Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations continue surging in TexasVideo
AUSTIN — Reported coronavirus infections and hospitalizations continued to surge Thursday in Texas as Gov. Greg Abbott continues his phased reopening of the state’s economic activity. The Department of State Health Services said 1,649 more cases of covid-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, were reported to the state...
ACLU sues Trump administration over police force on protesters near White House
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration Thursday, alleging officials violated the civil rights of protesters who were forcefully removed from a park near the White House by police using chemical agents before President Donald Trump walked to a nearby church to take a photo. The...
Emotions run high as anti-lynching bill stalls in SenateVideo
WASHINGTON — A Senate impasse over a widely backed bill to designate lynching as a federal hate crime boiled over on Thursday in an emotional debate cast against a backdrop of widespread protests over police treatment of African Americans. Raw feelings were evident as Sen. Rand Paul — who is...
Wolf calls for police oversight, troopers association calls it an attack on law enforcement
Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday announced his proposals to implement more training, transparency and oversight of Pennsylvania police departments in response to the killing of George Floyd. “We must rise to the challenge, because too many people have lost faith in our public safety institutions, and in our institutions in...
Texas GOP official urged to resign over George Floyd social media post
SAN ANTONIO — The GOP chairwoman of one of Texas’ largest counties faced widespread pressure from her party to resign Thursday for floating a conspiracy theory on social media suggesting that George Floyd’s death was staged. Cynthia Brehm is head of the Bexar County Republican Party in San Antonio. She...
White House tightens security with extra fencing as protests continue in D.C.Video
Extra metal fencing has been installed around the White House on Thursday for protection against recent protests in response of the death of George Floyd. The added fortification is “standard anti-riot fencing and ranges from seven feet to more than nine feet high,” a source from the Secret Service told...
Lancet study on safety of malaria drugs for coronavirus retracted
Several authors of a large study that raised safety concerns about malaria drugs for coronavirus patients have retracted the report, saying independent reviewers were not able to verify information that’s been widely questioned by other scientists. The retraction Thursday in the journal Lancet involved a May 22 report on hydroxychloroquine...
New York Times writers condemn decision to run Sen. Tom Cotton’s op-ed calling for military mobilization
Demonstrations for the civil rights of black Americans that have gripped the country in recent days have spilled into the corridors of the New York Times, as writers protested the publication of an opinion piece calling for the military to be brought in to quell the unrest. Writers from across...
Judge rejects Ponzi king Bernie Madoff’s bid for early release
NEW YORK — Dying Ponzi king Bernard Madoff lost his bid for early release from prison Thursday when the judge who sentenced him to 150 years behind bars said he intended for him to die there and nothing has happened in the last 11 years to change his mind. Judge...
Epidemic of wipes and masks plagues sewers, storm drains
PHILADELPHIA — Mayor Jim Kenney kicked off a recent briefing on Philadelphia’s coronavirus response with an unusual request for residents: Be careful what you flush. Between mid-March, when the city’s stay-at-home order was issued, and the end of April, most of the 19 sewer and storm water pumping stations in...
Russia urges U.S. to respect right to protest
MOSCOW — The Russian Foreign Ministry urged the U.S. authorities to respect Americans’ right for peaceful protest amid the wave of demonstrations sparked by George Floyd’s death. The ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, says Moscow has taken note of the use of tear gas to disperse rallies and massive arrests of...
Judge: $750K bail for 3 ex-officers accused in George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — A judge set bail at $750,000 apiece Thursday for three fired Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting in the killing of George Floyd, as a memorial service took place just blocks away. Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng made their first appearances in Hennepin...
Federal inmate dies after being pepper sprayed by guards
NEW YORK — A federal jail inmate in New York City died Wednesday after correctional officers sprayed him with pepper spray, the Bureau of Prisons said. Officers sprayed Jamel Floyd, a 35-year-old black man, after he barricaded himself in his cell at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center and broke a cell...
GOP’s Murkowski says she’s struggling with supporting Trump
WASHINGTON — Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski acknowledged Thursday that she’s “struggling” over whether she can support President Donald Trump given his handling of the virus and race crises shaking the United States. Murkowski, long a critic of the president’s, told reporters in Washington that she was thankful for the...
After protests, Va. Gov. Northam orders removal of iconic Lee statueVideo
RICHMOND, Va. — A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee will be removed as soon as possible from Richmond’s Monument Avenue, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday, pledging the state will no longer “preach a false version of history.” The bronze equestrian statue, which sits on an enormous...
Doctors say covid-19 at UPMC is declining in virulence, infection levels
Covid-19 is declining in both virulence and infection levels among patients at the state’s largest health care system, UPMC officials said Thursday. Dr. Donald Yealy, who heads emergency medicine at the system that has hospitals across the state, said both the ratio of patients testing positive for the virus and...
`Get your knee off our necks!’: Floyd mourned in MinneapolisVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Hollywood celebrities, musicians and political leaders gathered in front of the golden casket of George Floyd at a fiery memorial Thursday for the man whose death at the hands of police sparked global protests, with a civil rights leader declaring it is time for black people to demand,...
Vote counting drags into 3rd day after Pennsylvania primary
HARRISBURG — Counting an avalanche of 1.4 million mail-in votes dragged into a third day in Pennsylvania on Thursday as some races from Tuesday’s primary remained too close to call. The Associated Press has not yet called a number of races where the contest was close or had a large...
Pennsylvania reports 75 new coronavirus deaths, 537 new cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 75 new covid-19 deaths and 537 new cases in the state Thursday. That brings the state’s total case count to 73,942, with 5,817 deaths. The state considers 618 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday renewed the...
Testimony: Shooter used racist slur as Ahmaud Arbery lay dying
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A state investigator alleged Thursday that a white man was heard saying a racist slur as he stood over Ahmaud Arbery’s body, moments after fatally shooting the black man with a pump-action shotgun. The inflammatory revelation came amid a week of angry nationwide protests over law enforcement...
Police think Madeleine McCann is dead; parents still hope
PRAIA DA LUZ, Portugal — German police said Thursday they presume a British girl who went missing in southern Portugal 13 years ago is dead, but Madeleine McCann’s parents still nurture hope their daughter will be found alive. McCann was 3-years-old at the time of her disappearance from an apartment...
Detained U.S. Navy veteran freed by Iran, making his way home
WASHINGTON — A Navy veteran detained in Iran for nearly two years has been released and started making his way home, with the first leg on a Swiss government aircraft, U.S. officials said Thursday. “The nightmare is over,” his mother said. The U.S. special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, flew...
Pentagon-Trump clash breaks open over military and protests
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is not only drawing criticism from his usual political foes but also facing backtalk from his defense secretary, his former Pentagon chief and a growing number of fellow Republicans. A day after Defense Secretary Mark Esper shot down Trump’s idea of using active-duty troops to...
8:46: A number becomes a potent symbol of police brutality
MINNEAPOLIS — All protest movements have slogans. George Floyd’s has a number: 8:46 Eight minutes, 46 seconds is the length of time prosecutors say Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was pinned to the ground under a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee before he died last week. In the days since,...
Slick SpaceX suits were made by Hollywood costume designer
If you are heading up to the International Space Station, you’re gonna wanna look your best. And who better to design your new space suit than a Hollywood costume designer. Elon Musk’s recent SpaceX-led mission — which launched a pair of NASA astronauts into space on May 30 — featured...
