Study: Climate change added $8 billion to Sandy’s damages
Climate change-triggered sea level rise added $8 billion in damage during 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, one of nation’s costliest weather disasters, a new study said. During Sandy — a late fall freak combination of a hurricane and other storms that struck New York and surrounding areas — the seas were almost...
Congress OKs bill to fight hate crimes vs. Asian AmericansVideo
WASHINGTON — Congress approved legislation Tuesday intended to curtail a striking rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, sending President Joe Biden a bipartisan denunciation of the spate of brutal attacks that have proliferated during coronavirus pandemic. The bill, which the House passed on a 364-62 vote,...
House Republicans line up against bipartisan Jan. 6 commissionVideo
WASHINGTON — House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern on Tuesday questioned House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s fitness to lead after he came out in opposition to establishing a Jan. 6 commission to investigate the insurrection of that day, a measure the Rules panel teed up for floor debate on Wednesday...
Groups ask judge to block Indiana ‘abortion reversal’ law
INDIANAPOLIS — Abortion rights groups asked a federal judge on Tuesday to block a new Indiana law that would require doctors to tell women undergoing drug-induced abortions about a disputed treatment for potentially stopping the abortion process. The lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis argues that the...
Virginia: Ex-gynecologist gets 59 years on fraud conviction
NORFOLK, Va. — A former gynecologist in Virginia who was convicted on fraud charges for performing unnecessary surgeries and procedures was sentenced Tuesday to 59 years in prison. Dr. Javaid Perwaiz also was ordered to pay $18.5 million to insurance companies that covered the procedures, news outlets reported. The former...
Biden reverses Trump changes to bank antidiscrimination law
NEW YORK — The Biden administration said Tuesday it will repeal changes made by the Trump administration to a law aimed at stopping banks from discriminating against racial minorities and the poor. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, one of the nation’s bank regulators, said it plans to...
Darwin’s Arch loses its top due to erosion in Galapagos
QUITO, Ecuador — The famed Darwin’s Arch in the Galapagos Islands has lost its top, and officials are blaming natural erosion of the stone. Ecuador’s Environment Ministry reported the collapse on its Facebook page on Monday. The rock structure — 141 feet high, 230 feet long and 75 feet wide...
Shooting targeting party bus in California kills 2, wounds 3
OAKLAND, Calif. — Someone opened fire on a party bus on a San Francisco Bay Area freeway early Tuesday, killing two women and wounding at least three others, authorities said. The passengers were celebrating a woman’s 21st birthday when the bus was attacked around 12:20 a.m. Tuesday on Interstate 580...
FBI investigates Asian-American teen’s death as hate crime
DENVER — The FBI has revealed that it is now investigating the 2017 death of an Asian-American teen in Colorado as a possible hate crime. The federal agency said in a statement Monday to KCNC-TV that it was probing the death of Maggie Long a “hate crime matter.” Long’s death...
EU seeks Mideast cease-fire, concerned conflict will spread
BRUSSELS — European Union foreign ministers called Tuesday for a cease-fire to end days of heavy fighting between the Israeli armed forces and Palestinian militants, but said that a longer-term political solution must be found to end decades of conflict between them. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in...
Prosecutor says N.C. deputies justified in shooting of Black man
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — North Carolina sheriff’s deputies were justified in their fatal shooting of a Black man in April because the man ignored their commands and drove his car directly at one of them before they fired any shots, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Andrew Brown Jr.’s actions caused deputies...
India vaccine-maker hopes to share shots by end of the year
NEW DELHI — The Serum Institute of India said Tuesday that it hopes to start delivering coronavirus vaccine doses to the U.N-backed effort known as COVAX and to other countries by the end of the year, a delay that will significantly set back global efforts to immunize people against covid-19....
Americans urged to get colon cancer screening earlier
Americans should start getting screened for colon cancer earlier — at age 45 instead of waiting until they’re 50, according to guidelines released Tuesday. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said it’s time for the change because colorectal cancer increasingly is appearing in younger adults. Colorectal cancer is one of...
Unruly passenger on JFK flight prompts emergency landing
A flight out of Kennedy Airport made an emergency landing after an unruly, foul-smelling passenger refused to wear a mask, snorted a white powder, groped a woman and uttered racial slurs, according to reports. The suspect was taken into custody when the JetBlue flight to San Francisco made an unscheduled...
Tennessee to mandate bathroom signs about transgender use
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee will become the first state in the United States to require businesses and government facilities open to the public to post a sign if they let transgender people use multiperson bathrooms, locker rooms or changing rooms associated with their gender identity. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed...
Tennessee man admits hate crime in attack on Muslim girls
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee man who harassed two teenage Muslim girls and then swung a knife and attacked their father has pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime. Christopher Beckham, 35, of Nashville, appeared in court last week to enter the plea, the Justice Department said Monday in a...
U.S. home construction falls a surprising 9.5% in April
WASHINGTON — U.S. home construction fell a surprisingly sharp 9.5% in April and economists attributed that partially builders who delayed projects because of a surge in lumber prices and supply constraints. The April decline left construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.57 million units, the Commerce Department said...
Val Demings plans to challenge Marco Rubio in Fla. Senate race
WASHINGTON — Rep. Val Demings is planning to challenge Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, giving Democrats a boost in a competitive 2022 race that could decide control of the Senate, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. The move ends mounting speculation over the congresswoman’s political future. She had...
GOP Leader McCarthy opposes Jan. 6 commission ahead of vote
WASHINGTON — House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday that he won’t support a proposal to form an independent, bipartisan commission to study the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, almost certainly eroding GOP support ahead of a vote and positioning his party as opposed to investigations of...
Arrest warrant issued for man in Confederate monument theft
SELMA, Ala. — Police in Alabama have issued an arrest warrant for a man in connection with the bizarre theft of a Confederate monument that was taken from an Alabama cemetery and found in Louisiana. Selma police charged Jason Warnick with theft in connection with the mysterious disappearance of the...
More than 50 migrants reported drowned off Tunisia; 33 saved
TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisian authorities say more than 50 migrants have drowned off the coast of the North African country, while 33 others were rescued by workers from an oil platform. Defense Ministry spokesman Mohamed Zekri said Tuesday that a boat carrying the migrants sank Monday off Sfax, on Tunisia’s...
Biden moving to improve legal services for poor, minorities
DETROIT — President Joe Biden plans to take executive action Tuesday to ensure minorities, low-income Americans and others have better access to quality legal representation after services dwindled during the Trump administration. Biden will sign a memorandum directing the Department of Justice to restore key functions of the shuttered Access...
Palestinians go on strike as Israel-Hamas fighting rages
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territories went on strike in a rare collective protest Tuesday as Israeli missiles toppled a building in Gaza and militants in the Hamas-ruled territory fired dozens of rockets that killed two people. The demonstrations and ongoing violence came as...
Blinken brings Biden’s anti-Trump climate policy to Iceland
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — On a trip overshadowed by the crisis in the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday touted the Biden administration’s abrupt shift in its predecessor’s climate policies as he visited Iceland for talks with senior officials from the world’s Arctic nations. In Reykjavik for...
Spain, Morocco square off after 6,000 migrants arrive by sea
MADRID — Spain deployed its military to the Moroccan border Tuesday after thousands of Moroccans took advantage of their government’s relaxed border controls to swim or paddle in inflatable boats onto European soil. Live footage on Spain’s public broadcaster TVE showed dramatic scenes of soldiers carrying children in their arms...
