By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — More U.S. women died around the time of childbirth last year, reversing two years of decline, according to provisional data posted Wednesday.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 688 people died last year during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth. That’s up from 669 deaths in 2023, but down from 2022 and 2021, when it was the highest level in more than 50 years.

The maternal mortality rate rose to 19 deaths per 100,000 live births, up from 18.6 the year before.

The CDC counts women who die while pregnant, during childbirth and up to 42 days after birth from conditions related to pregnancy. Excessive bleeding, blood vessel blockages and infections are leading causes.

Such deaths spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the coronavirus was particularly dangerous to pregnant women. And, in the worst days of the pandemic, burned out physicians may have added to the risk by ignoring pregnant women’s worries, experts say.

The waning of COVID-19 is considered a major reason for the declines in maternal deaths in 2022 and 2023, experts say.

But those improvements are now being offset by other factors that may reduce access to medical care, experts say. They say the list includes the closure of rural hospitals and the U.S. Supreme Court decision that did away with the federally established right to abortion, which caused some doctors to feel constrained about providing care during pregnancy-related medical emergencies.

The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rate among wealthy nations. Past research has found wide racial disparities in such deaths, with Black women dying at a far higher rate than white women.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By PHILIP MARCELO

MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. (AP) — As a high school hockey player, Adam Drexler wore his Massapequa Chiefs jersey with pride.

But as the Chickasaw Nation member grew up and learned about his Indigenous roots, he came to see the school’s mascot — a stereotypical Native American man wearing a headdress — as problematic.

Now his Long Island hometown has become the latest flashpoint in the enduring debate over the place of Indigenous imagery in American sports: The Trump administration launched an investigation Friday into whether New York officials are discriminating against Massapequa by threatening to withhold funding. The town has refused to comply with a state mandate to retire Native American sports names and mascots.

“There was no tribe east of the Mississippi that ever wore a headdress — ever,” said Drexler, 60, who was adopted and raised by a white Jewish family. “How can you argue for a symbol that has no significance or relevance here, while at the same time claiming you honor and respect the culture and history of the people this town is named after?”

It’s hard to miss the Native American imagery around Massapequa, a coastal hamlet 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Manhattan where roughly 90% of the residents are white.

The Chiefs logo is prominently featured on signs adorning school, police and fire department buildings. Students in recent years even painted a colorful mural with the logo and team name on a commercial building next to the high school in protest of change to the mascot.

A few minutes drive away, next to the town’s post office, a statue of a Native American figure wearing a flowing headdress towers over those depicting a buffalo, a horse and a totem pole.

“When you think of Massapequa, you think of the Chiefs,” said Forrest Bennett, a 15-year-old high school sophomore.

A town at odds with state policy

New York has been trying to rid schools of Native American mascots going back more than two decades to the administration of Republican Gov. George Pataki, and in 2022 gave districts until the end of the school year to commit to replacing them.

Massapequa was among four school districts on Long Island that filed a federal suit challenging the ban, arguing their choice of team names and mascots were protected by the First Amendment, but a judge dismissed the case last month.

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Districts could seek exemption from the state mandates if they gained approval from a Native American tribe, but state officials say Massapequa instead “stayed silent” for years.

A spokesperson for the school board said Wednesday that it intends to appeal the judge’s ruling. The board also lauded the investigation by the federal education agency, which President Donald Trump has moved to dismantle in recent weeks.

Trump, for his part, has made frequent visits to Long Island in recent years as the suburban region has shifted Republican. Last spring, he visited Massapequa to attend the wake of a New York City police officer.

“Forcing them to change the name, after all of these years, is ridiculous and, in actuality, an affront to our great Indian population,” Trump wrote in a recent social media post. Days later he posed with a Massapequa Chiefs sweater in the Oval Office. “I don’t see the Kansas City Chiefs changing their name anytime soon!”

The NFL’s Chiefs have stuck with their name despite years of protest from some Native American activists. Five years ago, the team barred fans from wearing headdresses or face paint referencing Native American culture.

Meanwhile other professional teams, including football’s Washington Redskins ( now Commanders ) and baseball’s Cleveland Indians ( now Guardians ), have adopted new monikers and logos.

Residents say mascot ‘honors’ Native Americans

Along the eateries and shops next to Massapequa High, students and parents insisted the team name and mascot are meant to honor the Massapequa, who were part of the broader Lenape, or Delaware people who inhabited the woodlands of the Northeastern U.S. and Canada for thousands of years before being decimated by European colonization.

“It’s not that we’re trying to do anything disrespectful,” said Christina Zabbatino, a mother of two. “Actually, I would be honored if it was my face, you know what I mean?”

Lucas Rumberg, a 15-year-old sophomore, shrugged off criticism that the school logo reflects the traditional garb of a Midwest tribe and not the attire worn by the Lenape people eventually forced to move farther and farther west by colonial settlers and then American government forces as the nation expanded.

“Even though it’s not necessarily what they look like here, I feel like it still conveys that we are respectful of Native Americans,” Rumberg said. “I get that people might be offended by it, but I just feel that it’s been here so long that it should stay.”

Native Americans say mascot is dehumanizing

But that dismissive attitude is precisely why stereotypical mascots are offensive, argues Joseph Pierce, director of Native American and Indigenous studies at Stony Brook University, also on Long Island.

“It is as if this image were a shorthand for any and all Indians,” the Cherokee Nation citizen said. “And that reduces us to a type, rather than portray us as distinct peoples.”

Indian mascots also contribute to the view that Native peoples are relics of the past, and not living communities facing urgent threats today, says Joey Fambrini, a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians who works for the New York Indian Council, a nonprofit providing health care to Native Americans.

“That dehumanization isn’t harmless: It directly contributes to why our struggles are ignored or minimized,” the 29-year-old Brooklyn resident said, noting that tribal communities endure high rates of poverty, inadequate housing, lack of clean water and limited education access, among other challenges.

The cheerful mascot also obscures Massapequa’s grim legacy of violence against Native Americans, says John Kane, a member of the Mohawk tribe of upstate New York who has pushed districts across the state for years to change their names and mascots.

The town, after all, was the site of a massacre in which scores of Native men, women and children were killed by Europeans in the 1600s, he said.

“They’re not trying to honor us. That’s why accuracy of the logo doesn’t matter to them,” Kane said. “So the idea that this is some sort of honor to us? I mean, come on. It’s an absurd proposition to even suggest.”

By DAVID McHUGH

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe’s economy grew more strongly in the first three months of the year, only to see hopes for an ongoing recovery quickly squelched by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.

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Gross domestic product in the 20 eurozone countries grew 0.4% in the first quarter, improving on 0.2% growth in the last part of 2024, according to official figures released Wednesday by European Union statistics agency Eurostat.

But on April 2, just two days after the end of the quarter, Trump announced an onslaught of new tariffs on almost every U.S. trading partner and hit goods imported from the EU with a 20% tariff rate. That has led to widespread downgrading of Europe’s growth outlook for the year since its economy is heavily dependent on exports and the U.S. is its largest single export destination.

Although Trump has announced a 90-day pause on what he calls his “reciprocal” tariffs — so named because they are based on how he feels other countries have been treating the U.S. —prospects that the EU can strike a bargain to reduce the 20% figure are highly uncertain.

Meanwhile, other tariffs — such as a 25% rate on steel and aluminum and on cars, both of them for all trading partners, including Europe, remain in place. The costs of tariffs are paid by the companies that import European goods such as cars and pharmaceuticals, which then have to decide whether to swallow the costs or pass them on to the consumer in the form of higher prices.

As a result, indicators of business and consumer optimism in Europe have fallen. The European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator sagged to 93.6 in March, its lowest level since December. That drop in sentiment is “another illustration of how the last four weeks of tariff tensions and uncertainty have entirely wiped out the tentative return of optimism in the eurozone,” said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING bank.

“Unless there are major changes in U.S. trade policy, sentiment as well as economic activity in the eurozone will remain subdued over the coming months,” Brzeski said.

Before Trump’s announcement, hopeful signs had included a strong job market, with unemployment low at 6.1% and consumers beginning to spend more after several years of holding back because of inflation.

With inflation down to 2.2%, the European Central Bank has been lowering the cost of credit for consumers and businesses by cutting its benchmark interest rate seven times in its current easing cycle, most recently by a quarter of a percentage point on April 17.

On top of that, the German parliament has approved a 500-billion euro ($570 billion) investment fund that’s exempt from the country’s constitutional limits on debt. That decision by the incoming coalition of the center-right Union bloc and the Social Democrats has raised hopes of additional spending on pro-growth infrastructure over the coming years.

However, Trump’s tariffs have lowered expectations for Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy and its economic problem child. The outgoing government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz lowered its growth estimate for this year to zero after two previous years of declining output. Parliament is expected to elect center-right Union leader Friedrich Merz as chancellor on May 6 in the wake of a Feb. 23 national election.

By COLLIN BINKLEY, AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is moving to cancel $1 billion in school mental health grants, saying they reflect the priorities of the previous administration.

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Grant recipients were notified Tuesday that the funding will not be continued after this year. A gun violence bill signed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 sent $1 billion to the grant programs to help schools hire more psychologists, counselors and other mental health workers.

A new notice said an Education Department review of the programs found they violated the purpose of civil rights law, conflicted with the department’s policy of prioritizing merit and fairness, and amounted to an inappropriate use of federal money.

The cuts were made public in a social media post from conservative strategist Christopher Rufo, who claimed the money was used to advance “left-wing racialism and discrimination.” He posted excerpts from several grant documents setting goals to hire certain numbers of nonwhite counselors or pursue other diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

“No more slush fund for activists under the guise of mental health,” Rufo wrote.

The Education Department confirmed the cuts. In an update to members of Congress that was obtained by The Associated Press, department officials said the Republican administration will find other ways to support mental health.

“The Department plans to re-envision and re-compete its mental health program funds to more effectively support students’ behavioral health needs,” according to the notice.

President Donald Trump’s administration has cut billions of dollars in federal grants deemed to be related to DEI and has threatened to cut billions more from schools and colleges over diversity practices. The administration says any policy that treats people differently because of their race amounts to discrimination, and it argues that DEI has often been used to discriminate against white and Asian American students.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.