Lawmakers call YouTube Kids a ‘wasteland of vapid’ content
A House subcommittee is investigating YouTube Kids, saying the Google-owned video service feeds children inappropriate material in “a wasteland of vapid, consumerist content” so it can serve them ads. The inquiry comes despite Google agreeing to pay $170 million in 2019 to settle allegations that YouTube collected personal data on...
6 people dead in Texas murder-suicide plot
DALLAS — Authorities have identified six people found dead in a suburban Dallas home in what police said was an apparent murder-suicide plot. The Allen Police Department said investigators believe brothers Tanvir Towhid, 21, and Farhan Towhid, 19, made a pact to kill their parents, sister and grandmother before killing...
Viral thoughts: Why covid-19 conspiracy theories persist
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Daniel Roberts hadn’t had a vaccination since he was 6. No boosters, no tetanus shots. His parents taught him inoculations were dangerous, and when the coronavirus arrived, they called it a hoax. The vaccine, they said, was the real threat. So when the 29-year-old Tennessee man got...
Study: Moderna vaccine lasts at least 6 months
BOSTON — New research suggests the protection the Moderna vaccine gives against covid-19 lasts for at least six months. The report Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine echoes what Pfizer said last week about its vaccine, which works in a similar way. Both reports were based on follow-up...
Petty officer shoots 2 sailors; is stopped, killed on Maryland baseVideo
FREDERICK, Md. — A Navy medic shot and critically wounded two U.S. sailors at a military facility Tuesday, then fled to a nearby Army base where he was shot and killed, police and Navy officials said. Fantahun Girma Woldesenbet, a petty officer third class assigned to Fort Detrick, began shooting...
Those involved in naked photo shoot in Dubai to be deported
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Those involved in a naked photo shoot on a high-rise balcony in Dubai will be deported, authorities said Tuesday, after the footage went viral and prompted a crackdown in the Gulf Arab sheikhdom. Dubai authorities detained at least 11 Ukrainian women who posed naked in...
Pa. House passes bill seeking to keep state on daylight saving time
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday passed legislation urging Congress to do away with the semi-annual clock changing ritual and authorize states to make daylight saving time permanent. By a vote of 103-98, the House chose to join 15 other states that have passed legislation asking for this change...
Deputy stabbed to death at Georgia jail; another deputy hurt
MACON, Ga. — A sheriff’s deputy has been stabbed to death and another law officer injured early Tuesday at a Georgia jail, authorities said. Deputy Christopher Knight, 30, was stabbed in the neck and died shortly before dawn Tuesday after being taken to a hospital, Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones...
Biden says states should open shots to all adults by April 19
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he wants all American adults to be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by April 19, citing a target date all but two states are already set to meet. “By no later than April 19 in every part of this country, every adult...
Stolen $500,000 Jefferson Davis chair will be a toilet unless Confederate group hangs banner, email claims
A Confederate monument valued at $500,000 was stolen in March from a Selma cemetery, officials confirmed Monday. Monday morning, a group that claims to have taken the monument, the Jefferson Davis Memorial Chair, sent emails to AL.com saying they will give the chair to the United Daughters of the Confederacy...
W.Va. man sentenced for trying to help wife fake death
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia man accused of helping his wife try to fake her death to avoid being sentenced for health care fraud has been sentenced to eight months in prison. Rodney Wheeler of Beckley was sentenced Monday in Charleston federal court after pleading guilty to conspiracy to...
Federal low-income housing grant doubles in size this year
WASHINGTON — Thanks to a coronavirus pandemic-fueled mortgage boom, states will get nearly $700 million in federal grants from a special program for low-income housing, more than double the amount distributed last year. It’s a boost that the Department of Housing and Urban Development says should produce a tangible leap...
Florida dismisses 2nd breach risk at phosphate reservoir
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Engineers and dam safety specialists evaluating the danger of a catastrophic flood from a leaking Florida wastewater reservoir determined that the threat of a possible second breach was “unsubstantiated,” the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said. Officials had said Monday that a drone discovered a possible...
Why is North Korea skipping the Tokyo Olympics?
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea, citing the coronavirus, has become the world’s first country to drop out of the Tokyo Olympics. It’s true that the North is extremely sensitive about COVID-19, knowing that a widespread outbreak in a country with an already battered health system could be disaster. But...
Israeli president picks Netanyahu to try and form government
JERUSALEM — Israel’s president on Tuesday handed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the difficult task of trying to form a government from the country’s splintered parliament, giving the embattled leader a chance to prolong his lengthy term in office while on trial for corruption charges. In his announcement, President Reuven Rivlin...
Death toll from Bangladesh ferry capsize rises to 34
DHAKA, Bangladesh — The death toll from a weekend ferry capsize in Bangladesh rose to 34 on Tuesday after rescuers and villagers recovered nine more bodies from waters outside the nation’s capital, an official said. Local chief government administrator Nahida Barik said the additional bodies were found from Sunday’s capsize...
The deciding vote in Pa.’s high-stakes political redistricting could be yours, if lawmakers agree
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — Liz Forrest doesn’t expect four of Pennsylvania’s most powerful lawmakers...
Biden boosted by Senate rules as GOP bucks infrastructure
WASHINGTON — With an appeal to think big, President Joe Biden is promoting his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan directly to Americans, summoning public support to push past the Republicans lining up against the massive effort they sum up as big taxes, big spending and big government. Republicans in Congress are...
Illinois bar event caused 46 covid-19 cases, school closureVideo
CHICAGO — An indoor event at a bar in rural Illinois triggered 46 cases of covid-19, the hospitalization of a resident of a long-term care facility and a school shutdown, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Monday. Attendees of the bar opening event in February...
Coinstar pays it forward after Georgia man paid in pennies
MARIETTA, Ga. — A global company has stepped in to solve quite a “coinundrum” for a Georgia man. Andreas Flaten’s former employer dumped at least 90,000 pennies on his driveway last month as a form of final payment for his work at an auto shop, he said. When Bellevue, Wash.-based...
FDA OKs first new ADHD drug in over a decade for children
U.S. regulators have approved the first new drug in over a decade for children with ADHD, which causes inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The Food and Drug Administration late Friday OK’d Qelbree for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children ages 6 to 17. It comes as a capsule that’s taken...
Police: Florida teacher offered $200 for sex with 2-year-old
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida school district fired a teacher shortly after a law enforcement report was released Monday saying he offered to pay for a father’s motel room if he could sexually molest the man’s 2-year-old daughter. Xavier Alexander, a fourth-grade teacher at Grove Park Elementary School in...
‘Not a monk’: Rep. Matt Gaetz says he won’t resign over ‘false’ sex allegations
WASHINGTON — Rep. Matt Gaetz said Monday he will not leave Congress and denied accusations that he had sex with an underage girl, suggesting that he’s being targeted by political foes because he “loathes the swamp.” In a column appearing in the Washington Examiner, a conservative news outlet, the embattled...
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott won’t throw pitch, rebuffing MLB voting-rights stance
AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that he won’t throw the ceremonial first pitch as planned at the Texas Rangers’ home opener — the latest jab in a fight that’s pushing corporate America into the political battle over voting rights. The Republican governor informed the Rangers via a...
Mayor demands to know how teen killed by Chicago cop got gun
CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday that she has directed the Chicago Police Department to capture and bring to justice whoever gave a 13-year-old boy the handgun he was carrying last week when he was fatally shot by a police officer. Adam Toledo was shot in the chest after...
