Pennsylvania Turnpike to lay off 500 employees, make cashless tolling permanent
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission this month will lay off about 500 employees — mostly toll collectors — as it switches permanently to a cashless system statewide. That’s roughly a quarter of the commission’s total workforce. The commission originally planned to make the switch to cashless late next year, promising no...
Man gets 10-month sentence for threatening Muslim politician
A North Carolina man was sentenced Tuesday to 10 months in prison for anonymously threatening on social media to lynch a Muslim-American man who ran for a state Senate seat in Virginia, according to prosecutors. Joseph Cecil Vandevere, 53, of Black Mountain, had faced a maximum sentence of 5 years...
UK study finds minorities at higher risk of COVID-19 death
People from ethnic minorities have died from COVID-19 in larger relative numbers in England than their white compatriots, according to a study published by health authorities Tuesday. The Public Health England report hinted at reasons for the discrepancy but didn’t offer any recommendations. The government didn’t offer any solutions, prompting...
Trump tries religious gestures to hike support amid protestsVideo
WASHINGTON — Cloaking himself in religion for the second day in a row, President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to seize the moral authority to justify his hard line against demonstrators protesting the killing of another black man in police custody and at the same time mobilize his religious conservative base....
Trump’s actions render Trudeau speechless for 21 secondsVideo
TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that Canadians are watching what’s unfolding in the United States with “horror and consternation” and he paused for 21 seconds when asked about U.S. President Donald Trump and the use of tear gas against protesters to clear the way for a...
Social media, music world go dark for Black Out Tuesday
Though Black Out Tuesday was originally organized by the music community, the social media world also went dark in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, joining voices around the world outraged by the killings of black people in the U.S. Instagram and Twitter accounts, from top record label to...
6 Atlanta officers charged after students pulled from carVideo
ATLANTA — Six Atlanta police officers have been charged after a dramatic video showed authorities pulling two young people from a car during protests over the death of George Floyd, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced the charges during a news conference. “I feel a...
100 new coronavirus deaths, 612 new cases reported in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 100 new covid-19 deaths and 612 new cases Tuesday. That brings the state’s total case count to 72,894, with 5,667 deaths. Pennsylvania cases by dayInfogram The state considers 616 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases...
Pa. gun shop owner shoots, kills man during attempted burglary
PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia gun shop owner shot and killed a man who the owner said was among a group that had broken into the store early Tuesday, authorities said. The shooting at the Firing Line Gun Range and Gun Store occurred around 4:20 a.m. The shop owner told police...
Confederate monuments targeted by protests come down
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The base of a massive Confederate monument in Alabama’s largest city was all that remained Tuesday after crews dismantled the towering obelisk and trucked it away in pieces. Other symbols came down elsewhere, leaving an empty pedestal and a bare flagpole. Workers hired by the city of...
Kenyans protest as police accused of killing homeless man
NAIROBI, Kenya — Residents of a slum in Kenya’s capital have protested the death of a homeless man who they said was killed by police for violating a dusk-to-dawn curfew for the coronavirus. Hundreds of people in Mathare left their homes and burnt tires on the streets Monday night in...
Austria to redesign Hitler’s birthplace as police station
VIENNA — Austrian authorities have presented the winning plan to redesign the house where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889, turning it into a police station and trying to make it unattractive as a pilgrimage site for people who glorify the Nazi dictator. A design by Austrian architects Marte.Marte beat...
Biden to hit Trump as more focused on ‘power than principle’
Joe Biden plans to blister President Donald Trump for directing authorities to drive back peaceful protesters outside the White House “in order to stage a photo op,” saying Tuesday that the commander in chief “is more interested in power than in principle.” The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is delivering a...
Ohio cities report more arrests overnight, reporters
CINCINNATI — Police in Ohio cities say dozens more people have been arrested in protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody. However, Cincinnati authorities said Monday night’s activity marked some progress from weekend nights, when hundreds of people were arrested. Cincinnati police said 40 to 50 people...
Monkeys, ferrets offer needed clues in covid-19 vaccine race
The global race for a covid-19 vaccine boils down to some critical questions: How much must the shots rev up someone’s immune system to really work? And could revving it the wrong way cause harm? Even as companies recruit tens of thousands of people for larger vaccine studies this summer,...
Police commissioner defends use of tear gas in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — Tear gas was used as “a means to safely diffuse a volatile and dangerous situation” when protesters spilled onto an interstate highway in the heart of Philadelphia just before a curfew took effect, the city’s police commissioner said. Police also fired nonlethal bullets into the crowd and halted...
Trump as thug or hero? Depends on what network you watch
NEW YORK — It was a split screen for the ages on MSNBC Monday: on the left side, President Donald Trump talking about restoring law and order. On the right, a tear-gassed young woman vomiting in a Washington street. For a nation rubbed raw following a traumatic weekend, cable television...
Federal court gives ‘Tiger King’ properties to Carole BaskinVideo
A federal court gave control of “Tiger King” Joe “Exotic” Maldonado-Passage’s Oklahoma zoo properties over to his rival featured in the popular Netflix documentary as part of a $1 million trademark judgment. According to Court House News, Maldonado-Passage fraudulently transferred the properties to his mother, Shirley M. Schreibvogel, in 2011...
French virus tracing app goes live amid debate over privacyVideo
PARIS — France is rolling out an official coronavirus contact-tracing app aimed at containing fresh outbreaks as lockdown restrictions gradually ease, becoming the first major European country to deploy the smartphone technology amid simmering debate over privacy fears. The French will able to download the StopCovid app on their Google...
Paris cafes, restaurants partially reopen post-lockdownVideo
PARIS — Parisians who have been cooped up for months with takeout food and coffee can savor their steak tartare in the fresh air and cobbled streets of the City of Light once more — albeit in smaller numbers. The city famed for its vibrant cafe society and coffee culture...
Biden looks to clinch nomination as 7 states, D.C. voteVideo
MONTCLAIR, N.J. — Joe Biden could seize the number of delegates needed to formally clinch the Democrats’ presidential nomination on Tuesday as seven states and the District of Columbia push through a pandemic and exploding racial tensions to host the largest slate of primary elections in almost three months. Voters...
6 elephants killed by poachers in single day in Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — At least six elephants were killed in a single day by poachers in Ethiopia last week, wildlife officials said, the largest such slaughter in memory in the East African nation. “The elephants were killed while they ventured out of the Mago National Park to drink water,”...
Thieves blowing up, stealing ATMs across Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — Explosions punctuated the overnight hours as thieves blew up and stole ATMs across the city, police said. At least ten machines were vandalized, mainly at neighborhood convenience stores and gas stations. The thieves mainly set off explosive devices, blowing up the machines before making off with the cash....
D.C. Episcopal bishop: ‘I am outraged’ by Trump church visitVideo
The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington sharply criticized President Donald Trump for staging a visit to the historic St. John’s Church across from the White House, where he held up a Bible after authorities had cleared the area of peaceful protesters. The Rev. Mariann Budde, whose diocese St....
Presidents have leeway to use military for domestic purposesVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s warning that he would deploy the United States military to any state that refuses to take aggressive action against rioting rests on a longstanding presidential power that gives wide latitude to the White House, legal experts said. But a decision to do so would be...
