Conflict grows between U.S. and allies over vaccine supply
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration is stockpiling tens of millions of doses of a covid-19 vaccine whose authorization in the U.S. remains uncertain, frustrating U.S. allies who say those doses should be used now to save lives overseas. The standoff is part of a growing global debate over who...
Philly to dim lights to make it safer for birds in flight
The lights of Philadelphia might not shine as bright in the coming weeks as a coalition in the City of Brotherly Love tries to prevent millions of migrating birds that pass through twice a year from slamming into skyscrapers and crashing to the sidewalk. Bird Safe Philly on Thursday announced...
WHO grants emergency approval for 1-shot J&J covid vaccine
GENEVA — The World Health Organization granted an emergency use listing Friday for the coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson, meaning the one-dose shot can now theoretically be used as part of the international COVAX effort to distribute vaccines globally, including to poor countries without any supplies. In a...
Netflix tests out a possible password-sharing crackdown
NEW YORK — Netflix is testing a way to crack down on password sharing. The popular streaming service has been asking some users of the popular streaming site to verify their account via email or text, or to “verify later.” “If you don’t live with the owner of this account,...
More than 6,500 Pa. teachers, school staff vaccinated through state initiative so far
Pennsylvania officials on Friday reported that more than 6,500 teachers and school staff have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week, through the state’s initiative to inoculate educators. Twenty out of 28 intermediate units are now fully operational as vaccine clinics, with the rest of the units set to...
Michigan: All adults eligible for covid vaccine April 5
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan announced Friday that all residents age 16 and up will become eligible for the covid-19 vaccine on April 5, nearly a month before the May 1 date pledged by President Joe Biden. People age 16 to 49 with certain medical conditions or disabilities will qualify starting...
4 people in Michigan won January $1.05B Mega Millions prize
DETROIT — A four-member suburban Detroit lottery club won a $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot and will receive $557 million after taxes, officials said Friday. The winners claimed their prize weeks after the Jan. 22 drawing and chose the immediate lump sum option. After taxes, the $776 million payment was...
Cuomo defiant as wave of lawmakers calls for him to resign
Facing unprecedented political isolation, a defiant New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo insisted on Friday that he would not step down in the wake of sexual harassment allegations and condemned the sprawling coalition of Democrats calling for his resignation as “reckless and dangerous.” The third-term Democratic governor, a leading critic of...
Memo banning Afghan girls singing prompts #IAmMySong protest
KABUL, Afghanistan — A memo from Afghanistan’s education ministry banning girls age 12 and older from singing at school functions has been causing a stir on social media, prompting the authorities to say it was a mistake and that its authors had misunderstood the objective. Still, #IAmMySong is gaining traction...
Global rise in childhood mental health issues amid pandemic
PARIS — By the time his parents rushed him to the hospital, 11-year-old Pablo was barely eating and had stopped drinking entirely. Weakened by months of self-privation, his heart had slowed to a crawl and his kidneys were faltering. Medics injected him with fluids and fed him through a tube...
U.S., Indo-Pacific allies to expand India’s vaccine production
President Joe Biden and fellow leaders of the Indo-Pacific alliance known as the Quad are set to announce a plan to expand coronavirus vaccine manufacturing capacity in India, according to administration officials. The effort was to be announced Friday at a virtual meeting of the leaders of Australia, India, Japan...
Unemployment rises in Pennsylvania, as payrolls grow too
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate rose in January, as the labor force shrank but payrolls rebounded, according to state figures released Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 7.3%, up two-tenths of a percentage point from December’s adjusted rate, the state Department of Labor and Industry said. Upward revisions to Pennsylvania’s preliminary...
Federal look into Breonna Taylor’s death casts a wider net
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Their numbers have dwindled since protesters first flooded Louisville’s streets after police fatally shot Breonna Taylor in her home a year ago, but their push for justice has never waned. A federal investigation of the shooting that has been quietly proceeding could be their last chance. “We...
Philadelphia mayor calls for action after 3 killed, 6 injured
PHILADELPHIA — The city’s mayor on Friday called for action after three separate shootings left three people dead and six others injured. Two of those killed were teenagers. The gunfire began Thursday afternoon when a 16-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man were cut down by bullets that also wounded a...
Probe started after Ohio zoo worker attacked by cheetah
POWELL, Ohio — Authorities were investigating Friday after a cheetah attacked a worker at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. The incident happened Thursday when two animal program staff members were walking the harnassed 4-year-old cheetah, Isabelle, when a worker from the Heart of Africa region approached, the zoo said. “At...
Gunmen abduct 39 students from school in northwest Nigeria
Gunmen have attacked a school in northwestern Nigeria and kidnapped 39 students just weeks after a similar mass abduction in the region, authorities said Friday. The latest kidnapping took place late Thursday night at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, in the Igabi local government area of Kaduna state,...
Biden aims for quicker shots, virus ‘independence’ by July 4
WASHINGTON — One year after the nation was brought to a near-standstill by the coronavirus, President Joe Biden pledged in his first prime-time address Thursday night to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the prospect of “independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July....
Ex-officer MacDonald in Fort Bragg murders seeks release
RALEIGH, N.C. — A former Army physician serving life prison sentences for the brutal murders of his wife and two young daughters more than 50 years ago should be released because of his deteriorating health, his attorneys told a judge on Thursday. Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted in 1979 in the...
As climate fight shifts to oil, Biden faces a formidable foe
CASPER, Wyo. — President Joe Biden’s bid to tackle climate change is running straight through the heart of the U.S. oil and gas industry — a much bigger, more influential foe than Democrats faced when they took on the coal industry during the Obama years. Coal dominated U.S. power generation...
International evangelical pastor Luis Palau dies at 86
PORTLAND, Ore. — Luis Palau, an evangelical pastor who was born in Argentina and went on to work with Billy Graham before establishing his own powerhouse international ministry, died Thursday. He was 86. The Luis Palau Association said he died at his home in Portland, Oregon. He had announced in...
Pennsylvania to lift last moratorium on utility shutoffs
Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission on Thursday approved the lifting of its year-old moratorium preventing utilities from terminating service to all non-paying customers, adopted as Gov. Tom Wolf began ordering shutdowns to fight the spreading coronavirus. The moratorium will lift April 1 for the state’s lower-income utility customers, but the commission...
Portland pays $2.1 million in police shooting of Black teen
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland, Oregon, will pay more than $2 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit arising from the police killing of a Black teenager in 2017, but family members of Quanice Hayes say they are still upset that the officer who pulled the trigger was not disciplined. City...
White House: $1,400 individual checks may arrive soon
WASHINGTON — The White House says the $1,400 direct payments for most Americans funded by the American Rescue Plan will start showing up in bank accounts as early as this weekend. Press secretary Jen Psaki says the government will make the first direct deposits this weekend. She says payments will...
Pennsylvania to pay $475K to family of pot suspect killed by dozer
READING — The state of Pennsylvania will pay $475,000 to the estate of a man who died underneath a bulldozer that Pennsylvania State Police had used to chase him for growing a handful of marijuana plants, according to a settlement revealed in court Thursday. Gregory Longenecker, 51, had fled into...
Appeal by former Cleveland police officer who killed Tamir Rice dismissed
CLEVELAND — An appeals court in Cleveland ruled Thursday that the white Cleveland police officer who killed Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black child playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center, should not get his job back. The 8th District Court of Appeals in its ruling dismissed an appeal...
