13 shot, wounded at outdoor gathering in Illinois
PEORIA, Ill. — Police said that 13 people were shot and wounded early Sunday after a fight broke out along the riverfront in the central Illinois city of Peoria. None of the wounds are considered life-threatening, police spokeswoman Amy Dotson told the Peoria Journal Star. Officers responding to a report...
Pennsylvania reports 786 new cases, 8 new coronavirus deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest data added 786 new cases and eight new covid-19 deaths to the state totals on Sunday. The statewide totals now stand at 101,027 cases and 7,015 deaths. More than 926,352 people have tested negative for the virus, state numbers show. Westmoreland County saw an...
How the coronavirus spread through 1 immigration facility
SAN DIEGO — Gregory Arnold walked into the warden’s office April 1 as the novel coronavirus ripped through one of the largest immigration detention centers in the United States. Waiting with about 40 guards to begin his shift, he heard a captain say face masks were prohibited. Incredulous, he and...
Cost, hassle of stamps questioned as mail-in voting surges
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Even if it weren’t for her disability and fear of catching covid-19, Delinda Bryant said getting the necessary postage to cast a ballot this year will be a struggle. Bryant, 63, doesn’t have $10 for a book of stamps, a printer to make them at home or...
Trump campaign urges supporters to back TikTok ban in online ads
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s campaign is paying for ads on Facebook Inc.’s social media platforms urging supporters to sign a petition banning Bytedance Ltd.’s TikTok, as the White House ramps up rhetoric to restrict the video app in the U.S. “TikTok has been caught red handed by monitoring what is...
White House against testing funds in stimulus bill, Washington Post reports
NEW YORK — The Trump administration wants to block new funding to help states with testing and contact tracing in an upcoming coronavirus relief bill, people involved in the talks told the Washington Post. Some Republican senators want to allocate billions of dollars for the Centers for Disease Control and...
Given a chance, Trump would push court pick before election
WASHINGTON — President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have tried to make it clear: Given the chance, they would push through a Supreme Court nominee should a vacancy occur before Election Day. The issue has taken on new immediacy with the disclosure Friday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg...
As parents look for alternatives, home schooling sees ‘explosive’ interest
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For Laila Barakat’s children, school will be home, like other students in their district. But they won’t participate in distance learning. Their teachers will be mom and dad. Barakat has decided to do home schooling for her three school-aged children — one in first grade, one in...
EU leaders extend summit as they haggle over budget, virus
BRUSSELS — European Union leaders on Saturday extended their summit by an extra day, convinced they were finally closing in on a deal for an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund, an EU official said. Heading into a balmy summer night, a deal was...
Atlanta lowering flags indefinitely to honor Rep. John Lewis
ATLANTA — Atlanta will lower flags to half-staff indefinitely to honor Rep. John Lewis, who represented the city for more than 30 years in Congress before his death, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Saturday. Bottoms made the announcement in a statement that said words can’t describe the loss of Lewis,...
Protesters hit with gas as locals demand feds leave Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. — Militarized federal agents deployed by the president to Portland, Oregon, fired tear gas against protesters again overnight as the city’s mayor demanded that the agents be removed and as the state’s attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them. Federal agents, some wearing camouflage and...
John Lewis’ legacy shaped in 1965 on ‘Bloody Sunday’
SELMA, Ala. — John Lewis saw the line of Alabama state troopers a few hundred yards away as he led hundreds of marchers to the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965. Armed with gas canisters and nightsticks, the troopers were flanked by horse-riding members...
Chipmunks, fattened up on acorns, are driving people nuts
There were plenty of acorns this spring, and now the chipmunks are driving people nuts. Their frenetic activities can be entertaining. But this summer in New England the varmints are making a nuisance of themselves, darting to and fro, digging holes in gardens, and tunneling under lawns. Plentiful acorns last...
Doctor in Alabama who survived covid-19 bewildered by public disregard
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Dr. Michael Saag spends much of his time treating patients fighting for their lives and working with colleagues who are overwhelmed and exhausted by the relentless battle against the covid-19 pandemic. But he enters a different world when he walks out the door of his Alabama clinic:...
Rep. John Lewis remembered for legacy of ‘good trouble’
ATLANTA — Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights icon and the last of the Big Six civil rights activists led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died Friday at age 80. He is being remembered by congressional colleagues, civil rights leaders and former presidents as a “titan” of the...
Pennsylvania surpasses 100,000 covid-19 cases, 1 million tests
Pennsylvania achieved an unwanted trifecta after the Department of Health released the state’s coronavirus case results Saturday. As of July 18, the Keystone State had surpassed 100,000 positive cases and 7,000 deaths after administering more than 1 million tests. There were 763 new cases and 15 new covid-19 deaths reported...
Coronavirus patients swamp emergency rooms in some U.S. states
A fast-rising rising tide of new coronavirus cases is flooding emergency rooms in parts of the United States, with some patients moved into hallways and nurses working extra shifts to keep up with the surge. Patients struggling to breathe are being placed on ventilators in emergency wards since intensive care...
Its $11M makeover complete, the Mayflower II is sailing home
Cue the cameras: The Mayflower II is ready for its closeup and its journey home. The replica of the original Mayflower ship that brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620 is preparing to embark from Connecticut after three years’ and $11.2 million worth of renovations — and several months...
John Lewis, lion of civil rights and Congress, dies at 80
ATLANTA — John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, died. He was 80. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed Lewis’ passing late...
Texas requests more mortuary trucks as coronavirus deaths hit triple digits for third day in a row
AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending an additional 14 refrigerated mortuary trucks to Texas as the state grapples with a rising number of coronavirus-related deaths, with state health officials reporting a record 174 new fatalities Friday. Seth Christensen, a Texas Division of Emergency Management spokesman,...
Texas deaths hit record, schools get OK for virtual classes
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas on Friday gave public schools permission to keep campuses closed for more than 5 million students well into the fall as the state scrambles to contain one of the largest resurgences of the coronavirus in the country. California also issued strict guidance that makes it unlikely...
Tennessee governor delays scheduled execution due to virus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee death row inmate received a rare temporary reprieve from Gov. Bill Lee on Friday, after the Republican announced the execution would not take place this year because of the coronavirus — a reason the state’s highest court had previously dismissed as cause to delaying the...
Pentagon report: Turkey sent up to 3,800 fighters to Libya
Turkey sent between 3,500 and 3,800 paid Syrian fighters to Libya over the first three months of the year, the U.S. Defense Department’s inspector general concluded in a new report, its first to detail Turkish deployments that helped change the course of Libya’s war. The report comes as the conflict...
Jay-Z, other celebs ask feds to probe student’s 2010 killing
Rihanna, Jay-Z, Charlize Theron and other celebrities are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the death of 20-year-old Danroy “DJ” Henry Jr., a Black football player at Pace University killed by a white police officer in New York nearly a decade ago. In a letter sent this...
Mayor of Portland to Trump: Get your troops out of the city
PORTLAND, Ore. — The mayor of Portland demanded Friday that President Donald Trump remove militarized federal agents he deployed to the city after some detained people on streets far from federal property they were sent to protect. “Keep your troops in your own buildings, or have them leave our city,”...
