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...
Trump’s convention demand comes amid Charlotte coronavirus surgeVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Donald Trump’s demand for a full-capacity Republican convention in August is putting pressure on North Carolina health officials — and local Republicans — as coronavirus cases surge in the host county and statewide. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration has refused to give in, though, responding with...
Kansas City, St. Louis leaders urge Ozark lakegoers to quarantineVideo
O’FALLON, Mo. — Leaders in Kansas City, St. Louis and the state of Kansas urged people who partied close together at Lake of the Ozarks over the Memorial Day weekend to self-quarantine for two weeks, amid fears that the gatherings documented in social media postings will lead to a resurgence...
Homeless people at idled Philadelphia airport venue to be tested, moved
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia officials on Tuesday began removing dozens of people who have been sleeping at the airport during the coronavirus pandemic, and they plan to administer rapid covid-19 tests before taking them to homeless shelters. Officials at Philadelphia International Airport had initially planned Friday to remove the 50 to...
Boys let black widow spider bite them to gain Spider-Man-like powers
Three Bolivian boys landed themselves in the hospital after enticing a black widow spider to bite them in hopes of gaining super powers — a la Spider-Man, Telemundo reports. The boys, ages 12, 10 and 8, had gone into the fields to help goats graze in Chayanta, about 215 miles...
Woman fired as a result of backlash from racist Central Park confrontationVideo
NEW YORK — The verbal dispute between a white woman walking her dog and a black man bird watching in Central Park might normally have gone unnoticed in a city preoccupied by the coronavirus pandemic. That changed when birdwatcher Christian Cooper pulled out his phone and captured Amy Cooper calling...
Coroner: Boy, 1, dies after crash killed mother, grandmother
GETTYSBURG — A toddler died a day after a Memorial Day weekend crash in central Pennsylvania that killed his mother and grandmother, authorities said. Adams County Coroner Patricia Felix said Tuesday that 1-year-old Hudson Dutterer died Sunday night at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. State police said the three were...
Transgender bathroom ban heard by federal appeals court
RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia school board defended its transgender bathroom ban before a federal appeals court Tuesday, as a transgender man who was barred as a student from using the boys’ bathrooms at his high school argued that the policy discriminated against him and violated his constitutional rights. A...
Philadelphia police break up Memorial Day party of about 200 people in vacant lot
Philadelphia police spent nearly an hour breaking up a group of about 200 people who had gathered in the city’s Brewerytown section to listen to a DJ, 6ABC reported. Police say the crowd got larger as word of the gathering spread on social media, and helicopter footage from the TV...
Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati job fair for veterans goes virtual
More than 30 companies and schools will participate in a virtual job fair for veterans in the Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cincinnati areas this week. Hosted by nonprofit DAV and RecruitMilitary, the free virtual event, set for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdayis open to all members of the military community,...
Pittsburgh ranks as 7th best city to start a career
New college grads from Pittsburgh, take heart. While this might be one of the most unfortunate times to be starting a career, those in the Steel City have a slight advantage over their counterparts in other cities. A recent data analysis by LinkedIn’s Economic Graph team finds that Pittsburgh is...
Costa Rica latest country to legalize same-sex marriage
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Costa Rica became the latest country to legalize same-sex marriage early Tuesday when a ruling from its supreme court went into effect ending the country’s ban. Couples held ceremonies — mostly private due to the covid-19 pandemic, but some that were broadcast — to celebrate...
Twitter gives Trump a pass on unfounded ‘murder’ allegationsVideo
President Donald Trump is again pushing the limits of Twitter’s attempts to deal with national leaders who spread misinformation and engage in personal abuse, this time with a barrage of baseless tweets suggesting that a television host he has feuded with committed murder. Twitter, which has tried to devise penalties...
New York Stock Exchange reopens as U.S. closes in on 100,000 covid-19 deathsVideo
NEW YORK — The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange reopened Tuesday in a largely symbolic step toward economic recovery, and stocks surged, even as the official U.S. death toll from the coronavirus closed in on 100,000, a mark President Donald Trump once predicted the country would never...
4 Minneapolis police officers fired after death of black manVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Four Minneapolis officers involved in the arrest of a black man who died in police custody were fired Tuesday, hours after a bystander’s video showed an officer kneeling on the handcuffed man’s neck, even after he pleaded that he could not breathe and stopped moving. Mayor Jacob Frey...
State police: 2-year-old fatally shot at Pennsylvania home
EAST PENN — A 2-year-old boy was shot and killed at a Pennsylvania home, authorities said. The shooting occurred Sunday afternoon in East Penn, according to state police in Carbon County. The child was taken to a hospital but died there a short time later. No other injuries were reported...
New Jersey man dies after shooting at Pennsylvania hotel
FALLS — A New Jersey man who was shot during a disturbance at a hotel in Pennsylvania has died from his wounds, authorities said. When Falls police responded to the hotel around 1 a.m. Sunday for reports of shots fired, they encountered a large number of people trying to leave...
Minister quits U.K. government over aide’s lockdown breachVideo
LONDON — A junior British government minister quit on Tuesday over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s failure to fire his top aide for allegedly breaching coronavirus lockdown rules. Johnson has stood by Dominic Cummings over his decision to drive 250 miles to his parents’ house at the end of March, despite...
Worker shortage concerns loom in immigrant-heavy meatpackingVideo
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — When Martha Kebede’s adult sons immigrated from Ethiopia and reunited with her in South Dakota this year, they had few work opportunities. Lacking English skills, the brothers took jobs at Smithfield Foods’ Sioux Falls pork plant, grueling and increasingly risky work as the coronavirus sickened thousands...
