Germany sees drop in virus cases flatten as variant surges
BERLIN — The head of Germany’s disease control agency warned Friday that a decline in new coronavirus infections the country saw has leveled off while the share of cases involving more contagious variants is rising. Robert Koch Institute President Lothar Wieler said Germany may be heading toward another “turning point”...
Massive breach fuels calls for U.S. action on cybersecurity
WASHINGTON — Jolted by a sweeping hack that may have revealed government and corporate secrets to Russia, U.S. officials are scrambling to reinforce the nation’s cyber defenses and recognizing that an agency created two years ago to protect America’s networks and infrastructure lacks the money, tools and authority to counter...
Lights come back on in Texas as water woes rise in the South
AUSTIN, Texas — Many of the millions of Texans who lost power for days after a deadly winter blast overwhelmed the electric grid now have it back, but the crisis was far from over in parts of the South, with many people lacking safe drinking water. About 325,000 homes and...
It’s final: Harry and Meghan won’t return as working royals
LONDON — Buckingham Palace confirmed Friday that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, will not be returning to royal duties, and Harry will give up his honorary military titles — a decision that makes formal, and final, the couple’s split from the royal family. When Harry and Meghan stepped away...
NASA rover lands on Mars to look for signs of ancient life
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA rover streaked through the orange Martian sky and landed on the planet Thursday, accomplishing the riskiest step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on Mars. Ground controllers at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory...
Texas constituents take to the internet to take down Sen. Ted Cruz’s trip to MexicoVideo
As the state of Texas was in a deep freeze, Sen. Ted Cruz was feeling the heat. Cruz, who took his family this week to sunny Cancun, Mexico, for a vacation while citizens in the Lone Star State struggled during a deadly winter storm, was raked over the coals Thursday...
Democrats consider piecemeal approach to immigration reformVideo
WASHINGTON — After decades of failed attempts to pass comprehensive immigration legislation, congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden are signaling openness to a piece-by-piece approach. They unveiled a broad bill Thursday that would provide an eight-year pathway to citizenship for 11 million people living in the country without legal status....
Philadelphia lawmaker Malcolm Kenyatta to run for U.S. SenateVideo
HARRISBURG — A Philadelphia Democrat, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, said Thursday that he is running for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat in the election next year. Kenyatta, 30, is in his second term in the state House of Representatives. Last year, he campaigned around the country for President Joe Biden...
Georgia House Republicans push to ban early voting on Sunday
ATLANTA — Republican lawmakers in Georgia’s state House on Thursday introduced a sweeping election bill that would place restrictions on absentee voting and ban counties from holding early voting on Sundays, a popular day for Black churchgoers who vote during “Souls to the Polls” events. The bill comes after Black...
Bethel Park mother featured in national nonprofit’s colorectal cancer awareness campaign
There are more than a million colorectal cancer survivors in the U.S., and telling their stories is one of the most effective ways that Missouri-based nonprofit Fight Colorectal Cancer has found to make others aware of the importance of cancer screenings. That is why Lynne Ireland-Knight of Bethel Park will...
PennDOT eyes tolls to fund work on nine interstate bridges
HARRISBURG — Facing growing demands on its highways, Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation on Thursday named nine bridges on six interstates, including I-95′s mile-long Girard Point Bridge in Philadelphia, that need upgrades and that it will consider for tolling to help generate the cash. The work on the nine bridges would...
Ivanka Trump tells Marco Rubio she won’t run for his Senate seat
WASHINGTON — Ivanka Trump will not be running for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate seat in 2022 as she settles into life after Washington. The former president’s eldest daughter and ex-senior White House adviser spoke with Rubio several weeks ago and told him she would not be running for...
South Dakota’s AG charged with 3 misdemeanors in fatal crash
PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota’s Republican attorney general has been charged with misdemeanor careless driving after he struck and killed a man with his car, authorities said Thursday. Jason Ravnsborg is also facing misdemeanor charges of operating a motor vehicle while using a mobile electronic device and veering out of...
Depleted uranium from tanks, ammo not tied to Gulf War syndrome, new study finds
WASHINGTON — Depleted uranium in tanks and ammunition used in the 1991 Gulf War “played no role” in the unexplained illnesses, known as Gulf War syndrome, that veterans faced in the years afterward, according to a new study. The findings by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the...
Severe weather delays covid vaccine shipments to Pennsylvania
Weather dealt another blow to vaccine supply in Pennsylvania this week, with state health officials saying Thursday that no Moderna vaccine was shipped Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, and very little Pfizer vaccine was shipped during that time. “There will be a significant backlog of orders for distribution as a result...
Sen. Ted Cruz says he went to Mexico amid deadly storm ‘to be a good dad’
DALLAS — With Texas paralyzed by a winter storm, Sen. Ted Cruz took his family on vacation to Cancun, Mexico, drawing criticism from leaders in both parties and potentially damaging his political ambitions. In a statement on Thursday, Cruz said he was returning to Texas. He said he accompanied his...
Bob Dole says he’s been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer
TOPEKA, Kan. — Bob Dole, a former longtime senator and the 1996 Republican presidential nominee, announced Thursday that he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. Dole, 97, said in a short statement that he was diagnosed recently and would begin treatment on Monday. “While I certainly have some...
NYC waitress fired for not getting covid-19 vaccine
A waitress in New York City was fired from her job for not getting the covid-19 vaccine. The woman had been working for the Red Hook Tavern, whose management reportedly gave her the boot on Monday after she expressed she wasn’t looking to get vaccinated. The restaurant told her that...
Anti-vax at the Vatican? You might lose your job
ROME — The Vatican is taking Pope Francis’ pro-vaccine stance very seriously: Any Vatican employee who refuses to get a coronavirus shot without a valid medical reason risks being fired. A Feb. 8 decree signed by the governor of the Vatican city-state says that employees who opt out of vaccination...
Arkansas state senator says he’s leaving Republican Party
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A longtime Arkansas legislator and nephew of the state’s Republican governor said Thursday that he’s leaving the GOP, citing former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol by the former president’s supporters. State Sen. Jim Hendren’s announcement closes the door on...
Baby whale found dead on beach south of Israel’s Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli officials said Thursday that a dead whale has washed up on a beach south of Tel Aviv. David Halfon of the Nature and Parks Authority said the animal was a fin whale calf about half the size of an adult, which can grow to more...
U.S. jobless claims rise to 861,000 as layoffs stay high
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid rose last week to 861,000, evidence that layoffs remain painfully high despite a steady drop in the number of confirmed viral infections. Applications from laid-off workers rose 13,000 from the previous week, which was revised sharply higher, the Labor Department...
Pennsylvania covid cases down over 50% in past month
Pennsylvania’s covid numbers continue to decline, as the state Department of Health’s latest report shows cases on average have dropped more than 50% since last month. The state reported 3,345 new cases Thursday, with 2,250 of those confirmed through 12,240 new PCR tests. Officials said 1,095 cases were listed as...
Myanmar protests focus on junta’s economic support
YANGON, Myanmar — State railway workers in Myanmar continued to strike Thursday despite a police rampage the previous night targeting them in a sign of the military junta’s concern over growing civil disobedience by public workers protesting the coup. Three-quarters of the country’s civil servants are on strike, all private...
German police crack down on Berlin organized crime families
BERLIN — Hundreds of German police and other investigators raided more than 20 buildings in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg early Thursday in a crackdown on two feuding organized crime families, authorities said. Two people, a 44-year-old and a 22-year-old, were arrested, police said. No names were given...
