Commission delays decision on gun ban at Michigan Capitol
LANSING, Mich. — A commission that oversees Michigan’s Capitol delayed a decision Monday on banning guns from the building before a planned protest against the governor’s coronavirus restrictions, in a meeting that later ended abruptly due to racist and threatening messages posted in Zoom. The State Capitol Commission voted to...
Shanghai Disneyland reopens with anti-virus controlsVideo
SHANGHAI — Visitors in face masks streamed into Shanghai Disneyland as the theme park reopened Monday in a high-profile step toward reviving tourism that was shut down by the coronavirus pandemic. The House of Mouse’s experience in Shanghai, the first of its parks to reopen, foreshadows hurdles global entertainment industries...
State says workers don’t have to report if business reopens illegally
Pennsylvania workers who refuse to report to any business that opens in violation of Gov. Tom Wolf’s orders will not lose their unemployment benefits, a state official said Monday. “If a business opens in defiance of the governor’s orders … those employees may stay home and not lose their benefits,”...
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in ‘modified quarantine’ as a result of Pence meetingsVideo
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds was in partial quarantine Monday because she may have been exposed to the coronavirus, even as she made plans to lift more restrictions that were intended to slow the spread of the disease. Reynolds said she would follow a modified quarantine plan...
Execution notice signed for convicted cop killer Eric Frein
Convicted cop killer Eric Frein has been scheduled for execution, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections announced Monday. According to a release from the department, Secretary John Wetzel signed a Notice of Execution setting June 22, 2020 as the date of execution for Frein. A Notice of Execution was signed for...
West Wing visitors, staff now required to wear masks
WASHINGTON — The White House is requiring everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask or face covering after coronavirus scares near President Donald Trump. A memo sent to all staff outlined the new directive Monday after two staffers last week tested positive for covid-19. The memo says:...
Pennsylvania state senator calls for resignation of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine
A state senator from Franklin County has called for the immediate resignation of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, saying her actions were a major factor in the large number of covid-19 cases and deaths in the state’s nursing homes. Sen. Doug Mastriano, a first-term Republican representing Franklin, Adams and...
Appeals court upholds lawsuit by Indiana man released after 34 years
INDIANA — A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling declining to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a man who served more than three decades in prison in the slaying of a teenage girl before his conviction was overturned due to new DNA evidence. The Indiana Gazette reports...
Documents: Federal agents engaged in sex acts with trafficking victims
This project was produced by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, an initiative of the Scripps Howard Foundation. — — — PHOENIX — The women were forced to live and work in filth and near darkness, the federal...
Kennywood extends 2020 season passes through all of 2021
There’s no word on when – or if – Kennywood Park will open this year. But 2020 season pass holders received a little bit of good news when the West Mifflin park announced that this year’s passes would be extended through all of 2021. This hasn't been the year any...
Pennsylvania customs officials seize unapproved medication shipped from Hong Kong
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials seized a shipment of 1,200 capsules of an unapproved medicine shipped from Hong Kong to Pennsylvania. Working out of the Port of Harrisburg, agents seized the Lingua Qingwen capsules en route to an address in Union County, in the central part of the state....
Virus rampages across vast Navajo lands, close-knit families
TUBA CITY, Arizona — The virus arrived on the reservation in early March, when late winter winds were still blowing off the mesas and temperatures at dawn were often barely above freezing. It was carried in from Tucson, doctors say, by a man who had been to a basketball tournament...
Poll: Majority of Americans disapprove of coronavirus protests
A majority of Americans disapprove of protests against restrictions aimed at preventing the spread the coronavirus, according to a new poll that also finds the still-expansive support for such limits — including restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders — has dipped in recent weeks. The new survey from the University of...
Viral video sensation ‘double rainbow guy’ dies at 57
MARIPOSA, Calif. — Paul L. Vasquez, the burly mountain man whose awestruck reaction upon seeing a double rainbow propelled him to internet stardom and turned him into a folk hero, has died in Central California. He was 57. Vasquez, who called himself Yosemitebear on social media, died early Saturday at...
‘Bullseye’ target found at Nashville NAACP president’s home
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Nashville head of the NAACP said a police officer who responded to his home after a bullseye-like target appeared in his front yard dismissed his concerns. Nashville NAACP President Keith Caldwell said in a Facebook post that he found the “bullseye” target on an easel-like holder...
Ohio Gov. DeWine sees risks ‘no matter what we do’ amid reopening
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is acknowledging that there are risks to reopening Ohio’s economy following closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he says “it’s really a risk no matter what we do.” The Republican governor dialed into the economic toll the pandemic has had on businesses...
Carnival bookings pile up as cruises are scheduled to resume in AugustVideo
Carnival Cruise Line was swamped with bookings recently when it announced that it would return to the high seas after months of coronavirus lockdown. A representative with Cruise Planners, an American Express travel franchise, told TMZ that cruise bookings increased exponentially when Carnival announced it intends to resume some cruises...
Former Justice Department official says AG Bill Barr ‘twisted’ her words
WASHINGTON —A former career Justice Department official said Attorney General William Barr misused her statements to justify the department’s decision to drop the criminal case against Michael Flynn. Mary B. McCord, the Justice Department official overseeing the early stages of the Russia investigation, said in a New York Times opinion...
Stuck on cruise ships during pandemic, crews beg to go home
MIAMI — Carolina Vásquez lost track of days and nights, unable to see the sunlight while stuck for two weeks in a windowless cruise ship cabin as a fever took hold of her body. On the worst night of her encounter with covid-19, the Chilean woman, a line cook on...
U.S. coronavirus patients and businesses sue China over outbreak
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Before the coronavirus outbreak, Saundra Andringa-Meuer was a healthy 61-year-old mother of six who never smoked or drank alcohol. Then she became seriously ill with the disease after traveling from her Wisconsin home to help her son move from college in Connecticut. She was hospitalized in...
One dead in S.C. officer-involved shooting
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A man was killed in a Saturday shootout with South Carolina police. The shooting occurred early Saturday morning after multiple people called 911 upon hearing gunshots, Greenville police Lt. Alia Paramore said in a news release. When police arrived, they found two men in the back parking...
Pence, task force members isolate after virus exposureVideo
WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence was self-isolating Sunday after an aide tested positive for the coronavirus last week, joining three of the nation’s top scientists in taking protective steps after possible exposure. An administration official said Pence was voluntarily keeping his distance from other people in line with guidance...
Vice President Mike Pence self-isolating after aide tests positive for coronavirusVideo
WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence is self-isolating away from the White House following his press secretary’s diagnosis of covid-19 on Friday, said three people familiar with the situation. The vice president didn’t attend a meeting on Saturday with President Donald Trump and top military officials. Pence tested negative for...
Georgia AG requests federal probe in handling of Ahmaud Arbery caseVideo
ATLANTA — Georgia’s attorney general on Sunday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the handling of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who authorities say died at the hands of two white men as he ran through a neighborhood. Arbery was killed Feb. 23, 2020. No...
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem tells tribes to open roads, calls Smithfield workers
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem told tribes to take down road checkpoints they had set up to keep out unnecessary visitors because of concerns over the coronavirus. The Republican governor said Friday she would take legal action if the tribes didn’t remove the checkpoints in 48...
