Biden pressed to do more to protect voting rights, democracy
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will lay out the “moral case” for voting rights as he faces growing pressure from civil rights activists and other Democrats to combat efforts by Republican-led state legislatures to restrict access to the ballot. Biden has declared that protecting voting rights was the central cause...
Russia warns U.S. against putting troops in Central Asia near Afghanistan
MOSCOW — Russia has strongly warned the United States against deploying its troops in the former Soviet Central Asian nations following their withdrawal from Afghanistan, a senior diplomat said in remarks published on Tuesday. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow conveyed the message to Washington last month...
Germany launches ‘space command’ to protect infrastructure
BERLIN — The German military on Tuesday launched a “space command” tasked with overseeing satellites, watching for dangerous space junk and analyzing other countries’ activities. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer launched the new operation during a visit to its base at Uedem in western Germany. The military is “responding to the...
Summer camps hit with covid outbreaks — are schools next?
The United States has seen a string of covid-19 outbreaks tied to summer camps in recent weeks in places such as Texas, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and Kansas, in what some fear could be a preview of the upcoming school year. In some cases the outbreaks have spread from the camp...
Indicted Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg stripped of several company positions
NEW YORK — The finance chief of former President Donald Trump’s business empire has been removed as an officer at some of the company’s subsidiaries amid charges accusing him and the corporation of a long-running tax fraud scheme. Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was indicted last week by...
Tennessee fires top vaccination official amid pandemic
NASHVILLE — Tennessee officials have fired the state’s top vaccination official, who had been facing scrutiny from Republican state lawmakers over her department’s outreach efforts to vaccinate teenagers against covid-19. Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the medical director for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization programs at the Tennessee Department of Health, told The...
Top Pa. judge called charging Bill Cosby ‘reprehensible.’ Now the prosecutor is firing back
PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s controversial decision to overturn Bill Cosby’s sex assault conviction has sparked a rare public war of words between the court’s chief justice and Montgomery County prosecutors. In an interview Sunday with Harrisburg’s WHTM-TV, Chief Justice Max Baer justified the ruling that freed Cosby earlier...
Trump lawyers might be penalized over Michigan election case
DETROIT — A federal judge considering whether to order sanctions against some of former President Donald Trump’s lawyers spent hours Monday drilling deeply into details about an unsuccessful lawsuit that challenged Michigan’s 2020 election results. The lawsuit alleging widespread fraud was dropped after the judge found nothing but “speculation and...
Florida man tied to violent prison gang pleads guilty in Jan. 6 riot
A Florida man who was part of a white supremacist prison gang when he served time for attempted murder pleaded guilty Monday to joining the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, and will be released from jail this week after serving six months for his role in the Jan. 6...
Man arrested in alleged child abduction; mother found dead in TennesseeVideo
RAHWAY, N.J. — A man will be extradited to New Jersey to face charges in connection with the alleged abduction of a 2-year-old boy whose mother was found dead in Tennessee, authorities said Sunday. The Union County prosecutor’s office and Rahway police said 27-year-old Tyler Rios, of Highland Park, is...
U.S. officials flag ‘small’ reaction risk with J&J vaccine
WASHINGTON — Johnson & Johnson’s covid-19 vaccine may pose a “small possible risk” of a rare but potentially dangerous neurological reaction, U.S. health officials said Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement it has received reports of 100 people who got the shot developing Guillain-Barré...
Gutter ball: Michigan man finds 160 bowling balls under home
NORTON SHORES, Mich. — A Michigan man made a striking discovery under his house when he went to demolish his back stairs: about 160 bowling balls. David Olson, 33, said he found one ball buried in the sand behind cinder blocks this month and continued finding more over the following...
‘Feelings of dissatisfaction’: Cuba’s leader blames U.S. embargo for unprecedented protestsVideo
Without making any acknowledgment of the deep discontent with his government shown by protesters chanting “down with the dictatorship” across the island on Sunday, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel said Monday the massive uprisings were the “cumulative” result of U.S. policies. He said the majority of people participating in the massive...
France’s Macron orders all health workers to get vaccinatedVideo
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday ordered all French health care workers to get virus vaccine shots by Sept. 15 and urged all of his compatriots to get vaccinated as soon as possible, to fight resurgent infections that are threatening the country’s economic recovery. In a televised address,...
Texas Democrats leave state to try to stop GOP voting billVideo
AUSTIN — Democrats in the Texas Legislature on Monday bolted for Washington, D.C., and said they were ready to remain there for weeks in a second revolt against a GOP overhaul of election laws, forcing a dramatic new showdown over voting rights in America. Private planes carrying a large group...
Pa. House GOP commits to public meetings, vows ‘most transparent’ congressional redistricting process ever
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 — A key Pennsylvania lawmaker committed Monday to transparency measures aimed at making the decennial redrawing of the state’s congressional...
Ohio IDs 117 noncitizens who voted or registered in 2020
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s elections chief on Monday referred for possible prosecution 117 apparent noncitizens who either registered to vote or cast a ballot last year — a tiny fraction of the state’s electorate and a significantly reduced number from two years ago despite record 2020 turnout. Republican Secretary of...
Wildfires rage as U.S. West grapples with heat wave, drought
Firefighters were working in extreme temperatures across the U.S. West and struggling to contain wildfires, the largest burning in California and Oregon, as another heat wave baked the region, straining power grids. The largest wildfire of the year in California — the Beckwourth Complex — was raging along the Nevada...
U.K. health chief: England will lift all lockdown restrictions
LONDON — All remaining lockdown restrictions in England will be lifted in a week despite a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, Britain’s health secretary said Monday, adding it’s the right time to allow Britons a chance to return to normal life. Sajid Javid told Parliament that Britain’s successful vaccine rollout...
Biden to talk crime with city, police leaders nationwide
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will host New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate and other city and law enforcement leaders from around the country to talk about reducing crime. Eric Adams, Brooklyn borough president and the likely next mayor of New York, plus Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and San...
EU puts digital levy plans on hold in face of U.S. criticism
BRUSSELS — In a gesture of goodwill to the United States, the European Union on Monday put work on plans for a digital tax levy on hold for the moment to concentrate on finalizing the historic tax decision endorsed by the Group of 20 nations over the weekend. In the...
Pennsylvania says it counted 500K duplicate covid-19 shots
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Department of Health has reduced the number of covid-19 vaccine doses that had been administered by about 500,000, saying the numbers were duplicates. The figures, released Friday evening without explanation, also showed an increase of about 60,000 in the number of people who are counted as fully...
Coronavirus infects vaccinated leader at Florida condo site
MIAMI — A vaccinated Miami-Dade county commissioner who helped other local officials in Surfside following the collapse of a condominium building announced that he and his chief of staff tested positive for covid-19. The news release late Sunday from Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz said he and his...
Ex-Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards died; knew power and prison
NEW ORLEANS, La. — Edwin Washington Edwards, the high-living four-term governor whose three-decade dominance of Louisiana politics was all but overshadowed by scandal and an eight-year federal prison stretch, died Monday. He was 93. Edwards died of respiratory problems with family and friends by his bedside, family spokesman Leo Honeycutt...
Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan hands over command
KABUL, Afghanistan — The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan relinquished his command at a ceremony in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday, taking the United States a step closer to ending its 20-year war. The move came as Taliban insurgents continue to gain territory across the country. Another four-star...
