Hedge fund founder Michael Steinhardt will return looted antiquities
NEW YORK — Billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt has agreed to turn over $70 million worth of stolen antiquities and will be subject to an unprecedented lifetime ban on acquiring antiquities, the Manhattan district attorney announced Monday. In return, Steinhardt, a philanthropist who is chair of the Steinhardt Foundation...
Storm sweeps Hawaii, brings threat of ‘catastrophic’ floodsVideo
HONOLULU — A strong storm packing high wind and extremely heavy rain flooded roads and knocked out power across Hawaii, with officials warning Monday of potentially worse conditions ahead. The National Weather Service said the storm brings the threat of “catastrophic flooding” in the coming days as a low pressure...
Mike Pence’s former top aide cooperating with Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — The former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence is cooperating with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, according to a person familiar with the matter. Marc Short was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and accompanied Pence as he fled his post presiding...
Emmett Till investigation closed by feds; no new charges
JACKSON, Miss. — The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it is ending its investigation into the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. The announcement came after the head of...
California Rep. Devin Nunes leaving Congress to lead Trump social media groupVideo
LOS ANGELES — Rep. Devin Nunes, a controversial congressman from California’s San Joaquin Valley, is leaving Congress to lead a social media company created by former President Donald Trump. “I will deeply miss being your congressman,” Nunes said in a message to his constituents. Shortly after he sent the note,...
Michigan prosecutor criticizes high school over run-up to mass shootingVideo
OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The prosecutor overseeing the case against the student accused in last week’s deadly Michigan school shooting and who took the rare step of charging his parents left open the possibility Monday that school officials could also face charges, saying “in this case, a lot could have...
Biden to confront Putin about amassing Russian troops on Ukraine’s border
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden expressed cautious optimism after meeting in June with Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting the next three to six months would reveal whether their frank face-to-face discussion in Geneva was yielding progress. “Did the things we agreed to sit down and try to work out, did...
New York City to impose vaccine mandate on private sector employersVideo
NEW YORK — From big Wall Street banks to corner grocery stores, all private employers in New York City will have to require their workers to get vaccinated against covid-19, the mayor announced Monday in the most sweeping vaccine mandate of any state or big city in the U.S. The...
Bob Dole to lie in state at Capitol as nation honors senator
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Dole’s casket will lie in state Thursday in the U.S. Capitol as congressional leaders honor the former Republican presidential candidate and World War II veteran who served in Congress for 36 years. Dole died Sunday at the age of 98. He was a leader known for...
Justice Department sues to block gerrymandered Texas congressional mapVideo
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration sued Texas on Monday to block its new congressional map, accusing the state of gerrymandering to shut out nonwhites in violation of federal voting rights law. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the enforcement action at Justice Department headquarters, saying the redistricting plans Texas adopted in...
Hunter charged after fatal shooting in West Virginia
MADISON, W.Va. — A West Virginia hunter who fatally shot a man he said he mistook for a bear has been arrested, authorities said. The man was charged last week with negligent shooting and failure to render aid, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Sgt. Larry Harvey told WCHS-TV. The...
Socialist Kshama Sawant faces recall vote in Seattle
SEATTLE — At first, Henry Bridger II supported Kshama Sawant, Seattle’s combative socialist city councilmember. A liberal voter in one of the most liberal neighborhoods in an extremely liberal city, he liked her fresh outlook and support for a $15 minimum wage. Seven years later, Bridger is leading an effort...
China seethes as Biden prepares Olympic diplomatic boycott
The White House is expected to soon announce that the U.S. will stage a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing to protest Chinese human rights abuses, a move that China has vowed to greet with “firm countermeasures.” U.S. athletes would still compete under such a boycott, a...
101-year-old returns to Pearl Harbor to remember those lost
When Japanese bombs began falling on Pearl Harbor, U.S. Navy Seaman 1st Class David Russell first sought refuge below deck on the USS Oklahoma. But a split-second decision on that December morning 80 years ago changed his mind, and likely saved his life. “They started closing that hatch. And I...
Proposed bill aimed at recruiting, retaining Ohio students
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Graduates of any Ohio college, public or private, who take a full-time job in the state would be exempt from state income tax for up to three years, under legislation proposed Monday by a Republican lawmaker with an aim of recruiting and retaining Ohio college students. Businesses...
Report says Russian hackers haven’t eased spying efforts
WASHINGTON — The elite Russian state hackers behind last year’s massive SolarWinds cyberespionage campaign hardly eased up this year, managing plenty of infiltrations of U.S. and allied government agencies and foreign policy think tanks with consummate craft and stealth, a leading cybersecurity firm reported Monday. On the anniversary of the...
Week in pictures: Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 2021
A selection of the best photos from Tribune-Review photographers from around the region from the week of Nov. 29-Dec 5. Previous weeks Week in pictures: Nov. 22-28 Week in pictures: Nov. 8-14 Week in pictures: Nov. 1-7, 2021 Week in pictures: Oct. 25-31, 2021 Week in pictures: Oct. 18-24, 2021...
German government deal clears last hurdle, Scholz set to take over
BERLIN — A three-party deal to form a new German government under center-left leader Olaf Scholz cleared its final hurdle on Monday, setting the scene for Scholz to succeed longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel this week. Germany’s environmentalist Greens said their rank-and-file members approved the agreement reached last month, with 86%...
NYC Mayor: Vaccine mandates to be required for all city employers
NEW YORK — All New York City employers will have to mandate covid-19 vaccinations for their workers under new rules announced Monday by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The vaccine mandate for private businesses will take effect Dec. 22 and is aimed at preventing a spike in covid-19 infections during the...
Sentence for Myanmar’s Suu Kyi reduced to 2 years in prison
BANGKOK — State television in Myanmar announced Monday night that country’s military leader reduced Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence by two years. Suu Kyi, who was ousted in a de facto coup this year, was sentenced to four years in prison earlier in the day after being convicted on charges...
How a database of vaccine side effects sowed doubt in vaccinations
Midway into the pandemic, University of Alabama epidemiologist Bertha Hidalgo realized her covid-19 communication strategy needed a makeover. She was skipping basic biology lessons in favor of simply telling people the best ways to moderate their behavior in response to the virus. Instead of helping people better understand the virus,...
Turning outrage into power: How far right is changing GOP
WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appears to have settled on a strategy to deal with a handful of Republican lawmakers who have stirred outrage with violent, racist and sometimes Islamophobic comments. If you can’t police them, promote them. The path to power for Republicans in Congress is now...
Pandemic stress weighs heavily on Gen Z: AP-NORC, MTV poll
Isolation. Anxiety. Uncertainty. The stresses of the coronavirus pandemic have taken a toll on Americans of all ages, but a new poll finds that teens and young adults have faced some of the heaviest struggles as they come of age during a time of extreme turmoil. Overall, more than a...
Scientist behind U.K. vaccine says next pandemic may be worse
LONDON — One of the scientists behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine is warning that the next pandemic may be more contagious and more lethal unless more money is devoted to research and preparations to fight emerging viral threats. In excerpts released before a speech Monday, Professor Sarah Gilbert says the...
Report: U.S. to declare diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics
The United States is poised to announce a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, CNN reports, a move that will escalate tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The decision not to send any U.S. government officials to the games beginning Feb. 4 will be announced this week, the...
