Biden: U.S combat mission in Iraq to conclude in 2021Video
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Monday the U.S. military’s combat mission in Iraq will conclude by the end of the year, setting out a more precise timeline for American forces to formally step back in their fight against the Islamic State organization in Iraq. The plan to shift the...
Veterans Affairs mandates covid-19 vaccination for health care workersVideo
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday became the first major federal agency to require health care workers to get covid-19 vaccines, as the aggressive delta variant spreads across the nation and some communities report troubling increases in hospitalizations among unvaccinated people. The VA’s move came on a...
NYC to require vaccines or weekly testing for city workers
NEW YORK — New York City will require all of its municipal workers — including teachers and police officers — to get coronavirus vaccines by mid-September or face weekly covid-19 testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday. The rule is expected to affect about 340,000 city employees, making the city...
States scale back virus reporting just as cases surge
OMAHA, Neb. — Several states scaled back their reporting of covid-19 statistics this month just as cases across the country started to skyrocket, depriving the public of real-time information on outbreaks, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in their communities. The shift to weekly instead of daily reporting in Nebraska, Iowa and...
At least 8 killed in 22-car pileup in Utah during sandstorm
KANOSH, Utah — A sandstorm caused a huge 22-vehicle pileup on a Utah highway that left eight people dead, including four children, authorities said. The crashes Sunday afternoon on Interstate 15 near the town of Kanosh came at the end of a holiday weekend for the state that often leads...
White House shifts messaging on inflation as Republicans attack
WASHINGTON — The White House is shifting the way it talks about inflation, as polls show increasing voter concern and Republicans try to use rising prices to kill off President Joe Biden’s sweeping plans to spend trillions of dollars on social programs and infrastructure projects. Out: wonky words such as...
L.A. County sees over 2,000 new coronavirus cases daily because of delta variantVideo
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County health officials reported 2,089 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, with hospitalizations rising as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread. There are 716 people currently hospitalized with covid-19, up from 452 on July 16, officials said. The county also reported four new deaths,...
As Florida becomes U.S. epicenter of covid-19, it reports a wrong death countVideo
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida recorded more coronavirus cases this week than California, Texas, New York and Illinois combined, a Palm Beach Post analysis of state and federal data shows. The state logged 73,199 more infections in this week’s state Department of Health report. That’s the biggest one-week surge since...
1960s civil rights activist Robert Moses dies at 86
Robert Parris Moses, a civil rights activist who was shot at and endured beatings and jail while leading Black voter registration drives in the American South during the 1960s and later helped improve minority education in math, has died. He was 86. Moses, who was widely referred to as Bob,...
New trial ordered for York County man accused of murder, faked ATV crash
YORK — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a man accused of killing his wife and then faking an all-terrain vehicle accident to cover up the slaying almost a decade ago. The state’s highest court ruled 5-2 Friday that 48-year-old Joseph Fitzpatrick III might not have...
Officials in Michigan county will return coronavirus bonuses
CORUNNA, Mich. — Elected officials in a conservative Michigan county who gave themselves bonuses of $65,000 with federal covid-19 relief aid said they will return the money following days of criticism. Shiawassee County commissioners acted after the prosecutor said the payments were illegal, The Argus-Press reported. The Michigan Constitution bars...
Service slated for New Jersey man killed outside Philadelphia cheesesteak shopVideo
PHILADELPHIA — A funeral service is scheduled Thursday for a New Jersey man shot outside a well-known Philadelphia cheesesteak shop last week over what witnesses said was a dispute over a parking space. David Padro, 23, of Camden, N.J., was shot shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday after an argument broke...
California’s largest fire burns homes as blazes scorch WestVideo
INDIAN FALLS, Calif. — California’s largest wildfire merged with a smaller blaze and destroyed homes in remote areas with limited access for firefighters, as numerous other fires gained strength and threatened property across the U.S. West. The massive Dixie Fire, which started July 14, had already leveled over a dozen...
Pelosi appoints 2nd GOP critic of Trump to Jan. 6 committee
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday named a second Republican critic of Donald Trump, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, to a special committee investigating the Capitol riot and pledged that the Democratic-majority panel will “get to the truth.” Kinzinger said he “humbly accepted” the appointment even as his party’s leadership...
Fauci says U.S. headed in ‘wrong direction’ on coronavirus
WILMINGTON, Del. — The United States is in an “unnecessary predicament” of soaring covid-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated Americans and the virulent delta variant, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday. “We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, describing himself as “very frustrated.” He said recommending...
Sparked by pandemic fallout, homeschooling surges across U.S.
Although the pandemic disrupted family life across the U.S. since taking hold in spring 2020, some parents are grateful for one consequence: They’re now opting to homeschool their children, even as schools plan to resume in-person classes. The specific reasons vary widely. Some families who spoke with The Associated Press...
Groups urge Maine to protect last wild Atlantic salmon in U.S.
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine is home to the last wild Atlantic salmon populations in the U.S., but a push to protect the fish at the state level is unlikely to land them on the endangered list. Atlantic salmon once teemed in U.S. rivers but now return from the sea to...
Facing headwinds on new Alzheimer’s drug, Biogen launches controversial campaign
Do you sometimes lose your train of thought or feel a bit more anxious than is typical for you? Those are two of the six questions in a quiz on a website co-sponsored by the makers of Aduhelm, a controversial new Alzheimer’s drug. But even when all responses to the...
French protesters reject virus passes, vaccine mandate
PARIS — Some 160,000 people, including far-right activists and members of France’s yellow vest movement, protested Saturday across the country against a bill requiring everyone to have a special virus pass to enter restaurants and mandating covid-19 vaccinations for all health care workers. Similar protests were held in neighboring Italy....
Residents say flood-hit German towns got little warning
AHRWEILER, Germany — Like other residents of his town in Germany, Wolfgang Huste knew a flood was coming. What nobody told him, he says, was how bad it would be. The 66-year-old antiquarian bookseller from Ahrweiler said the first serious warning to evacuate or move to higher floors of buildings...
Beware of budget gimmicks in push for massive spending deals
WASHINGTON — Senators fashioning a pair of colossal bills that would deliver more than $4 trillion for infrastructure, health care, environment and other initiatives insist they will fully pay for both plans. Will they? In a Washington ritual as reliable as panic-buying when light snow is forecast, both parties have...
As delta variant spreads, CDC is pressured to revise mask guidance
A growing number of public-health experts are urging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend that even fully vaccinated people wear face masks in public amid the resurgence of virus cases fed by the delta variant. Doctors including former surgeon general Jerome Adams say the CDC acted prematurely...
Pa. GOP strategist running for governor being investigated for fatal crash on Turnpike
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 — Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Gerow was involved in a crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Chester County this week...
‘Ridiculous’: Vaccine myths cripple U.S. uptake as delta surges
The excuses range from the merely false to the absurd. The shots don’t work. They impair fertility. They’ll alter your DNA. They’ll magnetize you. They actually spread the virus. Unvaccinated Americans cite a litany of myths to explain their hesitance to get shots, confounding local health officials battling yet another...
To reach a peace deal, Taliban say Afghan president must go
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban say they don’t want to monopolize power, but they insist there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed. In an interview with The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who is also a...
