Minneapolis mayor: Officer who put knee on man’s neck should be chargedVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — The mayor of Minneapolis called Wednesday for criminal charges against the white police officer seen on video kneeling against the neck of a handcuffed black man who complained that he could not breathe and died in police custody. Based on the video, Mayor Jacob Frey said officer Derek...
Biden: Wolf doing ‘one hell of a job’ during coronavirus pandemic
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Gov. Tom Wolf traded compliments Wednesday morning while discussing what the country needs to overcome the coronavirus pandemic. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and a Scranton native, spoke with the governor just hours after Wolf formally endorsed the Democrat’s bid to oust President...
Officials: 3 found dead in eastern Pa. home
LANSFORD — Authorities say three people were found dead in an eastern Pennsylvania home, but there was no immediate word on the cause of the deaths. The Carbon County coroner’s office confirmed Wednesday that three people were found dead Tuesday afternoon in the Lansford residence. WBRE-TV reported that the deceased...
Larry Kramer, playwright and AIDS activist, dies at 84
NEW YORK — Larry Kramer, the playwright whose angry voice and pen raised theatergoers’ consciousness about AIDS and roused thousands to militant protests in the early years of the epidemic, has died at 84. Bill Goldstein, a writer who was working on a biography of Kramer, confirmed the news to...
Teen, 16, dies after jumping off cliff at Pennsylvania dam
BEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP — A 16-year-old boy died after jumping off a cliff at a dam in northeastern Pennsylvania, authorities said. Devin Janvere of Tobyhanna was swimming with friends and relatives at the Francis E. Walter Dam in Bear Creek Township on Tuesday evening, state police in Luzerne County said....
Boeing slashes 12,000 jobs as virus seizes travel industry
Boeing is cutting more than 12,000 jobs through layoffs and buyouts as the coronavirus pandemic seizes the travel industry, and more cuts are coming. One of the nation’s biggest manufacturers will lay off 6,770 U.S. employees this week, and another 5,520 workers are taking buyout offers to leave voluntarily in...
Disney plans to reopen parks beginning July 11Video
Looks like a lot of people are about to get a whole lot happier. Disney announced Wednesday it is hoping to reopen all four of its parks — the Happiest Place on Earth — in Orlando, Fla., by mid-July, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The phased reopening would begin July 11...
So-called honor killing of teen girl brings outcry in Iran
TEHRAN, Iran — The so-called honor killing of a 14-year-old Iranian girl by her father, who reportedly used a farming sickle to behead her as she slept, has prompted a nationwide outcry. Reza Ashrafi, now in custody, was apparently enraged when he killed his daughter Romina on Thursday after she...
U.S. deaths from coronavirus surpass 100,000 milestoneVideo
HARTFORD, Conn. — The United States surpassed a jarring milestone Wednesday in the coronavirus pandemic: 100,000 deaths. That number is the best estimate and most assuredly an undercount. But it represents the stark reality that more Americans have died from the virus than from the Vietnam and Korea wars combined....
Police: Woman kept grandma’s remains in freezer in benefit check theft scam
DILLSBURG — A Pennsylvania woman was charged Wednesday with hiding her grandmother’s remains in a freezer so the dead woman’s Social Security checks would continue. State police say they charged Cynthia Carolyn Black of York Haven with abuse of a corpse, theft and receiving stolen property. Police were summoned to...
New York City now alone in state in keeping economy closedVideo
NEW YORK — Long Island became the latest region of New York to begin easing some restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo lobbied the president for help with transportation projects. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said efforts to fight the...
New requirements for dentists could raise prices for patients
PHILADELPHIA — When the dentist’s office called to cancel Laura Lizcano’s appointment for a crown and cavity filling in March because of the coronavirus, she wasn’t terribly worried. The 25-year-old freelance musician didn’t know at the time that the pandemic would keep medical offices closed for months — and prevent...
Historic SpaceX launch postponed because of stormy weather
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit has been called off with 16 minutes to go in the countdown because of the danger of lightning. Liftoff is rescheduled for Saturday. The spacecraft was set to blast...
Spike in South Korea virus cases shows perils of reopeningVideo
SEOUL, South Korea — As Mediterranean beaches and Las Vegas casinos laid out plans to welcome tourists again, South Korea announced a spike in new infections Wednesday and considered reimposing social distancing restrictions, revealing the setbacks ahead for others on the road to reopening. The European Union was unveiling a...
Poll: Half of Americans would get a covid-19 vaccineVideo
Only about half of Americans say they would get a covid-19 vaccine if the scientists working furiously to create one succeed, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s surprisingly low considering the effort going into the global race for a vaccine against...
Tropical Storm Bertha forms, hits South Carolina coastVideo
MIAMI — Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall on South Carolina’s coast Wednesday morning shortly after it formed, becoming the second named storm before the official start of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. A tropical storm warning was issued for South Carolina’s coast and the storm was expected to bring heavy...
Trump threatens social media after Twitter fact-checks him
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened social media companies with new regulation or even shuttering after Twitter moved a day earlier to add fact checks to two of his tweets. Claiming tech giants “silence conservative voices,” Trump said, “We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we...
Officials: Prison reform advocate rehearsed jail break plans
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A longtime prison reform advocate accused of preparing to stage an escape at a Tennessee jail that’s under construction had a builder create a concrete room in his condominium’s basement so he could learn how to break into the walls, authorities say. The room built in a...
U.S. priest who founded Knights of Columbus gets closer to sainthood
VATICAN CITY — The founder of the Knights of Colombus, the influential U.S.-based lay Catholic organization, is moving a step closer to possible sainthood. Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Rev. Michael McGivney, a Connecticut priest who died at age 38 of pneumonia in...
EU proposes $825 billion coronavirus recovery fundVideo
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s executive arm is proposing a $825 billion recovery fund to help the bloc’s economy through the painful recession triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said Wednesday. Gentiloni, who is in charge of economic affairs at the commission, wrote in a tweet that the...
Pennsylvania preps short-term budget amid coronavirus uncertainty
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania state government began advancing a temporary, no-new-taxes budget plan Tuesday that maintains current spending levels while budget makers watch to see how badly coronavirus-related shutdowns damage tax collections and whether the federal government sends another aid package to states. Officials in the House and Senate Republican majorities...
House Republicans sue Nancy Pelosi to block proxy voting rule
WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, along with 20 other Republicans and four constituents, challenged the constitutionality of proxy voting in the chamber on Tuesday with a lawsuit aimed at Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The plaintiffs claim that the transition to proxy voting — spurred by the coronavirus pandemic —...
Poll: 1 in 5 teachers unlikely to return to school if classrooms reopen this fallVideo
One in five teachers in the United States say they are unlikely to return to in-person instruction if schools reopen in the fall, a USA Today–Ipsos poll revealed Tuesday. The survey found 25% of teachers 55 and older say they are unlikely to return for in-person classes, hinting at the...
Pandemic probe: Brazil police raid Rio governor’s residenceVideo
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian police targeted a staunch opponent of President Jair Bolsonaro’s push to lift measures to contain the spread of covid-19 in one of the world’s disease hot spots, searching the residence of the Rio de Janeiro state governor on Tuesday. The federal prosecutor’s office said in...
In a first, Twitter adds fact-check warnings to Trump tweets
For the first time, Twitter has flagged some of President Donald Trump’s tweets with a fact-check warning. On Tuesday, Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots “fraudulent” and predicted that “mail boxes will be robbed,” among other things. Under the tweets, there is now...
