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...
White father, son charged with murder in Ahmaud Arbery case
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The white father and son stood quietly Friday as the judge read murder and aggravated assault charges against them in the fatal shooting of a black man who was running through their Georgia neighborhood. In just a few minutes, their first court appearance was over. It was...
Report: No burglaries were reported in neighborhood where Ahmaud Arbery was killed, contradicting suspects’ claim
An explanation for the Ahmaud Arbery killing became shakier on Friday. The two Georgia men who were caught on video shooting the unarmed jogger to death in February claim they were chasing a suspect behind a series of burglaries in the area. But a local police official said the last...
California Gov. Newsom formally endorses Biden for president
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom formally endorsed Joe Biden for president on Friday, praising the former vice president for his “deep compassion and empathy” during a virtual high-dollar fundraiser in partnership with the Democratic National Committee. “I just couldn’t be more proud of you and the prospects of...
Roy Horn, dark-haired half of flamboyant illusionists Siegfried & Roy, dies of complications related to coronavirus
Roy Horn, the dark-haired half of Siegfried & Roy, the flamboyant, German-born illusionists whose lavish stage productions and trademark disappearing white tigers and lions made them one of the biggest draws on the Las Vegas Strip, died Friday. He was 75. Horn, who suffered a severe wound to his neck...
Wolf: More than 6K business owners granted waivers during covid-19 shutdown, nearly 13K denied
More than 6,000 Pennsylvania businesses received waivers to operate during the pandemic-spurred lockdown, or about 14% of those who applied for the exemption, data released Friday show. Among them were car washes, bike shops, furniture and appliance stores, lumberyards, sheet metal manufacturers, and toilet rental services. Also approved were bookkeepers,...
SeaWorld develops plans for reopening; no official date set
ORLANDO, Fla. — SeaWorld guests could be sitting in every other row of the stadium to watch orca shows when the parks eventually reopen, the company’s CEO said Friday. Interim CEO Marc Swanson gave an update Friday on a coronavirus safety plan under development, but no official reopening dates have...
IRS sets Wednesday deadline for direct deposit stimulus payments
WASHINGTON — The IRS said it will accept bank account information until noon Wednesday for people who want to receive stimulus payments by direct deposit. After that, the IRS will send the money by check to the address on file, with those payments expected to arrive in late May and...
WVU furloughing about 875 staffers as virus hits revenues
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University is furloughing around 875 staffers due to a possible $40 million loss from the coronavirus pandemic, the college said Friday. The school issued a statement saying the furloughs will start on May 24 and have staffers return to work either June 28 or July...
New Mexico town near vast US reservation shuts everyone out
GALLUP, N.M. — Like clockwork, payday arrives and tens of thousands of people from the Navajo reservation and other rural stretches along the New Mexico-Arizona border flood into Gallup, a freewheeling desert oasis of just 22,000 that can quickly quadruple in size with all the visitors. Not now. As the...
Mike Pence says lack of religious services has been ‘burden’
URBANDALE, Iowa — Vice President Mike Pence spoke Friday to a group of faith leaders in Iowa about the importance of resuming religious services, saying the cancellations in the name of slowing the spread of the coronavirus have “been a burden” for congregants. Pence spoke with the religious leaders and...
House, Trump agree: Supreme Court should settle financial records subpoena dispute
WASHINGTON — All sides told the Supreme Court on Friday that the justices should go ahead and settle the blockbuster dispute over congressional subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s financial records from an accounting firm and two banks. Attorneys for the House, the Justice Department and Trump filed extra briefs that...
Donald Trump knocks Joe Biden for campaigning from basement amid coronavirus
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump needled his Democratic rival Joe Biden on Friday for limiting his campaign appearances to virtual events from the basement of his home in Delaware. “I’d love to see him get out of the basement so he can speak,” Trump said in a telephone interview with...
Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. kids are obese, according to latest data
NEW YORK — Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. children are obese, according to the latest national data. The news is disappointing, given that programs across the country have for years been trying to reduce childhood obesity, one expert said. “We really were expecting and hoping to see the trends decrease,”...
Crossings rise on US northern border; many are Mexicans
SWANTON, Vt. — The number of people apprehended for illegally crossing from Canada into the United States along its northern border has nearly tripled over the past three years, and a growing portion are Mexican citizens, according to federal data. One Mexican man who crossed illegally to work on a...
Lawyers: Investigators recommend that whistleblower at HHS be reinstated
WASHINGTON — Federal investigators have found “reasonable grounds” that a government whistleblower was punished for opposing widespread use of an unproven drug that President Donald Trump touted as a remedy for covid-19, his lawyers said Friday. Dr. Rick Bright headed the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. He had received...
Trump administration asks court to toss lawsuit over ERA
RICHMOND, Va. — The Trump administration has asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by three Democratic state attorneys general seeking to force the U.S. archivist to recognize Virginia’s vote to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and adopt it in the U.S. Constitution. Virginia became the 38th and...
Judge denies bid to dismiss charges against Lori Loughlin
A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss charges against actress Lori Loughlin; her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli; and other prominent parents accused of cheating the college admissions process, siding with prosecutors who denied that investigators had fabricated evidence. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton rejected a bid by the defense...
Jetliner hits and kills man on Texas airport runway
AUSTIN, Texas — A man was struck and killed by a commercial jet landing on a runaway at an Austin, Texas, airport, authorities said. The pilot of Southwest Airlines Flight 1392, a Boeing 737 arriving from Dallas, reported seeing a person on Runway 17R at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport shortly after...
Space agency: Human urine could help make concrete on moon
BERLIN — The European Space Agency said Friday that human urine could one day become a useful ingredient in making concrete to build on the moon. The agency said researchers in a recent study it sponsored found that urea, the main organic compound in urine, would make the mixture for...
President Donald Trump says in his mother’s eyes, he ‘could do no wrong’
WASHINGTON — Reflecting on Mother’s Day this weekend, President Donald Trump said Friday that he could do no wrong in his mother’s eyes and perhaps that’s what framed his personality today. “I had a great mom. I loved my mom and she loved me, which … is probably not easy...
Aide to Vice President Mike Pence tests positive for coronavirus
WASHINGTON — An aide to Vice President Mike Pence has the coronavirus, marking the second person in the White House complex known to test positive this week. The latest positive test was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters....
New York City stepping up distancing enforcement in parks
NEW YORK — Police officers will start limiting access to a handful of New York City parks whose scofflaw visitors have become poster children for bad social distancing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday. Users of the parks, two built on piers that jut into the Hudson River and one...
Grit and red wine: Famous war photographer beats virus at 97
NEW YORK — Tony Vaccaro’s mother died in childbirth, and at a tender age he also lost his father to tuberculosis. By age 5, he was an orphan in Italy, enduring beatings from an uncle. As an American GI during World War II, he survived the Battle of Normandy. Now,...
World Health Organization says it has $1.3 billion funding shortfall
LONDON — The head of the World Health Organization says the agency needs $1.7 billion to fund its response efforts for covid-19 for the rest of the year — and that it’s about $1.3 billion short. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was suspending funding to the U.N....
