Covid-19 vaccines can cause side effects. But don’t let that stop you from getting the shots
A friend of Paul Offit’s volunteered for one of the covid-19 vaccine trials but, like everyone who participated, was not told whether he was injected with a placebo or the real thing. The morning after getting the second dose, the North Carolina man woke up feeling crummy, with a headache...
‘Turning point’: UK giving 1st doses of covid-19 vaccine
LONDON — British health authorities rolled out the first doses of a widely tested and independently reviewed covid-19 vaccine Tuesday, starting a global immunization program that is expected to gain momentum as more serums win approval. The first shot was given to Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, at...
Chuck Yeager, first pilot to break sound barrier, dies at 97
After test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier, he confessed to the highly un-Yeager-like emotion of fear. “I was scared,” he wrote in a memoir, “knowing that many of my colleagues thought I was doomed to be blasted to pieces by an invisible brick...
Trump questions Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler on electoral votes
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is continuing his futile appeal to battleground state lawmakers to subvert the votes of their constituents. The president has reached out twice to Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler, a Republican, to see what might be possible for Trump to do about the state’s presidential vote....
Florida agents raid home of ousted covid-19 data curator Rebekah JonesVideo
TALLAHASSEE — Florida authorities investigating an alleged hack into the state’s emergency response system raided the home Monday of a woman fired earlier this year from her job as covid-19 data curator. Florida Department of Law Enforcement said that Rebekah Jones, who was fired for unauthorized public comments about the...
Biden to name retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as defense secretary
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon. Biden selected Austin over the longtime front-runner candidate,...
Trump administration passed up chance to lock in more Pfizer vaccine dosesVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration opted last summer not to lock in a chance to buy millions of additional doses of one of the leading coronavirus vaccine contenders, a decision that could delay the delivery of a second batch of doses until manufacturer Pfizer fulfills other international contracts. The revelation,...
Pearl Harbor dead remembered in ceremony shrunk by pandemicVideo
HONOLULU — U.S. servicemen and women and National Park Service officials gathered at Pearl Harbor on Monday to remember those killed in the attack — but elderly survivors stayed home to pay their respects from afar to avoid health risks from the coronavirus pandemic. The USS Arizona battleship bell rang...
EPA overrides scientists’ calls for tougher pollutant limit
The Trump administration on Monday made final its decision to leave limits for a deadly kind of air pollutant unchanged, overriding scientific findings that tougher standards could save tens of thousands of lives yearly. Environmental groups and many scientists have condemned the decision, slated to be among the final actions...
Lawmakers who met with Rudy Giuliani scramble after covid newsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was “doing very well” after being hospitalized with the coronavirus as lawmakers in battleground states that Giuliani visited last week scrambled to make sure they did not contract the virus. The 76-year-old former New York mayor, hospitalized in...
Pittsburgh native Tom Vilsack emerges as Biden’s top candidate to lead Agriculture Department
WASHINGTON — Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has emerged as a leading candidate for secretary of agriculture in the Biden administration, reprising a role he held under President Barack Obama, according to people familiar with the nomination process. The people said that while Vilsack was favored, President-elect Joe Biden has...
3 years later, dog and Michigan owners reunited in Illinois
WHEATON, Ill. — A whiff of her old blanket was enough for Lola: The black Lab was back in her owners’ arms three years after the Michigan dog disappeared on a trip to suburban Chicago. “I feel like I’m in a dream right now,” Debra Mejeur said Saturday when she...
Report finds ‘directed’ microwave energy likely made U.S. diplomats ill
WASHINGTON — A new report by a National Academy of Sciences committee has found that “directed” microwave radiation is the likely cause of illnesses among American diplomats in Cuba and China. The study commissioned by the State Department and released Saturday is the latest attempt to find a cause for...
As coronavirus relief talks drag, Congress prepares temporary funding fixVideo
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are giving themselves more time to sort through their end-of-session business on government spending and covid-19 relief, preparing a one-week stopgap spending bill that would prevent a shutdown this weekend. House floor leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said on Twitter that the temporary government funding bill is slated...
Trump campaign appeals another ballot case in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump’s campaign continues to press lawsuits over Pennsylvania’s election, appealing another case it lost to the state Supreme Court, this time over fewer than 2,000 ballots in a suburban Philadelphia county. The appeal, filed Friday, is one of at least four pending cases in which Trump...
No new covid restrictions for Pa., but possibility looms
Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday issued his most dire warning yet as covid-19 mitigation efforts fail to stem the rising tide of cases, and he hinted that more drastic, targeted measures could be on the horizon if the situation remains grim. He pointed to the warning he and Secretary of...
Biden picks Michigan Gov. Whitmer to help plan inauguration ceremony
President-elect Joe Biden is giving Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer a role in his inauguration on Jan. 20. Whitmer was named a co-chair for Biden’s inauguration along with five other Democrat elected officials who served as advisors to his campaign. Michigan’s governor also was in consideration to be Biden’s running mate,...
Whitmer administration extends partial shutdown in Michigan by 12 days
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration on Monday lengthened, by 12 days, a partial shutdown of businesses and schools to curb the coronavirus. The extended order, now due to end Dec. 20, will enable the state health department to assess how Thanksgiving travel affected the spread of covid-19,...
SpaceX capsules parked side-by-side at station for 1st time
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX supply ship bearing Christmas goodies arrived at the International Space Station on Monday, parking alongside another Dragon capsule that carried up astronauts three weeks ago. It’s the first time Elon Musk’s company has two Dragons at the orbiting lab, filling both available slots. Unlike...
Michigan House cancels voting session after Giuliani test
LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan House canceled its voting session scheduled for Tuesday following an announcement that President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had tested positive for the coronavirus. Giuliani visited Lansing last Wednesday to testify for hours before a Republican-led committee investigating alleged election irregularities. Without wearing a...
Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Biden’s win in GeorgiaVideo
ATLANTA — A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Monday that relied on conspiracy theories to try to invalidate Georgia election results showing Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten dismissed the lawsuit brought by former Trump attorney Sidney Powell in an attempt to decertify...
Pennsylvania reports nearly 15,000 new covid cases, 111 deaths over 2 days
Pennsylvania added 14,960 new covid cases over the past two days, according to a report Monday from the Department of Health. Officials said there were 8,630 new cases Sunday and 6,330 cases Monday. While down nearly 40% from the previous two days (24,647), it’s more than 50% higher than last...
Chief says Erie’s new police car totaled in crash
ERIE — A Pennsylvania town’s new patrol car was totaled in a crash with a drunken driver, the police chief said. Chief Dan Spizarny told Erie News Now one of his officers was driving early Sunday when a van came speeding toward the rear of the patrol car, which had...
Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2020
In a year defined by a devastating pandemic, the world lost iconic defenders of civil rights, great athletes and entertainers who helped define their genres. Many of their names hold a prominent place in the collective consciousness — RBG, Kobe, Maradona, Eddie Van Halen, Little Richard, Sean Connery, Alex Trebek,...
Romania’s center-right prime minister resigns after election
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s center-right prime minister resigned Monday after a general election in which voters delivered nominal victory to the left-leaning, populist opposition party. With 95% of votes counted in Sunday’s election, Ludovic Orban’s National Liberals have been defeated by the populist Social Democrat Party. However the Social Democrats...
