‘Shameful’: U.S. covid deaths top 400K as Trump leaves officeVideo
As President Donald Trump entered the final year of his term last January, the U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of covid-19. Not to worry, Trump insisted, his administration had the virus “totally under control.” Now, in his final hours in office, after a year of presidential denials of reality...
Trump expected to issue flurry of pardons on last full day
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was expected to spend his last full day in office issuing a flurry of pardons and bidding farewell to the American public from a near-deserted White House and surrounded by an extraordinary security presence outside. In one of his final acts as president, Trump was...
Trump in final parting shot hits Venezuela with sanctions
CARACAS, Venezuela — The Trump administration issued a parting shot to Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday, announcing a sweeping round of stiff financial sanctions that target a network accused of moving oil on behalf of the president’s alleged frontman. The U.S. Treasury Department hit three individuals, 14 business entities...
Georgia certifies Democrats Warnock and Ossoff’s Senate wins
ATLANTA — Georgia’s secretary of state has certified the results of the two U.S. Senate runoff elections, paving the way for Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to be sworn in and for Democrats to take control of the chamber. They’ll take office just as the Senate considers whether to convict...
Josh Shapiro sworn into 2nd term as Pa. attorney general
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro promised to continue working toward justice for all residents on Tuesday as he was officially sworn into his second term in office. Throughout his 15-minute speech from the state Judicial Center in Harrisburg, Shapiro spoke about inequality in race and socioeconomic status and pledged to...
SAT doing away with optional essay, subject tests
NEW YORK — The College Board said Tuesday it will eliminate the optional essay from the SAT and do away with subject tests amid a changing college admissions landscape. “The pandemic has highlighted the importance of being innovative and adaptive to what lies ahead,” according to a statement from the...
Pa. residents 65 and older eligible for covid vaccine but most providers don’t have supply
Pennsylvania will prioritize people 65 and older and others with certain conditions for covid-19 vaccination, though many providers say the supply of vaccine is so low they cannot begin vaccinating any more groups. Cindy Findley, deputy secretary of Health and head of the state’s covid-19 vaccine task force, said Tuesday...
Oklahoma judge orders ‘Tiger King’ zoo to turn over big cats
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A federal judge in Oklahoma has ordered the new owners of an Oklahoma zoo featured in Netflix’s “Tiger King” documentary to turn over all the lion and tiger cubs in their possession, along with the animals’ mothers, to the federal government. U.S. District Judge John F. Heil...
Janet Yellen pushes GOP senators on $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package
Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice as Treasury secretary, said Tuesday that the incoming administration would focus on winning quick passage of its $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan, rejecting Republican arguments that the measure is too big given the size of U.S. budget deficits. “More must be done,” Yellen told...
McConnell: Trump ‘provoked’ Capitol siege, mob ‘fed lies’
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday explicitly placed blame on President Donald Trump for the deadly riot at the Capitol, saying the mob was “fed lies” and that the president and others “provoked” those intent on overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s election. McConnell’s remarks as he opened the Senate were...
Pa. reports 77 covid deaths, 5,341 cases
Pennsylvania reported 5,341 additional covid-18 cases and 77 deaths Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. The state now has 777,186 total covid cases and 19,467 total deaths. In January thus far, there have been 136,861 cases and 3,489 deaths reported. Tuesday’s case count is the second lowest in...
12 National Guard members removed from Biden inauguration for ties to fringe groups
Twelve U.S. Army National Guard members have been removed from the presidential inauguration security mission after they were found to have ties with right-wing militia groups or posted extremist views online, according to two U.S. officials. There was no threat to President-elect Joe Biden, they said. The officials, a senior...
EU commission urges member states to speed up vaccination
BRUSSELS — The European Union is urging member states to speed up the pace of covid-19 vaccinations to ensure that at least 80% of the most vulnerable people to the virus — those over age 80 — are vaccinated by March. In nonbinding recommendations published Tuesday, the European Commission also...
Mega Millions jackpot now $865M; Powerball up to $730M
DES MOINES, Iowa — Lottery players will have another shot Tuesday night at the third-largest jackpot in U.S. history. The Mega Millions top prize climbed to an estimated $865 million, the biggest jackpot in more than two years. Powerball, the other lottery game offered in most of the U.S., isn’t...
Biden to attend Mass with congressional leaders
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden will strike a unity theme before his inauguration as president Wednesday by worshipping with Congress’ top Republican and Democratic leaders. The Democratic president-elect has talked throughout the campaign and the post-election period about his goal of uniting a sharply divided country. Biden’s incoming chief of...
Massive car pileup on Japan highway kills 1, injures 17
TOKYO — One person was killed and at least 17 injured Tuesday in a massive pileup of at least 134 vehicles in blizzard conditions on a highway in northern Japan, officials said. About 200 people were stranded in the pileup, which forced the closure of the Tohoku Expressway in Miyagi...
Heavy metal guitarist photographed at Capitol riot charged
INDIANAPOLIS — A heavy metal guitarist who was photographed with the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol and is accused of spraying police officers with a pepper-based bear spray irritant has been arrested, the FBI said. Jon Ryan Schaffer turned himself in Sunday after he was featured on an FBI...
Poll: Virus, economy swamp other priorities for U.S.
WASHINGTON — Containing the coronavirus outbreak and repairing the economic damage it has inflicted are the top priorities for Americans as Joe Biden prepares to become the 46th president of the United States, according to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Overall, 53% of...
Panel: China, WHO should have acted quicker to stop pandemic
GENEVA — A panel of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization has criticized China and other countries for not moving to stem the initial outbreak of the coronavirus earlier and questioned whether the U.N. health agency should have labeled it a pandemic sooner. In a report issued to the...
Meghan seeks court ruling over ‘serious breach’ of privacy
LONDON — Lawyers for the Duchess of Sussex asked a British judge on Tuesday to settle her lawsuit against a newspaper before it goes to trial by ruling that its publication of a “deeply personal” letter to her estranged father was “a plain and a serious breach of her rights...
Biden picks Pa.’s Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant health secretaryVideo
President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, as his administration’s assistant secretary of health. The move is being championed by civil rights organizations as it would make her the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Biden, in announcing the...
At least 4 hurt in string of shootings in Poconos area; shelter order issuedVideo
MOUNT POCONO — At least four people were injured Monday in a string of shootings that prompted a shelter-in-place order for some residents north of Mount Pocono, authorities said. Mount Pocono Borough Mayor Michael Penn posted on Facebook that there were four or five crime scenes Monday night and “multiple...
Biden won’t end pandemic travel restrictions
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming White House press secretary says his administration does not intend to lift coronavirus travel restrictions for Europe, the U.K., Ireland and Brazil. The message from Jen Psaki came Monday evening after the White House said President Donald Trump had lifted the restrictions for those...
Trump reportedly set to pardon more than 100 people in his final hours as presidentVideo
With just hours left in office, President Donald Trump is expected to dish out pardons and sentence commutations to a varied group of more than 100 criminals, pardons that could include himself and his family members, according to several reports Monday. Trump, whose term ends at noon Wednesday, spent his...
Texas man threatened to shoot family if they reported him going in U.S. Capitol, FBI saysVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas man arrested over the weekend for going inside of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 told his family he went there “to protect the country” and threatened to shoot his children if they turned him in, authorities say. Guy Reffitt took his gun with...
