Colorado officers won’t be charged for detaining Black girls
DENVER — Suburban Denver police officers won’t be charged after detaining four Black girls by gunpoint this summer and handcuffing two of them after wrongly suspecting they were riding in a stolen car, prosecutors said Friday. The same day, the Colorado attorney general opened a grand jury investigation into the...
FBI arrests Arkansas man from photo inside Pelosi’s office
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The FBI on Friday arrested an Arkansas man who was photographed sitting at a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office following the storming of the Capitol by a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters, authorities announced. Richard Barnett turned himself in to FBI agents at...
U.S. judge blocks Trump administration’s sweeping asylum rules
PHOENIX — A U.S. judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s most sweeping set of asylum restrictions less than two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The rules had been set to take effect Monday. The court order has limited immediate impact because the government has largely suspended asylum...
Twitter bans Trump, citing risk of incitement
Twitter banned President Donald Trump’s account Friday, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence” following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Twitter has long given Trump and other world leaders broad exemptions from its rules against personal attacks, hate speech and other behaviors. But in a...
Updated Pa. vaccination plan adds new phase for more essential employees
Pennsylvania officials continue to retool the state’s vaccination plan to fall in line with recommendations from federal groups and further define who can get the vaccine and when, releasing the fourth iteration of plan on Friday afternoon. “It will take several months before there is vaccine available for everyone,” said...
W.Va. state lawmaker charged after entering Capitol with rioters
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia state lawmaker has been charged with entering a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol after he livestreamed himself rushing into the building with a mob of pro-Trump supporters, the Justice Department announced Friday. Ken Kohl, a top deputy federal prosecutor in Washington, announced the...
GOP’s David Perdue concedes to Jon Ossoff in Georgia runoff
ATLANTA — Republican David Perdue conceded his loss to Democrat Jon Ossoff on Friday, bringing Georgia’s two U.S. Senate runoffs that will deliver Democratic control of the chamber one step closer to an end. A day earlier, the GOP’s Kelly Loeffler conceded to Democrat Raphael Warnock in the other race....
Army head says National Guard may be allowed to carry guns in D.C.
WASHINGTON — Defense leaders are reviewing restrictions on the use of force by National Guard members and could allow troops to carry batons or guns in Washington, D.C., as they brace for more protests and possible violence around the Jan. 20 inaugural, The Associated Press has learned. Army Secretary Ryan...
Illinois GOP congresswoman apologizes for quoting Hitler
CHICAGO — A freshman Republican congresswoman from downstate Illinois apologized Friday for knowingly quoting Adolf Hitler during a rally outside of the U.S. Capitol this week. Rep. Mary Miller, who was among the Republicans who tried to challenge the certification of certain Electoral College votes that went to incoming President...
U.S. Attorney: FBI agents search lawmakers’ offices and homes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Federal prosecutors in Tennessee said Friday that FBI agents have searched the homes and offices of several state lawmakers. U.S. Attorney’s Office of Middle Tennessee spokesman David Boling confirmed the searches included the homes of former GOP House Speaker Glen Casada, state Rep. Robin Smith and Casada’s...
Pelosi seeks to curb Trump’s nuclear power, plans to impeach
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she has spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about preventing an “unhinged” President Donald Trump from ordering military actions including a possible nuclear strike in his final days and hours at the White House. Pelosi said in a...
Biden to speed release of coronavirus vaccinesVideo
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden will release most available covid-19 vaccine doses to speed delivery to more people, a reversal of the Trump administration’s approach, his office said Friday. “The president-elect believes we must accelerate distribution of the vaccine while continuing to ensure the Americans who need it most get...
After Capitol riots, Lehigh University rescinds Trump’s honorary degree from 1988
Lehigh University announced Friday it will rescind President Donald Trump’s honorary degree after pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. In a message posted on the university’s social media accounts Friday, officials said the Executive Committee of the...
Pfizer study suggests vaccine works against virus variant
New research suggests Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine can protect against a mutation found in the two more-contagious variants of the coronavirus that have erupted around the world, including here in Pennsylvania. The results are reassuring, albeit preliminary, and not surprising to scientists who didn’t expect a single mutation to defeat the...
Pennsylvania reports most new covid cases since mid-December
Pennsylvania on Friday reported 10,178 new cases of coronavirus, the most added in more than three weeks. This marks a return to more than 10,000 daily reported cases since 10,684 on Dec. 16. The state’s highest daily report was 12,884 back on Dec. 5. The state now has 703,265 cases...
U.S. tops 4,000 daily deaths from coronavirus for 1st time
ORANGE, Calif. — The U.S. has topped 4,000 daily deaths from the coronavirus for the first time, breaking a record set just one day earlier, with the surge being driven in several Sun Belt states that experienced spikes over the summer. The tally from Johns Hopkins University shows the U.S....
President Trump won’t attend Joe Biden’s inaugurationVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday he won’t attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, undercutting his message a day earlier that he would work to ensure a “smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power” to his successor. Trump offered no clues for how he would spent his...
Mayor warns London situation critical as virus spreads fast
LONDON — London’s mayor declared the capital’s covid-19 situation to be critical Friday, reflecting deteriorating conditions for beleaguered hospitals, as the country authorized a third vaccine for emergency use. Sadiq Khan declared a “major incident,″ as the rapid spread of the virus pushed hospitals to breaking point, with the number...
U.S. group appeals for Pakistani woman jailed on blasphemy
ISLAMABAD — The U.S. religious watchdog appealed Friday for the rights of a Pakistani woman from the country’s minority Ahmadis who has been jailed on blasphemy charges, declaring her a prisoner of conscience and urging Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government to immediately set her free. The statement by the U.S....
9 killed in attack on wake in Mexico’s Guanajuato state
MEXICO CITY — Nine people were killed and one wounded when gunmen opened fire at a wake in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, officials said. Public safety officials in the city of Celaya said in a statement the gunmen arrived late Thursday night. Local press reported that the wake...
John Fetterman taking steps toward running for U.S. Senate in 2022
John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, is taking a definitive step toward running for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2022. Fetterman said Friday that he is exploring a run for U.S. Senate. Previously, Fetterman had said that he was looking at running for either governor or U.S. Senate in...
UN fears ‘massive’ covid transmission in Ethiopia’s Tigray
NAIROBI, Kenya — The United Nations fears “massive community transmission” of covid-19 in Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region, fueled by displacement and the collapse of health services, as humanitarian workers finally begin to access the region two months after fighting began. A new U.N. report based on the first on-the-ground assessments...
U.S. loses 140,000 jobs, 1st monthly loss since spring
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers shed jobs last month for the first time since April, cutting 140,00 positions, clear evidence that the economy is faltering as the viral pandemic tightens its grip on consumers and businesses. At the same time, the unemployment rate stayed at 6.7%, the first time it hasn’t...
Woman who falsely accused Black teen of theft in NYC arrested in Calif.
NEW YORK — A woman who falsely accused a Black teenager of stealing her phone and then tackled him at a New York City hotel was arrested Thursday in her home state of California. Miya Ponsetto, 22, was jailed in Ventura County, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office there said....
What’s in store for rioters in Capitol attack? Experts weigh in
As federal investigators begin culling through thousands of hours of video and social media posts to identify the people responsible for Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol, many Americans wonder what justice will look like. Will it mean filing charges against every single individual involved in the violent clash that made...
