Nashville DA won’t enforce new bathroom sign law
NASHVILLE — Nashville’s top prosecutor said Monday that he will not enforce a newly enacted law that requires businesses and government facilities open to the public to post a sign if they let transgender people use multiperson bathrooms and other facilities associated with their gender identity. “I believe every person...
Texas poised to allow unlicensed carrying of handgunsVideo
AUSTIN — Texas is poised to remove one of its last major gun restrictions after lawmakers approved allowing people to carry handguns without a license, and the background check and training that go with it. The Republican-dominated Legislature approved the measure Monday, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has...
State Department warns against all travel to Japan as Olympics loom
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials and the State Department on Monday warned Americans against travel to Japan because of a surge in coronavirus cases in the country, which is preparing to host the Olympics in just two months. The twin alerts don’t ban U.S. citizens from visiting the country, but...
Vaccine passport bill takes 1st step in Pennsylvania
Republicans in Pennsylvania’s state Senate began advancing legislation Monday to prohibit governments and school districts from requiring a covid-19 vaccination for any sort of access. The Republican-penned bill passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee along party lines, 6-4, with Democrats opposing it. The prohibition on so-called vaccine passports...
Florida law seeks to rein in large social media companies
TALLAHASSEE — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Monday that seeks to punish social media platforms that remove “conservative ideas” from their sites, though it is not clear if it would pass constitutional muster because it might violate the First Amendment. The new law will enable the...
Key impeachment witness sues Mike Pompeo over $1.8M in legal fees
WASHINGTON — Gordon Sondland, the Trump administration’s ambassador to the European Union and a pivotal witness in 2019 impeachment proceedings, sued former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday in an effort to recoup $1.8 million he racked up in legal expenses. Sondland alleges in the lawsuit, filed in federal...
Suspect arrested after deadly shooting at New Jersey birthday partyVideo
BRIDGETON, N.J. — A shooting at a birthday party in New Jersey that left two people dead and 12 injured was not a random act and was a reflection of gun violence that has swept the nation, Gov. Phil Murphy said. “A birthday party is supposed to be a joyous...
Grim western fire season starts much drier than record 2020
As bad as last year’s record-shattering fire season was, the western U.S. starts this year’s in even worse shape. The soil in the West is record dry for this time of year. In much of the region, plants that fuel fires are also the driest scientists have seen. The vegetation...
Las Vegas officials hold pop-up vaccine clinic at strip club
Wearing a French maid-inspired lingerie costume and high heels, dancer JoJo Hamner waited patiently to get her covid-19 vaccine in a line that snaked past a glittery hostess stand under a red-light chandelier. When it was her turn, Hamner sat in a chair and held onto a small feather duster...
Former banker Guillermo Lasso becomes president in Ecuador
QUITO, Ecuador — Former banker Guillermo Lasso was sworn in as president of Ecuador on Monday, saying he will escalate efforts to vaccinate people to protect them from COVID-19 and work to revive an economy hit hard by the pandemic. So far, Ecuador has vaccinated just 3% of the total...
Poland defies EU court ruling to close major lignite mine
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s government on Monday defied an injunction by the top European Union court that ordered the immediate closure of a major brown coal mine, with officials saying it would shake the nation’s energy system and lead to the layoff of thousands of employees. Development Minister Jaroslaw Gowin...
Prosecutor: Late former priest killed altar boy in 1972
BOSTON — Investigators were preparing to seek an arrest warrant for a defrocked Roman Catholic priest long considered a suspect in the 1972 killing of a western Massachusetts altar boy shortly before his death last week, a prosecutor said Monday. Incriminating admissions Richard Lavigne made in a series of recent...
Biden doubling spending to prepare for hurricanes, storms
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Monday’s he’s doubling U.S. emergency spending to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather events, while launching a new effort at NASA to better understand and track the impacts of climate change. The $1 billion in spending being is a small fraction...
Cosmic 2-for-1: Total lunar eclipse combines with supermoon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first total lunar eclipse in more than two years coincides with a supermoon this week for quite a cosmic show. This super “blood” moon will be visible Wednesday across the Pacific — offering the best viewing — as well as the western half of North...
Pennsylvania woman’s wedding dress made from German parachute goes to museum
YORK — Deany Keith had her hair curled and teased on a recent morning for her media appearances, an “it” girl at 93 years old. Tucked into a neat little apartment in Country Meadows retirement community, she’s the hottest name in York County at the moment, her story just published...
Italy investigators probe why cable car brake ‘didn’t work’
STRESA, Italy — The investigation into Italy’s cable car disaster that killed 14 people will focus on why the lead cable snapped and why the emergency brake didn’t engage and prevent the cabin from careening back down the mountain until it pulled off the support line and crashed to the...
Justices reject case of retired cop put in police chokehold
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a retired federal law enforcement officer who was put in a chokehold and wrestled to the ground at a VA hospital security checkpoint. The justices did not comment in refusing to revive a lawsuit filed by Jose Oliva, 76,...
George Floyd’s family holds rally, march in brother’s memory
MINNEAPOLIS — Members of George Floyd’s family, and others who lost loved ones to police encounters, joined activists and citizens in Minneapolis for a march that was one of several events planned nationwide to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death. Hundreds of people gathered for the rally Sunday in...
Iran agrees to extend deal on cameras at its nuclear sites
VIENNA — Iran and the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agreed on Monday to a one-month extension to a deal on surveillance cameras at Tehran’s atomic sites, buying more time for ongoing negotiations seeking to save the country’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers. The last-minute discussions further underscored the narrowing window...
Blinken off to Mideast to push peace talks after Gaza truce
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the Middle East to press the Israelis, Palestinians and regional players to build on last week’s Gaza cease-fire by laying the groundwork for an eventual resumption in long-stalled peace talks. President Joe Biden announced Blinken would depart on Monday for...
NYC mayor: Public schools will be all in person this fall
New York City schools will be all in person this fall with no remote options, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday. “We can’t have a full recovery without full-strength schools, everyone back, sitting in those classrooms, kids learning again,” de Blasio said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” The roughly 1 million...
As Congress returns to funding earmarks, who will benefit?
HUFFMAN, Texas — Don’t tell Laura Fields that providing $1.7 million to her flood-prone neighborhood would be wasteful spending. Her home in a Houston-area subdivision was filled with 10 inches of water during Hurricane Harvey. “The stress of that was just horrific,” Fields said. “You know, to see fish swimming...
Whimsical new NYC waterfront park floats over Hudson River
NEW YOR — A whimsical new park that appears to float on pilings above the Hudson River opened to the public just off the Manhattan shoreline Friday, four years after a fight between media mogul Barry Diller and a billionaire real estate developer threatened to derail it. The new park,...
Rand Paul says he’s skipping vaccine for now, may reconsider
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said on a radio show he won’t be getting the covid-19 vaccine, but that he might change his mind if people who previously contracted the disease are getting reinfected at a greater rate than those who are vaccinated. The Republican —...
Leaving home: West Virginia population drop is largest in the U.S.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After her company told employees in 2017 to start working remotely, customer service representative Haley Miller decided to break from her lifelong home of West Virginia. The beaches of St. Petersburg, Fla., provide a far different view than the mountains of her native state. There are palm...
