Virginia agrees to absentee ballot option for blind voters
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia election officials have agreed to permanently provide an absentee ballot option for blind voters. The agreement comes after several voters with disabilities, the American Council of the Blind of Virginia, and the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia filed a lawsuit in federal court last...
More than 180 reported arrested in Navalny demonstrations
MOSCOW — Police across Russia have arrested more than 180 people in connection with demonstrations Wednesday in support of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a human rights group said. Many were seized before protests even began, including two top Navalny associates in Moscow. Navalny’s team called the unsanctioned demonstrations after...
Germany vows to boost bicycling as part of climate effort
BERLIN — Germany, home to the Autobahn and a powerful motor industry, wants its citizens to spend less time driving and more time cycling to help save the planet. The government on Wednesday agreed a new national cycling strategy to boost bike use and safety by 2030. The plan, Transport...
Biden administration opens global climate summit
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden opened a global climate summit Thursday with a pledge to cut at least in half the climate-wrecking coal and petroleum fumes that the U.S. pumps out, a commitment he hopes will spur China and other big polluters to speed up efforts of their own. Biden...
Florida school superintendent charged with perjury
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The superintendent of the Florida school district where 17 students and staff died in a 2018 high school massacre was arrested Wednesday on a perjury charge. Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie was arrested by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, county jail records show. FDLE...
U.S.-backed Afghan peace meeting postponed as Taliban balk
KABUL, Afghanistan — An upcoming international peace conference that was meant to move Afghanistan’s warring sides to a power-sharing deal and ensure an orderly U.S. exit from the country has been postponed, its sponsors announced Wednesday. They cited a lack of prospects for meaningful progress. As peace efforts stalled, Germany’s...
Bad offshore weather delays SpaceX crew launch until Friday
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX on Wednesday bumped its next astronaut launch by a day because of dangerously high waves and wind offshore. Liftoff is now scheduled for early Friday morning from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, when better weather is expected. The SpaceX Dragon capsule has the ability to abort...
Garland announces police probe day after Floyd case verdict
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is opening a sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis after a former officer was convicted in the killing of George Floyd there, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday. The announcement comes a day after former officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and...
Indonesian military says submarine missing with 53 on board
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s navy is searching for a submarine that went missing north of the resort island of Bali with 53 people on board, the military said Wednesday. Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said the KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise when it missed a scheduled reporting...
Queen Elizabeth expresses thanks for ‘support and kindness’
LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II has expressed her thanks for all the “support and kindness” shown following the death of her husband, Prince Philip. In a statement Wednesday posted on social media on her 95th birthday and which she personally signed off as Elizabeth R, the monarch said it has...
San Antonio police fatally shoot suspect in backyard slaying
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Police in San Antonio fatally shot a man who had earlier killed a man who was working in a shed outside his home, the city’s police chief said. San Antonio officers responded Tuesday night to a home after a 49-year-old man went into the shed and...
Columbus police officer fatally shoots girl swinging knifeVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus police shot and killed a teenage girl who swung at two other people with a knife Tuesday, according to bodycam footage from the officer who fired the shots just minutes before the verdict in George Floyd’s killing was read. Officials with the Columbus Division of Police...
Biden tells Floyd family he’s relieved by Chauvin convictionVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden told George Floyd’s family that he’s relieved by the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and that the verdict would lead to broader change. “Nothing is going to make it all better but at least, God, now, there’s some justice,” Biden told the...
Ohio Republicans aim to rename state park after Donald Trump
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A GOP-backed bill introduced Monday would change the name of an Ohio state park to honor former President Donald Trump. The bill primarily sponsored by freshman state Rep. Mike Loychik to rename Mosquito Lake State Park to Donald J. Trump State Park is the latest attempt by...
Church leaders seek Home Depot boycott on Georgia voting law
ATLANTA — A group of religious leaders is calling for a boycott of Georgia-based Home Depot, saying the home improvement giant hasn’t done enough to oppose the state’s new voting laws. African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Reginald Jackson said the company has remained “silent and indifferent” to his efforts to rally...
Key events since George Floyd’s arrest and death
MINNEAPOLIS — A timeline of key events that began with George Floyd’s arrest on May 25, 2020, by four police officers in Minneapolis: May 25 — Minneapolis police officers respond to a call shortly after 8 p.m. about a possible counterfeit $20 bill being used at a corner grocery and...
Georgia Aquarium otters test positive for coronavirusVideo
ATLANTA — The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta says some of its otters tested positive for the coronavirus after they showed mild respiratory symptoms. The Asian small-clawed otters were tested after they had common covid-19 symptoms, like sneezing, runny noses, mild lethargy and coughing, the aquarium said in a news release...
Derek Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter in George Floyd’s deathVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the Black man’s neck in a case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S. Chauvin, 45,...
Trio of Pa. bills addresses gaps in drug rehabilitation process
Pennsylvania legislators unanimously passed several bills Tuesday aimed at ensuring that friends and family of people struggling with addiction issues are kept “in the loop,” so to speak. House Bill 944, written by State Reps. Mark Longietti, D-Mercer, and Eric Nelson, R-Westmoreland, would require in-patient rehabilitation facilities to notify a...
Pa. highway deaths rose in 2020 despite less traffic
Statewide traffic deaths increased in 2020 from the record low set in 2019 despite a 20% decrease in traffic, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. PennDOT reported 1,129 highway fatalities in 2020, up 79 from the 1,059 recorded in 2019. That 6.6% increase is similar to the national estimate...
North Carolina won’t pass bill to ban youth trans procedures
RALEIGH, N.C. — The office of North Carolina’s Republican Senate leader said on Tuesday the chamber won’t advance a controversial bill put forward this month by three GOP members that sought to limit medical treatments for transgender people under 21. The measure also aimed to punish doctors who facilitate a...
Russia rejects criticism of navigation limits off Crimea
Russia insisted Tuesday that it has the right to restrict foreign naval ships’ movement off Crimea, rejecting Ukrainian complaints and Western criticism. Ukraine last week protested the Russian move to close broad areas of the Black Sea near Crimea to foreign navy ships and state vessels until November. The U.S....
1st woman ever applies to run for president of Syria
A woman from the capital Damascus has applied to run for president of Syria, the parliament speaker said Tuesday, making her the first female to make a bid for the country’s top job. The largely symbolic election is certain to be won by President Bashar Assad. The presidential election, the...
Bill ending religious vaccine exemption now heads to Conn. Senate
A contentious bill that would end Connecticut’s long-standing religious exemption from immunization requirements for schools, beginning with the 2022-23 school year, now awaits action in the state Senate. The legislation passed on a 90-53 vote in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives just before 3 a.m. on Tuesday, following more than...
Navalny’s doctors prevented from seeing him at prison clinic
Several doctors were prevented Tuesday from seeing Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a prison hospital amid his three-week hunger strike, and authorities stepped up actions against his supporters on the eve of protests called by his team. Navalny was transferred Sunday from a penal colony east of Moscow to...
