Texas Legislature sends broad GOP elections bill to governor
AUSTIN — The GOP-controlled Texas Legislature passed a broad overhaul of the state’s election laws Tuesday, tightening already strict voting rules and dealing a bruising defeat to Democrats after a monthslong, bitter fight over voting rights. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he will sign the bill, the latest in a...
‘AntiVaxMomma’ accused of selling bogus vaccination cards
NEW YORK — A New Jersey woman calling herself the AntiVaxMomma on Instagram sold several hundred fake covid-19 vaccination cards at $200 a pop to New York City-area jab dodgers, including people working in hospitals and nursing homes, prosecutors said Tuesday. For an extra $250, a second scammer would then...
Ida’s sweltering aftermath: No power, no water, no gasolineVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Hundreds of thousands of Louisianans sweltered in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida on Tuesday with no electricity, no tap water, precious little gasoline and no clear idea of when things might improve. Long lines that wrapped around the block formed at the few gas stations that had...
President Biden praises airlift, defends departure from ‘forever war’Video
WASHINGTON — Addressing the nation, a defensive President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the U.S. military airlift to extract more than 120,000 Afghans, Americans and other allies to end a 20 year war an “extraordinary success,” though more than 100 Americans and thousands of Afghans looking to leave remain. Twenty-four...
Report: Louisiana man attacked by alligator in Ida’s floodwaters
SLIDELL, La. — A man had his arm ripped off by a large alligator while walking through floodwaters from Hurricane Ida and is now missing, a Louisiana sheriff said. The 71-year-old man’s wife told sheriff’s deputies that she heard a commotion around noon on Monday, then walked outside to see...
Victorious Taliban focus on governing after U.S. withdrawal
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban reveled in their victory after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, reiterating their pledge Tuesday to bring peace and security to the country after decades of war. Their anxious citizens, meanwhile, are waiting to see what the new order looks like. Having humbled the world’s most...
Ida collapses Mississippi road; kills 2, injures at least 10
LUCEDALE, Miss. — Two people were killed and at least 10 others were injured when seven vehicles plunged into a deep hole where a dark, rural highway collapsed as Hurricane Ida blew through Mississippi. Torrential rain may have caused the collapse Monday night, and the drivers may not have seen...
Pennsylvania mandates masks in K-12 schools, day cares
In a move that undoubtedly pleased some parents and infuriated others, the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Tuesday laid out an order mandating masks for students, teachers and staff in K-12 schools that will take effect next week. “I preferred for local school boards to make this decision,” Gov. Tom...
USDA to conduct hemp acreage and production survey
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is conducting its first hemp acreage and production survey. The survey, sent to those identified as hemp producers, will collect information on the total planted and harvested area, yield, production and value of hemp in the United States. Survey data will...
U.S. home prices soar at record pace in June
WASHINGTON — U.S. home prices jumped by a record amount in June as homebuyers competed for a limited supply of available houses, the latest evidence that the housing market remains red-hot. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index jumped 19.1% in June compared with a year earlier, the largest...
J&J: Potential HIV vaccine falls short in mid-stage study
A potential HIV vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson did not provide protection against the virus in a mid-stage study, the drugmaker said Tuesday. J&J plans to end that study, which involved young women in sub-Saharan Africa. But researchers will continue a separate, late-stage trial involving a different composition...
Wisconsin school board reverses on opting out of free meals
WAUKESHA, Wis. — A Wisconsin school district has reversed a decision to leave a federal free meals program following widespread criticism and loud protests from parents and others. Waukesha school board members said they received threats in the wake of national attention after voting to opt out of the program...
Poland seeks to stem migrants along border with Belarus
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s government asked the president Tuesday to declare a state of emergency along the border with Belarus as it tries to stop an increase number of migrants from entering from the neighboring country. The government citied the potential risk from foreign actors and the actions of protesters...
Thousands face weeks without power in Ida’s aftermath
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida are facing the depressing prospect of weeks without electricity in the stifling, late-summer heat. Ida ravaged the region’s power grid, leaving all of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of...
Ukraine’s leader to talk with Biden on security, Russian gas
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s leader is traveling to the United States this week in hopes of bolstering security ties with Washington and persuading the administration to ramp up sanctions against a new Russian natural gas pipeline that bypasses his country. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called Washington’s failure to block the...
Lightning strike at Jersey Shore kills lifeguard, injures 7Video
BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A young lifeguard was killed and seven other people, including three other lifeguards, were injured when lightning struck a Jersey Shore beach Monday afternoon, authorities said. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed that a lifeguard in Berkeley Township was killed in the afternoon. It marked the...
European Union takes U.S. off safe travel list; backs travel restrictionsVideo
BRUSSELS — The European Union recommended Monday that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on tourists from the United States because of rising coronavirus infections there, but member countries will keep the option of allowing fully vaccinated U.S. travelers in. The decision by the European Council to remove the U.S. from...
Florida officials withhold school board salaries over mask mandates
TALLAHASSEE — Florida state education officials on Monday began to make good on threats to withhold funding from local school districts that defied Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates, despite a circuit judge last week ruling the ban unconstitutional. Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran announced that the Florida Department...
2 unborn babies die after their unvaccinated moms get covid, Texas officials say
FORT WORTH, Texas — Two unborn babies died after their unvaccinated mothers contracted covid-19, Texas health officials reported. The women were 29 and 23 weeks along in their pregnancies, respectively, the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District announced Friday. The deaths of their unborn children are considered to be “Covid-19...
Ex-lawmaker Rick Saccone to run for lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — A former state lawmaker and two-time congressional candidate from the Pittsburgh area who appeared to support efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory said Monday that he will run for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor next year. Rick Saccone, 63, will make a formal announcement on Sept....
Covid-19 cases stay high, hospitalizations drop in Florida
MIAMI — The number of patients with coronavirus in Florida hospitals continues to drop as infection rates stay high, a sign that while more people are testing positive for the virus, they are not necessarily developing severe illness. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tallied 15,488 patients with...
Wildfire forces thousands from popular Lake Tahoe resortVideo
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Thousands of people rushed to get out of South Lake Tahoe as the entire tourist resort city came under evacuation orders and wildfire raced toward the large freshwater lake of Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada. Evacuation warnings issued for the resort city of...
Another conservative anti-vaccine radio talk show host dies of covid, 3rd in a month
A conservative Florida radio host who was dead-set against taking a coronavirus vaccine is now dead. Marc Bernier died Saturday of covid-19 after a three-week battle, his bereft radio station announced. He was 65. “It’s with great sadness that WNDB and Southern Stone Communications announce the passing of Marc Bernier,...
‘Season of shivers’ awaits in winter 2021-22, according to Old Farmer’s Almanac
Sounds like you best have long underwear on your Christmas list this year. The 2022 Old Farmer’s Almanac, which goes on sale Tuesday, is calling for the winter of 2021-22 to be a “season of shivers.” “This winter will be punctuated by positively bone-chilling, below-average temperatures across most of the...
China limits children to 3 hours of online gaming a week
China is banning children from playing online games for more than three hours a week, the harshest restriction so far on the game industry as Chinese regulators continue cracking down on the technology sector. Minors in China can only play games between 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays, weekends...
