U.S., Indo-Pacific allies to expand India’s vaccine production
President Joe Biden and fellow leaders of the Indo-Pacific alliance known as the Quad are set to announce a plan to expand coronavirus vaccine manufacturing capacity in India, according to administration officials. The effort was to be announced Friday at a virtual meeting of the leaders of Australia, India, Japan...
Unemployment rises in Pennsylvania, as payrolls grow too
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate rose in January, as the labor force shrank but payrolls rebounded, according to state figures released Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 7.3%, up two-tenths of a percentage point from December’s adjusted rate, the state Department of Labor and Industry said. Upward revisions to Pennsylvania’s preliminary...
Federal look into Breonna Taylor’s death casts a wider net
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Their numbers have dwindled since protesters first flooded Louisville’s streets after police fatally shot Breonna Taylor in her home a year ago, but their push for justice has never waned. A federal investigation of the shooting that has been quietly proceeding could be their last chance. “We...
Philadelphia mayor calls for action after 3 killed, 6 injured
PHILADELPHIA — The city’s mayor on Friday called for action after three separate shootings left three people dead and six others injured. Two of those killed were teenagers. The gunfire began Thursday afternoon when a 16-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man were cut down by bullets that also wounded a...
Probe started after Ohio zoo worker attacked by cheetah
POWELL, Ohio — Authorities were investigating Friday after a cheetah attacked a worker at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. The incident happened Thursday when two animal program staff members were walking the harnassed 4-year-old cheetah, Isabelle, when a worker from the Heart of Africa region approached, the zoo said. “At...
Gunmen abduct 39 students from school in northwest Nigeria
Gunmen have attacked a school in northwestern Nigeria and kidnapped 39 students just weeks after a similar mass abduction in the region, authorities said Friday. The latest kidnapping took place late Thursday night at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, in the Igabi local government area of Kaduna state,...
Biden aims for quicker shots, virus ‘independence’ by July 4
WASHINGTON — One year after the nation was brought to a near-standstill by the coronavirus, President Joe Biden pledged in his first prime-time address Thursday night to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the prospect of “independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July....
Ex-officer MacDonald in Fort Bragg murders seeks release
RALEIGH, N.C. — A former Army physician serving life prison sentences for the brutal murders of his wife and two young daughters more than 50 years ago should be released because of his deteriorating health, his attorneys told a judge on Thursday. Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted in 1979 in the...
As climate fight shifts to oil, Biden faces a formidable foe
CASPER, Wyo. — President Joe Biden’s bid to tackle climate change is running straight through the heart of the U.S. oil and gas industry — a much bigger, more influential foe than Democrats faced when they took on the coal industry during the Obama years. Coal dominated U.S. power generation...
International evangelical pastor Luis Palau dies at 86
PORTLAND, Ore. — Luis Palau, an evangelical pastor who was born in Argentina and went on to work with Billy Graham before establishing his own powerhouse international ministry, died Thursday. He was 86. The Luis Palau Association said he died at his home in Portland, Oregon. He had announced in...
Pennsylvania to lift last moratorium on utility shutoffs
Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission on Thursday approved the lifting of its year-old moratorium preventing utilities from terminating service to all non-paying customers, adopted as Gov. Tom Wolf began ordering shutdowns to fight the spreading coronavirus. The moratorium will lift April 1 for the state’s lower-income utility customers, but the commission...
Portland pays $2.1 million in police shooting of Black teen
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland, Oregon, will pay more than $2 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit arising from the police killing of a Black teenager in 2017, but family members of Quanice Hayes say they are still upset that the officer who pulled the trigger was not disciplined. City...
White House: $1,400 individual checks may arrive soon
WASHINGTON — The White House says the $1,400 direct payments for most Americans funded by the American Rescue Plan will start showing up in bank accounts as early as this weekend. Press secretary Jen Psaki says the government will make the first direct deposits this weekend. She says payments will...
Pennsylvania to pay $475K to family of pot suspect killed by dozer
READING — The state of Pennsylvania will pay $475,000 to the estate of a man who died underneath a bulldozer that Pennsylvania State Police had used to chase him for growing a handful of marijuana plants, according to a settlement revealed in court Thursday. Gregory Longenecker, 51, had fled into...
Appeal by former Cleveland police officer who killed Tamir Rice dismissed
CLEVELAND — An appeals court in Cleveland ruled Thursday that the white Cleveland police officer who killed Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black child playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center, should not get his job back. The 8th District Court of Appeals in its ruling dismissed an appeal...
Biden signs $1.9T relief bill before speech to nation
WASHINGTON — Marking a year of loss and disruption, President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law the $1.9 trillion relief package that he said will help the U.S. defeat the coronavirus and nurse the economy back to health. The signing came hours before Biden delivers his first prime-time address...
Mississippi governor signs bill limiting transgender athletes
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill Thursday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams. Mississippi is the first state this year to enact such a ban, after a federal court blocked an Idaho law last year. Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2536...
Uber, Lyft team up on database to expose abusive drivers
SAN RAMON, Calif. — Uber and Lyft have teamed up to create a database of drivers ousted from their ride-hailing services for complaints about sexual assault and other crimes that have raised passenger-safety concerns for years. The clearinghouse unveiled Thursday will initially list drivers expelled by the ride-hailing rivals in...
Greek protesters attack police with firebombs at rally
THESSALONIKI, Greece — Extensive clashes broke out between police and protesters Thursday in Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, after authorities ended an occupation by students and other demonstrators at the city’s main university building. Protesters threw firebombs at police after street clashes erupted near the city center. Police responded with tear...
Resignation demands grow as police get Cuomo groping report
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s grip on power appeared increasingly threatened Thursday as a majority of state legislators called for his resignation, Democrats launched an impeachment investigation and police in the state capital said they stood ready to investigate a groping allegation. The firestorm around the Democrat...
House renews push to expand background checks for guns
WASHINGTON — Emboldened by their majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats are making a new push to enact the first major new gun control laws in more than two decades — starting with stricter background checks. The House is poised to pass two bills on Thursday that would require...
Former presidents, first ladies urge Americans to get covid shots
WASHINGTON — Four former presidents are urging Americans to get vaccinated as soon as covid-19 doses are available to them, as part of a campaign to overcome hesitancy about the shots. Two public service announcements from the Ad Council and the business-supported covid Collaborative feature Presidents Barack Obama, George W....
Judge OKs 3rd-degree murder charge for ex-cop in George Floyd death
MINNEAPOLIS — A judge on Thursday granted prosecutors’ request to add a third-degree murder count against a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death, offering jurors an additional option for conviction and resolving an issue that might have delayed his trial for months. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill...
EU regulator approves J&J’s one-shot covid vaccine
AMSTERDAM — The European Medicines Agency has authorized Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine, giving the European Union’s 27 nations a fourth licensed vaccine to try to curb the pandemic amid a stalled vaccination drive in the bloc. In a decision issued Thursday, the EU medicines regulator said it was...
Rain showers expected to bring cooler temperatures to Pittsburgh region
Rain moving into Southwestern Pennsylvania Thursday afternoon is expected to slide temperatures closer to seasonally-average norms throughout the weekend. While the chance of isolated showers is possible throughout the day Thursday, temperatures will remain close to the upper 60s, said Jason Frazier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in...
