U.S. appeals court blocks judge’s decision to overturn California’s assault weapons ban
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court decided Monday to put on hold a judge’s decision to overturn California’s 30-year ban on assault weapons. In a brief order, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of Judge Roger T. Benitez’s decision on June...
Judge tosses most claims over clearing protesters in Lafayette Square
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has dismissed a majority of the claims filed by activists and civil liberties groups who accused the Trump administration of violating the civil rights of protesters who were forcefully removed by police using chemical agents from a park near the White House before then-President Donald...
Ohio man’s trial in 8 slayings set for April after brother’s plea
WAVERLY, Ohio — A trial has been scheduled next spring for a man who along with his brother and parents was charged in the slayings of eight people from another Ohio family. A judge announced the April 4 trial date for George Wagner IV during his brief court appearance Monday...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis edges former President Trump in 2024 straw poll
A Florida man was the favorite of Western conservatives for president in 2024 — and it wasn’t the former president in Palm Beach. Gov. Ron DeSantis topped the 2024 presidential approval poll at the Western Conservative Summit 2021 in Denver over the weekend, edging out former President Donald Trump by...
42,000 pounds of purloined pistachios found in central California
DELANO, Calif. — California detectives say they’ve solved the curious caper of the purloined pistachios. The heist was a nutty one, but nothing new to investigators in America’s most productive farmland. In a nutshell, an audit by the Touchstone Pistachio Company in the San Joaquin Valley discovered that 42,000 pounds...
3 killed in Denver-area shooting, including officer, suspectVideo
DENVER — A gunman is believed to have shot and killed an officer and another person in a shopping district in a Denver suburb Monday before being fatally shot by police, authorities said. An officer responded to a call at 1:15 p.m. about a suspicious incident near the library in...
In Senate vote, Biden sees ‘step forward’ for elections billVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House said Monday it views the Senate’s work on an elections bill overhaul and changes being offered by Sen. Joe Manchin as a “step forward,” even though the Democrats’ priority legislation is expected to be blocked by a Republican filibuster. White House press secretary Jen Psaki...
West Virginia mail carrier gets probation in absentee ballot case
ELKINS, W.Va. — A West Virginia postal carrier who pleaded guilty to altering mail-in requests for absentee voter ballots was sentenced to five years’ probation Monday. Thomas Cooper was charged in May 2020 after eight mail-in requests for absentee voter ballots had their party affiliations altered. He pleaded guilty last...
Judge weighs whether to dismiss Georgia ballot review case
McDONOUGH, Ga. — A judge is weighing whether to dismiss claims brought by a group of voters who allege that fraud during the November general election in Georgia’s most populous county resulted in the violation of their constitutional rights. The lawsuit filed by nine Georgia voters alleges that counterfeit ballots...
After causing 14 deaths, Claudette heads out to seaVideo
CAMP HILL, Ala. — Claudette regained tropical storm status and headed out to sea from the North Carolina coast Monday, less than two days after the system killed 14 people in Alabama, including nine children who died in a highway crash. Eight of the children who died Saturday were in...
U.S. hitting encouraging milestones on coronavirus deaths and shots
Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have dipped below 300 a day for the first time since the early days of the disaster in March 2020, while the drive to put shots in arms approached another encouraging milestone Monday: 150 million Americans fully vaccinated. The coronavirus was the third leading cause...
Iran president-elect takes hard line, refuses to meet Biden
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s president-elect staked out a hard-line position Monday in his first remarks since his landslide election victory, rejecting the possibility of meeting with President Joe Biden or negotiating Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support of regional militias. The comments by Ebrahim Raisi offered a blunt...
U.S. hitting encouraging milestones on virus deaths and shots
Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have dipped below 300 a day for the first time since the early days of the disaster in March 2020, while the drive to put shots in arms approached another encouraging milestone Monday: 150 million Americans fully vaccinated. The coronavirus was the third leading cause...
PHEAA trims workforce by 37 positions through early retirement offer
Some 37 employees at the state’s student financial aid agency have been approved to call it a career by accepting an early retirement offer. This is expected to produce an annual savings for the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency of $5.1 million, according to agency spokesman Keith New. The agency’s...
Tornado sweeps through suburban Chicago, causing damageVideo
CHICAGO — A tornado swept through communities in heavily populated suburban Chicago, damaging more than 100 homes, toppling trees, knocking out power and causing multiple injuries, officials said. There was relief Monday, though, as authorities reported that it appeared no one had died. Less than a dozen people were hurt...
Is it better to get immunity from catching covid-19 — or from vaccines? What science shows
Research shows both coronavirus infection and vaccination offers immunity that can protect people from getting sick again. But by how much and for how long remains unclear — a scientific gap that only time could fill. Regardless of how immunity is acquired, there’s no telling whose bodies will or won’t...
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says bipartisan infrastructure deal is there for takingVideo
WASHINGTON — A senior Republican senator said a $579 billion bipartisan accord on infrastructure is on the table and he challenged President Joe Biden to decide whether he wants to pursue it. South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, who’s in a group of 21 senators from both parties who last week signed...
Suspect arraigned in killing of American student in Russia
MOSCOW — A court in central Russia on Sunday arraigned a suspect on murder charges in the death of an American woman who was studying at a local university. The body of 34-year-old Catherine Serou was found Saturday in a wooded area near the city of Nizhny Novgorod, 250 miles...
Indoor mask mandate ends on West Virginia’s 158th birthday
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice declared an end to the state’s indoor mask requirement Sunday as a $1 million winner was revealed in a drawing for residents who have received the coronavirus vaccine. Karen Foley of Mineral Wells won the top prize announced on a sweltering Father’s...
Body of 4th tuber, age 7, found in North Carolina river
EDEN, N.C. — The body of a fourth tuber has been found in a North Carolina river following a deadly accident in which a family on a recreational float went over a dam, local officials said Sunday. The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a news release that Isiah Crawford,...
Diplomats: Progress made in Vienna at Iran nuclear talks
VIENNA — Top diplomats said Sunday that further progress had been made at talks between Iran and global powers to try to restore a landmark 2015 agreement to contain Iranian nuclear development that was abandoned by the Trump administration. They said it was now up to the governments involved in...
‘It lessens my bills’: $500 payments tested in upstate N.Y.
Annette Steele isn’t destitute or unemployed. But for a year she’ll be receiving $500 per month in no-strings-attached payments as part of an experimental universal basic income program in upstate New York. Places from Compton, California, to Richmond, Virginia, are trying out guaranteed income programs, which gained more attention after...
Las Vegas pushes land swap to balance growth, conservation
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Record-breaking heat and historic drought in the U.S. West are doing little to discourage cities from planning to welcome millions of new residents in the decades ahead. From Phoenix to Boise, officials are preparing for a future both with more people and less water, seeking to...
8 kids in youth van among the 13 lives lost to ClaudetteVideo
ATLANTA — Eight children in a van from a youth home for abused or neglected children were killed in a fiery multi-vehicle crash on a wet interstate that also killed a man and his baby in another vehicle, the most devastating blow from a tropical depression that claimed 13 lives...
Officials say cause of deadly Pride parade was accidental
WILTON MANORS, Fla. — The driver who slammed into spectators at the start of a Pride parade in South Florida, killing one person and seriously injuring another, did so accidentally, local officials and the leader of one of the groups involved in the parade said Sunday. Saturday’s crash at the...
