Court allows NY virus restrictions ahead of Jewish holidays
ALBANY, N.Y. — A federal judge refused Friday to block New York’s plan to temporarily limit the size of religious gatherings in covid-19 hot spots. U.S. District Judge Judge Kiyo Matsumoto issued the ruling after an emergency hearing in a lawsuit brought by rabbis and synagogues, arguing the restrictions were...
Wisconsin police defend arrests of slain Black teen’s family
MILWAUKEE — Police on Friday defended the arrests of family members of a Black teen killed by a suburban Milwaukee officer, saying they were driving recklessly during a protest and refused officers’ demands to leave their vehicles. Alvin Cole’s mother, Tracy Cole, and his sisters, Taleavia and Tristiana Cole, were...
Judge rejects Trump campaign suit over Philly voter offices
HARRISBURG — A judge on Friday rejected a bid by President Donald Trump’s campaign to force Philadelphia to allow campaign representatives to monitor people registering to vote or filling out mail-in ballots in election offices in a city repeatedly attacked by Trump as untrustworthy. Judge Gary Glazer wrote in his...
Official says vaccine expected in January, countering Trump
A Trump administration official leading the response to the coronavirus pandemic says the U.S. can expect delivery of a vaccine starting in January 2021, despite statements from the president that inoculations could begin this month. And a growing, bipartisan chorus of lawmakers, experts and public health officials says the country...
Trump: Justice Dept. had ‘plenty of time’ for Durham probe
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday piled more criticism on the status of the Justice Department’s investigation into the origins of the Russia probe, after reports that Attorney General William Barr has said not to expect conclusions before Election Day. Trump and Barr are increasingly at odds over the...
Ohio county says nearly 50,000 voters received wrong ballots
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nearly 50,000 voters received incorrect absentee ballots in the county that is home to Ohio’s capital, elections officials said Friday as they promised corrected ballots would be mailed within 72 hours. With about 240,000 ballots mailed, that meant one in five voters received a wrong ballot. The...
UN: New daily record as covid-19 cases hit more than 350,000
GENEVA — The World Health Organization has announced a new daily record high in coronavirus cases confirmed worldwide, with more than 350,000 infections reported to the U.N. health agency on Friday. The new daily high of 350,766 cases surpasses a record set earlier this week by nearly 12,000. That tally...
White House ups offer in virus aid before talks with Pelosi
WASHINGTON — The White House is boosting its offer in up-and-down COVID-19 aid talks Friday in hopes of an agreement before Election Day, even as President Donald Trump’s most powerful GOP ally in the Senate said Congress is unlikely to deliver relief by then. Trump on Friday took to Twitter...
Pennsylvania reports 1,380 new coronavirus cases, 9 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Friday reported 1,380 new cases of covid-19, with 135 of those in Philadelphia. There were 211,544 tests administered in the past 7 days, with 7,805 positive cases, according to the state Health Department. The state reported 14,662 new negative test results for a total of 1,999,765 people testing...
Pelosi unveils 25th Amendment bid, questions Trump’s fitness
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled legislation Friday that would allow Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove the president, insisting it’s not about President Donald Trump but inspired by the need for greater congressional oversight of his White House. Pelosi has been raising...
Marijuana leads 2020 drug seizures by Pennsylvania State Police
State police seized $19.4 million worth of processed marijuana so far in 2020, according to troopers. Nearly 3 tons of processed marijuana were confiscated by troopers across the state during the first nine months of the year, with some big seizures recently in Westmoreland County. Statistics released this week showed,...
AG: Michigan Gov. Whitmer, family were moved as plotters tracked
LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her family were at times moved around by authorities as law enforcement tracked the men who allegedly plotted for months to kidnap her, Michigan’s attorney general said Friday. Dana Nessel disclosed the detail to “CBS This Morning.” She said the Democratic governor was...
Battered Louisiana coast braces for 1 more: Hurricane Delta
ABBEVILLE, La. — Boarded windows and empty sidewalks made parts of Louisiana’s Acadiana region look like empty movie sets as major Hurricane Delta roared ever closer to the U.S. Gulf coast, apparently on track to smash into the same southwestern part of the state where Hurricane Laura blasted ashore six...
Judge denies motion to extend Florida’s voter registration
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal judge has denied a motion to extend voter registration in Florida even though a computer meltdown on the final day of registration might have prevented thousands of potential voters from taking part in November’s presidential election. In a 29-page ruling on Friday morning, U.S. District...
Korean group must remove Berlin tribute meant to ‘comfort women’
BERLIN — A Berlin district has ordered a local Korean group to remove a statue commemorating women used as sex slaves by Japan during World War II, saying Friday it goes beyond what had been approved. The issue of sex slaves, euphemistically called “comfort women,” has been a major source...
Nobel Peace Prize awarded to UN World Food Program
ROME — The United Nations’ World Food Program won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to fight hunger in regions of conflict and hardship around the globe. From air-dropping food in South Sudan to creating an emergency delivery service to keep aid flowing despite coronavirus travel restrictions,...
Next Trump-Biden debates uncertain, though Oct. 22 is likelyVideo
WASHINGTON — The campaign’s final debates between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden were thrown into uncertainty Thursday as the rival camps offered dueling proposals for the remaining faceoffs that have been upended by the president’s coronavirus infection. The chair of the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates told The...
Trump says military families may be source of covid. But their tests are negativeVideo
WASHINGTON — The families who attended a White House event honoring the loss of a member of the military are all doing well and do not have covid-19, the organization that arranged their trip said Thursday after President Donald Trump suggested he might have been infected at that event. In...
CDC expands covid risk warning to include overweight people
NEW YORK — The link between extra pounds and severe covid-19 grew stronger as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that people who are merely overweight, not just the obese, may be at high risk of serious disease from the infection. The warning, posted on the agency’s website...
Biden calls out Trump for calling Kamala Harris ‘a monster’Video
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is calling on President Donald Trump to cease insults on running mate Sen. Kamala Harris after Trump called her a “monster” and a “communist” on Thursday during an interview on Fox Business. Trump made the comments to host Maria Bartiromo in reference to Harris’ performance...
Shapiro preparing for additional court battles as election nears
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said he has teams preparing for any election law challenges that may be filed between now and after polls close Nov. 3, even as he awaits court rulings on several GOP challenges. With 26 days remaining until the election and about 2.5 million mail and...
D.C. faults White House over Rose Garden event, urges testingVideo
WASHINGTON — In an extraordinary step, the Washington, D.C., Department of Health has released an open letter appealing to all White House staff and anyone who attended a Sept. 26 event in the Rose Garden to seek medical advice and take a covid-19 test. The letter indicates a lack of...
Tensions rise as coronavirus cases surge in Wisconsin, Dakotas
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A surge of coronavirus cases in Wisconsin and the Dakotas is forcing a scramble for hospital beds and raising political tensions, as the Upper Midwest and Plains emerge as one of the nation’s most troubling hot spots. The three states now lead all others in new...
U.S. hits all of Iran’s financial sector with sanctions
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has blacklisted virtually all of Iran’s financial sector, dealing another blow to an economy that is already reeling under U.S. sanctions. The move will deepen tensions with European nations and others over Iran. Thursday’s move hits 18 Iranian banks that had thus far escaped the...
House leaders call for Lawrence County lawmaker Aaron Bernstine to resign over videos
HARRISBURG — Republican leaders in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives called Thursday for one of their members to resign after a newspaper disclosed the existence of videos posted to a since-deleted social media account in which he encourages his 5-year-old son to draw from a cigar and use profane language. In...
