U.K. advises limiting AstraZeneca in under-30s amid clot worryVideo
LONDON — British authorities recommended Wednesday that the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine not be given to adults under 30 where possible because of strengthening evidence that the shot may be linked to rare blood clots. The recommendation came as regulators in the United Kingdom and the European Union emphasized that the...
Pennsylvania pension system officials disclose federal probe
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s largest public pension system disclosed Tuesday that it is dealing with a federal investigation, although officials atop the $64 billion Public School Employees’ Retirement System have yet to publicly disclose the nature or scope of the inquiry. In addition, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is on the...
Brazil’s Bolsonaro ignores calls for lockdown to slow covid deathsVideo
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday there would be “no national lockdown,” ignoring growing calls from health experts a day after the nation saw its highest number of covid-19 deaths in 24 hours since the pandemic began. Brazil’s Health Ministry registered 4,195 deaths on Tuesday,...
Former Vice President Mike Pence memoir set for 2023 release
NEW YORK — Former Vice President Mike Pence has a book deal. His autobiography, currently untitled, is scheduled to come out in 2023. “I am grateful to have the opportunity to tell the story of my life in public service to the American people, from serving in Congress, to the...
Trump favorite Sean Parnell is ‘99% sure’ he’s running for U.S. Senate
PHILADELPHIA — Sean Parnell, a decorated combat veteran and favorite of former President Donald Trump, is all but certain to run for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, according to a Republican official who spoke with Parnell this week. “He said he was 99% sure this is what he was going to...
Georgia lawmaker Park Cannon won’t face charges for voting bill protestVideo
ATLANTA — The Georgia lawmaker who was arrested after knocking on the door of the governor’s office as he made televised comments in support of the sweeping, controversial new election law he’d just signed will not be charged, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Rep. Park Cannon, an Atlanta Democrat, was arrested...
State House advances 2-year child sex abuse lawsuit window
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House approved a bill Wednesday to establish a two-year window for civil claims over childhood sexual abuse, part of a belt-and-suspenders approach that also includes a potential constitutional amendment. The proposal was sent to the state Senate by a vote of 149 to 52, two weeks...
Biden open to compromise on infrastructure, but not inaction
President Joe Biden drew a red line on his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan Wednesday, saying he is open to compromise on how to pay for the package but inaction is unacceptable. The president turned fiery in an afternoon speech, saying that the United States is failing to build, invest and...
Tiger Woods was driving about 85 mph when he crashed SUV near LA
Tiger Woods was driving nearly 90 mph — twice the posted speed limit — on a downhill stretch of road when he lost control of an SUV outside Los Angeles and crashed in a wreck that left the golf superstar seriously injured, authorities said Wednesday. Sheriff Alex Villanueva blamed the...
CDC says British covid variant is now the most common strain in U.S.
WASHINGTON — A variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain is now the most common strain circulating in the United States. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, says the strain, formally known as B.1.1.7, is “now the most common lineage circulating in...
Covid testing blitz undermined screening, fight against STDs
WASHINGTON — After an unprecedented push to test and track covid-19, public health workers are grappling with a worrisome side effect: a collapse in screening for sexually transmitted diseases that have been on the rise for years. Testing for diseases like chlamydia and gonorrhea plummeted in many parts of the...
Snub in EU-Turkey meeting highlights gender equality issue
BRUSSELS — Gender equality issues took center stage Wednesday in Brussels a day after Ursula von der Leyen, one the EU’s most powerful executives, was treated like a second-rank official during a visit to Ankara. Von der Leyen — the European Commission president — and European Council chief Charles Michel...
U.S. military cites rising risk of Chinese move against Taiwan
WASHINGTON — The American military is warning that China is probably accelerating its timetable for capturing control of Taiwan, the island democracy that has been the chief source of tension between Washington and Beijing for decades and is widely seen as the most likely trigger for a potentially catastrophic U.S.-China...
Police official: Derek Chauvin trained to avoid neck pressureVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police are taught to restrain combative suspects with a knee on their back or shoulders if necessary but are told to “stay away from the neck when possible,” a department use-of-force instructor testified Tuesday at former Officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial. Lt. Johnny Mercil became the latest...
NRA executive Wayne LaPierre sheltered on borrowed yacht after mass shootings
DALLAS — After school shootings that left dozens dead in recent years, National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre said the resulting outrage put him in such danger that he sought shelter aboard a borrowed 108-foot yacht. During a deposition, the head of the powerful gun-rights group’s acknowledged sailing in The...
Vote signals support for child sex abuse window in bill form
HARRISBURG — The state House of Representatives showed solid support Tuesday for enacting a two-year lawsuit window for child victims of sexual abuse as a regular bill, two weeks after the Legislature gave its first round of approval to a similar constitutional amendment. The 148 to 53 vote set the...
Nearly half of new U.S. virus infections are in just 5 statesVideo
Nearly half of new coronavirus infections nationwide are in just five states — a situation that is putting pressure on the federal government to consider changing how it distributes vaccines by sending more doses to hot spots. New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey together reported 44% of the...
Pennsylvania’s push for vaccine equity has been a challenge
Getting shots into the arms of the state’s most vulnerable elderly and minority residents remains a challenge, even as vaccine begins a steady flow into Pennsylvania, state officials said Tuesday. It took the combined efforts of three managed care giants tasked with reaching out to the marginalized and those most...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis threatens CBS with ‘consequences’ over ‘pay-for-play’ vaccine story on ’60 Minutes’Video
ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis threatened CBS with unspecified “consequences” over Sunday’s “60 Minutes” story about coronavirus vaccine favoritism, saying he was “going to bite back and hold (CBS) accountable.” “What they’re saying is a total crock, that somehow only Publix was getting (the vaccine) is nonsense,” DeSantis...
Arkansas lawmakers enact transgender youth treatment ban
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas lawmakers on Tuesday made the state the first to ban gender confirming treatments and surgery for transgender youth, enacting the prohibition over the governor’s objections. The Republican-controlled House and Senate voted to override GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of the measure, which prohibits doctors from providing...
Official: EU agency to confirm AstraZeneca blood clot linkVideo
ROME — A top official at the European Medicines Agency says there’s a causal link between AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine and rare blood clots, but that it’s unclear what the connection is and that the benefits of taking the shot still outweigh the risks of getting covid-19. Marco Cavaleri, head of...
McConnell: It’s ‘stupid’ for corporations to speak out on politicsVideo
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday “it’s quite stupid” for corporations to speak out politically, intensifying his warnings for big business to stand down as Congress delves into voting rights, President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package and other defining issues. Speaking in Kentucky, the GOP leader said he...
‘Pennsylvanians owe a debt of gratitude’: Wolf salutes grocery employees as pandemic heroes
Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday recognized grocery store employees, hundreds of thousands of whom found themselves thrust to the front lines of the covid-19 pandemic, going to work in order to supply what the rest of the state needed to stay home. Such employees have had access to covid-19 vaccine...
California plans to lift most pandemic restrictions June 15
SAN FRANCISCO — California plans to lift most coronavirus restrictions on businesses and workplaces June 15, with officials saying enough people should be vaccinated by then to allow for life to almost get back to a pre-pandemic normal. The mask mandate in the nation’s most populated state will remain in...
3-year-old boy, 7 adults wounded in latest Chicago shootings
CHICAGO — A 3-year-old boy was shot in the head Tuesday morning while riding in a car on Chicago’s famed Lake Shore Drive just hours after seven people were shot and wounded in a fight a few miles away, in what is shaping up to be one of the most...
