Police: Former NASCAR driver killed in dispute involving estranged wife
ATHENS, Ga. — Former NASCAR driver John Wes Townley was shot to death over the weekend during a dispute that involved a hatchet after showing up at a house occupied by his estranged wife and another man, police said Monday. The 31-year-old Townley, who raced eight seasons, had the weapon...
Florida school massacre suspect’s jail brawl trial delayed
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The trial of the suspect in the 2018 Florida high school massacre for fighting a jail guard was delayed Monday because his lead lawyer on the case has been hospitalized. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer ruled that jury selection in Nikolas Cruz’s trial on jail battery charges...
Mich. Gov. Whitmer vetoes election bills, says they perpetuate lies
LANSING, Mich. — Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed several Republican-sponsored election bills, saying they would have perpetuated falsehoods to discredit the 2020 presidential election and made it tougher for people living in large senior facilities and apartment complexes to vote. Two measures would have codified existing practices by limiting access...
UK pledges to hit all-renewable electricity by 2035
All Britain’s electricity will come from renewable sources by 2035, the governing Conservatives announced Monday, saying the move would help end the country’s reliance on imported fuel. Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said “the only way to strengthen Britain’s energy security is zero carbon power that is generated in...
Whistleblower: Facebook chose profit over public safety
NEW YORK — A data scientist who was revealed Sunday as the Facebook whistleblower says that whenever there was a conflict between the public good and what benefited the company, the social media giant would choose its own interests. Frances Haugen was identified in a “60 Minutes” interview Sunday as...
Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram suffer worldwide outage
The massive global outage that plunged Facebook, its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms and many people who rely heavily on these services — including Facebook’s own workforce — into chaos Monday is gradually dissipating. Facebook said late Monday that it’s been working to restore access to its services and is “happy...
Biden tells GOP to ‘get out of the way’ on debt limit
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden accused Republican lawmakers on Monday of blocking efforts to increase the government’s borrowing authority, saying they’re playing “Russian roulette with the U.S. economy” by committing to filibuster the measure ahead of an Oct. 18 deadline. Biden called on the Senate to suspend the nation’s debt...
Russia film crew set to blast off to make 1st movie in space
In a historic first, Russia is set to launch an actor and a film director into space to make a feature film in orbit — a project the nation’s space chief has hailed as a chance to raise the prestige of Russia’s space program. Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim...
Ex-U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, sunk by ‘legitimate rape’ remark, dies
Former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, a conservative Missouri Republican whose comment that women’s bodies have a way of avoiding pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape” sunk his bid for the U.S. Senate and became a cautionary tale for other GOP candidates, has died. He was 74. Akin had cancer for...
Doctors grow frustrated over covid denial, misinformation
The covid-19 patient’s health was deteriorating quickly at a Michigan hospital, but he was having none of the doctor’s diagnosis. Despite dangerously low oxygen levels, the unvaccinated man didn’t think he was that sick and got so irate over a hospital policy forbidding his wife from being at his bedside...
EU regulator OKs Pfizer vaccine booster for 18 and older
AMSTERDAM — The European Union’s drug regulator gave its backing Monday to administering booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine for people 18 and older. The European Medicines Agency said the booster doses “may be considered at least 6 months after the second dose for people aged 18 years and...
Treasury to shift rental assistance to places with demand
The Treasury Department on Monday announced plans to start reallocating the billions of dollars in federal rental assistance in a bid to get more money into the hands of tenants facing eviction. The plan is a response to the slow distribution of rental assistance in many parts of the country....
Penn State professors will protest university’s covid policies in a unique way this week
More than 50 Penn State professors — mostly from University Park — will protest several university-related covid policies this week by holding a “Teach-Out(side),” where classes will be moved to the safer outdoors and away from their usual locations. The protest, organized by the faculty-based group Coalition for a Just...
Week in pictures: Sept. 28-Oct. 3, 2021
Here’s a selection of images that caught our eye in the past week from Tribune-Review photographers....
Nurse fatally shoots co-worker at Philadelphia hospital
PHILADELPHIA — A nurse at a Philadelphia hospital fatally shot his co-worker early Monday morning, fled the scene and was shot in a gunfight with police that wounded two officers, authorities said. The 55-year-old nurse was wearing scrubs when he shot his co-worker on the ninth floor of Thomas Jefferson...
Henrietta Lacks’ estate sues company over use of her cells
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The estate of Henrietta Lacks sued a biotechnology company on Monday, accusing it of selling cells that doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took from the Black woman in 1951 without her knowledge or consent as part of a “a racially unjust medical system.” The estate’s federal...
U.K. eases travel rules but upsets nations not on list
LONDON — Simplified international travel rules took effect Monday in the U.K., easing quarantine and testing requirements for fully vaccinated travelers from more than 50 countries, and the Conservative government vowed it will seek to regularly expand the rules to more nations. Still, the rules have sparked anger from many...
2 win medicine Nobel for showing how we react to heat, touch
STOCKHOLM — Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for their discoveries into how the human body perceives temperature and touch, revelations that could lead to new ways of treating pain or even heart disease. Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian separately identified receptors in the skin as...
William Shatner will fly to space aboard Blue Origin rocketVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Captain Kirk is rocketing into space next week — boldly going where no other sci-fi stars have gone. Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin, announced Monday that “Star Trek” actor William Shatner will blast off Oct. 12 from West Texas. “Yes, it’s true; I’m going...
Covid vaccine mandate takes effect for NYC teachers, staff
NEW YORK — New York City teachers and other school staff members were all supposed to be vaccinated against covid-19 when the bell rang Monday morning in one of the first school district mandates in the country requiring employees to be inoculated against the coronavirus. Mayor Bill de Blasio gave...
Ship’s anchor among possible causes of California oil spillVideo
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Officials investigating one of California’s largest oil spills are looking into whether a ship’s anchor may have struck a pipeline on the ocean floor, causing a major leak of crude into coastal waters and fouling beaches, authorities said Monday. The head of the company that operates...
Eligible for a covid-19 booster? Here’s how to get one in Pa.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. Anywhere from one to two million Pennsylvania adults are now eligible for a covid-19 booster, and state officials say it should...
Embattled Pa. teacher pension fund subpoenaed by SEC over ‘compensation and gifts’ to staff
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has widened the federal scrutiny of Pennsylvania’s mammoth public school pension plan, demanding...
Threatened Swedish artist Lars Vilks reportedly dead in road accident
STOCKHOLM — The Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who had lived under police protection since his 2007 sketch of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body brought death threats, died from a traffic accident Sunday, Swedish news media reported. The accident reportedly involved a truck colliding with a civilian police car...
U.S. urges China to halt ‘provocative’ flybys near Taiwan
The U.S. on Sunday called on China to halt its “provocative” pressure on Taiwan after a record number of daily incursions by Chinese warplanes, saying the military actions are destabilizing and risk leading to “miscalculations.” “The U.S. commitment to Taiwan is rock solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace...
