Gov. Wolf loosens restrictions in last of Pa.’s counties except Lebanon
Parts of Pennsylvania that were among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic will move next week into the less restrictive “green” zone for reopening businesses and restarting group activities, the Wolf administration announced Friday. The 12 counties going from yellow to green under Gov. Tom Wolf’s color-colored reopening system...
Tulsa mayor sets curfew around site of Trump’s weekend rallyVideo
TULSA, Okla. — The mayor of Tulsa has declared a civil emergency and set a curfew for the area around the arena where President Donald Trump plans to hold a campaign rally this weekend. In his executive order establishing a curfew around the BOK Center from 10 p.m. to 6...
Putin orders officials to fully clean Arctic fuel spill area
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government Friday to fully repair environmental damage from a massive fuel leak in the Arctic. A power plant in the Siberian city of Norilsk leaked 20,000 tons of diesel fuel into the ecologically fragile region, the worst such accident in decades. Putin...
Washington D.C. announces phase 2 reopening starting Monday
WASHINGTON — The nation’s capital is moving ahead with the second phase of its reopening Monday, as city officials credited months of social restrictions with blunting an anticipated spike in COVID-19 infections. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that playgrounds, libraries, gyms and nail salons in Washington, D.C., will be able to...
AP-NORC poll: Majority of Americans support police protestsVideo
NEW YORK — Ahead of the Juneteenth holiday weekend’s demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality, a majority of Americans say they approve of recent protests around the country. Many think they’ll bring positive change. And despite headline-making standoffs between law enforcement and protesters in cities nationwide, the poll from...
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...
