Officer involved in Breonna Taylor shooting to be firedVideo
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville’s mayor said Friday that one of three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor will be fired. Mayor Greg Fisher said interim Louisville police Chief Robert Schroeder has started termination proceedings for Officer Brett Hankison. Two other officers remain on administrative reassignment while...
Sheriff’s office: 6 killed in fiery head-on crash in Kansas
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Six people were killed and one was seriously injured in a fiery head-on crash on a northeast Kansas highway, authorities said. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said the crash happened around 6:40 p.m. Thursday when a Ford Fusion and another vehicle collided on U.S. 40 southwest of...
Momentum builds for making Juneteenth a federal holiday
There is a growing movement afoot to declare June 19, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday. The date marks the day in 1865 when Union Gen. Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, informing former slaves of their freedom provided by the order President Abraham Lincoln issued on Jan....
Pennsylvania reports 526 new covid-19 cases, 38 new deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Friday reported 526 new coronavirus cases and 38 new covid-19 deaths, bringing the total case count to 80,762 and 6,399 deaths. The state considers 630 patients as probable cases but not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in the state are in patients...
Pennsylvania’s Department of Health seeks $301M federal covid-19 grant
Pennsylvania’s Department of Health is pursuing a $301 million federal grant to strengthen its ability to respond to the covid-19 pandemic, and will earmark $100 million for local health departments if the grant is awarded. “This funding is essential to our future response to the covid-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania,” Secretary...
Germany, France, UK press Iran to provide atomic site access
BERLIN — The board of the United Nations’ atomic watchdog agency on Friday adopted a resolution calling for Iran to provide inspectors access to sites where the country is thought to have stored or used undeclared nuclear material, the Russian representative said. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to international organizations in...
Pennsylvania’s jobless rate slides back from pandemic peak
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment began sliding down from its pandemic peak in May, even clocking in at below the national rate as payrolls grew by almost 200,000, the state said Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 13.1% in May, down 3 percentage points from April’s adjusted rate, the state Department of...
U.S. in mind, UN body to report on racism after Floyd killing
GENEVA — The U.N.’s top human rights body voted unanimously Friday to commission a U.N. report on systemic racism and discrimination against black people while stopping short of ordering a more intensive investigation singling out the United States after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police sparked...
Atlanta police call out sick over charges in fatal shootingVideo
ATLANTA — Atlanta police officers called out sick to protest the filing of murder charges against an officer who shot a man in the back, while the interim chief acknowledged members of the force feel abandoned amid protests demanding massive changes to policing. Interim Chief Rodney Bryant told The Associated...
Twitter flags Trump’s tweet of doctored ‘racist baby’ videoVideo
LONDON — Twitter has slapped another label on a tweet by President Donald Trump, this time warning that a video he shared was doctored and escalating the social media company’s crackdown on one of its most widely followed users. After Trump tweeted the video late Thursday, Twitter took the rare...
Bank of England apologizes for past links to slavery
LONDON — The Bank of England has apologized for the links some of its past governors had with slavery, as a global anti-racism movement sparked by the death of George Floyd forces many British institutions to confront uncomfortable truths about their pasts. The central bank called the trade in human...
Many Arizona cities back masks to slow virus, others say noVideo
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s decision to let local governments mandate face masks in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus amid a surge is leading to a patchwork of requirements around the state — the very thing Ducey wanted to avoid. But it appears like most...
Report: State Department official quits over Trump race response
WASHINGTON — A State Department official resigned Thursday over President Donald Trump’s response to racial tensions sweeping the country over the killings of black people by police, The Washington Post reported. Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, said in her resignation letter that Trump’s actions...
U.S. holding 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine after FDA rules it doesn’t help against coronavirus
Good news for President Donald Trump — he can have all the hydroxychloroquine he wants. The federal government suddenly finds itself with a surplus of more than 60 million doses of hydroxychloroquine now that the FDA has deemed the anti-malarial medication ineffective in treating coronavirus. CNN reports that the government...
Trump claims he ‘made Juneteenth very famous’Video
President Trump claims he deserves credit for creating popularity for Juneteenth after drawing derision for scheduling his political rally in Tulsa, Okla., on the same date. Juneteenth, which will be celebrated Friday, commemorates the order that the Emancipation Proclamation be enforced in Texas. The date is recognized as a holiday...
Heat, coronavirus no deterrent for Trump fans camped outside arenaVideo
TULSA, Okla. — Rick Frazier drove more than 750 miles from Ohio to Tulsa to be one of the first campers in line for President Donald Trump’s first rally in months, undeterred by a days-long wait in searing heat, the growing risk of the coronavirus or a lukewarm reception from...
Nancy Pelosi orders removal of Confederate portraits from CapitolVideo
WASHINGTON — Portraits honoring four former House speakers who served in the Confederacy were removed Thursday after Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that the men “embody the violent bigotry and grotesque racism of the Confederacy.″ Pelosi directed the House clerk to oversee the immediate removal of portraits depicting former speakers from...
Philadelphia man charged with blowing up cash machine
PHILADELPHIA — A 24-year-old Philadelphia man has been charged with using explosives to blow up a cash machine as demonstrations rocked the city this month. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it would oppose bail for David Elmakayes at a hearing scheduled for Friday. Elmakayes was charged Thursday with using an...
Netflix documentary focuses on courage of U.S. gymnasts in Larry Nassar sex abuse scandalVideo
A Netflix documentary will focus on the gymnasts who survived abuse at the hands of USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar and the journalists who helped expose the culture that allowed it to continue for so long, according to People. Allegations against Nassar go back to the...
Kentucky AG urges patience amid probe of Breonna Taylor’s death
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s attorney general asked for patience Thursday as his office investigates the shooting death of a black woman by Louisville police and decides whether the police officers involved will face criminal charges. Attorney General Daniel Cameron declined to publicly set a timetable for completing his investigation into...
Why do some covid-19 patients get seriously sick? It may be blood type, study finds
A genetic analysis of covid-19 patients suggests that blood type might influence whether someone develops severe disease. Scientists who compared the genes of thousands of patients in Europe found that those who had Type A blood were more likely to have severe disease while those with Type O were less...
Facebook removes Trump ads with symbols once used by NazisVideo
WASHINGTON — Facebook has removed campaign ads by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that featured an upside-down red triangle, a symbol once used by Nazis to designate political prisoners, communists and others in concentration camps. Nathaniel Gleicher, the company’s head of security policy, confirmed at a House...
Police capture 65-pound snapping turtle in Virginia suburb
A 65-pound alligator snapping turtle with a face only its mother could love has found a new home at a Virginia zoo after freaking out residents in a northern Virginia suburb. The turtle, dubbed Lord Fairfax, was repeatedly crossing a residential road in the Alexandria area, according to Fairfax County...
Pa. Supreme Court: Counties can’t ban probationers from using medical marijuana
Counties may not ban people on probation or parole from using prescription cannabis if they are registered in Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court said that people holding a valid medical marijuana card are immune from “arrest, prosecution or...
Pennsylvania reports 42 new covid-19 deaths, 418 new cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday reported 42 new covid-19 deaths and 418 new cases in the state, bringing the total case count to 80,236 and 6,361 deaths. The state considers 630 patients as probable cases but not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in the state are...
