Trump rushes environmental regulations that could handcuff Biden
The Trump administration is rushing to issue permits, finalize major environmental regulations and even sell the rights to drill for oil in Alaskan wilderness before Inauguration Day in a push that could complicate Joe Biden’s climate and conservation agenda. The 11th-hour regulatory race underscores the extent to which federal agencies...
‘More people may die’: Biden urges Trump to aid transitionVideo
WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden on Monday warned of dire consequences if President Donald Trump and his administration continue to refuse to coordinate with his transition team on the coronavirus pandemic and block briefings on national security, policy issues and vaccine plans. The remarks marked Biden’s toughest comments to...
California dramatically rolls back reopenings amid unprecedented covid-19 surge
LOS ANGELES — Faced with a skyrocketing number of new coronavirus cases, California officials pulled what they characterized as an emergency brake, announcing that much of the state will move back into more restrictive reopening tiers. Once the changes go into effect Tuesday, roughly 94% of Californians will live in...
No bail relief for Virginia QAnon follower who went to Philly to ‘straighten out the vote’
PHILADELPHIA — The case of Joshua Macias and Antonio LaMotta, two armed Virginia men who drove to Philadelphia on Nov. 5 to “straighten out the vote,” should be treated as a “mass shooting that was narrowly averted,” District Attorney Larry Krasner wrote to the court in a letter filed Monday....
About 90K sex abuse claims filed in Boy Scouts bankruptcyVideo
NEW YORK — Close to 90,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed against the Boy Scouts of America as the Monday deadline arrived for submitting claims in the organization’s bankruptcy case. The number far exceeds the initial projections of lawyers across the United States who have been signing up clients...
U.S. appeals court weighs law on supervised injection sites
PHILADELPHIA — A federal appeals court became the latest panel to wrestle with the nation’s opioid epidemic as judges reviewed a long-debated plan Monday to open a medically supervised injection site in Philadelphia. U.S. Attorney William McSwain, an appointee of President Donald Trump, opposes the idea and hopes to overturn...
Trump to order troop reductions in Afghanistan, Iraq
The Trump administration is expected to cut the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan almost in half to 2,500 by Jan. 15, a U.S. official said Monday. The order would stop short of outgoing President Donald Trump’s goal to have all troops withdrawn by the end of the year, which...
Virginia governor pushes to legalize marijuana
RICHMOND, Va. — Gov. Ralph Northam is pushing to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Virginia, which could be the first Southern state to do so. Northam announced his support for legalization Monday, saying he wants a responsible approach that promotes racial equity and preserves youth safety. The Democratic governor...
Hand tally of Georgia presidential race continues
ATLANTA — A hand tally of the nearly 5 million votes cast in the presidential race in Georgia appeared to be going smoothly as it entered its fourth day Monday. The hand count stems from a state law that calls for one race to be audited to ensure the new...
Philadelphia bans indoor gatherings, broadens coronavirus rules
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia is banning indoor dining at restaurants and indoor gatherings of any size, public or private, as the city battles a resurgence of the coronavirus, officials announced Monday. The city also plans to shutter gyms, museums and libraries, prohibit in-person instruction at colleges and high schools, and reduce...
3rd Breonna Taylor grand juror: Cops ‘got slap on the wrist’
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A woman who sat on the Breonna Taylor grand jury said she believes their investigation was incomplete and that prosecutors wanted to give police “a slap on the wrist and close it up.” The woman is the third grand juror to speak anonymously about the September proceedings,...
Levine plans no new Pennsylvania restrictions as covid cases continue to rise
Covid-19 cases continue to rise along with the percentage of people who are testing positive for the virus, but Pennsylvania’s top health official said Monday there are no plans to put harsher restrictions in place again. “We have no plans to go back to red-yellow-green or any type of scheme...
Pennsylvania adds 9,675 new covid cases in 2 days, 51 new deaths
Pennsylvania added more than 9,600 new cases of coronavirus in the past two days, according the state’s Department of Health. There were 5,199 cases added on Sunday and another 4,476 added Monday. Of Sunday’s cases, 4,821 were confirmed; of Monday’s, 4,152 were confirmed. Among Monday’s new cases, 20.7% of those...
NATO, acting U.S. Pentagon chief discuss Afghanistan
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has spoken to the new acting U.S. defense secretary about the alliance’s commitment to stay in Afghanistan as long as necessary, his spokeswoman said Monday, amid speculation that President Donald Trump might order a rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops in the country. NATO spokeswoman...
Michigan governor says she has authority for stay-home order
LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday she has the authority to issue a second stay-at-home order to curb the spiking coronavirus if necessary and called a comment by an adviser to President Donald Trump urging people to “rise up” against Michigan’s latest restrictions “incredibly reckless.” The Democratic governor...
Trump campaign drops key request in Pennsylvania lawsuit
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump’s campaign is withdrawing a central request in its lawsuit seeking to stop the certification of the election results in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump to capture the state and help win the White House. Ahead of a Tuesday hearing in the case, Trump’s...
Moderna coronavirus vaccine appears 95% effective in early U.S. tests
For the second time this month, there’s promising news from a covid-19 vaccine candidate: Moderna said Monday its shots provide strong protection, a dash of hope against the grim backdrop of coronavirus surges in the U.S. and around the world. Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective, according...
Michigan halts high school classes, indoor restaurant diningVideo
LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration on Sunday ordered high schools and colleges to stop in-person classes, closed restaurants to indoor dining and stopped organized sports — including the football playoffs — in a bid to curb Michigan’s spiking coronavirus cases. The restrictions will begin Wednesday and last three...
Delayed start to transition of power hurts coronavirus-fighting effort, Biden team saysVideo
WASHINGTON — With President Trump still balking at conceding electoral defeat and public health experts forecasting a horrific new phase of the covid-19 pandemic, calls intensified Sunday for the start of a formal transition to the administration of President-elect Joe Biden. The nationwide virus caseload last week touched unprecedented heights...
Trump urges judge to preserve suit over Pennsylvania ballots
The Trump campaign urged a judge to preserve its bid to block Pennsylvania from certifying President-elect Joe Biden as the winner, claiming there’s evidence that voters in Democratic-leaning counties were improperly allowed to fix errors with their ballots. In a filing Sunday in federal court, the campaign said a half-dozen...
Newsmax chief says he’d welcome Trump to his cable channel but ‘we don’t want to be Trump TV’
All the talk about Donald Trump going from the White House to cable TV mogul doesn’t mean the president is going to take over Newsmax and turn it into Trump TV. “I would welcome the president’s involvement in the channel,” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said. But even for the longtime...
Biden team to meet with pharma companies soon on coronavirus fight
President-elect Joe Biden’s team will begin meeting with Pfizer Inc. and other pharmaceutical companies within days as they continue the transition to a new administration amid the escalating coronavirus pandemic, his chief of staff said Sunday. “We’re going to have meetings between our top scientific advisers and the officials of...
SpaceX launches 2nd crew, regular station crew flights begin
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on Sunday on the first full-fledged taxi flight for NASA by a private company. The Falcon rocket thundered into the night from Kennedy Space Center with three Americans and one Japanese, the second crew to be launched...
Hurricane Iota heads for battered Honduras, Nicaragua
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Iota became the 13th hurricane of the Atlantic season early Sunday, threatening to bring another dangerous system to Nicaragua and Honduras — countries recently clobbered by a Category 4 Hurricane Eta. Iota was already a record-breaking system, being the 30th named storm of this year’s extraordinarily...
Time to discuss potentially unpleasant side effects of covid-19 shots? Scientists say yes
Drugmaker Pfizer is expected to seek federal permission to release its covid-19 vaccine by the end of November, a move that holds promise for quelling the pandemic, but also sets up a tight time frame for making sure consumers understand what it will mean to actually get the shots. This...
