Fast rollout of virus vaccine trials reveals tribal distrust
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The news came during a hopeful time on the largest Native American reservation. Daily coronavirus cases were in the single digits, down from a springtime peak of 238 that made the Navajo Nation a U.S. hot spot. The tribe, wanting to ensure a covid-19 vaccine would be...
Massachusetts policeman pays for shoplifting suspects’ holiday dinner
SOMERSET, Mass. — A Massachusetts police officer declined to charge two women accused of trying to steal groceries for the children — and instead bought them Christmas dinner. Somerset Officer Matt Lima responded to a report of shoplifting Dec. 20 at Stop & Shop, where two women with two young...
Pennsylvania hits 650,000 coronavirus cases, adds 261 deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 16,967 new coronavirus cases over the past 48 hours, as the Keystone State hurtled over the 650,000-case mark. Officials said 7,714 additional cases were reported New Year’s Day, while 9,253 were reported Saturday. The new data bring the total cases to 657,292. That’s a jump of...
Judge tosses out Gohmert suit against Pence over electoral votes
A federal judge in Texas threw out a Hail Mary lawsuit filed against Vice President Mike Pence by a Republican congressman who argued the vice president has the authority to unilaterally reverse Donald Trump’s election loss during a joint session of Congress Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle on Friday...
Bolsonaro’s tough 2021 balance between ideology, pragmatism
BRASILIA — Brazil’s pugnacious president, Jair Bolsonaro, survived 2020 in surprisingly good shape personally and politically, with buoyant popularity ratings despite his own bout of covid-19 and a broader pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 of his countrymen. But the new year — and a looming reelection campaign — bring...
Once a model, California now struggles to tame covid-19
LOS ANGELES — Ambulances waited hours for openings to offload coronavirus patients. Overflow patients were moved to hospital hallways and gift shops, even a cafeteria. Refrigerated trucks were on standby, ready to store the dead. For months, California did many of the right things to avoid a catastrophic surge from...
GOP torn over Trump’s Electoral College challenge of Biden
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s extraordinary challenge of his election defeat by President-elect Joe Biden is becoming a defining moment for the Republican Party before next week’s joint session of Congress to confirm the Electoral College results. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging Republicans not to try to overturn...
Chicago ends 2020 with 769 homicides as gun violence surges
CHICAGO — The number of homicides and shootings in Chicago spiked dramatically in 2020, ending with more bloodshed than in all but one year in more than two decades, statistics released by police on Friday revealed. After three years of falling homicide totals, 2020 ended with 769 homicides — 274...
In a first, Congress overrides Trump veto of defense bill
WASHINGTON — Congress on Friday overrode President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, a first by lawmakers since he took office nearly four years ago, ensuring that the measure becomes law despite Trump’s rejection. In an extraordinary New Year’s Day session, the Republican-controlled Senate easily turned aside the...
Curfew-busting New Year party-goers attack French police
PARIS — Ravers at an underground, curfew-busting New Year’s Eve party that drew at least 2,500 people in western France attacked the police sent to shut them down, torching one police vehicle and injuring officers with volleys of bottles and stones, officials said Friday. Ravers aboard hundreds of vehicles started...
U.S. hits 20 million mark in coronavirus cases
BALTIMORE — The number of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases has surpassed 20 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That’s nearly twice as many as the No. 2 country, India, and nearly one-quarter of the more than 83 million cases globally. The U.S. continued to surpass other countries in...
Mexico City ban on single-use plastics takes effect
MEXICO CITY — A broad ban on single-use containers, forks, straws and other ubiquitous items takes effect in Mexico’s capital, one of the world’s largest cities, after more than a year of preparation. On Friday, Mexico City’s environmental secretary said via Twitter that “from today on Mexico City without single-use...
Delay sought in ex-officers’ trial over George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors in the case against the four Minneapolis officers charged in the death of George Floyd requested that the trial be delayed by three months. The Star Tribune reports prosecutors cited the covid-19 pandemic and the amount of time needed before enough people are vaccinated and health risks...
Understanding how Georgia’s Senate runoff elections affect Congress
ATLANTA — The consequences of Georgia’s twin Senate runoffs are well known: They’ll determine which party controls the Senate in the new Congress. Right? Long term, yes, that’s the case. But the circumstances of Georgia’s seats make the near term a bit messy. One of two Georgia races is a...
Federal buildings vandalized in Philadelphia, 6 arrested, devices found
PHILADELPHIA — Six people were arrested after a group vandalized several federal buildings in Philadelphia’s Center City on New Year’s Eve, police said. Officers spotted about 50 people, all dressed in black, at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the historic U.S. Customs House, where windows were smashed, police said. Three...
Iran general warns U.S.: Military ready to respond to pressure
TEHRAN, Iran — The top commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Friday that his country was fully prepared to respond to any U.S. military pressure as tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration. Gen. Hossein Salami spoke at a ceremony...
Reports: 8 dead in New Year’s Eve carbon monoxide poisoning in Bosnia
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Several people have been found dead in a cottage in southwestern Bosnia, police said Friday. Local media reported that eight young people died from carbon monoxide poisoning during a New Year’s Eve celebration. Local police spokeswoman Martina Medic told The Associated Press that police responded to a...
Study: U.S. covid patients face more mental health issues; Excela Health bracing for uptickVideo
Researchers at the University of Oxford published a study reporting the first large-scale evidence that covid-19 survivors are at increased risk of anxiety or depression. The study looked at electronic health records for 69 million U.S. residents, including more than 62,000 covid-19 cases. In the three months following a positive...
Drivers not using E-ZPass will absorb a 51% PA Turnpike rate hike in 2021
Pennsylvania Turnpike toll increases announced last year will take effect just after midnight Sunday, Jan. 3, and if you’re not using the state’s E-ZPass program, the hike will be a steep one. Over the summer, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission approved a 6% hike for all E-ZPass rates systemwide, along with...
What turns 100 in 2021? Here are a few century-old items
Everything gets older. It’s just a fact of life. And this year — that would be 2021 — there are a few things that are turning 100. And we’re kind of blown away by how old they are. For instance: Cheez-It On March 31, 1921, the Dayton, Ohio-based...
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, other Pa. House Republicans pledge to oppose Electoral College tally
In what is almost certain to be another doomed effort to disenfranchise the votes of millions of Pennsylvania residents, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly is taking his unending challenge of the results of the presidential election to the halls of Congress. The Butler Republican, whose 16th Congressional District includes Erie, said...
Last of singing McGuire Sisters dies in Vegas; Phyllis, 89
LAS VEGAS — Phyllis McGuire, the last surviving member of the three singing McGuire Sisters who topped the charts with several hits in the 1950s, has died. She was 89. The lead singer and younger sister of Dorothy and Christine McGuire died on Tuesday in Las Vegas, the Palm Eastern...
Records show Casey Anthony is starting investigation firm
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — State records show that Casey Anthony has filed documents to start a private investigation firm in South Florida. Anthony, who was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, nine years ago, filed the paperwork with the Florida Division of Corporations in mid-December. The limited liability...
Sen. David Perdue quarantines for coronavirus exposure ahead of Georgia runoff
ATLANTA — Republican Sen. David Perdue was forced into quarantine Thursday in the home stretch of Georgia’s high-stakes Senate runoffs, disclosing just five days before the election that he had been exposed to a campaign worker infected with the coronavirus. Perdue’s campaign did not say how long he plans to...
Wisconsin hospital worker arrested for spoiled coronavirus vaccine dosesVideo
MADISON, Wis. — Authorities arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist Thursday suspected of deliberately ruining hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine by removing them from refrigeration for two nights. The arrest marks another setback in what has been a slower, messier start to vaccinate Americans than public health officials had expected....
