Associated Press stories, Page 2040
June jobless rate slid down in Pennsylvania, payrolls jumped
Pennsylvania’s unemployment slid a bit down in June after hitting a pandemic peak in April, but it was well above the national rate even as payrolls rebounded by more 230,000, the state reported Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 13% in June, down four-tenths of a percentage point from May’s adjusted...
3M files lawsuits for price gouging of N95 masksVideo
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — The leading manufacturer of N95 masks in the United States says it has investigated 4,000 reports of fraud, counterfeiting and price gouging in connection with the product and has filed 18 lawsuits. 3M, based in Maplewood, is among the largest global producers of the N95 mask, which...
France delays retirement reform that caused mass strikes
PARIS — France’s government is delaying a divisive overhaul of the country’s retirement system until at least the end of the year because of the economic crisis unleashed by the pandemic. Prime Minister Jean Castex announced after meeting with unions Friday that the pension reform “will be maintained.” But he...
Princess Beatrice marries in private ceremony at Windsor
LONDON — Buckingham Palace says that Princess Beatrice has got married in a private ceremony, with her grandmother Queen Elizabeth II in attendance. Beatrice married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi Friday morning at The Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor. The monarch, the Duke of Edinburgh and other close...
Austin Meadows joins Tyler Glasnow as Rays’ only known coronavirus cases
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tampa Bay outfielder Austin Meadows has been placed on the injured list after testing positive for the coronavirus, the Rays announced Thursday night. Left-handed reliever Aaron Loup was added to the 40-man roster in place of Meadows, who was a first-time All-Star and batted .291 with...
U.S. official visits Portland, calls protesters ‘anarchists’Video
PORTLAND, Ore. — The head of the Department of Homeland Security visited Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, just hours after issuing a scathing statement that called the protesters who have taken to the streets every night for nearly two months “violent anarchists” and a “violent mob” that have kept the liberal...
CDC extends U.S. ban on cruise ships through September
WASHINGTON — Federal health officials are extending the U.S. ban on cruise ships through the end of September as coronavirus infections rise in most U.S. states, including Florida. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that it was extending a no-sail order that had been scheduled to expire...
Tony Finau leads Memorial at 66 as Tiger Woods has quiet return to golfVideo
DUBLIN, Ohio — Tiger Woods was back on the PGA Tour for the first time in five months Thursday and saw Muirfield Village like never before. It was practically empty. Woods opened with a 10-foot birdie and there was silence. He finished with a 15-foot birdie for a 1-under-par 71,...
Gov. Wolf yanks virus funding from rebellious Lebanon County
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf followed through on his threat to yank covid-19 funding from a county that defied his shutdown orders, while his administration targeted bars, restaurants and large gatherings statewide Thursday in an effort to prevent a wider resurgence of the virus that officials say could jeopardize students’...
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp sues to end cities’ defiance on mask rulesVideo
ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is suing Atlanta’s mayor and city council to block the city from enforcing its mandate to wear a mask in public and other rules related to the covid-19 pandemic. Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, in a suit filed in state court late...
Report: 15 former employees accuse Washington NFL team of sexual harassmentVideo
The Washington Post reported Thursday that 15 female former employees of the city’s NFL franchise said they were sexually harassed during their time with the team. In a statement, the team said it takes issues of employee conduct seriously and added, “While we do not speak to specific employee situations...
Pennsylvania casino revenues down 18%, hammered by pandemic
HARRISBURG — Pandemic-related shutdowns in Pennsylvania, the nation’s No. 2 commercial gambling state, helped knock casino revenue down by 18%, state regulators reported Thursday, and it would have been much worse without the advent of online gambling and sports betting. Revenue from regulated gambling in Pennsylvania shrank to $2.7 billion...
Baseless Wayfair child-trafficking theory spreads online
CHICAGO — The baseless conspiracy theory took off after an anonymous user posed a bizarre question in an internet chatroom: What if retail giant Wayfair is using pricey storage cabinets to traffic children? Self-proclaimed internet sleuths quickly responded by matching up the names of Wayfair products to those of missing...
EU court cancels U.S. data-sharing pact over snooping concerns
The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that an agreement that allows thousands of companies — from tech giants to small financial firms — to transfer data to the United States is invalid because the American government can snoop on people’s data. The ruling to invalidate Privacy Shield will likely...
U.S. counts 342 child inflammatory syndrome cases
ATLANTA — An official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the most recent count shows 342 U.S. children and teens have developed a serious inflammatory condition linked to covid-19 infections. Dr. Ermias Belay presented the data Thursday during a CDC online call for physicians. Belay says that...
NCAA: Test all athletes for covid-19 within 72 hours of game
The NCAA says college football players should be tested for covid-19 at least 72 hours before a game, players with high-risk exposures to the coronavirus should be quarantined for 14 days and everybody on the sideline should wear a mask. The nation’s largest governing body for college sports on Thursday...
Columbus statue to remain on Ohio Statehouse grounds for at least 5 more years
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A statue of Christopher Columbus will not be removed from in front of the Ohio Statehouse until at least 2025, officials said Thursday. The 9-foot-tall, copper statue of Columbus will remain erected in front of the Statehouse in the largest city that bears the explorer’s name until...
U.K., U.S., Canada accuse Russia of hacking coronavirus vaccine trialsVideo
LONDON — Britain, the United States and Canada accused Russian hackers on Thursday of trying to steal information from researchers seeking a coronavirus vaccine, warning scientists and pharmaceutical companies to be alert for suspicious activity. Intelligence agencies in the three nations alleged that the hacking group APT29, also known as...
Experts say Twitter breach troubling, undermines trust
HONG KONG — A breach in Twitter’s security that allowed hackers to break into the accounts of leaders and technology moguls is one of the worst attacks in recent years and may shake trust in a platform politicians and CEOs use to communicate with the public, experts said Thursday. The...
USA Today: Peter Navarro’s anti-Fauci column didn’t meet standards
NEW YORK — USA Today says that a column that the newspaper solicited and published from presidential trade adviser Peter Navarro criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci was misleading and did not meet fact-checking standards. The newspaper explained the decision in a note by Bill Sternberg, editorial page editor, attached to the...
Trump’s grand GOP convention plans shrink as virus surgesVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plans for a grand convention keep shrinking. The Republican National Committee announced Thursday that it is sharply restricting attendance on three of the four nights of its convention in Jacksonville, Fla., next month. As the GOP looks for ways to move forward while coronavirus cases...
College hoops coaches move to eliminate standardized testing
DES MOINES, Iowa — Men’s and women’s college basketball coaches are proposing the NCAA eliminate standardized testing requirements from initial-eligibility standards, calling exams such as the SAT and ACT “longstanding forces of institutional racism.” The proposal Thursday came out of the new committee on racial reconciliation formed by the National...
AAC lays out covid-19 test plan ahead of NCAA announcementVideo
The American Athletic Conference will require all its schools to test football players for covid-19 at least 72 hours before competition. The announcement Thursday by the American comes ahead of the expected release of recommendations from the NCAA and the Power Five conferences for testing before games and other protocols...
Brazil nears 2 million coronavirus cases, with 75,000 dead
SAO PAULO — A thousand deaths a day. Since late May, three months after Brazil’s first reported case of the coronavirus, it has recorded more than 1,000 daily deaths on average in a gruesome plateau that has yet to tilt downward. The country hit at least 75,000 confirmed deaths Wednesday...
Mosquitoes flying free as health departments focus on coronavirus
Bug spray, swollen welts, citronella. It’s mosquito season. And in a normal year, the health department serving Ohio’s Delaware County would be setting out more than 90 mosquito traps a week — black tubs of stagnant water with nets designed to ensnare the little buggers. But this year, because of...
