Arizona congressman tests positive for virus; 2nd this week
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee said Saturday he tested positive for the coronavirus days after he sat close to another member of the panel, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who also tested positive. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said in a statement he has the virus but,...
Pennsylvania reports 888 coronavirus cases, 15 deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 888 new positive cases of covid-19 and 15 deaths on Saturday. The new cases bring the state’s total to 112,936, with all 67 counties having reported cases, and 7,204 deaths. The state health department reported increases in deaths related to covid-19 in only nine...
Joe Biden nears final decision on his vice presidential choice
WASHINGTON — As Joe Biden nears the announcement of his vice presidential choice, the top contenders and their advocates are making final appeals. The campaign hasn’t finalized a date for naming a running mate, but three people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans said a public...
Hurricane Isaias lashes Bahamas while Florida battens down
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Isaias ripped shingles off roofs and blew over trees as it carved its way through the Bahamas early Saturday and headed toward the Florida coast, where officials in Miami said they were closing beaches, marinas and parks. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez said Friday that...
Portland protest strives for peace as U.S. forces drawn down
PORTLAND, Ore. — More than a thousand people showed up in downtown Portland early Saturday to peacefully protest, about three days after the announcement that the presence of U.S. agents there would be reduced — a deal that Oregon officials hope will continue to ease tensions as the city tries...
Trump says he’ll act to ban TikTok in U.S. as soon as Saturday
NEW YORK — President Trump said he will take action as soon as Saturday to ban TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video app that has been a source of national security and censorship concerns. Trump’s comments were made after published reports that the administration is planning to order China’s ByteDance to...
Engel subpoenas Pompeo for records on Biden’s role in Ukraine
NEW YORK — The Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for State Department records already given to Republican-led Senate committees that are trying to tie former Vice President Joe Biden to wrongdoing in Ukraine. “Secretary Pompeo has turned the State Department into...
Trump’s Twitter blocking is center of new free speech lawsuit
NEW YORK — President Trump was accused of continuing to block critics from his Twitter account two years after a judge said silencing detractors on the social media platform was a violation of the First Amendment. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf...
Study: Children of all ages susceptible to coronavirus
WASHINGTON — Children of all ages are susceptible to the coronavirus, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that warned youngsters “might play an important role” in spreading the disease. The study released Friday comes amid an increasingly tense debate in the U.S. about reopening...
Coronavirus cases in California surpass 500,000 in troubling milestone
LOS ANGELES — The number of confirmed covid-19 cases in California surpassed 500,000 Friday, a troubling milestone that caps more than a month of surging outbreaks across the state. Covid-19 cases have been spiking since late May as California reopened the economy and people got back to routines. Deaths and...
Marine vehicle deep under sea, complicating rescue search
SAN DIEGO — A military seafaring assault vehicle that sank off the coast of Southern California is under hundreds feet of water, beyond the reach of divers and complicating rescue efforts for eight missing troops, officials said Friday. Still the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. David Berger, said the search was...
Midair collision kills state legislator, 6 others in Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Seven people, including an Alaska state lawmaker, died Friday when two small airplanes collided in midair near the airport in Soldotna, a small community on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Alaska State Troopers said state Rep. Gary Knopp, 67, of Kenai was the sole occupant of one plane. The...
California officials report first virus death of a child
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California health officials reported the state’s first coronavirus death of a child Friday as the statewide death total surpassed 9,000, saying the victim was a teenager who had other health conditions. The teenager’s death occurred in the Central Valley, but officials at the state Department of Public...
U.S. astronauts pack up for rare splashdown in SpaceX capsule
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Two U.S. astronauts about to make the first splashdown return in 45 years said Friday they’ll have seasick bags ready to use if needed. SpaceX and NASA plan to bring Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken back Sunday afternoon in the company’s Dragon capsule, aiming for the...
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ‘doing well’ after checking out of hospital
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from a Manhattan hospital Friday and is “doing well” at home, according to a spokeswoman. The 87-year-old justice, who’s been in and out of hospitals all year, was discharged from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on the Upper East Side after undergoing...
Pennsylvania to cover cost of stamps for ballots in election
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania will foot the cost of postage for voters to mail in ballots in November’s general election, officials said Friday, a move that Gov. Tom Wolf has made a priority as the coronavirus pandemic unexpectedly fueled high interest in voting by mail under a new state law. The...
Pennsylvania cancels vehicle auction due to covid-19
Pennsylvania officials announced Friday that the commonwealth’s Aug. 11 vehicle auction is canceled as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. The auction was set to be held at Manheim Keystone Pennsylvania Auto Auction in Grantville. It was the fourth of six vehicle auctions slated for 2020. The next is scheduled...
U.S. officials seek limits on ‘habitat’ for imperiled species
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Trump administration is proposing to define what land and water can be declared as “habitat” for imperiled plants and animals — potentially excluding areas that species could use in the future. The proposal to be announced Friday and obtained in advance by The Associated Press would...
Pennsylvania posts another day of new covid-19 cases below 1,000
On Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 970 new cases of covid-19, the third straight day new incidents were under the 1,000 mark. Health officials posted 13 new deaths, its lowest new count since Monday, when it added only four deaths. On Friday, the department added new deaths in...
Twitter permanently bans former KKK leader David Duke
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has been banned from Twitter for breaking the social media platform’s site’s rules forbidding hate speech. The company said Friday that Duke’s account “has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of the Twitter rules on hateful conduct.” It didn’t specify what exactly Duke...
Doctors try pressurized oxygen chambers in covid fight
As a New York University medical researcher who works once a week in an emergency room, Dr. David Lee had the luxury of time to think like a scientist while also treating coronavirus patients whose lungs kept giving out. In every case, he saw the same thing: Their blood was...
Sleepy lions, empty bars, lost jobs: A world without tourism
PARIS — With no American visitors to show around the D-Day beaches or the Loire Valley’s chateaux, and no work on the immediate horizon, Paris tour guide Linda Zenou frets about how she’ll pay off a loan and continue to care for her ailing mother in the achingly lean months...
Judge bans lawyers from identifying Epstein abuse victims
NEW YORK — The judge presiding over the criminal case against a British socialite charged with recruiting teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse said Friday that her attorneys are not permitted to publicly identify accusers even if they’ve spoken in a public forum. “Not all accusations or...
‘Into the Wild’ bus likely lands a home at Fairbanks museum
An infamous bus appears headed to a new home at a museum in Fairbanks after being removed from Alaska’s backcountry to deter people from making dangerous, sometimes deadly treks to visit the site where a young man documented his demise in 1992. The state Department of Natural Resources said Thursday...
Indian police say tainted liquor kills at least 21 people
NEW DELHI — Indian police said Friday that at least 21 people have died in a northern state over the past three days after drinking tainted alcohol. The police chief for Punjab state, Dinkar Gupta, said the first five deaths were reported on Wednesday night in two villages in Amritsar...
