U.S. imposes visas restrictions on more Chinese citizens
WASHINGTON — The State Department said Friday that the U.S. will impose visa restrictions on Chinese citizens engaged in overseas influence operations. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the restrictions would apply to Chinese Communist Party officials or anyone else taking part in propaganda or influence campaigns linked to the...
Pence comes to Georgia as calm before potential Trump storm
ATLANTA — Vice President Mike Pence is trying to help Republicans project a unified front in two high-stakes Senate runoffs as he campaigns in Georgia a day ahead of President Donald Trump’s potentially volatile visit to the state that will determine which party controls the Senate in January. The vice...
House votes to decriminalize marijuana at federal level
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House on Friday approved a bill to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level, reversing what supporters called a failed policy of criminalization of pot use and taking steps to address racial disparities in enforcement of federal drug laws. Opponents, mostly Republicans, called the bill...
Police: Nearly 30 found in Texas human smuggling operation
HOUSTON — More than two dozen people who police in Texas believe were being held as a part of a possible human smuggling operation have been removed from a house in Houston. One of the men was seen Thursday running down a residential street in his underwear, yelling that he...
Pelosi optimistic, says momentum growing for covid-19 relief
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave an optimistic assessment of the prospects for a mid-sized COVID-19 relief bill and a separate $1.4 trillion governmentwide spending bill on Friday, teeing up expectations for a successful burst of legislative action to reverse months of frustration on pandemic relief. Pelosi told reporters...
Pa. posts new high for daily covid cases, nears 400K total cases
Pennsylvania reported the most new covid-19 cases in a single day Friday. The state’s 11,763 new cases eclipse Thursday’s 11,406 case count, which was the previous high. In the past two days, there have been 23,169 cases reported. From the start of the pandemic in March, it took the state...
West Virginia police arrest woman in crash that killed child
BRADSHAW, W.Va. — Police in West Virginia have arrested a woman in a hit-and-run crash that killed a 2-year-old boy. Angel Alberta Estep, 37, of War was charged Thursday with negligent homicide, crash involving death and other counts, McDowell County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy James Muncy told news outlets. The child...
Man charged with robbing Wawa customer at gunpoint inside rest room
A 27-year-old man was arrested Thursday and charged with robbing a customer at gunpoint in the men’s room of a Wawa store in Atlantic County, N.J., authorities said. Police were called about 11:40 a.m. to the convenience store in the 500 block of West Delilah Road in Pleasantville on a...
Ohio sheriff’s deputy wounded, suspect shot and killed
MANSFIELD, Ohio — Authorities on Friday were investigating after a welfare check by police turned into an exchange of gunfire that left one man dead and a sheriff’s deputy wounded in Ohio. Two deputies were sent to a home to check on a person around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, the Richland...
After being fined by U.S., Hyundai recalls more vehicles
DETROIT — A week after being fined by regulators for delaying safety recalls, Hyundai is recalling about 130,000 vehicles in the U.S. because the engines could fail. The recall covers certain 2012 Santa Fe SUVs, 2015 and 2016 Veloster cars, and Sonata Hybrid cars from 2011 through 2013 and 2016....
Czechs target 2038 to phase out coal as energy source
PRAGUE — A Czech government advisory body has agreed to a proposal for the country to phase out coal as an energy source by 2038, a plan that environmental groups say isn’t ambitious enough. Trade and Minister Karel Havlicek, one of the two chairmen of the body, said on Friday...
2 U.S. marshals shot, fugitive killed in Bronx gunfight
NEW YORK — A suspect in the shooting of a state trooper in Massachusetts was killed during a gunfight with U.S. marshals in New York City early Friday that left two of the officers wounded. The two deputy marshals injured in the 5:30 a.m. confrontation in the Bronx were treated...
White House communications boss Alyssa Farah exits in bow to Trump’s defeat
WASHINGTON — Alyssa Farah resigned as White House communications director on Thursday, in one of the first high-profile staff departures since President Donald Trump’s loss in the November election. She said in a statement she is leaving her post in order to “pursue new opportunities” but did not describe her...
Among first acts, Biden to call for 100 days of mask-wearingVideo
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden said Thursday that he will ask Americans to commit to 100 days of wearing masks as one of his first acts as president, stopping just short of the nationwide mandate he’s pushed before to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The move marks a notable shift...
West Virginia police officer dies 2 days after being shotVideo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia police officer has died two days after being shot by a suspect while responding to a parking complaint. The city of Charleston announced officer Cassie Johnson’s death in a news release Thursday. Johnson, 28, joined the city as a humane officer in October 2017...
Supreme Court again asked to block Biden win in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Fresh off another rejection in Pennsylvania’s courts, Republicans on Thursday again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the battleground state, while the state’s lawyers say fatal flaws in the original case mean justices are highly unlikely to grant it. Republican U.S. Rep....
Next for Biden: Getting the right health team as coronavirus rages
WASHINGTON — Up soon for President-elect Joe Biden: naming his top health care officials as the coronavirus pandemic rages. It’s hard to imagine more consequential picks. Already two Democratic governors seen as candidates for health and human services secretary have faded from the frame. Rhode Island’s Gina Raimondo told reporters...
Former Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton volunteer to take coronavirus vaccine on cameraVideo
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have volunteered to get vaccinated for coronavirus on television to promote the safety of the vaccine once the Food and Drug Administration authorizes one. An FDA panel of outside advisers is scheduled to meet Dec. 10 to discuss whether to...
Ohio to get nearly 100K doses of virus vaccine this month as cases rise
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio will receive close to 100,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine by mid-December, Gov. Mike DeWine announced during a briefing Thursday. The brief but promising details provided the first look at what vaccine distribution will look like in Ohio as the number of cases, deaths and hospitalizations...
Vaccine rollout could ease crisis, but who gets it first?
Getting a covid-19 vaccine to the right people could change the course of the pandemic in the United States. But who are the right people? As the decision looms for President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration, a new analysis argues for targeting the first vaccines to the same low-income Black, Hispanic...
Lon Adams, Slim Jim jerky recipe creator, dies of covid-19
RALEIGH, N.C. — Alonzo “Lon” T. Adams II, the man who created the formula for Slim Jim beef jerky sticks, has died from complications of covid-19. He was 95. Lynn Barrow of Brown-Wynne Funeral Home in Raleigh, N.C., confirmed Wednesday that Adams died on Nov. 28. A graveside funeral service...
California governor: Most of state nears stay-home order
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will likely order most of its businesses to close or limit capacity in the coming days, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday, part of new rules triggered when fewer than 15% of beds are available in intensive care units for regional hospital networks. Newsom said four of...
Eastern Pa. companies partner in development of ingestible vaccine
Two Eastern Pennsylvania companies are working on creating ingestible covid-19 vaccines in drinkable and capsule forms, and leaders hope they could be on the market sometime next year. The vaccine work comes from a partnership between VaxForm and U.S. Specialty Formulations, the latter of which plans to expand its Allentown...
Wisconsin high court declines to hear Trump election lawsuit
MADISON, Wis. — A split Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear President Donald Trump’s lawsuit attempting to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the battleground state, sidestepping a decision on the merits of the claims and instead ruling that the case must first wind its way...
Trump aide banned from Justice Department after trying to get case info
WASHINGTON — The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters she could relay to the White House, three people familiar with the...
