Texas governor: State, crowdsourcing will fund border wallVideo
AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that he will use $250 million in state money and crowdsourced financing to build more barriers along the U.S. border with Mexico, part of an emerging proposal that also extends his political fight over immigration with the Democratic Biden administration. But questions...
Biden to sign bill making Juneteenth a federal holidayVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the nation. The House voted 415-14 on Wednesday to make Juneteenth, or June 19th, the 12th federal holiday. President Joe Biden is scheduled to sign the bill into law on Thursday. Juneteenth...
2 South Carolina executions halted until firing squad formed
COLUMBIA — The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the planned executions of two inmates by electrocution, saying they cannot be put to death until they truly have the choice of the firing squad option set out in the state’s newly revised capital punishment law. The high court halted...
Covid cases delay long-awaited Royal Caribbean cruise
MIAMI — Royal Caribbean International is postponing for nearly a month one of the highly anticipated first sailings from the U.S. since the pandemic began because eight crew members tested positive for covid-19, the company’s CEO said. The brand new Odyssey of the Seas was to set sail from Fort...
West Virginia Sen. Manchin proposes changes to Democrats’ voting bill
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin is proposing an extensive list of changes to his party’s sweeping elections and voting bill, raising hopes among Democrats that they could unite behind the legislation even if the measure is nearly certain to be blocked by Republicans in a showdown Senate vote next week....
Aide says former Homeland Security head, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge had stroke
HARRISBURG — Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge suffered a stroke Wednesday at his home in suburban Washington, D.C., a longtime aide to the former Pennsylvania governor said. Ridge was taken by ambulance from the home in Bethesda, Md., to a hospital for treatment, Ridge spokesman Steve Aaron said....
Vaccine effort turns into slog as infectious variant spreads
As cases tumble and states reopen, the potential final stage in the U.S. campaign to vanquish covid-19 is turning into a slog, with a worrisome variant gaining a bigger foothold and lotteries and other prizes failing to persuade some Americans to get vaccinated. “The last half, the last mile, the...
Man who drove at Minneapolis protesters charged with murder
MINNEAPOLIS — A St. Paul man accused of speeding up and driving into a group of protesters in Minneapolis while he was drunk, killing one person, was charged Wednesday with intentional second-degree murder. Prosecutors say Nicholas Kraus, 35, was visibly intoxicated Sunday night when he sped up and tried to...
Biden administration extends protections to transgender students
The Education Department on Wednesday expanded its interpretation of federal sex protections to include transgender and gay students, a move that reverses Trump-era policy and stands against proposals in many states to bar transgender girls from school sports. In a new policy directive, the department said discrimination based on a...
Ohio House expels former Republican speaker in historic vote
COLUMBUS — Former Republican Speaker Larry Householder was expelled from the Ohio House in a vote Wednesday as a result of his indictment in an alleged $60 million federal bribery probe, only the second time the state Legislature has pushed out a member and the first time in 150 years....
Dead ‘murder hornet’ near Seattle is 1st found in U.S. in 2021
Scientists have found a dead Asian giant hornet north of Seattle, the first so-called murder hornet found in the country this year, federal and state investigators said Wednesday. Entomologists from the state and U.S. Agriculture departments said it’s the first confirmed report from Snohomish County, north of Seattle, and appears...
Millions fear eviction as housing crisis worsens
More than 4 million people say they fear being evicted or foreclosed upon in the coming months just as two studies released Wednesday found that the nation’s housing availability and affordability crisis is expected to worsen significantly following the pandemic. The housing crisis, the studies found, risk widening the housing...
Portland, scarred by unrest and violence, tries to come back
PORTLAND, Ore. — The smell of fresh empanadas wafted through the stands at Portland’s Saturday Market. People talked through their masks with artists as others sifted through fork windchimes, crystal necklaces, tie dye dresses and clay mugs. The weekly event was smaller than in years past, but longtime attendees say...
Pockets of unvaccinated Americans threaten to prolong pandemic
As much of the country emerges from masking and social distancing, undervaccinated pockets in the U.S. still threaten to bring the virus roaring back. Less than 25% of the population is fully vaccinated in at least 482 counties, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data...
Hours after 4 killed in Chicago, 5 more hurt in shooting
Five people standing outside on Chicago’s West Side were shot in a violent end to a day that began with a mass shooting on the city’s South Side that left four people dead and four more injured, police said. Four men and one woman were shot about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday...
‘You stabbed me,’ boy tells father at double-murder trial
TAMPA, Fla. — Acting as his own lawyer, a double-murder defendant opened his death penalty trial by shouting at jurors that he did not attack his girlfriend and disabled daughter. Now he’s cross-examined his son, forcing the 11-year-old to describe exactly how he hurt him. Ronnie Oneal III claimed in...
U.S. Army has hidden or downplayed loss of firearms for years
The U.S. Army has hidden or downplayed the extent to which its firearms disappear, significantly understating losses and thefts even as some weapons are used in street crimes. The Army’s pattern of secrecy and suppression dates back nearly a decade, when The Associated Press began investigating weapons accountability within the...
What is PSERS? A look inside the pension fund being investigated by the FBI
You’d be forgiven if the phrase “pension scandal” makes your eyes glaze over. Try this, instead: $40 billion. That’s roughly — and this number is always a moving target — the amount Pennsylvania taxpayers are on the hook for. This figure, the “unfunded liability,” represents the difference between the amount...
Senators would stop ‘micropolitan’ label for 144 U.S. cities
Some lawmakers are trying to stop 144 U.S. cities from losing their designations as “metropolitan areas” as the federal government updates its standards, doubling the minimum number of residents required in a city’s urban core to 100,000 people. Sens. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, and Mark Kelly, a...
Computer trouble hits Hubble Space Telescope, science halted
The Hubble Space Telescope has been hit with computer trouble, with all astronomical viewing halted, NASA said Wednesday. The orbiting observatory has been idle since Sunday when a 1980s-era computer that controls the science instruments shut down, possibly because of a bad memory board. Flight controllers at NASA’s Goddard Space...
‘Pure business’ at Biden-Putin summit: No hugs, no brickbatsVideo
GENEVA — President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded their summit on Wednesday with an agreement to return their nations’ ambassadors to their posts in Washington and Moscow and a plan to begin work toward replacing the last remaining treaty between the two countries limiting nuclear weapons. But...
5 things to watch for in Biden’s meeting with Vladimir PutinVideo
WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden has his first head-of-state sit-down with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, it will be a test of mettle and wills, each leader confident in his ability to hold the upper hand over the other. Both have been fixtures in global politics for years, but...
Senate approves bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday
WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would make Juneteenth, or June 19th, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The bill would lead to Juneteenth becoming the 12th federal holiday. It is expected to easily pass the House, which would send it...
Israelis march in east Jerusalem in test for new governmentVideo
JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Israeli ultranationalists, some chanting “Death to Arabs,” paraded Tuesday in east Jerusalem in a show of force that threatened to spark renewed violence just weeks after a war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians in Gaza responded by launching incendiary balloons that caused at...
Judge OKs Weinstein’s extradition for California rape case
A New York judge on Tuesday approved disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s extradition to California, where he faces additional sexual assault charges, ending a legal fight prolonged by the covid-19 pandemic, the defense’s concerns about Weinstein’s failing health and a squabble over paperwork. Judge Kenneth Case said there was no...
