Exhibits damaged at major Berlin museums, unclear by whom
BERLIN — A large number of art works and artifacts at some of Berlin’s best-known museums were smeared with a liquid by an unknown perpetrator or perpetrators earlier this month, police said Wednesday. The “numerous” works in several museums at the Museum Island complex, a UNESCO world heritage site in...
San Francisco officials let people sue over racist 911 calls
SAN FRANCISCO — Fed up with white people calling 911 about people of color selling water bottles, barbecuing or otherwise going about their lives, San Francisco leaders unanimously approved hate crime legislation giving the targets of those calls the ability to sue the caller. The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday...
Feds say U.S. colleges ‘massively’ underreport foreign funding
A scathing report from the Trump administration on Tuesday concluded that top U.S. universities have “massively underreported” funding they accept from China, Russia and other nations described as “foreign adversaries.” The Education Department released the report amid its effort to enforce a 1986 law requiring U.S. universities to disclose gifts...
California will allow fans at pro sports but not Disneyland
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will let fans back in outdoor stadiums for pro sporting events in counties with low coronavirus infection rates but isn’t ready to allow Disneyland and other major theme parks to reopen, the state’s top health official said Tuesday. San Francisco and neighboring Alameda and Santa Clara...
Trump tweets clip of ’60 Minutes’ host Lesley Stahl without mask at White House, threatens to air interview early
NEW YORK — He’s tick, tick ticked. President Donald Trump posted video of “60 Minutes” anchor Lesley Stahl appearing maskless after interviewing him Tuesday — then threatened to scoop CBS by airing their recent interview ahead of schedule. “Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White...
U.S. spacecraft swoops onto asteroid to snap up sample
NEW YORK — A NASA spacecraft on Tuesday conducted the U.S. space agency’s first sample collection from an asteroid as part of seven-year-long voyage. The event, which lasted around 4 1/2 hours, saw Osiris-Rex approaching Bennu at tortoise speed, about 0.19 miles per hour, and then touching down on the...
Top Minneapolis police official demoted over ‘white boys’ comment
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police Chief Medaria Arradondo demoted a high-ranking deputy over the weekend after the deputy’s comments in a Star Tribune article prompted an internal backlash. Art Knight, who had served as Arradondo’s chief of staff, was quoted using the term “white boys” in a story that ran in...
Human remains found in search for Tulsa massacre victims
OKLAHOMA CITY — One set of human remains, and perhaps a second, have been found in a Tulsa cemetery where investigators are searching for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Oklahoma state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Tuesday. “We do have one confirmed individual and the possibility of a second”...
Safety board: Lack of oversight blamed for deadly California boat fire
LOS ANGELES — The lack of oversight by a Southern California boat owner led to a fire that killed 34 people on a 2019 scuba diving excursion, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled Tuesday. The predawn fire aboard the Conception is one of California’s deadliest maritime disasters, prompting criminal and...
Bill Cosby, now 83, grins in newly released prison mug shot
A newly released prison mug shot shows Bill Cosby smiling with a disposable mask hanging off his face. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections recently updated Cosby’s mug shot, something routinely done to document changes to inmates’ appearance as they age. Cosby’s new photo was taken Sept. 4. Cosby, 83, was...
Grand juror speaks after judge ruling in Breonna Taylor case
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A grand juror who won a court fight to speak publicly about the Breonna Taylor investigation took issue Tuesday with statements by Kentucky’s attorney general and said the jury was not given the option to consider charges connected to Taylor’s shooting death by police. The anonymous grand...
Police: Houston officer killed in shooting, another wounded
HOUSTON — A Houston police officer was killed and a teenager and another officer were wounded Tuesday morning when a man opened fire on law enforcement responding to a domestic disturbance call, authorities said. Police Chief Art Acevedo said officers arrived at the apartment in southwest Houston around 8 a.m....
Minneapolis police deputy demoted over ‘white boys’ comment
MINNEAPOLIS — A high-ranking deputy to the Minneapolis’ police chief said he was demoted after he was quoted in a newspaper story referring to white officers as “white boys,” which led to a backlash within the department. Art Knight, who is Black and who was Police Chief Medaria Arradondo’s chief...
How Trump plowed through $1 billion, losing cash advantage
President Donald Trump’s sprawling political operation has raised well over $1 billion since he took the White House in 2017 — and set a lot of it on fire. Trump bought a $10 million Super Bowl ad when he didn’t yet have a challenger. He tapped his political organization to...
Melania Trump nixes campaign trip due to cough from covid
WASHINGTON — Melania Trump’s return to the campaign trail will have to wait. The first lady has decided against accompanying President Donald Trump to a campaign rally Tuesday in Erie because of a lingering cough after her bout with covid-19, said Stephanie Grisham, her chief of staff. It was to...
U.S. spacecraft diving to asteroid for rare rubble grab
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA spacecraft descended Tuesday toward the surface of an asteroid 200 million miles away to collect a handful of rubble for return to Earth. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft dropped out of orbit around asteroid Bennu right on time, beginning a 4 1/2-hour plunge to the rough,...
Photo altered to Ice Cube, 50 Cent in ‘Trump 2020’ hats
An altered photo of rappers Ice Cube and 50 Cent in hats that appear to show support for President Donald Trump circulated widely on social media Tuesday, fueled in part by a tweet by Eric Trump. “Two great, courageous Americans,” Trump’s son tweeted. He removed the tweet with a photo...
Missouri capital to remove disputed Confederate general marker
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The City Council in Missouri’s capital city has approved removing a Civil War marker dedicated to a Confederate general amid a dispute about the accuracy of its description. Jefferson City Council members voted 8-2 Monday to remove the marker dedicated to Confederate Gen. Sterling Price. The...
First covid-19 positive cat reported in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania on Tuesday reported its first incident involving a cat contracting covid-19. State Veterinarian Dr. Kevin Brightbill announced Pennsylvania’s first confirmed covid-19 positive cat in a joint release from the state Departments of Agriculture and Health. The 16-year-old Cumberland County cat lived in a home with multiple people who had...
Pa. Supreme Court hears arguments on statute of limitations in priest sex abuse cases
Renee Rice said she was abused by a priest in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese from the mid-1970s until 1980. She filed a complaint with the diocese in 2006 and received a letter from them in July of that year inviting her to participate in an ongoing investigation. Rice declined because she...
Edgar Allan Poe’s letter pleading for $40 from a Philadelphia editor sells 173 years later for $125,000
Once upon a year so dreary, while Poe lay dead and the living weary Appeared a quaint and curious letter of forgotten lore. In the middle of a pandemic and a vote, suddenly there came a note Of a long ago anecdote, between Poe and a Philadelphia man of yore....
Pennsylvania reports 1,557 new covid-19 cases, 33 additional deaths
Pennsylvania reported 1,557 new covid-19 cases Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. In addition, 33 new coronavirus-related deaths were reported, the second-most reported in October. All of the reported new deaths are from October. Total cases and total deaths in the state now stand at 184,872 and 8,533,...
Pa. justices review priest abuse lawsuit’s ruling on time limits
Pennsylvania’s highest court on Tuesday grappled with whether a woman’s lawsuit on claims of sexual abuse by a priest decades ago should be allowed to proceed — a lower-court ruling that has launched many other lawsuits since it was issued a year ago. In oral argument, the justices focused questions...
French mosque shut over message linked to teacher beheading
A mosque in a Paris suburb is being closed for six months starting Wednesday night on orders from France’s interior minister in a crackdown following the beheading last week of a teacher. A sign posted by the regional prefecture at the entrance of the Pantin mosque, northeast of Paris, said...
Republicans see bright spot in 2020 voter registration push
The Republican Party has cut into Democrats’ advantage in voter registration tallies across some critical presidential battleground states, a fact they point to as evidence of steady — and overlooked — enthusiasm for President Donald Trump and his party. Even though Trump trails in national polls and struggles with fundraising...
