Israeli military says 2 Gaza rockets hit southern Israel
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military said Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets into southern Israel late Friday, shattering months of near-total calm. In response, Israeli aircraft attacked two military facilities for Hamas, the Islamic group ruling Gaza. There were no reports of injuries in...
Reporter at Trump’s Tulsa rally tests positive for COVID-19
OKLAHOMA CITY — A journalist who attended President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa last week said Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19. Oklahoma Watch reporter Paul Monies said he was notified Friday of his positive diagnosis. “I’m pretty surprised,” Monies wrote on Twitter. “I have zero symptoms (so far)...
Allegheny Health Network announces mobile covid-19 testing sites for next week
Allegheny Health Network’s mobile covid-19 testing unit will be in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and Hazelwood neighborhoods, Clairton and Duquesne next week. AHN personnel will operate the testing vehicle from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the following dates: • June 29: Pittsburgh Housing Authority, 2435 Chauncey Drive in the Hill...
Florida bans bar alcohol consumption as coronavirus spikes
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida banned alcohol consumption at its bars Friday after its daily confirmed coronavirus cases neared 9,000, a new record that is almost double the previous mark set just two days ago. The Florida agency that governs bars announced the ban on Twitter just minutes after the...
600 new coronavirus cases, 22 deaths reported in Pa.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Friday reported 600 new coronavirus cases and 22 new deaths. That brings the state’s total case count to 84,370, with 6,597 deaths. It is the largest, single-day increase since June 12, part of a jump that’s been ongoing for about two weeks. Pa. coronavirus...
House moves to approve D.C. statehood; Senate GOP opposes
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House is moving toward approval of a bill to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, saying Congress has both the moral obligation and constitutional authority to ensure that the city’s 700,000 residents are allowed full voting rights, no longer subject to “taxation without representation.”...
Governors who quickly reopened backpedal as virus surges
AUSTIN, Texas — When Texas began lifting coronavirus restrictions, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t wear a mask. He wouldn’t let mayors enact extra precautions during one of America’s swiftest efforts to reopen. He pointed out that the White House backed his plan and gave assurances there were safe ways to...
Council advances plan to dismantle Minneapolis Police Department
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a radical proposal to change the city charter that would allow the police department to be dismantled, following mass public criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd. The 12-0 vote is just the first step in a...
Texas orders bars shut amid surge in confirmed virus cases
AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott shut down bars in Texas again on Friday and scaled back restaurant dining, the most dramatic reversals yet as confirmed coronavirus cases surge. Abbott also said rafting and tubing outfitters on Texas’ popular rivers must close and that outdoor gatherings of 100 people...
Confirmed new virus cases hit new high in U.S.
The number of confirmed new coronavirus cases per day in the U.S. hit an all-time high of 40,000 Friday — eclipsing the mark set during one of the deadliest stretches in late April — in a resurgence that has led some governors to backtrack or at least pause the reopening...
Iraqi forces arrest men suspected of attacks targeting U.S.
BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces arrested over a dozen men suspected of a spate of rocket attacks against the U.S. presence in Iraq, the Iraqi military said Friday — the strongest action to date by the new government in Baghdad against perpetrators suspected of ties to Iran. The arrests marked...
Free service APPRISE helps older adults understand insurance options
Understanding Medicare, Medicaid, Medigap and other supplemental insurance options for older adults can be a confusing and frustrating process. There’s a lot of information to sift through, and it’s not always easy to find answers to questions that arise. What few people are aware of, however, is that Pennsylvanians don’t...
Rayshard Brooks struggled in system but didn’t hide his past
ATLANTA — Rayshard Brooks didn’t hide his history. About five months before he was killed by Atlanta police in a Wendy’s parking lot — before his name and case would become the latest rallying point in a massive call for racial justice and equality nationwide — Brooks gave an interview...
After waves of covid deaths, care homes face legal reckoning
PARIS — The muffled, gagging sounds in the background of the phone call filled Monette Hayoun with dread. Was her severely disabled 85-year-old brother, Meyer, choking on his food? Was he slowly suffocating like the Holocaust survivor who died a few months earlier in another of the care home’s bedrooms,...
Trump zeroes in on base to overcome reelection obstacles
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is sharpening his focus on his most ardent base of supporters as concern grows inside his campaign that his standing in the battleground states that will decide the 2020 election is slipping. Trump turned his attention this week to “left wing mobs” toppling Confederate monuments...
Dueling Trump-Biden events offer contrasting virus responses
LANCASTER — A presidential campaign that has largely been frozen for several months because of the coronavirus is looking a bit more like those from other years. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden swung through critical battleground states, presenting starkly different visions for America as it struggles with...
Texas man cited with disorderly conduct over mask dispute
SAN ANTONIO — A 47-year-old Texas man was cited for disorderly conduct Thursday after he allegedly smacked the hand of a San Antonio-area official who was trying to persuade him to put on a face covering, officials said. The man’s lawyer disputes the claim. Terry Toller turned himself in to...
Tucson mayor sticks with police chief after custody death
TUCSON, Ariz. — The mayor of Tucson, Arizona, said Thursday that the city’s police chief should stay in his job, even as criticism mounts over the death of a young Hispanic man while handcuffed in police custody. Mayor Regina Romero, a Democrat, said Chief Chris Magnus should not resign because...
Colorado reopens inquiry into Elijah McClain’s 2019 death
DENVER — The Colorado governor on Thursday ordered prosecutors to reopen the investigation into the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man put into a chokehold by police who stopped him on the street in suburban Denver last year because he was “being suspicious.” Gov. Jared Polis signed an...
Lobbying grows against Mississippi’s rebel-themed flag
JACKSON, Miss. — University coaches and Christian ministers filled the Mississippi Capitol on Thursday, urging legislators to seize the moment and remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag while Americans are reckoning with difficult discussions about race and history. “It doesn’t take courage. It takes conscience,” said the...
U.S. Catholic bishops: Clergy sex abuse claims tripled in 2019
NEW YORK — U.S. Roman Catholic bishops said Thursday that the church tallied 4,434 sex abuse allegations against clergy in the 2018-19 audit year, triple the number seen the previous year, with much of the increase stemming from a wave of lawsuits and claims by survivors of decades-old molestation. In...
Philly police head decries tear gas usage against protesters
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia’s police commissioner, along with the mayor, apologized to the public Thursday for giving statements that were inaccurate in the days after tear gas, bean bags and pepper spray were used against protesters who were trapped on a highway. At least one high ranking commander took a voluntary...
A look at a Colorado Black man’s death in police encounter
DENVER — As protests continue across the U.S. against excessive police force against people of color, Elijah McClain’s name has become another rallying cry on social media. McClain, a 23-year-old Black man in the Denver suburb of Aurora, died in August after police officers confronted him as he was walking...
Wildfire near Mount Rushmore contained ahead of Trump visit
CUSTER, S.D. — A wildfire located near Mount Rushmore in South Dakota has been completely contained, according to Gov. Kristi Noem’s office. The fire comes amid preparations for President Donald Trump’s visit to the monument for Independence Day celebrations and fireworks next week. The state called in 117 firefighters, including...
Kentucky capitol rally urges action in Breonna Taylor death
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Hundreds of people rallied at Kentucky’s capitol on Thursday to urge action in the investigation of three officers in the fatal police shooting of a Black woman, Breonna Taylor, at her Louisville home. Taylor’s family, hip hop artists and civil rights lawyers addressed a large crowd on...
