WWII jungle fighting unit approved for congressional medal
The soldiers spent months behind enemy lines, marching hundreds of miles through the tangled jungles and steep mountains of Burma as they battled hunger and disease between firefights with Japanese forces during their secret mission. In February 1944, the American jungle fighting unit nicknamed Merrill’s Marauders set out to capture...
2nd covid-19 vaccine trial paused over unexplained illness
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A late-stage study of Johnson & Johnson’s covid-19 vaccine candidate has been paused while the company investigates whether a study participant’s “unexplained illness” is related to the shot. The company said in a statement Monday evening that illnesses, accidents and other so-called adverse events “are an...
West Virginia health system again enacts no-visitor policy
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia health system is again banning visitors from its hospitals as community spread of the coronavirus increases in the region, network officials say. Mountain Health Network announced Monday that most visitors will not be allowed in its medical centers, including at St. Mary’s in Huntington,...
Defiant Trump defends virus record in 1st post-covid rallyVideo
SANFORD, Fla. — Defiant as ever about the coronavirus, President Donald Trump on Monday turned his first campaign rally since contracting covid-19 into a full-throated defense of his handling of the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans, joking that he was healthy enough to plunge into the crowd and give...
Takeaways: Coronavirus at center of Supreme Court hearingsVideo
WASHINGTON — The coronavirus won’t surrender the national stage to anyone — not to President Donald Trump, Judge Amy Coney Barrett or majority Republicans holding the power to confirm nominees to the Supreme Court. The disease that’s killed more than 213,000 people in the United States dominated the Senate hearings...
A Nevada man got covid-19 twice; his case shows why we need a vaccine
If you were counting on a coronavirus infection to keep you safe from covid-19 without having to get a vaccine, scientists have some bad news: It won’t work. The evidence for this comes from a Nevada man who was infected with two distinct versions of the novel coronavirus and became...
Big turnout as early in-person voting starts in GeorgiaVideo
ATLANTA — The chance to cast ballots on Georgia’s first day of in-person early voting Monday had thousands of people waiting for hours to make their voices heard. Eager voters endured waits of six hours or more in Cobb County, which was once solidly Republican but has voted for Democrats...
Washington state again fails to live-track murder hornet
SEATTLE — Washington state officials said Monday they were again unsuccessful at live-tracking a “murder” hornet while trying to find and destroy a nest of the giant insects. The Washington State Department of Agriculture said an entomologist used dental floss to tie a tracking device on a female hornet, only...
Driverless boat in Florida spins out of control, smashing docksVideo
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Three men conducting a photo shoot on a boat in a busy Florida river somehow went overboard, leaving the 24-foot vessel unmanned and out of control. The three men told deputies that they accidentally fell into the St. Lucie River along Florida’s Atlantic coast on...
Police: Louisiana boy, 11, steals school bus and leads police on chaseVideo
BATON ROUGE, La. — An 11-year-old boy stole a school bus Sunday morning and lead Louisiana officers on a chase before crashing into a tree, authorities said. Baton Rouge Police said the boy was not injured in the crash, news outlets reported. Police spokesperson Sgt. L’Jean McKneely Jr. said the...
U.N. warns against pursuing herd immunity to stop coronavirusVideo
LONDON — The head of the World Health Organization warned against the idea that herd immunity might be a realistic strategy to stop the pandemic, dismissing such proposals as “simply unethical.” At a media briefing on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health officials typically aim to achieve herd...
Attorney General Barr broke elections law, ethics groups say in call to impeach
WASHINGTON — Two groups promoting ethics in government called for the impeachment of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, accusing him of violating laws and undermining public confidence in the Justice Department. Barr has used the department to further President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, a bipartisan group of lawyers from the...
California GOP says it owns unofficial ballot drop boxes
LOS ANGELES — California’s Republican Party on Monday acknowledged owning unofficial ballot drop boxes that state election officials said are illegal. California election officials received reports over the weekend about the boxes in Fresno, Los Angeles and Orange counties. On Sunday, the secretary of state issued a memo telling county...
UK sheep farmer jailed for contaminated Heinz baby food plot
LONDON — A sheep farmer was sentenced to 14 years in prison Monday for his plot to use baby food laced with metal shards to blackmail one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains. Nigel Wright planted jars of the contaminated baby food in Tesco grocery stores and sent dozens of letters...
U.S. trails other developed nations in curbing coronavirus deaths
The proportion of Americans dying from coronavirus infections is the highest in the developed world, according to a study of global mortality rates that shows the U.S. pandemic response left citizens exposed to the lethal disease. Early in the outbreak, the U.S. mortality rate from covid-19 was lower than in...
World Health Organization leader warns against herd immunity solution
LONDON — The head of the World Health Organization warned against the idea that herd immunity might be a realistic strategy to stop the pandemic, calling such proposals “unethical.” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing on Monday that health officials typically aim to achieve herd immunity...
Over 2 days, Pennsylvania adds over 2,250 new covid cases, 24 new deaths
Pennsylvania saw 2,254 new coronavirus cases over the past two days — 1,166 on Sunday, 1,088 on Monday — according to a report from state Department of Health on Monday. The state said 239,484 tests were conducted from Oct. 5-11, with 9,117 positives found. Six new covid-related deaths were reported...
Carnival Cruise Line cancels Florida, Australia trips
Carnival Cruise Line said Monday it was canceling its remaining cruises scheduled for November out of two Florida ports, as well as five cruises from Australia at the beginning of next year. The cruise line had previously announced it was canceling for the rest of the year all U.S. cruises...
Danes start culling 2.5 million minks after virus hits farms
Danish veterinarians and farmers have begun culling at least 2.5 million minks in northern Denmark, authorities said Monday, after coronavirus has been reported in at least 63 farms. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration is handling the culling of the infected animals while breeders who have non-infected animals on a...
Security guard jailed in deadly shooting at Denver protests
A private security guard working for a Denver TV station is behind bars and accused in the deadly shooting of another man during dueling right- and left-wing protests, police said Sunday. Matthew Dolloff, 30, was booked into jail for investigation of first-degree murder following the clash Saturday afternoon in Civic...
5th night of Wisconsin police shooting protest more peaceful
WAUWATOSA, Wis. — Demonstrators protested for a fifth night in a Milwaukee suburb following a prosecutor’s decision not to charge a police officer who fatally shot a Black teenager. About two dozen demonstrators remained at a corner in Wauwatosa on Sunday night past the 7 p.m. curfew. Police warned the...
Technical problems arise as early voting starts in Georgia
ATLANTA — Long lines of people eager to cast ballots formed as early in-person voting began in Georgia on Monday, and problems soon developed in the state’s most populous county. Election officials in Fulton County were aware of an issue with the electronic pollbooks used to check voters in at...
Facebook bans Holocaust denial, distortion postsVideo
Facebook is banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust and will start directing people to authoritative sources if they search for information about the Nazi genocide. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new policy Monday, the latest attempt by the company to take action against conspiracy theories and misinformation...
Pa. Republicans drop effort to create ‘election integrity’ panel with subpoena power
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Republicans have dropped their plan to create an “election integrity” panel with subpoena power, an effort Democrats...
Supreme Court nominee Barrett vows to interpret laws ‘as they are written’Video
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett declared Monday that Americans “deserve an independent Supreme Court that interprets our Constitution and laws as they are written,” encapsulating her conservative approach to the law that has Republicans excited about the prospect of her taking the place of the late Justice Ruth Bader...
