Kazakh president: Forces can shoot to kill to quell unrest
MOSCOW — Kazakhstan’s president authorized security forces on Friday to shoot to kill those participating in unrest, opening the door for a dramatic escalation in a crackdown on anti-government protests that have turned violent. The Central Asian nation this week experienced its worst street protests since gaining independence from the...
Sidney Poitier — Oscar winner, groundbreaking star — dead at 94
Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen, became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, has died. He was 94. Poitier, winner of the best...
Teen in Michigan school shooting waives key court hearing
DETROIT — A teenager charged with killing four students at their Michigan high school waived a key hearing Friday, a decision that moves his case straight to a trial court, while his parents faced a separate court appearance to try to get out of jail. Prosecutors in Michigan typically have...
Families despair over post-holiday return to remote learning
DETROIT — Parent Latonya Peterson sums up her frustration over Detroit schools returning — at least temporarily — to virtual learning in three short words: “I hate it.” Facing a surge in covid-19 cases, the Detroit district this week joined a growing number of others in moving classes online after...
Video shows Ohio cop shoot without warning at man firing into airVideo
CLEVELAND — Police in Ohio released body camera footage Thursday showing an officer firing multiple rounds through a wooden privacy fence without warning at someone shooting gunfire into the air on the other side. James Williams, 46, of Canton, was shot in the chest minutes into the new year and...
Winter storm blanketing parts of South with snow, iceVideo
NASHVILLE — A winter storm blanketed parts of the South with snow, freezing rain and sleet Thursday, tying up roads in Tennessee and Kentucky as the system tracked a path through Appalachia toward the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The storm began hitting greater Nashville on Thursday morning. About 4 to 6...
Investigators: Fire at Tennessee Planned Parenthood intentionally set
KNOXVILLE — A fire that destroyed a Tennessee Planned Parenthood clinic was intentionally set, fire officials said Thursday. Officials are looking for a suspect and asked the public to provide tips to the Knoxville Fire Department, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. The building erupted in flames last Friday, with fire...
Official says Kamala Harris was evacuated on Jan. 6 after pipe bomb was found
WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris, then the vice president-elect, was evacuated from the Democratic National Committee headquarters when a pipe bomb was found Jan. 6, 2020, a White House official said Thursday. The confirmation a year-to-the-day after the bomb was discovered adds another detail to Harris’ timeline from the day of...
Warrant: 5-year-old might have started deadly Philly blaze
PHILADELPHIA — Investigators are looking into whether a 5-year-old who was playing with a lighter set a Christmas tree on fire, sparking a conflagration that killed 12 family members in a Philadelphia rowhome, officials revealed Thursday. That disclosure was included in a search warrant application as city and federal investigators...
How the smoking rate in Pa. compares to the nation
Nearly half a million Americans annually die as a result of smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Another 16 million Americans are living with a serious illness caused by smoking. Smoking also has an economic impact, including more than $225 billion each year spent on...
4th resident of Florida retirement haven charged with voter fraud
THE VILLAGES, Fla. — A fourth resident of a massive Florida retirement community has been arrested on a charge of voter fraud. Charles Barnes, 64, was arrested Tuesday and charged with voter fraud for casting more than one ballot, according to an arrest affidavit filed in court. The arrest affidavit...
U.S. had 5 rabies deaths last year, highest total in a decade
NEW YORK — Five Americans died of rabies last year — the largest number in a decade — and health officials said Thursday that some of the people didn’t realize they had been infected or refused life-saving shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report on three...
West Virginia wants to administer 4th covid-19 vaccine dose
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday he will ask the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for permission to offer a fourth dose of covid-19 vaccines to residents 50 and older as well as to essential workers. At a news conference, Justice pointed to Israel, which...
Diaper donnybrook: Family sues condo board, claims swim diaper ban violates baby’s civil rights
Add swim diapers to the list of issues that can get turned into a federal case. A Florida family is suing their condo board over what they say is a rule barring children from using the community pool while wearing swim diapers. Swim diapers are a snug-fitting lightweight alternative to...
Dozens of protesters, 12 police dead in Kazakhstan protests
MOSCOW — Security forces killed dozens of protesters and 12 police died during extraordinarily violent demonstrations in Kazakhstan that saw government buildings stormed and set ablaze, authorities said Thursday. One police officer was found beheaded in escalating unrest that poses a growing challenge to authoritarian rule in the Central Asian...
Analysis: Taking on Trump is Biden’s reluctant calling
WASHINGTON — It may not be the fight he sought, but taking on Donald Trump is President Joe Biden’s calling. Biden offered himself as a guardian of American democracy in a visceral speech Thursday discussing the horrors of the Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overthrow his 2020 election victory....
China plans space station completion, many launches in 2022
China has recommitted itself to completing its orbiting space station by the end of the year and says it is planning more than 40 launches for 2022, putting it roughly level with the United States. Launches would include those of two Shenzhou crewed missions, two Tianzhou cargo spacecraft and the...
U.S. average long-term mortgage rates rise; 30-year at 3.22%
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose in the past week to start the new year. They reached their highest level since May 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, yet remained historically low. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan...
Scientists explore Thwaites, Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ glacier
A team of scientists is sailing to “the place in the world that’s the hardest to get to” so they can better figure out how much and how fast seas will rise because of global warming eating away at Antarctica’s ice. Thirty-two scientists on Thursday are starting a more than...
Cause undetermined in Philadelphia house fire that killed 12
PHILADELPHIA — Investigators worked Thursday to determine the cause of a fire that tore through a Philadelphia rowhome, killing 12 people, including two sisters and several of their children. Specialists from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took photos and then entered the charred, three-story brick duplex,...
Powerball tickets sold in Wisconsin, California split $632M
MADISON, Wis. — Powerball tickets sold in Wisconsin and California were winners of the latest jackpot and will split $632 million, officials said. The Wisconsin Lottery didn’t immediately announce where the winning ticket in its state was sold. The winning ticket in California was sold at a 7-Eleven convenience store...
Omicron surge vexes parents of children too young for shots
Afternoons with Grammy. Birthday parties. Meeting other toddlers at the park. Parents of children too young to be vaccinated are facing difficult choices as an omicron variant-fueled surge in covid-19 cases makes every encounter seem risky. For Maine business owner Erin Connolly, the most wrenching decision involves Madeleine, her 3-year-old...
Biden decries Trump backers as ‘trying to rewrite history’ on anniversary of Capitol breach
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden accused Donald Trump and his supporters of holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy” in a forceful speech Thursday marking the anniversary of the deadly breach of the U.S. Capitol. He warned that though it didn’t succeed, the insurrection remains a serious threat to...
Trump maintains grip on GOP despite violent insurrection
WASHINGTON — As a raging band of his supporters scaled walls, smashed windows, used flagpoles to beat police and breached the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn a free and fair election, Donald Trump’s excommunication from the Republican Party seemed a near certainty, his name tarnished beyond repair. Some...
Big Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial field crowds onto stage together
HARRISBURG — More than a dozen Republican candidates for governor appeared on stage together for the first time, in a question-and-answer session Wednesday sponsored by conservative groups and a statewide business association that inspired agreement and not debate. The questions — such as how would you to reverse brain drain...
