Gov. Greg Abbott urges masks but no new steps as coronavirus cases rise in TexasVideo
AUSTIN — Texas’ surging coronavirus numbers will not slow the state’s reopening as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday instead prescribed an emphasis on face coverings and social distancing to curtail sobering trends, including hospitalization rates that have doubled since Memorial Day. Abbott did not announce any new measures to...
Disney World workers start petition urging theme park to delay reopening
ORLANDO, Fla. — Some Disney World workers are pleading with theme park executives to reconsider plans to reopen in July, following days of record-number cases of covid-19 infections that have pushed the statewide total past 100,000. Reopening would mean bringing back tens of thousands of workers who were furloughed April...
Recreational pot laws may boost traffic deaths, studies find
Laws legalizing recreational marijuana may lead to more traffic deaths, two new studies suggest, although questions remain about how they might influence driving habits. Previous research has had mixed results and the new studies, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, can’t prove that the traffic death increases they found were...
Army soldier charged in plot to ambush his unit overseas
NEW YORK — The new top federal prosecutor in Manhattan on Monday announced her first case since the weekend’s upheaval: the arrest of a U.S. Army soldier charged with plotting a deadly ambush of his unit in Turkey by extremists. In a release, Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss called Private...
U.S. warns against Mexican sanitizer gel containing methanol
MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about a Mexican-made hand sanitizer gel that it said is dangerous because it contains large amounts of poisonous methanol, or wood alcohol. The FDA said the methanol “can be toxic when absorbed through the skin or ingested,”...
Saudi Arabia to hold ‘very limited’ hajj because of coronavirus
Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that because of coronavirus only “very limited numbers” of people will be allowed to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage that traditionally draws around 2 million Muslims from around the world. The decision comes after weeks of speculation over whether Saudi Arabia would cancel the pilgrimage altogether...
U.S. moves to restrict Chinese media outlets as ‘propaganda’
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Monday that it is designating the U.S. operations of four Chinese media outlets as “foreign missions” in an action that could force some of their journalists to leave the country and further worsen diplomatic relations. State Department officials said the four organizations are essentially...
Trump administration extends visa ban to non-immigrantsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday extended a ban on green cards issued outside the United States until the end of the year and added many temporary work visas to the freeze, including those used heavily by technology companies and multinational corporations. The administration cast the effort as a...
Ohio police investigating claim man with disabilities macedVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police in Ohio’s capital city are investigating claims that officers maced a man with disabilities during a rally this weekend, the mayor said Monday. A viral video shows a man with prosthetic legs curled on the sidewalk as passers-by care for him and call for medical help....
Sources: Venezuela wooed Texas Republican to ease sanctions
MIAMI — Venezuela’s socialist government tried to recruit then-Congressman Pete Sessions to broker a meeting with the CEO of Exxon Mobil at the same time it was secretly paying a close former House colleague $50 million to keep U.S. sanctions at bay, The Associated Press has learned. An official at...
Pennsylvania House votes to make Republican Rep. Cutler its next speaker
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House turned to a seven-term Republican member Monday to become its next speaker, elevating him to the chamber’s top job a week after his predecessor stepped down in mid-term. The vote for Rep. Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County made him the House’s presiding officer, one step...
Sahara dust with hazardous air quality blankets Caribbean; heads to U.S. this weekVideo
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A vast cloud of Sahara dust is blanketing the Caribbean as it heads to the U.S. with a size and concentration that experts say hasn’t been seen in half a century. Air quality across most of the region fell to record “hazardous” levels and experts...
NYPD officer in ‘chokehold’ video had prior brutality caseVideo
NEW YORK — A New York City police officer removed from duty after he was recorded putting a man in what the police commissioner said was a banned chokehold once faced criminal charges alleging he pistol-whipped a teenage suspect and broke two of his teeth. The police department moved quickly...
3 dead, 6 wounded in shooting at North Carolina block party
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three people were killed and six others were wounded early Monday when multiple people fired into a crowd at an impromptu celebration in North Carolina, police said. Five others were hit by vehicles. The shooting happened at an impromptu block party in Charlotte that was a continuation...
Pennsylvania reports 3 new coronavirus deaths, 456 new cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Monday reported three new covid-19 deaths and 456 new cases in the state. That brings the state’s total case count to 82,186, with 6,426 deaths. The state considers 631 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. Pa. coronavirus by dayInfogram More than...
AP-NORC poll: Politics drive divergent view of U.S. economy
WASHINGTON — Americans’ outlook on the national economy has improved somewhat from its lowest points during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, but a new poll suggests Democrats and Republicans are living in alternate economic realities amid the sharpest recession in the nation’s history. Eighty-five percent of Democrats call...
Scientists find huge ring of ancient shafts near Stonehenge
Archaeologists said Monday that they have discovered a major prehistoric monument under the earth near Stonehenge that could shed new light on the origins of the mystical stone circle in southwestern England. Experts from a group of British universities led by the University of Bradford say the site consists of...
State police cite ‘significant advances’ in case of Pa. boy missing since 1986
State police in North Central Pennsylvania said Sunday they are confident they are getting closer to solving the cold case of a toddler missing since the 1980s, according to newspaper reports from across the region. Corey James Edkin was 2 years old when he vanished from a home in White...
14 fatally shot in Chicago over Father’s Day weekend
CHICAGO — Fourteen people, including five children, were killed as more than 100 people were shot in a wave of gunfire in Chicago over the Father’s Day weekend that produced the city’s highest number of shooting victims in a single weekend this year. Among the victims was 3-year-old Mekhi James,...
Statues on Gettysburg’s battlefields are history lessons rather than racist symbols, park official says
In recent weeks, a number of Confederate statues and monuments have been targeted by protesters as symbols of racism and slavery. As a result, a number of them are no longer standing. When it comes to Confederate markers, you’re unlikely to find a place with as many such examples than...
Amid pandemic, Live Nation announces drive-in concert series
NEW YORK — Tour promoter Live Nation has announced its first-ever drive-in concerts series in the U.S. for July, months after the live music industry has been on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The entertainment company on Monday announced “Live from the Drive-In” — a set of nine shows...
Tennessee newspaper investigating ‘horrific’ end of times ad
A Tennessee newspaper said Sunday it is investigating what its editor called a “horrific” full-page advertisement from a religious group that predicts a terrorist attack in Nashville next month. The paid advertisement that appeared in Sunday’s editions of The Tennessean from the group Future For America claims Donald Trump “is...
U.K. police: Park stabbing that killed 3 was a terror attackVideo
READING, England — A stabbing rampage that killed three people as they sat in a British park on a summer evening is being considered a terrorist attack, police said Sunday. A 25-year-old man who is believed to be the lone attacker was in custody, but officials said the motive for...
TSA insider faults agency’s response to coronavirus
A Transportation Security Administration official charges that the agency helped spread covid-19 by failing to provide enough protective gear for airport screeners who are in close contact with travelers every day. The top TSA official in Kansas, Jay Brainard, says the agency didn’t train staff for the pandemic and barred...
N.Y. museum to remove Roosevelt statue decried as white supremacy
NEW YORK — The American Museum of Natural History will remove a prominent statue of Theodore Roosevelt from its entrance after years of objections that it symbolizes colonial expansion and racial discrimination, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday. The bronze statue that has stood at the museum’s Central Park West...
