Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen dies after covid battle
SEATTLE — Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen, a staunch conservative, has died at age 52. Ericksen’s death Friday came weeks after he said he had tested positive for the coronavirus while in El Salvador, though his cause of death wasn’t immediately released. The state Senate Republican Caucus confirmed his passing...
German experts urge stricter coronavirus measures, more boosters
VIENNA — Germany should implement stricter measures this week to slow the spread of the omicron variant, the German government’s new expert council said Sunday, a day after the government announced it would impose travel restrictions on people coming from Britain. The council — comprised of Germany’s top virologists and...
Fauci says omicron variant is `just raging around the world’
WILMINGTON, Del. — The covid-19 omicron variant is “just raging around the world,” the White House’s top medical adviser said Sunday, and President Joe Biden is planning to give “a stark warning of what the winter will look like” for unvaccinated Americans. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease...
Johnny Isakson, former Georgia Republican U.S. senator, dies
ATLANTA — Johnny Isakson, an affable Georgia Republican politician who rose from the ranks of the state Legislature to become a U.S. senator known as an effective, behind-the-scenes consensus builder, died Sunday. He was 76. Isakson’s son John Isakson told The Associated Press his father died in his sleep before...
Sen. Joe Manchin says no to $2T bill: ‘I can’t vote for it’
WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Sunday he cannot back his party’s signature $2 trillion social and environment bill, dealing a potentially fatal blow to President Joe Biden’s leading domestic initiative heading into an election year when Democrats’ narrow hold on Congress was already in peril. Manchin told “Fox...
Fire damages QVC distribution center in North Carolina
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — A fire ripped through a distribution center in North Carolina for the QVC home-shopping television network early Saturday, causing extensive damage to the facility, officials said. More than 300 employees were working at the facility near Rocky Mount when the fire was reported shortly after 2...
Vaccine data gaps point to millions more in U.S. who lack shots
The U.S. government has overcounted the number of Americans who are at least partly vaccinated against the coronavirus, state officials warn, meaning millions more people are unprotected as the pandemic’s winter surge gathers steam. Last weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised a bellwether metric — the share...
Governor: No one still missing in Kentucky after tornadoes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — All of the people reported missing in Kentucky after tornadoes swept through the state last weekend have been accounted for, Gov. Andy Beshear said Saturday. Beshear hailed the report by state emergency management officials and said he hoped it meant that no additional people in Kentucky would...
Do employers have to follow Biden’s vaccine mandates?
Tens of millions of workers across the U.S. are in limbo as federal courts have issued different rulings related to President Joe Biden’s covid-19 vaccine mandates for larger private companies, certain health care workers and federal government contractors. A federal appeals court panel has allowed a vaccine requirement for employers...
New front in Pa.’s GOP election ‘investigation’ draws challenges
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration and a voting-system manufacturer are trying to prevent Republican lawmakers from expanding what they call a “forensic investigation” of Pennsylvania’s 2020 election to a new front: inspecting voting machines. It is another step driven by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud....
U.S. Senate to vote on Nord Stream 2 after Schumer-Cruz deal
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate legislation targeting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will go to a vote under a deal that ended Sen. Ted Cruz’s blockade on several of President Joe Biden’s nominees, leading to the confirmation of a slate of his judicial and diplomatic appointments early Saturday. The agreement between...
OSHA vaccine mandate penalties to start Jan. 10
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration said Saturday that it would not issue citations tied to its coronavirus vaccination mandate before Jan. 10, so that companies have time to adjust to and implement the requirements. The federal agency separately said there would be no citations of companies regarding its testing...
Gas explosion in sewer kills 12 in Pakistan’s largest city
KARACHI, Pakistan — A powerful gas explosion in a sewage system in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, killed at least 12 people and injured 11 others Saturday, police and a health official said. Police spokesman Sohail Jokhio said the blast was apparently caused when something ignited gas that had accumulated in...
Biden marks anniversary of 1972 car crash that killed wife
GREENVILLE, Del. — President Joe Biden on Saturday commemorated the 49th anniversary of the car crash that killed his first wife and infant daughter, visiting their graves at the Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church. Their deaths occurred just after Delaware voters elected Biden to the Senate in...
Ransomware persists even as high-profile attacks have slowed
In the months since President Joe Biden warned Russia’s Vladimir Putin that he needed to crack down on ransomware gangs in his country, there hasn’t been a massive attack like the one last May that resulted in gasoline shortages. But that’s small comfort to Ken Trzaska. Trzaska is president of...
GOP Oklahoma House leader, wife accused of multiple felonies
OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma County grand jury indicted a top Republican House leader on multiple felony counts, alleging he misused his power to change state law so his wife could become a tag agent. House Speaker Pro Tempore Terry O’Donnell, the second-highest ranking member in the House, was charged...
Court allows Biden employer vaccine mandate to take effect
A federal appeals court panel on Friday allowed President Joe Biden’s covid-19 vaccine mandate for larger private employers to move ahead. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a decision by a federal judge in a separate court that had paused the...
Ghislaine Maxwell declines to testify as defense rests case
NEW YORK — After 12 days of testimony over three weeks, jurors heard from the final witnesses Friday in the sex trafficking trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who told the judge she wouldn’t testify because she was confident prosecutors hadn’t proved their case. Closing arguments are now set for...
California governor boosts efforts to combat smash-and-grabs
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Stung by recent headline-grabbing smash-and-grab robberies, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday said he will seek more than $300 million in state funding over three years to boost law enforcement efforts to combat retail theft. “The issue of crime and violence is top of mind all throughout...
Pfizer study tests extra covid vaccine dose for kids under 5
Pfizer said Friday it was changing plans and testing three doses of its covid-19 vaccine in babies and preschoolers instead of the usual two. The addition of an extra dose came after a preliminary analysis found 2- to 4-year-olds didn’t have as strong an immune response as expected to special...
Amazon driver texts reveal chaos as Illinois tornado bore down
The messages between an Amazon delivery driver and her boss began about 80 minutes before a tornado struck one of the company’s warehouses in Edwardsville, Ill., on Dec. 10, killing six workers. The dramatic exchange cast in sharp relief the chaos that can ensue when disaster hits and disagreements erupt...
Typhoon leaves 12 dead, traps people on roofs in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — A powerful typhoon that battered the central Philippines left at least 12 people dead in massive floods that trapped residents on roofs and damaged buildings including a hotel and an airport, officials said. Typhoon Rai slightly weakened after slamming ashore Thursday on the country’s southeastern coast but...
Denmark seeks to close public venues to curb coronavirus
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s prime minister said Friday that his government is moving to close theaters, cinemas, concert halls, amusement parks, museums and art galleries as part of new restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the proposed measures also would require stores smaller...
‘Doomsday glacier’: Giant Antarctica ice mass could collapse within 3 to 5 years
The rapid deterioration of Thwaites Glacier, the widest glacier on Earth, and one of Antarctica’s largest could result in the ice shelf’s total collapse within a few years, contributing to rising sea levels, researchers have warned. According to a report by Live Science, the warning came during a virtual press...
Covid-19 fears dash hopes for the holiday season — again
Lines again stretch around blocks at some covid-19 testing sites. Refrigerated mobile morgues are on order, and parts of Europe are re-tightening borders amid a winter spike in coronavirus infections. This year’s holiday season was supposed to be a do-over for last year’s subdued celebrations. Instead it’s turning into a...
