UN agency removes cannabis from strictest drug category
The U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted Wednesday to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, which could impact the global medical marijuana industry. The Vienna-based U.N. agency said in a statement that it had voted 27-25, with one abstention, to remove cannabis...
Stay home for the holidays or get tested twice, CDC urges
Don’t travel over the upcoming holidays. But if you must, consider getting coronavirus tests before and after, U.S. health officials urged Wednesday. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the best way to stay safe and protect others is to stay home. The agency also announced new...
Families can explore the National Aviary’s seasonal exhibits, gift shop
Shake off those winter blues at the National Aviary, where you’ll be transported to a warm and lush tropical paradise. Located in the heart of Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood, the National Aviary has decked its halls for some very special holiday events, with enhanced safety protocols in place. Journey through...
NYC bar owner who defied coronavirus restrictions arrested
An owner of a New York City bar that was providing indoor service in defiance of coronavirus restrictions was arrested after a sting in which plainclothes officers went inside and ordered food and beverages, the city sheriff’s office said. Protesters shouted as deputies arrested Danny Presti, the co-owner of Mac’s...
Putin orders ‘large-scale’ vaccination of doctors, teachers
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the start of a “large-scale” covid-19 vaccination of doctors and teachers late next week with the Sputnik V shot, which has yet to complete advanced studies needed to ensure its effectiveness and safety. Putin’s statement comes hours after Britain, which became...
Pakistani court declares ex-PM Sharif fugitive from justice
ISLAMABAD — A top Pakistani court on Wednesday declared the country’s ailing former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who lives in exile in London, a fugitive from justice after he failed to return home to face additional corruption charges. The move by the Islamabad High Court comes months after Sharif was...
Transportation Department tightens definition of service animals allowed on planes
The days of pets flying with their owners in airplane cabins for free are coming to an end. The Transportation Department issued a final rule Wednesday covering animals on airlines. It decided that only dogs can fly as service animals, and companions that passengers use for emotional support don’t count....
Man pleads guilty to killing woman after remains found
LANCASTER, Ky. — A Kentucky man has pleaded guilty to killing a woman whose remains were found six months after she disappeared, according to court records. David Sparks, 25, entered the plea Monday in Garrard County Circuit Court, news outlets reported, citing court records. He was indicted last year on...
U.S. lawmakers unveil anti-slavery constitutional amendment
NEW YORK — National lawmakers are expected on Wednesday to introduce a joint resolution aimed at striking language from the U.S. Constitution that enshrines a form of slavery in America’s foundational documents. The resolution, spearheaded and supported by Democratic members of the House and Senate, would amend the 13th Amendment’s...
Lawmakers bristle after Trump threatens defense bill veto
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is closing out his relationship with Congress with one more power jab, threatening to veto a hugely popular defense bill unless lawmakers clamp down on big tech companies he claims were biased against him during the election. Trump is demanding that Congress repeal so-called Section...
GOP objects to Biden nominees, a sign of what’s to come
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks are quickly running into the political reality of a narrowly controlled Senate that will leave the new Democratic administration dependent on rival Republicans to get anything done. Under leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican senators will hold great sway in confirming Biden’s nominees regardless...
EU pushes for ‘right to disconnect’ from work at home
BRUSSELS — European Union lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of a “right to disconnect” from the internet and email, with around one third of people now working from home across the 27-nation bloc due in large part to coronavirus restrictions. In a resolution, the parliamentarians argue that disconnecting from...
Police in Pa., N.J. seek man who attempted to abduct women
CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Police in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are seeking a man who they believe attempted to abduct women on three occasions in the past month. Lower Merion Township police in Pennsylvania said the suspect pressed an object into a woman’s back at the Royal Athena Apartment Complex...
Brazilian bank robbers seize another city, sow chaos, death
RIO DE JANEIRO — Heavily armed bank robbers invaded the Brazilian city of Cameta just one day after criminals struck another mid-sized city on the opposite side of the country, taking residents hostage as they looted a bank. Para state’s public security secretariat said in a statement that more than...
U.K. authorizes Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for emergency use
British officials authorized a covid-19 vaccine for emergency use on Wednesday, greenlighting the world’s first shot against the virus that’s backed by rigorous science and taking a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic. The go-ahead for the vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech comes as the...
Report: Trump considers 2024 announcement during Biden’s inauguration
President Donald Trump teased supporters Tuesday night that he may announce a run to retake the White House in 2024 and he may skip the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021. According to a report by Politico, Trump told a crowd at a White House Christmas party that he’s thinking...
Alabama soldier arrested after girlfriend’s son forced out of car, killed by vehicle
FORT MITCHELL, Ala. — An Alabama soldier was charged with reckless murder after allegedly forcing his girlfriend’s unruly 5-year-old son to get out of a car at night along a road where the boy was hit and killed by another vehicle, authorities said. Army Sgt. Bryan Starr, 35, surrendered to...
‘This has got to stop’: Republican Georgia election official calls out Trump, GOP
A Georgia elections official has had it with threats against himself and fellow elections workers in that battleground state that was awarded to Joe Biden during last month’s presidential election. Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s Voting Systems Implementation Manager, who is Republican, said emphatically in a Tuesday press conference that it has...
Georgia election official says Trump, U.S. senators complicit in potential violenceVideo
ATLANTA — A top Georgia election official Tuesday said President Donald Trump and the state’s two U.S. senators are complicit in threats against election workers and urged them to speak out against the behavior of some of the president’s most irate supporters. Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system manager, cited threats...
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says free college amounts to a ‘socialist takeover’
In a veiled swing at President-elect Joe Biden’s education plans, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday blasted the push for free college as a “socialist takeover of higher education” that could damage the nation’s economy. Speaking at an online conference hosted by the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office, DeVos...
Justice Department probing potential bribery, lobbying scheme for pardonVideo
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is investigating whether there was a secret scheme to lobby White House officials for a pardon as well as a related plot to offer a hefty political contribution in exchange for clemency, according to a court document unsealed Tuesday. Most of the information in the...
Visitor: Monolith toppled by group of men who said ‘leave no trace’Video
SALT LAKE CITY — New clues have surfaced in the disappearance of a gleaming monolith in Utah that seemed to melt away as mysteriously as it appeared in the red-rock desert — though it’s no longer the only place where a strange structure has come and gone. A Colorado photographer...
Florida’s covid-19 total surpasses the million mark with 8,847 new casesVideo
MIAMI — Florida has now confirmed more than 1 million cases of covid-19. The state hit the milestone Tuesday when the Florida Department of Health confirmed 8,847 additional cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the state’s known total to 1,008,166. That makes Florida the third state in the country to...
Sen. Mitch McConnell says he’s revising his covid relief planVideo
WASHINGTON — Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he’s revising his scaled-back covid-19 relief bill with the goal of passing a significant downpayment during the lame-duck session and then revisiting the topic next year. The Kentucky Republican made the announcement after President-elect Joe Biden called upon lawmakers to follow...
After White House visit, Pa. state Sen. Doug Mastriano calls covid-19 case mild
HARRISBURG — A Republican state lawmaker from Pennsylvania revealed he has covid-19, confirming the positive test five days after he went to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump and went maskless at a packed public meeting to discuss efforts to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. State Sen....
