After Ida, small recovery signs amid daunting destructionVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Lights came back on for a fortunate few, some corner stores opened their doors, and crews cleared fallen trees and debris from a growing number of roadways Wednesday — small signs of progress amid the monumental task of repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida. Still, suffering...
Texas school system shuts down after 2 teachers die of covid-19Video
WACO, Texas — A Central Texas school district closed its schools until after the Labor Day holiday Tuesday after two teachers died last week of covid-19. Connally Independent School District officials closed its five suburban Waco schools for the rest of the week after the covid-19 death of Natalia Chansler,...
13 essential workers charged with paying for fake papers to avoid free vaccine, prosecutors say
NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors have found 13 essential workers — including hospital, nursing home and school staff — who preferred to pay $200 for fake covid-19 vaccine documents than get a free-of-charge jab in the arm. The scam’s accused mastermind, Jasmine Clifford, 31, had a warrant out for her...
9-year-old boy killed in fire blamed on scooter charger
NEW YORK — A 9-year-old boy was killed and more than a dozen people were injured Wednesday in a fire caused by an electric scooter that was charging overnight, New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. Firefighters worked “heroically” to remove 14 people from the three-story Queens building where...
R. Kelly accuser says he kept gun nearby while berating her
NEW YORK — One of R. Kelly’s accusers testified on Wednesday that he kept a gun by his side while he berated her as a prelude to forcing her to give him oral sex in a Los Angeles music studio. “He had a weapon, so I wasn’t going to step...
Covid cases in Westmoreland, Allegheny up for 2nd straight month
After seeing numbers decline earlier in the summer, covid cases increased for a second straight month in Pennsylvania and Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. Cases As of Wednesday’s covid report, the Pennsylvania Department of Health saw 22,269 new cases of covid-19 in the past seven days, averaging 3,181 cases per day....
Officers, paramedics charged in Elijah McClain’s 2019 death
DENVER — Colorado’s attorney general said Wednesday that a grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who was put in a chokehold and injected with a powerful sedative two years ago in suburban Denver. The 23-year-old’s death gained widespread attention...
Pennsylvania’s carbon-pricing plan at last regulatory hurdle
The centerpiece of Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to fight climate change was confronting its last regulatory hurdle Wednesday, in a bid to make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon pricing policy. The plan to impose a price on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power...
New online site launched to help people get child tax credit
WASHINGTON — The government has collaborated on a new internet site to help more Americans apply for and receive the expanded child tax credit, a monthly payment of as much as $300 per child that was part of the coronavirus relief package. GetCTC.org was developed by Code for America in...
Wisconsin election probe includes $325,000 for data analysis
MADISON, Wis. — Nearly half of the money being spent on a Republican-ordered investigation into Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election is earmarked for data analysis, a contract released Wednesday spelling out how the $676,000 in taxpayer money will be spent shows. The Associated Press obtained the contract entered into by Assembly...
Photo gallery: Ida’s remains drench Western Pennsylvania region
The remnants of Hurricane Ida moved across parts of Western Pennsylvania late Tuesday and early Wednesday morning. Despite losing its tropical depression status, Ida’s impact was definitely felt on residents — on their streets and in their homes. Some of the heaviest rainfall dropped early Wednesday, with several areas of...
Texas’ 6-week abortion ban takes effect as Supreme Court stays mum on appeal
For the first time since 1973, a state law banning most abortions has taken effect. A Texas law that would drastically limit the availability of abortions in defiance of Roe vs. Wade took effect early Wednesday, as the Supreme Court took no action on pending appeals. The so-called Texas Heartbeat...
White House details plans to improve housing affordability
White House officials are outlining plans to build and restore more than 2 million homes, a response to the volcanic rise in housing prices over the past year. Millions of Americans are getting priced out of ownership or stuck spending the bulk of their income on rent. The S&P CoreLogic...
France starts covid-19 booster shot campaign for the elderly
PARIS — France on Wednesday started administering booster shots of covid-19 vaccine to people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions as the delta variant spreads in the country. France is the first big EU country to introduce widespread booster shots, and several other European countries are expected to...
Post-Trump, Ukraine’s leader to push Biden for U.S. support
WASHINGTON — The Ukrainian leader who found himself ensnarled in Donald Trump’s first impeachment is in Washington on Wednesday to see a new U.S. president, seeking increased military aid and backing for his country’s bid for NATO membership. The White House says the meeting between President Joe Biden and President...
Texas 6-week abortion ban takes effect, with high court mum
A Texas law banning most abortions in the state took effect at midnight, but the Supreme Court has yet to act on an emergency appeal to put the law on hold. If allowed to remain in force, the law would be the most dramatic restriction on abortion rights in the...
Vatican exonerates Brooklyn Bishop accused of sexual abuse
NEW YORK — The Vatican has concluded that allegations of sexual abuse dating back a half century against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn do “not have the semblance of truth,” but an attorney for the accusers said they will continue to pursue their civil cases. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the...
Moderna makes twice as many antibodies as Pfizer, study saysVideo
Moderna Inc.’s covid-19 vaccine generated more than double the antibodies of a similar shot made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in research that compared immune responses evoked by the two inoculations. The study is one of the first to compare levels of antibodies produced by the two vaccines, which...
As Florida mask fight rages, more children being hospitalizedVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Pediatricians from several Florida hospitals all had the same message Tuesday: the covid-19 delta variant is infecting more children than previous strains, putting more in the hospital and until it abates, schools should require masks in the classroom — an assertion Gov. Ron DeSantis disputes as...
House committee asks companies to save Jan. 6 phone, computer records
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is asking social media and telecommunications companies to preserve phone or computer records for hundreds of people who were potentially involved with efforts to “challenge, delay or interfere” with the certification that day of President Joe...
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...
