Mormon church to require masks in temples amid covid surge
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Wednesday that masks will be required inside temples to limit the spread of covid-19. Church leaders said in a statement that masks will be required temporarily in an effort to keep temples open. The message was the...
Policing talks collapse in Congress, a setback for Biden, Democrats
WASHINGTON — Bipartisan congressional talks on overhauling policing practices have ended without an agreement, top bargainers from both parties said Wednesday, marking the collapse of an effort that began after killings of unarmed Black people by officers sparked protests across the United States. “It was clear that we were not...
Pennsylvania high court OKs ‘comfort dogs’ for witnesses
Canines in the courtroom? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court says yes — under certain conditions. A trial witness may be accompanied by a “comfort dog” if the animal will help yield reliable, complete and truthful testimony, the justices ruled Wednesday in a precedent-setting opinion that established a “balancing test” for Pennsylvania...
Day 4 of search in Florida park for Brian Laundrie, Gabby Petito’s boyfriend
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Search teams fanned out Wednesday at a Florida wilderness park to look for the boyfriend of Gabby Petito, the young woman who authorities say was killed while on a cross-country trip with him. The search resumed around 8 a.m. Wednesday at the 24,000-acre Carlton Reserve park,...
Covid-19 creates dire U.S. shortage of teachers, school staff
SAN FRANCISCO — One desperate California school district is sending flyers home in students’ lunchboxes, telling parents it’s “now hiring.” Elsewhere, principals are filling in as crossing guards, teachers are being offered signing bonuses and schools are moving back to online learning. Now that schools have welcomed students back to...
Trump sues niece, NY Times over records behind ’18 tax story
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday sued his estranged niece and The New York Times over a 2018 story about his family’s wealth and tax practices that was partly based on confidential documents she provided to the newspaper’s reporters. Trump’s lawsuit, filed in state court in New...
Officials: Many Haitian migrants on Texas border are being released into U.S.
DEL RIO, Texas — Many Haitian migrants camped in a small Texas border town are being released in the United States, two U.S. officials said Tuesday, undercutting the Biden administration’s public statements that the thousands in the camp faced immediate expulsion. Haitians have been freed on a “very, very large...
House OKs debt and funding plan, inviting clash with GOP in Senate
WASHINGTON — The House voted Tuesday night to fund the government into early December, suspend the federal debt limit and provide disaster and refugee aid, setting up a high-stakes showdown with Republicans who oppose the package despite the prospects of a looming fiscal crisis. The Democratic-led House passed the measure...
Idaho’s covid outlook dire as cases continue to climb
BOISE — Health care workers are exhausted and angry. Some of Idaho’s coronavirus vaccines are expiring because they have sat unused for so long. And coronavirus case numbers and deaths continue to climb, putting the state among the worst in the nation for the rate of new covid-19 diagnoses. Idaho’s...
Teen pleads guilty in killing of college student Tessa Majors in NYC park
NEW YORK — One of two teens charged as adults in the fatal stabbing of a college student in a New York City park pleaded guilty Tuesday to murder and robbery charges. Luchiano Lewis was accused of holding Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors in a headlock and preventing her from...
New Florida surgeon general on covid: ‘We’re done with fear’
TALLAHASSEE — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis named a UCLA doctor and health policy researcher who shares his approach to managing the coronavirus pandemic to serve as the state’s surgeon general Tuesday. Like DeSantis, Dr. Jospeh Ladapo said he doesn’t believe in school closures, lockdowns or vaccine mandates. “Florida will...
Gabby Petito confirmed dead of homicide, autopsy finds
NORTH PORT, Fla. — Gabby Petito was killed by another person, a coroner concluded while also confirming that the human remains found recently at a Wyoming national park were those of the 22-year-old woman who disappeared months after she set out on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend, the...
‘Soul-crushing’: U.S. covid-19 deaths are topping 1,900 a dayVideo
Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day for the first time since early March, with experts saying the virus is preying largely on a distinct group: 71 million unvaccinated Americans. The increasingly lethal turn has filled hospitals, complicated the start of...
Pa. health leaders ready covid boosters for 65 and older population
Pennsylvania health officials on Tuesday pledged that covid-19 vaccine providers would be ready when federal guidance on potential booster shots comes down, something that is expected to come Thursday. An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration last week issued a narrow recommendation in terms of which Americans should...
German officials fear anti-mask radicalization after killing of 20-year-old cashier
BERLIN — Senior politicians in Germany expressed shock over the weekend killing of a young gas station clerk who asked a customer to wear a face mask, and they warned Tuesday against the radicalization of people who oppose the country’s pandemic restrictions. A 49-year-old German man was arrested in the...
Woodward book: Trump lawyer pushed Mike Pence to overturn presidential election with 6-point memoVideo
A far-right-wing lawyer for former President Donald Trump reportedly sought to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence to join the effort to overturn the 2020 election using a six-point legal memo. The outlandish memo urged Pence to use his supposed power while presiding over Congress to toss out the electoral votes...
Options shrink for Haitian migrants straddling Texas borderVideo
DEL RIO, Texas — Options narrowed Tuesday for thousands of Haitian migrants straddling the Mexico-Texas border as the United States government ramped up expulsion flights to Haiti, and Mexico began flying and busing some away from the border. Dozens of migrants upset about being deported to Haiti tried to rush...
Lawyer: R. Kelly unlikely to take stand in trafficking trial
NEW YORK — R. Kelly is unlikely to take the witness stand at his sex-trafficking trial, a lawyer for the R&B singer told a judge Tuesday. The remark by attorney Deveraux Cannick, made with the jury out the courtroom, came as the defense wound down its case at the trial...
Toxic gas, new rivers of molten lava endanger Spanish island
EL PASO, Canary Islands — As a new volcanic vent blew open and unstoppable rivers of molten rock flowed toward the sea, authorities on a Spanish island warned Tuesday that more dangers lie ahead for residents, including earthquakes, lava flows, toxic gases, volcanic ash and acid rain. Several small earthquakes...
Flames pour from section of Superdome roof in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS — Smoke and flames shot through the side of the Superdome’s roof on Tuesday as crews worked to clean and prepare the New Orleans sports and entertainment arena for painting. The New Orleans Fire Department confirmed firefighters responded to flames on the building’s roof shortly before 1 p.m....
Trudeau’s election bet fails, but Tory rival might lose job
TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau secured victory in parliamentary elections but failed to get the majority he wanted, an outcome that threatened his Conservative rival with loss of his job after moving his party to the center and alienating its base. Trudeau bet Canadians didn’t want a Conservative government...
Lawmakers attempt to revive nationwide eviction moratorium
Several progressive lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill that would reimpose a nationwide eviction moratorium at a time when deaths from covid-19 are running at their highest levels since early March. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said the bill would direct the secretary of Health and...
Sheriff: No charges after twin boys die from heat in car
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A sheriff said no charges will be filed against a South Carolina father whose 20-month-old boys died from heat after he forgot to drop them off at daycare and left them in his vehicle because he was under intense pressure at work. Watching investigators interview the father...
Biden pledges ‘relentless diplomacy’ on global challenges
UNITED NATIONS — President Joe Biden used his first address before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday to summon allies to move more quickly to address the festering issues of the covid-19 pandemic, climate change and human rights abuses, while insisting the U.S. is not seeking “a new Cold War”...
Biden to urge action on climate change and the pandemic at UN today
President Joe Biden will try to reassure allies that the United States will not turn its back on global commitments during his first speech at the United Nations on Tuesday as he pushes for more cooperation on combatting the covid-19 pandemic and climate change. His remarks come as he’s trying...
