Vatican removes financial watchdog head as scandal continues
ROME — The Vatican on Wednesday replaced the director of its financial watchdog agency, completing a coup that began in October with controversial police raids on the watchdog offices and an investigation into a London real estate deal. The Vatican secretary of state named a Bank of Italy official, Giuseppe...
Trump’s halting of funds to WHO sparks worldwide rebuke
GENEVA — Nations and health experts worldwide reacted with alarm Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a halt to the sizable funding the United States sends to the World Health Organization. They warned that the move could jeopardize global efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic. At a briefing in Washington,...
In nod to governors, Trump walks back total authority claim
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he’s open to some states “reopening” before federal social distancing guidelines expire at the end of month, as he appeared to back off his claim of absolute authority to decide when the time was right to act. Hours after suggesting that the bipartisan concerns...
EU unveils virus exit plan, hoping to avoid more chaosVideo
BRUSSELS — The European Union moved Wednesday to head off a chaotic and potentially disastrous easing of restrictions that are limiting the spread of the coronavirus, warning its 27 nations to move very cautiously as they return to normal life and base their actions on scientific advice. With Austria, the...
Deputies: Florida doctors who took down Trump flag arrested
GULF BREEZE, Fla. — Deputies in Florida said two doctors stole a campaign flag supporting President Donald Trump from their neighbor’s property. Geoffrey Michael Fraiche, 41, and Laura Ann Webb-Fraiche, 38, allegedly took the flag on April 7 while their two children were with them, news outlets reported. A Santa...
Party could cost Australian police recruits jobsVideo
CANBERRA, Australia — Several Australian police recruits face losing their jobs for holding a party in breach of social distancing rules. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw told reporters on Wednesday that “a number of officers” had been served with notices to explain why they should not be fired over...
Report: Trump’s name to appear on coronavirus stimulus checks; action to cause delayVideo
President Trump’s name is expected to appear on the coronavirus stimulus relief checks sent from the Internal Revenue Service, the Washington Post reported late Tuesday. The addition is said to delay the delivery of the paper checks by several days, according to the report. It will be the only time...
37 immigrant children at Chicago-area shelters have covid-19
CHICAGO — Dozens of immigrant children in U.S. custody and living in three Chicago-area shelters have tested positive for covid-19, officials said Tuesday. The Chicago-based Heartland Alliance operates shelters where children in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement’s custody wait to be released to a...
Kentucky lawmakers override veto of voter ID measure
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Republican lawmakers in Kentucky swept aside the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill to require the state’s residents to show a government-issued photo ID to vote. Votes to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto easily cleared the GOP-led Senate and House as lawmakers reconvened Tuesday for a wrap-up...
New Jersey beach trash finds: Full pickle jar, turkey baster, cremation bag
SANDY HOOK, N.J. — As New Jersey’s beaches go, so goes the state of the environment. Items plucked from the sand during spring and fall cleanups each year help illustrate trends going on in the state and the nation, and last year was a particularly good example. Empty cartridges used...
Trump directs halt to payments to WHO during virus pandemicVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was cutting off U.S. payments to the World Health Organization during the coronavirus pandemic, accusing the organization of failing to do enough to stop the virus from spreading when it first surfaced in China. Trump, who had telegraphed his intentions last...
Pro wrestling ‘essential’ under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ orderVideo
ORLANDO — Body slams and pile drives can go on in the Sunshine State. With Florida under a lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, there’s one business deemed essential by Florida’s governor that is raising some eyebrows: pro wrestling. Florida’s top emergency official last week amended Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stay-at-home...
Navy removes 116 from hospital ship after virus infects 7
LOS ANGELES — The Navy has removed 116 medical staff members from its hospital ship docked off Los Angeles after seven of them tested positive for covid-19, an official said Tuesday. The personnel from the USNS Mercy were taken to a nearby base and remain under quarantine. None so far...
South Dakota nears 1,000 covid-19 cases; no stay-at-home orderVideo
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Gov. Kristi Noem reiterated Tuesday that she won’t be ordering South Dakota residents to stay home amid the coronavirus pandemic, as another 121 confirmed cases were reported in the state. The vast majority of South Dakota’s 988 total cases — 768 — are in Minnehaha County,...
Idaho AG to probe spouse death in tangled missing kids case
BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho attorney general has agreed to investigate the mother of two missing children and her new husband in connection with the death of his first wife. The mystery of the children’s disappearance and the deaths of three people close to the couple, including their spouses, has...
Harvard scientists: Some in U.S. will have to continue social distancing measures until 2022Video
Health researchers from Harvard contend some people in the United States will have to continue social distancing measures for another two years. The findings, published Tuesday in the journal Science, show that until a vaccine is found and testing becomes widely available, prolonged or intermittent social restrictions — such as...
Congress won’t be back until May at the earliest
WASHINGTON — The Senate will not return to Washington for regular legislative action before May 4, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday. The move follows a Monday announcement that the House will also push back its expected return date until May. “As the country continues working together to flatten the...
Detained immigrants plead for masks, protection from virus
HOUSTON — Elsy was on the phone in an immigration detention center when guards showed up with face masks and forms to sign. The asylum-seeker from El Salvador and others had resorted to tearing their T-shirts into face coverings after a woman in their unit tested positive for covid-19. But...
Search for a covid-19 vaccine heats up in China, United StatesVideo
WASHINGTON — Three potential covid-19 vaccines are making fast progress in early-stage testing in volunteers in China and the U.S., but it’s still a long road to prove if they’ll really work. China’s CanSino Biologics is beginning the second phase of testing its vaccine candidate, China’s Ministry of Science and...
No hugs or handshakes: Pandemic complicates storm relief in the SouthVideo
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — For people who lost homes to the deadly tornadoes that rampaged across the South, there are no comforting hugs from volunteers or handshakes from politicians. There are no Red Cross shelters for homeless families, who are staying instead in hotel rooms to avoid large gatherings. The disaster...
Pennsylvania’s mail-in, absentee ballot applications surge for June primary
Pennsylvania counties have processed about 283,000 absentee and mail-in ballots for the June primary, and requests from Democrats are three times more common than from Republicans, state elections officials said Tuesday. The Department of State said 89,000 absentee ballot requests have already been processed, with the June 2 primary still...
Health care workers make up 10%-20% of U.S. coronavirus cases
NEW YORK — Between 10% and 20% of U.S. coronavirus cases are health care workers, though they tended to be hospitalized at lower rates than other patients, officials reported Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first national data on how the pandemic is hitting doctors, nurses...
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo says he’s frustrated at his TV role
NEW YORK — CNN anchor Chris Cuomo revealed on his SiriusXM show that he’s feeling frustration in his job, saying he doesn’t “value indulging irrationality, hyper-partisanship.” Cuomo said Monday on “Let’s Get After It” that he’s tired of some things that go along with being a TV host. That includes...
Deaths hit 45 at Virginia care home called ‘virus’s dream’
RICHMOND, Va. — Ronald Mitchell worried about his mother’s care at a suburban Richmond nursing home long before she was swept up in one of the nation’s deadliest coronavirus outbreaks. She’s bedbound and susceptible to seizures. A sore on her foot went unnoticed for so long, he said, that it...
Cuomo: Trump not a king, can’t force states to reopen
NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed back Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s claim of “total” authority to reopen the nation’s virus-stalled economy, but also insisted “the president will have no fight with me.” “We don’t have a king in this country. We didn’t want a king, so...
