Florida teen accidentally shoots, kills friend while ‘simulating a rap video,’ cops say
MIAMI — An 18-year-old is facing a manslaughter charge after he accidentally shot and killed his friend as the two “were simulating a rap video” in Hialeah, police say. Authorities have arrested Jonathan Batista, 18, on a charge of manslaughter with a deadly weapon for the death of Brian Shakur...
Future voting rights, marijuana laws at stake in states
The growing push to legalize marijuana was being put to another test Tuesday in both left- and right-leaning states as voters also decided a variety of state ballot measures affecting their own voting rights in future elections. A total of 120 proposed state laws and constitutional amendments were on the...
‘Vote and get home,’ anxious voters say on Election Day
She carefully planned a five-hour drive to the polling place in her Tennessee hometown to vote on Election Day. She considered the traffic, the weather, the surging coronavirus pandemic and — something she never imagined having to contemplate — the possibility of civil unrest in the aftermath of an American...
FBI investigates robocalls warning voters to ‘stay home’
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan — Voters across the U.S. received anonymous robocalls in the days and weeks before Election Day urging them to “stay safe and stay home” — an ominous warning that election experts said could be an effort to scare voters into sitting out the election. The FBI is...
Gunman who killed 4 in Vienna attack had sought to join IS
VIENNA — A man who had previously tried to join the Islamic State group rampaged in Vienna armed with an automatic rifle and a fake explosive vest, fatally shooting four people before he was killed by police, Austrian authorities said Tuesday. Witnesses described dozens of screaming people fleeing the sounds...
Explainer: What is the Electoral College and when do votes need to be in?
Election Day is only one point in the process of the Electoral College, which decides who wins a U.S. presidential race. According to Britannica.com: “American voters go to the polls … but the ballots that they cast do not directly elect the president. Instead, the will of the voters is...
What to watch tonight: States to eye closely on election tonight
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden each have a path to win the White House. The former vice president is competitive in all the battleground states Trump carried in 2016, and has put a handful of traditional Republican states, including Georgia and Arizona, in play. Trump...
Virus hospitalizations surge as pandemic shadows U.S. election
Americans went to the polls Tuesday under the shadow of a resurging pandemic, with an alarming increase in cases nationwide and the number of people hospitalized with covid-19 reaching record highs in a growing number of states. While daily infections were rising in all but three states, the surge was...
Whitey Bulger’s family: Prison system did not protect him
BRUCETON MILLS, W.Va. — Family members of Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger Jr. have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 30 unnamed employees of the prison system for failing to protect Bulger, who was beaten to death at a West Virginia prison. The family filed...
Wisconsin trooper stops driver hauling snowmobile atop car
CLAYTON, Wis. — The Wisconsin State Patrol had a little advice for a guy who transported a snowmobile by strapping it to the roof of his Toyota Corolla: Bad idea. A trooper pulled over the driver on Highway 63 in northwestern Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon after seeing the snowmobile perched...
Powerful Hurricane Eta rips ashore into Nicaragua
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — The heart of powerful Hurricane Eta began moving ashore in Nicaragua on Tuesday with potentially devastating winds and rains that have already destroyed rooftops and caused rivers to overflow. The hurricane had sustained winds of 140 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The eyewall was...
Pennsylvania sets single-day record for new covid cases
In adding 2,875 cases of coronavirus Tuesday, Pennsylvania set a record for new cases in a single day. The Pennsylvania Department of Health said of those new cases, 2,599 were confirmed from PCR tests and other 276 were probable cases. Officials also said 32 new deaths were reported, making 159...
Trump, Biden hand their fate to voters, with robust turnout
WASHINGTON — Voters flocked to the polls on Tuesday despite the threat of the coronavirus and long lines to choose between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, in an election that will influence how the U.S. confronts everything from the pandemic to race relations for years to...
More Americans on diets now than a decade ago, report finds
If it seems like more and more people are on diets these days, you might not be imagining it. A higher percentage of Americans said they’re on a special diet to lose weight or for other health reasons compared with a decade ago, according to a report Tuesday by the...
How covid death counts become the stuff of conspiracy theories
In the waning days of the campaign, President Donald Trump complained repeatedly about how the United States tracks the number of people who have died from covid-19, claiming, “This country and its reporting systems are just not doing it right.” He went on to blame those reporting systems for inflating...
Tradition: 2 New Hampshire towns cast votes after midnight
DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. — Two tiny New Hampshire communities that vote for president just after the stroke of midnight on Election Day have cast their ballots, with one of them marking 60 years since the tradition began. The results in Dixville Notch, near the Canadian border, were a sweep for...
Huge voter turnout expected despite virus, political rancor
The scourge of a global pandemic produced an election season like no other in the U.S., persuading record numbers of Americans to cast their ballots early, forcing states to make changes to long-established election procedures and leading to hundreds of lawsuits over how votes would be cast and which ballots...
Report: ‘Non-scalable’ fence going up around White House
Authorities are planning to reinstall a “non-scalable” fence around the perimeter of the White House, months after it was first erected during the summer mass protests for racial justice. The barrier is designed to make it impossible for any election protesters to get inside the White House compound, NBC News...
Texas records highest number of total covid-19 cases in U.S.Video
AUSTIN — Texas has surpassed California in recording the highest number of positive coronavirus tests in the U.S. so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. As the coronavirus pandemic surges across the nation, the data from Sunday — the most recent available — says that there have been...
How Facebook, Twitter plan to handle Election Day disinformationVideo
A man in the Atlanta suburbs was scrolling Facebook in late October when an ad popped up claiming his polling place had changed. At first glance, the change didn’t seem to align with official records. He suspected it was a lie — potentially a voter suppression tactic. He had already...
Postal Service ordered to speed swing-state ballots to make Election Day
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to make every effort to deliver mail-in ballots in three crucial swing states by Election Day due to uncertainty over whether votes that arrive after that will be counted. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington on Sunday ordered the...
Fast-growing hurricane threatens flooding in Central AmericaVideo
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Hurricane Eta erupted quickly into a potentially catastrophic major hurricane Monday as it headed for Central America, where forecasters warned of massive flooding and landslides across a vulnerable region. Eta had maximum sustained wind of 130 mph and was centered about 70 miles east of the Nicaragua-Honduras...
Supreme Court blocks injured officer’s suit against leader of Black Lives Matter rally
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday set aside an appeals court ruling by a panel of conservative judges that held an injured police officer could sue and win damages from the leader of a Black Lives Matter protest rally. The case had raised alarms among civil libertarians, who said...
US judge blocks Trump immigration rule on public benefits
A federal judge in Chicago struck down a key immigration rule Monday that would deny green cards to immigrants who use food stamps or other public benefits, a blow to the Trump administration on the eve of the election. In a decision that applies nationwide, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman...
Ohio’s Republican Attorney General tweets inaccurate mail-in voting deadline
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s attorney general tweeted erroneously Monday that voters had until Tuesday to mail their absentee ballots, when Monday was actually the last day to vote by mail. Republican Attorney General Dave Yost’s mistake prompted rebukes from Democrats and others and a correction of the record by the...
