Thailand finds new coronavirus clusters in south and east
BANGKOK — Health officials in Thailand said Saturday that two new clusters of coronavirus cases have been found that appear to be linked to a major outbreak discovered a week earlier among migrant workers in an industrial province near Bangkok. The new cases were found in 19 members of a...
Turnout among young voters key to Georgia Senate runoffs
ATLANTA — Preethi Gowrishankar was never really politically active before this year. But watching polarization increase during President Donald Trump’s administration changed that. The 27-year-old data scientist put on a face mask and stood in line on a recent sunny but cold day in Atlanta to cast a ballot early...
British double agent George Blake dies in Russia at 98
MOSCOW — George Blake, a former British intelligence officer who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union and passed some of the most coveted Western secrets to Moscow, has died in Russia. He was 98. Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, known as SVR, announced his death Saturday in a...
Trump’s court appointments will leave decades-long imprint
WASHINGTON — On this, even President Donald Trump’s most fevered critics agree: He has left an imprint on federal courts that will outlast his one term in office for decades to come. He used the promise of conservative judicial appointments to win over Republican skeptics as a candidate. Then as...
Hundreds of migrants freezing in heavy snow in Bosnia camp
BIHAC, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Hundreds of migrants were stranded Saturday in a squalid, burnt-out tent camp in Bosnia as heavy snow fell in the country and winter temperatures suddenly dropped. Migrants at the Lipa camp in northwest Bosnia wrapped themselves in blankets and sleeping bags to protect against the biting winds...
Vaccination rate in W.V. surges, as pandemic claims more lives
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice reported that nearly half of his state’s stock of covid-19 vaccines has been administered. But the promising news was tempered by the governor’s announcement on Christmas Day that 55 more West Virginians had died from the disease. During a press briefing Friday, the governor described,...
Q&A: Knowing when to get the coronavirus vaccine — and if pregnant women should get it
SEATTLE — Federal approval of the second coronavirus vaccine means more doses are coming to Washington and with them a growing interest about the distribution of vaccines. This week, Washington was set to receive 130,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine, which was approved by the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup...
Officials accuse Florida rapper, 2 others, of home invasion
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Two Florida men, including an underground rap artist known as Splash Zanotti, appeared in federal court Christmas day in connection with a home invasion two months ago, in which authorities said the men terrorized a couple, demanded $20,000 and sexually assaulted a woman. A third man...
Nashville explosion investigation prompts FBI to search home
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Federal agents converged Saturday on the home of a possible person of interest in the explosion that rocked downtown Nashville as investigators scoured hundreds of tips and leads in the blast that damaged dozens of buildings on Christmas morning. More than 24 hours after the explosion,...
Black doctor dies of covid after racist treatment complaints
INDIANAPOLIS — A Black doctor who died battling covid-19 complained of racist medical care in widely shared social media posts days before her death, prompting an Indiana hospital system to promise a “full external review” into her treatment. Dr. Susan Moore, 52, tested positive for covid-19 late last month and...
In other white Christmas news, 74 pounds of cocaine found floating off the Florida Keys
MIAMI — The Keys sheriff’s office came across some white stuff Christmas week. But it wasn’t the usual kind of snow. About 74 pounds of cocaine was spotted floating off the Lower Keys by a fisherman Wednesday afternoon. The fisherman, who was boating south of Sugarloaf Key, notified a Monroe...
Pennsylvania passes 600,000 coronavirus cases; adds 165 deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 14,755 new coronavirus cases over the past 48 hours, as the Keystone State jumped over the 600,000-case mark. Officials said 7,581 additional cases were reported Christmas Day, while 7,174 were reported the day after. The new data bring the total cases to 605,141. That’s a jump...
Thousands of ballots will be audited as part of Pa.’s post-election review
HARRISBURG — At least 64 counties in Pennsylvania have begun the process of auditing the November election to verify that the original vote tally was correct and there were no errors in the state’s declaration of Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election. It’s only the second time...
Execution of only woman on U.S. death row delayed, possibly to after Joe Biden’s inauguration
WASHINGTON — A federal judge said the Justice Department unlawfully rescheduled the execution of the only woman on federal death row, potentially setting up the Trump administration to schedule the execution after President-elect Joe Biden takes office. U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss also vacated an order from the director...
Israeli jets strike Gaza after militants fire rockets
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli aircraft struck several sites in the Gaza Strip early Saturday after Palestinian militants fired two rockets toward southern Israel. The airstrike targets included rocket manufacturing facility and training and military posts belonging to Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, according to the military. Palestinian...
Thousands of ballots will be audited as part of Pa.’s post-election review
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — At least 64 counties in Pennsylvania have...
Despite smooth election, GOP leaders seek vote restrictions
ATLANTA — Changes to the way millions of Americans voted this year contributed to record turnout, but that’s no guarantee the measures making it easier to cast ballots will stick around for future elections. Republicans in key states that voted for President-elect Joe Biden already are pushing for new restrictions,...
Downtown Nashville explosion knocks communications offline
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A recreational vehicle parked in the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early Christmas morning, causing widespread communications outages that took down police emergency systems and grounded holiday travel at the city’s airport. Police were responding to a report of shots fired Friday when they encountered the...
Lower Burrell woman spent months battling covid long-haul syndrome
When Kristin Giron Stewart was discharged from UPMC St. Margaret hospital after a 13-day battle with covid-19 over the summer, she thought she was well on her way to recovery. The 47-year-old Lower Burrell woman grew frustrated and frightened as the days wore on, and she continued to struggle with...
2 children die in Detroit fire; mom, 3 kids leap to safety
A Christmas morning fire killed a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old at a home on Detroit’s east side and forced others to jump from a second-floor window to escape, fire department officials said. The Detroit Fire Department said the two children were found dead in a front living room of the...
A pandemic Christmas: Services move online, people stay home
Families that usually reunite on Christmas over a hearty, lingering meal stayed home Friday, services were held online, and gift exchanges were low-key in one of the most unusual holiday seasons in decades. The coronavirus left almost no one unaffected. Patricia Hager, 60, delivered homemade caramel rolls for breakfast to...
Police: N.Y. man steals mini-snow plow, crashes into Target store
BAY SHORE, N.Y. — A Long Island man has been arrested after a Christmas morning crime spree that gave new meaning to the term doorbuster. It happened shortly before 2 a.m., Suffolk County police said, when Justin Shuffle stole a 2010 Bobcat skid loader, which is used to push snow,...
British army helps clear backlog of virus-stranded drivers
Around 1,000 British soldiers were spending Christmas Day trying to clear a huge backlog of truck drivers stuck in southeast England after France briefly closed its border to the U.K., then demanded coronavirus tests from all amid fears of a new, apparently more contagious, virus variant. Even though an estimated...
Philly police fatally shoot gunman accused of shooting into a crowd, killing teen and injuring another
Christmas morning got off to a grim start in Philadelphia when a street fight escalated to one man firing a gun into a crowd, striking two teenagers in the neck before officers fatally shot him, according to police. A 15-year-old male whose identity was not released was pronounced dead at...
Police: Suspicious blast wounds 3 in Nashville on Christmas
An explosion shook the largely deserted streets of downtown Nashville early Christmas morning, shattering windows, damaging buildings and wounding three people. Authorities said they believed the blast was intentional. Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said police were responding to a report of shots fired when they encountered a recreational...
