life-threatening, thanks in part to their bullet-proof vests.

He says that the officers were trying to check on the man at the request of a woman. When they arrived at the residence, the man came outside and started shooting.

Davis says the suspect was also wounded, but didn't elaborate.

No other details were immediately available.

The violence in Lakewood, a few miles to the west of downtown Denver, occurred near the intersection of West Jewell Avenue and South Kipling Street.

MANTEO, N.C. (AP) — Businesses on two of North Carolina's barrier islands hoped to salvage the rest of the holiday weekend after Arthur clipped the state without causing major damage before churning north toward Canada and losing strength early Saturday morning.

Arthur was downgraded to a tropical storm early Saturday as its winds weakened to 70 mph (110 kph). Arthur was moving at about 22 mph and located about 65 miles southwest of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, from the U.S.-Canada border to Grand-Anse.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, some homes and businesses were flooded, trees toppled and initially thousands were without electricity after Arthur raced through the Outer Banks on Friday, but no deaths or serious injuries were reported. Independence Day fireworks were postponed. About 20 feet of the fragile road connecting Hatteras Island with the rest of the world buckled and required repairs.

The hurricane's effects were mostly confined to Hatteras and Ocracoke islands, and some vacationers were already back on beaches to the north and south on Friday.

Gov. Pat McCrory expressed relief and started encouraging vacationers to return to the beaches, a message echoed by locals.

"This ain't no damage at all. Everybody will be able to come back probably," Lindell Fergeson of Manteo said after driving around to view the aftermath. "It just held up the Fourth (of July) for a little bit, but everything will be open again."

John Wilson was at work Friday sucking water off the floor of the flooded Manteo building he rents to an art gallery. He felt lucky that the building along the town's waterfront only took a foot of water.

"We'll be back in business in a day or two," Wilson said.

The storm that struck the state's southern coast late Thursday as a Category 2 hurricane quickly moved north Friday to cloud the skies over the Delaware and New Jersey shores. Rain from Hurricane Arthur disrupted some New York-area Independence Day celebrations but cleared in time for the nation's largest fireworks display in the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for coastal areas as far north as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and southeastern Canada. Forecasters predicted the storm would weaken before its center moved over western Nova Scotia in Canada early Saturday.

North Carolina officials worked to restore access to Hatteras Island on the island's only road. The state Transportation Department said it was aiming to restore traffic on North Carolina Highway 12 sometime Saturday, when many vacationers were due to start their weeklong cottage rentals.

Farther south, Ocracoke Island's electricity distribution system was badly damaged by Arthur, leading officials to order residents to quit using air conditioners and water heaters so that generator-supplied power could provide refrigeration and other necessities during a cycle of planned outages. A nightly curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. was declared until power was fully restored. Vacationers were being coaxed to leave with the offer of free ferry rides out.

___

Associated Press reporter Jerome Bailey Jr. contributed to this report.

___

Emery Dalesio can be reached at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio.

LONDON (AP) — Italy's Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci became the fifth duo to complete a career Grand Slam in women's doubles together, winning Wimbledon for the first time Saturday.

The second-seeded Errani and Vinci beat 14th-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

"I honestly can't grasp the fact that we've been able to accomplish all of this," Vinci said. "I think I'll realize it all after we finish playing. I'll say, 'Wow, we did all of that.'"

It's the fifth major championship for Errani and Vinci, with at least one at each Grand Slam tournament. The first came at the French Open in 2012, followed by the U.S. Open later that year, and the Australian Open in 2013 and 2014.

Asked to compare this trophy to their previous four, Errani replied: "It's different because it's the (career) Grand Slam. I thought about it all day. Even on court, during the match, I thought about it. It's something historic."

According to the WTA, the four other partnerships with career Slams in women's doubles are Serena and Venus Williams; Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver; Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva; and Kathy Jordan and Anne Smith.

She and Vinci fell to the ground and hugged after winning under the closed roof at Centre Court. Later, they completed each other's sentences while answering questions in Italian from reporters.

"I don't think I ever was as tense as I was today. Not even singles," said Errani, the 2012 French Open runner-up. "I was thinking about the Grand Slam. It's crazy."

They were playing in their eighth major final, and Errani said their friendship off the court made them better competitors on it.

Babos and Mladenovic were making their debut as a team in a Grand Slam tournament. They had six double-faults and were broken five times.

Mladenovic won last year's mixed doubles title with Canada's Daniel Nestor; Babos won the 2010 Wimbledon girls' doubles title.

HARROGATE, England (AP) — Marcel Kittel of Germany won the first stage of the Tour de France for a second straight year after a late crash brought down British rival Mark Cavendish in the presence of royals on Saturday.

Kittel, who earned four Tour stages last year, won the 190.5-kilometer (118-mile) run in mainly bucolic Yorkshire countryside from Leeds to Harrogate. The German raised his arms skyward and cried after he edged Peter Sagan of Slovakia in second, and Ramunas Navardauskas of Lithuania in third.

"I am incredibly proud of this victory," Kittel, a Team Giant-Shimano rider who also won two Giro d'Italia stages in May, said through a translator. "It happened pretty easily. It was like coming out of a tunnel. I was able to accelerate like never before.

"It's really awesome. Deja vu, yeah."

The two favorites for victory in the three-week race, Alberto Contador and Chris Froome, finished safely in the trailing pack that clocked the same time as Kittel.

With fewer than 400 meters to go, and the speedsters rushing ahead, Cavendish veered slightly to his left, tilted his head and bumped into Australia's Simon Gerrans. The two crashed alone, with Cavendish landing hard on his right shoulder.

Cavendish got up gingerly and cruised over the finish line — cradling his right arm. X-rays revealed he separated his right shoulder, a Tour statement said. Omega Pharma QuickStep said in a separate statement that a decision about whether he will continue the race will be made on Sunday morning.

"I'm gutted about the crash today," Cavendish said in the statement. "It was my fault. I'll personally apologize to Simon Gerrans as soon as I get the chance. In reality, I tried to find a gap that wasn't really there. I wanted to win today."

Many British fans were hoping for a win by Cavendish, a native of the Isle of Man, whose mother is from Harrogate. Prime Minister David Cameron, Princes William and Harry, and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, were on hand among throngs of British fans who lined the route — a testament to the cycling craze in the U.K.

England hosts the first three stages of this 101st Tour before riders enter France on Tuesday. In all, the 198 riders are to cover 3,664 kilometers (2,277 miles) of road before the July 27 finish in Paris. Stage 2 on Sunday covers 201 kilometers from York to Sheffield, in southern Yorkshire.

Cavendish previously said that winning the first Tour stage was his main goal this year. He was hoping to capture his first yellow jersey and his 26th Tour stage win.

"It's sad because he (Cavendish) was racing in front of the home country," Sagan said.

Added Kittel: "I hope he gets well soon. I'm looking forward to seeing him on the race tomorrow ... it's not nice to have Mark crash. Nobody wants that."

A second German excelled on the English roads: Veteran Jens Voigt took the polka-dot jersey as the race's best climber, after getting out early on a three-man breakaway that first cleared three low-grade hills including Buttertubs pass. At 42, the Trek Factory Racing rider is the oldest competitor this year: This is his 17th Tour, equaling the record.

The nervous first day included more mishaps. Untold tens of thousands of fans turned out in such big numbers that a train service shuttle between the start and finish towns was crammed, and some had to wait for 90 minutes or even longer to get aboard — or gave up altogether.

Yorkshire, the largest county in England, has paid richly for the right to host the Tour. The peloton sped by abbeys in ruins and sights like 14th century Bolton Castle, near Leyburn, before finishing in Harrogate, known for its spas.

Nearly three dozen countries are represented at this Tour, led by France with 44 riders. It's the second time cycling's greatest race has begun in Britain, though the Tour also crossed the English Channel for stages in 1974 and 1994.

___

AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin in Harrogate contributed to this report.