New rules: Foreign students must leave U.S. if classes go online
International students will be forced to leave the United States or transfer to another college if their schools offer classes entirely online this fall, under new guidelines issued by federal immigration authorities. The guidelines, issued Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, provide additional pressure for universities to reopen even...
Democrats: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ coronavirus inaction cost Floridian livesVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida’s Democratic congressional delegation blasted Gov. Ron DeSantis’ response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying Tuesday that his refusal to issue statewide orders requiring masks and impose tougher restrictions on businesses has caused unneeded deaths and spread the disease. They called on the Republican governor to close...
Arkansas reports largest spike in coronavirus hospitalizations
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas on Tuesday reported its largest one-day increase in hospitalizations due to the coronavirus, even as the state’s new virus cases decreased. The Department of Health reported 369 people hospitalized in the state because of covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, an increase of 32 since...
U.S. notifies UN of withdrawal from World Health OrganizationVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, although the pullout won’t take effect until next year, meaning it could be rescinded under a new administration or if circumstances change. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential...
Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler objects to WNBA’s social justice plans
NEW YORK — Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler is not in favor of the WNBA’s social justice plans and has sent a letter to Commissioner Cathy Engelbert objecting to the league’s initiatives to honor the Black Lives Matter movement. Loeffler, who is also a Republican U.S. senator running for re-election...
U.S. general skeptical that bounties led to troops’ deaths
WASHINGTON — The top U.S. general for the Middle East said Tuesday that the intelligence suggesting that Russia may have paid Taliban militants to kill American troops in Afghanistan was worrisome, but he is not convinced that any bounties resulted in U.S. military deaths. Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of...
EPA approves use of Lysol disinfectant as first to kill coronavirus on surfacesVideo
The Environmental Protection Agency has given its first approval of disinfectants that kill covid-19 on non-porous surfaces. Lysol Disinfectant Spray and Lysol Disinfectant Max Cover Mist meet the EPA’s criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the ongoing pandemic, based on laboratory testing that found both products kill...
Mitch McConnell eyes coronavirus aid as evictions, benefits cuts loom
WASHINGTON — An eviction moratorium is lifting. Extra unemployment benefits are ending. Parents are being called to work, but schools are struggling to reopen for fall as the covid-19 crisis shows no signs of easing. With Congress bracing for the next coronavirus aid package, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,...
Betsy DeVos rejects part-time reopening for schools amid pandemicVideo
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday assailed plans by some local districts to offer in-person instruction only a few days a week and said schools must be “fully operational” even amid the coronavirus pandemic. Anything less, she says, would fail students and taxpayers. DeVos made the comments during a call...
Pompeo: U.S. ‘looking at’ banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTokVideo
The United States government is “looking at” banning Chinese social media apps such as TikTok, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Pompeo made the comment Monday during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.” “With respect to Chinese apps on people’s cellphones, I can assure you the United States...
Pennsylvania lowers minimum contributions for college savings plans
In the category of “every dollar counts and you have to start somewhere,’ Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella this week announced his office is reducing the minimum contribution to the state’s 529 college savings programs to $10. The 529 guaranteed savings program, which allows families to bank college credits for the...
Heat will stay stuck on extra high for July in most of U.S.
The heat is on. And for most of America it’ll stay on through the rest of the month and maybe longer, meteorologists say. Widespread and prolonged extreme heat is baking the contiguous United States and meteorologists see no relief in sight, except for a brief time in a corner of...
New York requires visitors from 3 more states to quarantine
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York is now requiring people from three additional states to quarantine for 14 days as more individuals are testing positive for COVID-19 nationwide. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a Tuesday press release that Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma now join a total of 19 states that qualify...
GOP worries Trump’s divisive June imperils Senate control
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s June began with his Bible-clutching photo op outside a church after authorities used chemicals and batons to scatter peaceful demonstrators. It never got less jarring or divisive. By month’s end, he was downplaying a coronavirus pandemic upsurge that was forcing Western and Southern states to...
Mexico president heads to Washington for meeting with Trump
MEXICO CITY — For his first foreign trip as president, Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador travels to Washington on Tuesday to meet with President Donald Trump, a leader who has repeatedly used Mexico as a piñata to rally his base. The visit, coming just four months before U.S. elections, has...
Brazil’s President Bolsonaro tests positive for covid-19Video
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said Tuesday he has tested positive for the new coronavirus after months of downplaying its severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country. The 65-year-old right-wing populist who has been known to mingle in crowds without covering his face confirmed the results...
In reversal, Georgia universities to now mandate masks
ATLANTA — Georgia’s 26 public universities and colleges will mandate campus-wide mask wearing after the state university system reversed itself Monday. The University System of Georgia had previously told schools they should “strongly encourage” students and others to wear masks, but said that the system’s 26 universities couldn’t mandate face...
North Korea rejects talks as U.S. envoy arrives in Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Tuesday said it has no immediate intent to resume a dialogue with the United States as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun arrived in South Korea for discussions on stalled nuclear diplomacy. In a statement released through the North’s official Korean Central...
Lindsey Graham, facing tough reelection, breaks with Trump
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham has publicly opposed President Donald Trump five times in the past few weeks, an unusual torrent of dissent from one of the president’s top allies in Washington just months before the South Carolina Republican faces a tough reelection challenge. Since June 20, Graham has blocked...
Brazil’s Bolsonaro tested for covid-19, feels well
SAO PAULO — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was tested for covid-19 after having an X-ray of his lungs on Monday. He didn’t say whether he was showing symptoms of the new coronavirus. Brazil’s presidency said in a statement the result of the test will be known on Tuesday. Earlier Bolsonaro,...
Roger Stone appeals denial of prison delay over coronavirus fears
Republican operative Roger Stone asked a federal appeals court to delay the start of his prison term until Sept. 3 from July 14 because of the coronavirus pandemic, after the trial judge denied his earlier request. Stone, sentenced to 40 months behind bars for lying to Congress during the Russia...
China’s Inner Mongolia region reports bubonic plague case
BEIJING — While China appears to have reduced coronavirus cases to near zero, other infectious threats remain, with local health authorities announcing a suspected bubonic plague case in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Authorities in the Bayannur district raised the plague warning on Sunday, ordered residents not to hunt wild...
Florida’s largest county closes restaurants as coronavirus spikesVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida’s largest county is again severely limiting its restaurants and fully closing gyms and other indoor venues weeks after they reopened because a spike in coronavirus cases is creating a shortage of intensive care unit beds at its hospitals. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Monday...
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tests positive for covid-19Video
ATLANTA — Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced Monday that she had tested positive for covid-19. The 50-year-old Democrat is among the women named as a potential vice-presidential running mate for presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden. “Covid-19 has literally hit home. I have had NO symptoms and have tested positive,”...
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice mandates masks as cases rise
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Monday instituted a mandatory face mask order for indoor spaces after the state reported record numbers of new coronavirus cases over the weekend. The Republican’s executive order, which goes into effect at midnight, requires everyone over the age of 9 to wear the face...
