Georgia AG quits chair of prosecutors’ group in Capitol riot fallout
ATLANTA — Georgia’s top prosecutor has resigned as chairman of the national Republican Attorneys General Association, saying he has had a “fundamental difference of opinion” with some of the other 24 members since the group encouraged the crowd that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6. Republican Chris Carr’s break with...
In court, Ghislaine Maxwell pleads not guilty to new charges
NEW YORK — Ghislaine Maxwell faced her trial judge in person for the first time Friday as lawyers squabbled over exactly when she should be tried on sex trafficking charges that allege that she procured teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse at his posh residences. Maxwell, a British...
Can Chauvin get his convictions tossed on appeal?
MINNEAPOLIS — The unique circumstances surrounding Derek Chauvin’s trial in George Floyd’s death could offer the former Minneapolis police officer some shot at winning a retrial on appeal, thought most legal experts agree it’s a long shot. Chauvin, who is white, kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly 9½ minutes last...
Texting option weighed for upcoming ‘988’ suicide hotline
Recognizing that many Americans rely on texting, U.S. regulators are weighing whether to require that phone companies allow people to text a suicide hotline. The Federal Communications Commission last summer voted to require a new “988” number for people to call to reach a suicide-prevention hotline. Phone companies have until...
Justice at last: Convictions of 39 U.K. postal workers quashed
LONDON — In a ruling that reversed one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history, 39 people who ran local post offices had their convictions for theft, fraud and false accounting overturned Friday because of what an appeals court said was clear evidence of “bugs, errors or...
Detectives: DNA solves 1985 slaying, rape of dementia victim
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A DNA test has led to the arrest of a suspect in the April 1985 slaying, rape and kidnapping of a 78-year-old woman who had dementia and had wandered away from her home. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday that it had arrested Richard...
Police: 1 dead, 4 wounded in downtown San Diego shooting
SAN DIEGO — A gunman in downtown San Diego shot and killed one person and then walked another block and opened fire again, wounding four people before police took him down with a Taser, police said Friday. A 32-year-old suspect was arrested after the Thursday night shooting and was taken...
Covid cases taper in Pa., but deaths, hospitalizations remain a concern
Pennsylvania continues to see the coronavirus claim lives and put people in the hospital at a rising rate, even as reported cases of covid-19 trend downward. Cases Pennsylvania on Friday reported 4,188 additional cases of covid-19, the fewest in four days. The seven-day average of cases dropped to 4,050, the...
FDA: N95 masks, now plentiful, should no longer be reused
The Biden administration has taken the first step toward ending an emergency exception that allowed hospitals to ration and reuse N95 medical masks, the first line of defense between frontline workers and the deadly coronavirus. Thousands of medical providers have died in the covid-19 pandemic, many exposed and infected while...
Caitlyn Jenner says she will run for governor of CaliforniaVideo
LOS ANGELES — Republican Caitlyn Jenner said Friday she will run for governor of California, injecting a jolt of celebrity into an emerging campaign that threatens to oust Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office. Jenner — an Olympic hero, reality TV personality and a transgender rights activist — said in...
Jill Biden to visit tribal school still teaching remotely
ST. MICHAELS, Ariz. — A small grade school on the outskirts of the Navajo Nation capital is ready for students to return. Staff at Hunters Point Boarding School in St. Michaels have repainted the building, upgraded the washer and dryer in the dorms, installed a security gate, placed plexiglass between...
Maryland public universities to require covid-19 vaccine
BALTIMORE — Maryland’s public higher education system will require that students, faculty and staff returning to campuses in the fall be vaccinated against covid-19. University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay Perman announced the decision in a statement Friday. The system will allow appropriate exemptions for medical or religious reasons, the...
Stargazers, the Super Pink Moon is coming
Get ready, stargazers, the year’s first supermoon is set to light up the skies on Monday. And not only will it be super, but it also will be pink. Well, in name only. Traditionally, April’s full moon is called the Pink Moon. Not because it will cast a pinkish hue...
Russian’s Navalny to end prison hunger strike
MOSCOW — Imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he is ending his hunger strike after getting medical attention and being warned by his doctors that continuing it would be life-threatening. In an Instagram post on Friday afternoon, the 24th day of his hunger strike, Navalny said he will continue to...
Russian troops start pulling back from Ukrainian border
MOSCOW — Russian troops began pulling back to their permanent bases Friday after a massive buildup that caused Ukrainian and Western concerns. On Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared the sweeping maneuvers in Crimea and wide swaths of western Russia over, and ordered the military to pull the troops...
SpaceX launches 3rd crew in under year, fly on reused rocket
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched four astronauts into orbit Friday using a recycled rocket and capsule, the third crew flight in less than a year for Elon Musk’s rapidly expanding company. The astronauts from the U.S., Japan and France should reach the International Space Station early Saturday morning, following...
Albuquerque seeks $200K from Trump campaign for security
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has referred former President Donald Trump’s campaign to a collection agency over nonpayment of a bill related to security costs for a campaign rally he held in 2019. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said the bill for $211,175.94 covers security costs stemming...
Low on beds, oxygen, India adds global high 314,000 coronavirus casesVideo
NEW DELHI — India reported a global record of more than 314,000 new infections Thursday as a grim coronavirus surge in the world’s second-most populous country sends more and more sick people into a fragile health care system critically short of hospital beds and oxygen. The 314,835 infections added in...
Explosion at New Hampshire gender reveal party rocks several towns
KINGSTON, N.H. — One New Hampshire family’s gender reveal party was definitely a blast. Kingston police said they received reports of a loud explosion Tuesday that could be heard in several towns and as far away as Massachusetts. They responded to Torromeo quarry where they found people who acknowledged holding...
Man pleads guilty in fatal shootings of 8 from Ohio familyVideo
A man pleaded guilty in the murders of his child’s mother and seven other members of her family on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of when the shootings were discovered in southern Ohio. Edward “Jake” Wagner pleaded guilty to 23 counts in Pike County court in a deal with prosecutors that...
Amy Coney Barrett’s big book deal is called bad optics for Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s reported $2 million book deal is drawing criticism from legal experts who say its size and timing create bad optics for a court that is already in the political crosshairs. The advance, first reported by Politico, would be the largest ever...
Research on shaken baby syndrome helps free 15-year inmate
A California man imprisoned for 15 years in the death of his month-old son is free after prosecutors and a judge agreed that the scientific research underlying what was once called “shaken baby syndrome” has changed significantly in recent years. Clifton Jones, 45, was released this month from Soledad State...
Countering Biden, GOP pitches $568B for infrastructureVideo
WASHINGTON — A group of Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled a public works proposal with a much smaller price tag and a narrower definition of infrastructure than what President Joe Biden has proposed, highlighting the stark differences between the two sides that will be difficult to bridge in the coming...
Authorities believe remains are those of missing Amish teen Linda StoltzfoosVideo
LANCASTER — Authorities strongly believe that remains found a day earlier in a grave along railroad tracks in southern Pennsylvania are those of a young Amish woman who disappeared last summer, a county prosecutor said Thursday. Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams told a news conference that a coroner has...
Senate passes bill, 94-1, targeting hate crimes against Asian AmericansVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved a bill designed to make it easier for law enforcement to investigate hate crimes against Asian Americans, which have surged amid the covid-19 pandemic. In a rare, if fleeting, moment of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, senators approved the bill 94-1. Republican Sen. Josh...
