Colorado shooting suspect passed check in legal gun purchase
BOULDER, Colo. — The suspect in the Colorado supermarket shootings bought a firearm at a local gun store after passing a background check, and he also had a second weapon with him that he didn’t use in the attack that killed 10 people this week, authorities and the gun store...
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry dies at 84
DALLAS — Larry McMurtry, the prolific and popular author who took readers back to the old American West in his Pulitzer Prize-winning “Lonesome Dove” and returned them to modern-day landscapes in works such as his emotional tale of a mother-daughter relationship in “Terms of Endearment,” has died. He was 84....
Penn State leaders urge vigilance as covid-19 cases rise, variant detected
A more infectious variant of covid-19 has reached the Centre Region, Penn State officials confirmed Friday, as community leaders called for students and residents alike to take action and stem the concerning rise in cases. In a joint news conference involving leaders from both the university and State College Borough,...
Former CDC chief suspects covid likely came from lab
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during much of the Trump administration, said in an interview aired Friday that he believes covid-19 likely originated from a lab in Wuhan, China, but he did not provide evidence to support the theory. Redfield’s personal opinion...
NASA gives all clear: Earth safe from asteroid for 100 years
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Whew, now here’s some good cosmic news: NASA has given Earth the all clear for the next century from a particularly menacing asteroid. The space agency announced this week that new telescope observations have ruled out any chance of Apophis smacking Earth in 2068. That’s the...
Tornado outbreak rips across Deep South; at least 5 dead
OHATCHEE, Ala. — Tornadoes and severe storms tore through the Deep South, killing at least five people as strong winds splintered trees, wrecked homes and downed power lines. The tornado outbreak rolled into western Georgia early Friday. One large, dangerous tornado moved through Newnan and surrounding communities in the Atlanta...
Is sex addiction really a thing? Science is skeptical
ATLANTA — To join the church Atlanta spa shooting suspect Robert Aaron Long attended, you have to adhere to certain non-negotiable edicts, a terms of agreement of sorts for membership. In a section titled “Diligence of Members,” Crabapple First Baptist Church leaders defined marriage as between a man and a...
Child sex abuse lawsuit ‘window’ amendment clears Pa. House
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania lawmakers on Wednesday finished a new first round of approvals for a constitutional amendment giving victims of child sexual abuse the power to file what would otherwise be outdated claims, but it will be 2023 at the earliest before it takes effect. The House voted 188 to...
Maine legislator being investigated for Harvey Weinstein backdrop on Zoom
AUGUSTA, Maine — A Maine legislator who appeared for Zoom meetings twice with a background that made a joking reference to convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein is being investigated by the Legislature’s human resources department. The investigation will focus on whether state Rep. Bruce Bickford, a Republican from Auburn, violated the...
Officials urge vigilance as Germany sees 3rd infection wave
BERLIN — German health officials warned Friday that the country’s latest eruption of coronavirus cases has the potential to be worse than the previous two last year, and they urged people to stay at home during the upcoming Easter break to help slow the rapidly rising numbers of new infections....
Trains collide in southern Egypt, killing at least 32
CAIRO — Two trains crashed Friday in southern Egypt, killing at least 32 people and injuring 165, authorities said in the latest of a series of deadly accidents on the country’s troubled railways. Someone apparently activated the emergency brakes on the passenger train, and it was rear-ended by another train,...
GOP 2024 contenders enter Iowa, wary of Trump’s long shadow
DES MOINES, Iowa — Ambitious Republicans are starting to make moves in Iowa, long a proving ground for future presidents. Their first step is finding out whether activists there have gotten over the last one. Former President Donald Trump remains a hulking presence in Iowa, where he won twice by...
Dominion Voting sues Fox for $1.6B over 2020 election claims
WASHINGTON — Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Friday, arguing the cable news giant, in an effort to boost faltering ratings, falsely claimed that the voting company had rigged the 2020 election. The lawsuit is part of a growing body of legal action...
Small Texas border town is route to U.S. for migrant children
ROMA, Texas — As darkness sets on the Rio Grande, U.S. Border Patrol agents hear pumps inflating rafts across the river in Mexico. It is about to get busy. Within an hour, the rafts drop off about 100 people in six trips into the United States, including many families with...
Sweeping changes to Georgia elections signed into law by Gov. Kemp amid outcryVideo
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp quickly signed a vast rewrite of Georgia’s election rules into law Thursday, imposing voter ID requirements, limiting drop boxes and allowing state takeovers of local elections after last year’s close presidential race. Kemp finalized the bill just over an hour after it cleared the General...
Man with weapons, body armor arrested at University of Kentucky hospital
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Police arrested an armed Kentucky man as he left a hospital after receiving a tip from another police department that he was in the area. A large police presence was at the University of Kentucky’s Chandler Hospital emergency room Thursday and university officials asked students and visitors...
Texas death toll from February storm, outages surpasses 100
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials on Thursday raised the death toll from February’s winter storm and blackouts to at least 111 people — nearly doubling the state’s initial tally following one of the worst power outages in U.S. history. The majority of the deaths are associated with hypothermia, according to...
USC agrees to $852 million payout in sex abuse lawsuit
LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California has agreed to an $852 million settlement with more than 700 women who have accused the college’s longtime campus gynecologist of sexual abuse, the victims’ lawyers and USC announced Thursday. It’s believed to be a record amount for such a lawsuit. When...
Lawmakers press Big Tech CEOs on speech responsibilityVideo
WASHINGTON — The CEOs of tech giants Facebook, Twitter and Google faced a grilling in Congress Thursday as lawmakers tried to draw them into acknowledging their companies’ roles in fueling the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and rising covid-19 vaccine misinformation. In a hearing by the House Energy and...
Biden leaves door open for Senate changes to advance agendaVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden at his first news conference Thursday left the door open to backing fundamental changes in Senate procedure to muscle key parts of his agenda like immigration and voting rights past Republican opposition “if there’s complete lockdown and chaos.” The 78-year-old president also for the first...
Mass shooters exploited gun laws, loopholes before carnage
The suspect in the shooting at a Boulder, Colo., supermarket was convicted of assaulting a high school classmate but still got a gun. The man accused of opening fire on three massage businesses in the Atlanta area bought his gun just hours before the attack — no waiting required. They...
Gov. Wolf hints that vaccination phases could fade in light of open eligibility goal
Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday indicated Pennsylvania’s phased approach to vaccinations could be fading as the administration sets its sights on President Biden’s goal of open eligibility by May 1. He said the vaccine landscape “changed a little bit” when the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine received emergency authorization. As...
Biden: ‘My plan is to run for reelection’ in 2024
NEW YORK — President Joe Biden on Thursday said he would likely seek reelection in 2024, but the 78-year-old Democrat left open the possibility of stepping aside after one term. “My plan is to run for reelection. That’s my expectation,” Biden told reporters in a wide-ranging news conference, the first...
Tornadoes pummel Alabama, killing at least 5Video
Deadly tornadoes roared through Alabama on Thursday, toppling trees, demolishing homes and knocking out power to thousands, part of a broad swath of violent weather sweeping across the Deep South. At least five fatalities and an unknown number of injuries were reported. All of the deaths happened in eastern Alabama’s...
West Virginia House passes transgender athlete bill
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Transgender athletes in West Virginia middle and high schools would be banned from competing on teams relating to their preferred sexual identity under a bill passed Thursday by the House of Delegates. The bill passed on a 78-20 vote with two delegates absent. It now goes to...
