Supreme Court refuses to block upcoming federal executions
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block the execution of four federal prison inmates who are scheduled to be put to death in July and August. The executions would mark the first use of the death penalty on the federal level since 2003. The justices rejected an...
Supreme Court declines to hear border wall challenge
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision that rejected environmental groups’ challenge to sections of wall the Trump administration is building along the U.S. border with Mexico. The high court on Monday declined to hear an appeal involving construction of 145 miles of steel-bollard walls along...
Putin seizes moment to rule until he’s 83 amid fading popularityVideo
MOSCOW — After two decades in power, Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings are at an all-time low as Russia’s economy reels under the impact of the coronavirus epidemic and the slump in oil prices. What better time for him to seek to extend his presidency for potentially 16 more years? It’s...
Alabama mayor resigns after post on Crimson Tide’s BLM video
CARBON HILL, Ala. — A controversial Alabama mayor has resigned after posting disparaging comments about the University of Alabama football team voicing its support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Carbon Hill Mayor Mark Chambers submitted his resignation letter to the city clerk on Saturday, news outlets reported. The council...
French former prime minister, wife found guilty of fraud
PARIS — A Paris court on Monday found French former prime minister Francois Fillon guilty of having used public funds to pay his wife and children for work they never performed. The work had brought the family more than $1.13 million since 1998. The couple’s lawyers immediately announced an appeal....
Little Caesars workers fired after swastika found on pizza
BROOK PARK, Ohio — Two employees were fired after an Ohio couple who purchased a pizza at Little Caesars found pepperonis had been placed to form a backward swastika. Misty and Jason Laska made the discovery when they opened the box that they had purchased Saturday at the store. Misty...
Afghan official: Bomb, mortars kill 23 civilians in Helmand
KABUL, Afghanistan — A car bombing and mortar shells fired at a busy market in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province on Monday killed 23 people, including children, a statement form a provincial governor’s office said. Both the Taliban and the Afghan military blame each other for the attack in Sangin district....
U.K. judge warns Assange on U.S. extradition hearing attendance
LONDON — A British judge said Monday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange must attend his next court hearing unless he can provide medical evidence to support his absence. Lawyers for Assange said he could not attend the latest hearing on his U.S. extradition case by video link from prison for...
Trump denies being briefed about reported Russian bounties on U.S. troops in AfghanistanVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has denied he was made aware of U.S. intelligence officials’ conclusions Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan. The Trump administration was set to brief select members of Congress on the matter Monday. The intelligence assessments came amid Trump’s...
Couple draw guns at crowd heading to St. Louis mayor’s homeVideo
ST. LOUIS — A white couple stood outside their mansion and pointed guns at protesters in St. Louis as the group marched toward the mayor’s home to demand her resignation. Mark McCloskey, 63, told a TV station that he and wife, Patricia, both personal injury lawyers, were facing an “angry...
Vice President Pence, Texas governor acknowledge rapid virus rise
DALLAS — Vice President Mike Pence and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott acknowledged Sunday that there has been a rapid rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the state in recent weeks after Abbott begin allowing businesses to start reopening in early May. “Covid 19 has taken a very swift...
Man dies in fireworks accident in ScrantonVideo
SCRANTON — Authorities say a man was killed in a fireworks accident in northeastern Pennsylvania over the weekend. The Lackawanna County coroner said 31-year-old Corey Buckley died in an explosion shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday in Scranton. Coroner Tim Rowland said Buckley was killed instantly when the commercial-grade firework he...
Suspect in killing at Louisville protest in custody
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The suspect arrested in the shooting death of a man during a Louisville protest over the police killing of Breonna Taylor had taken part in demonstrations but was disruptive and had been asked by other protesters to leave, authorities and protesters said Sunday. The man, identified by...
Worldwide cornoavirus death toll exceeds 500,000
ROME — The world surpassed two sobering coronavirus milestones Sunday — 500,000 confirmed deaths, 10 million confirmed cases — and hit another high mark for daily new infections as governments that attempted reopenings continued to backtrack and warn that worse news could be yet to come. “Covid-19 has taken a...
Mississippi lawmakers vote to remove rebel emblem from flagVideo
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi lawmakers voted Sunday to surrender the Confederate battle emblem from their state flag, triggering raucous applause and cheers more than a century after white supremacist legislators adopted the design a generation after the South lost the Civil War. Mississippi’s House and Senate voted in succession Sunday...
Arkansas governor says he will encourage, not require, masksVideo
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday that he will encourage people to wear face masks in public to slow the spread of coronavirus but indicated that he doesn’t plan to enact a statewide requirement. “We’re not going to pass a mandate that is unenforceable,” Hutchinson said on...
Trump tweets video with ‘white power’ chant, then deletes it
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted approvingly of a video showing one of his supporters chanting “white power,” a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. He later deleted the tweet and the White House said the president had not heard “the one statement” on the video. The video...
California’s alleged Golden State Killer set to plead guilty
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Forty years after a sadistic suburban rapist terrorized California in what investigators later realized were a series of linked assaults and slayings, a 74-year-old former police officer is expected to plead guilty Monday to being the elusive Golden State Killer. The deal will spare Joseph James DeAngelo...
505 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths reported in Pa.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Sunday reported 505 new coronavirus cases and three new deaths. That brings the statewide total to 85,496 cases and 6,606 deaths. The state considers 633 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in the state are...
Summer may decide fate of lead shots in virus vaccine race
People on six continents already are getting jabs in the arm as the race for a covid-19 vaccine enters a defining summer, with even bigger studies poised to prove if any shot really works — and maybe offer a reality check. Already British and Chinese researchers are chasing the coronavirus...
Trump’s attacks seen undercutting confidence in 2020 vote
WASHINGTON — It was a startling declaration about one of the pillars of American democracy, all the more so given its source. The president of the United States last week publicly predicted without evidence that the 2020 presidential election would be “the most corrupt election in the history of our...
Trump struggles as furor grows over reported Russian bounty offer to kill U.S. troopsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, confronted with a damaging report that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American and allied troops in Afghanistan, declared Sunday on Twitter that he was never briefed about the finding by U.S. intelligence. Democrats including Trump’s prospective presidential rival, Joe Biden, and House...
Man fires shots at business center in northern California
RED BLUFF, Calif — Authorities shot a man who drove into a distribution center Saturday south of Red Bluff and started shooting at people, local media reported. The shooting by a man with “AR-type weapon” started about 3:30 p.m. at the Walmart distribution center, emergency dispatchers told the Record-Searchlight newspaper....
Mississippi takes step toward dropping rebel image from flag
JACKSON, Miss. — Spectators at the Mississippi Capitol broke into cheers and applause Saturday as lawmakers took a big step toward erasing the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, a symbol that has come under intensifying criticism in recent weeks amid nationwide protests against racial injustice. “The eyes of...
Alabama officer fired over post of protester in rifle scope
HOOVER, Ala. — An Alabama police chief says one of his officers has been fired after posting a photo on social media that depicted a protester in the crosshairs of a rifle scope. Former Officer Ryan Snow was fired Friday, Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis said. The officer posted the...
