Cuomo says vaccinated New Yorkers can go mask-free, adopts CDC guidance
Fully vaccinated New Yorkers can ditch their masks in most circumstances starting Wednesday as the Empire State adopts guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The seismic shift will come the same day that a majority of COVID-19 capacity limits are scrapped and New York takes a...
23 people rescued from panga off San Diego
SAN DIEGO — Twenty-three people were rescued off a suspected smuggling boat intercepted off the coast of Point Loma early Monday, officials said. The boat was spotted shortly before 2:50 a.m. by a video surveillance system operated by the Border Patrol, officials said. The boat was drifting near rocks off...
Georgia’s Lt. Governor won’t run again after taking on Trump
ATLANTA — Georgia’s lieutenant governor, one of the most prominent Republicans to openly contradict false claims about fraud in the November presidential election, confirmed Monday as expected that he won’t seek reelection in 2022. Republican Geoff Duncan was among the most high-profile Republicans to openly oppose Trump’s claims, angering many...
‘So I raped you.’ Facebook message renews fight for justice for Gettysburg College grad
MOORESTOWN, New Jersey — Shannon Keeler was enjoying a weekend getaway with her boyfriend last year when she checked her Facebook messages for the first time in ages. A name popped up that stopped her cold. “So I raped you,” the person said in a burst of unread messages sent...
Man arrested after 4-year-old found slain in Dallas street
DALLAS — An 18-year-old arrested after a 4-year-old boy was found dead on a neighborhood street in southwest Dallas was known to walk in the area, residents said. The child, who police have not yet named, was found slain at about 6:50 a.m. Saturday. Police have said they believe the...
U.S. sanctions Myanmar military and junta leaders for attacks
WASHINGTON — The U.S. placed more members of Myanmar’s ruling military junta on a financial blacklist Monday for the deadly attacks against civilians following the February coup in the southeast Asian nation. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed financial sanctions on 16 people and the newly created...
Nittany Lion Shrine, Penn State sign to close for 1 month for renovations
Penn State visitors hoping to snag a photo with the iconic Nittany Lion Shrine or the sign/stone wall near Beaver Stadium will need a backup plan for at least a month this summer. Both the Lion Shrine and the sign, which welcomes visitors with the words “Pennsylvania State University,” will...
Russia won’t block Twitter, but partial slowdown to continue
MOSCOW — Russian authorities Monday backed away from threats to block Twitter, saying that the social media platform deleted most of the banned content identified by Moscow and expressed “readiness and interest in building a constructive dialogue.” Russia’s state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said it decided not to block Twitter in...
Biden to boost world vaccine sharing commitment to 80M doses
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will announce Monday that the U.S. will share an additional 20 million doses of covid-19 vaccines with the world in the coming six weeks, according to a senior administration official. The doses would come from existing U.S. production of Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson...
Jan. 6 riot suspect on house arrest after mountain lion kill
DENVER — A judge on Monday ordered a Colorado hunting guide accused of assaulting a police officer during the U.S. Capitol riot to be placed on house arrest after prosecutors say he violated the conditions of his release by having a gun and shooting a mountain lion. According to a...
New law makes inmates choose electric chair or firing squad in South CarolinaVideo
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed into law a bill that forces death row inmates for now to choose between the electric chair or a newly formed firing squad in hopes the state can restart executions after an involuntary 10-year pause. South Carolina had been one...
Gaetz associate pleads guilty to sex trafficking charges
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida politician who emerged as a central figure in the Justice Department’s sex trafficking investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz pleaded guilty Monday to six federal charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of a plea deal. Joel Greenberg, a longtime associate of Gaetz, appeared...
3 existing conditions approved for Ohio medical marijuana
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Medical Board of Ohio panel has added three existing conditions for Ohioans to buy medical marijuana. The panel earlier this year determined that arthritis, chronic migraines and complex regional pain syndrome fall into the existing category of chronic or intractable pain. State residents must obtain a...
Begging for air: India’s oxygen crisis imperils its covid-19 response
MEERUT, India — The men stood shoulder to shoulder in the blazing heat, their chests leaning against empty oxygen cylinders lodged in the dirt. They had come from all over to this makeshift oxygen tank-refilling center in a city 40 miles northeast of the Indian capital of New Delhi in...
Supreme Court to weigh rollback of abortion rights
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Monday it would hear a major challenge to the reach of the landmark Roe vs. Wade abortion ruling and decide whether states may bar nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of a pregnancy. The justices said they had voted to hear an appeal from...
Grassroots groups that supported Biden remain active in Westmoreland, Western Pa.
Voice of Westmoreland was among the wave of “pop-up” progressive groups that spread like dandelions in the wake of the election of Donald Trump. Many doubted VOW, as the group has come to call itself, would ever be a force in politics. In a county that leans decidedly red, they’ve...
Covid relief continues: Here’s how parents can get a monthly tax payment this summer
WASHINGTON — Eligible parents can get up to $300 per child from Washington as a monthly tax payment starting July 15, the Treasury Department said Monday. That means the 2020 tax return that’s due to be filed by the end of Monday with the Internal Revenue Service now could determine...
4 incumbents, 3 challengers seek nomination for Mt. Pleasant Area School Board
Seven candidates, including four incumbents, are seeking nomination to four seats on the Mt. Pleasant Area School Board. All cross-filed on the Democratic and Republican tickets in the May 18 primary. Incumbent board members on the ballot this year include Allison A. Brooks, 37; Brad Coppula, 46; Eric Poole, 43;...
Republican Lou Barletta to run for Pennsylvania governor
HARRISBURG — Lou Barletta, the Republican Party’s Donald Trump-endorsed nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018, is running for governor of Pennsylvania. Barletta, 65, becomes the most prominent figure to enter a 2022 governor’s race that Republicans have won every time in the past half-century when there is an outgoing Democratic...
Gun malfunction kills 1 at Pa. shooting range
One man is dead and another man has been injured after a handgun malfunction Saturday at a shooting range in Lackawanna County. Robert Hamm, 61, of Berwick handed his handgun to another man to shoot at the State Game Lands Shooting Range in Archbald, WNEP is reporting. The other man...
South Africa starts vaccination drive for those 60 and older
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has started its mass vaccination drive with the goal of inoculating nearly 5 million citizens aged 60 and above by the end of June. Shots of the Pfizer vaccine were given to South Africans in a few nursing homes and to some people aged 60 and...
Oprah and CNN: AT&T is merging media business with DiscoveryVideo
NEW YORK — The merger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia operations, marrying the likes of HBO and CNN with HGTV and Oprah Winfrey, is another illustration of the head-spinning speed in which streaming has transformed the media world. The companies are essentially placing a $43 billion bet that they’ll still...
Israeli strikes hit Gaza tunnels as diplomats work for truce
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military unleashed a wave of heavy airstrikes on the Gaza Strip early Monday, saying it destroyed 9 miles of militant tunnels and the homes of nine Hamas commanders, as international diplomats worked to end the week of fighting that has killed hundreds of...
Police: 2 arson suspects detained in Los Angeles wildfire
LOS ANGELES — A smoky wildfire churning through a Los Angeles canyon community gained strength Sunday as about a thousand residents remained under evacuation orders while others were warned they should get ready to leave, authorities said. The cause of the fire near Topanga State Park has been deemed “suspicious”...
Second Amendment sanctuaries facing 1st court test in Oregon
SALEM, Ore. — The first court test of whether local governments can ban police from enforcing certain gun laws is playing out in a rural Oregon county, one of a wave of U.S. counties declaring itself a Second Amendment sanctuary. The measure that voters in the logging area of Columbia...
