Why shutting down schools to prevent coronavirus spread could actually make it worse
SEATTLE — The University of Washington announced Friday it was moving all instruction online for the next two weeks, keeping more than 50,000 students out of classrooms as the death toll from COVID-19 continued to rise. At least 16 public elementary and secondary schools in the state have also closed,...
Trump defends administration’s coronavirus approach in CDC visit
ATLANTA — President Donald Trump almost didn’t make the trip to Atlanta to address his administration’s response to the coronavirus. But when he arrived at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s main Atlanta campus, he didn’t seem to want to leave. After initially scrapping the trip, the president...
21 positive for coronavirus on cruise ship off California
SAN FRANCISCO — Twenty-one people aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast tested positive for the new coronavirus and 19 of them are crew members, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday, amid evidence the vessel was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of more than 10 cases...
Pa. man tried to have child porn processed at CVS photo center
A Lancaster County man will spend at least a year-and-a-half in prison after he tried to have child porn developed at a CVS photo center, a judge ruled Friday. Raymond McClenaghan, 50, took photos of a teenage girl who worked atthe same store that he was employed by, PennLive reported....
82-year-old with record of bank robberies convicted again
PHOENIX — An 82-year-old man who spent most of his adult life behind bars for robbing banks was convicted again for carrying out an armed heist at an Arizona credit union as he struggled to adjust to life outside prison. Robert Francis Krebs faces a maximum 25 years in prison...
Parents sue after daughters’ bodies switched after car crash
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The parents of two teenagers killed in a car crash are suing the Florida Highway Patrol and others, claiming the bodies of their daughters were misidentified and switched. The lawsuits follow a July 29 crash in the Pensacola area involving four friends. Two of them were...
Jewish groups condemn Nazi flag display at Sanders rallyVideo
WASHINGTON — The display of a Nazi flag by a man at a Bernie Sanders campaign rally in Arizona drew condemnation from Jewish American groups on Friday amid ongoing worries about Democratic candidates’ security at public events. Images of a flag depicting the Nazi swastika symbol that was briefly displayed...
Blueprints for original World Trade Center saved from trash, on sale
NEW YORK — Blueprints for the original World Trade Center are on sale at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair after a Colorado man rescued them from the trash. The set, which includes over 500 plans, is the largest for the Twin Towers ever offered for sale, according to...
Spanish court: Google search must show man’s acquittal first
MADRID — A Spanish court has partially accepted Google’s appeal against a ruling that ordered it to erase news articles about a man accused of sexual abuse, but the new judgement said the company had to display the man’s acquittal at the top of any search results. A National Court...
Trump says sexism not to blame for end of Warren’s campaign
WASHINGTON — “Lack of talent.” Unlikable. “Mean.” President Donald Trump laced into former Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren on Friday, insisting that sexism wasn’t to blame for the end of the Massachusetts senator’s presidential campaign. Speaking to reporters as he signed an emergency $8.3 billion funding package to help tackle the...
At sea: Passengers off California await virus test results
SAN FRANCISCO — Passengers on a cruise ship off the California coast were instructed to stay in their cabins as they awaited test results Friday that could show whether the coronavirus is circulating among the more than 3,500 people aboard. A military helicopter crew lowered test kits onto the 951-foot...
Putin says stability needed but won’t lift lid on his futureVideo
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he doesn’t want to scrap presidential term limits or resort to other suggested ways of extending his rule, but otherwise he kept mum about his plans. Putin has proposed a sweeping set of constitutional amendments, which are seen by his critics as...
2 with presumed positive cases of coronavirus quarantined in Eastern Pa.
Two people with presumed positive cases of the coronavirus are under quarantine in Delaware and Wayne counties, Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said during a news conference Friday. “We have two individuals with presumed positive cases of covid-19,” Levine said. “They are both at home....
Vatican confirms 1st virus case as pope recovers from cold
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican confirmed the walled city-state’s first case of the new coronavirus Friday and closed some offices as a precaution while Pope Francis continued recovering from a cold. Vatican City’s health clinic, which is used by Vatican employees and their families, was shuttered for sanitizing following the...
Trump CDC visit back on after false coronavirus scare there
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s trip to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, briefly scuttled Friday because of unfounded fears that someone there had contracted the coronavirus, was back on, giving the president another chance to calm growing alarm about the spread of the virus in America. “Be calm....
Trump signs $8.3B bill to combat coronavirus outbreak in U.S.Video
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an $8.3 billion measure to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak that has killed 12 people in the United States and infected more than 200. The legislation provides federal public health agencies with money for vaccines, tests and potential treatments and helps state...
Individuals’ exposure to coronavirus shuts 5 Central Bucks schools
Central Bucks School leaders, “out of an abundance of caution,” decided to close five schools Friday for all students and employees after being made aware of individuals in the district who were exposed to a confirmed case of the coronavirus. After consulting with local and state health authorities, school district...
Migrants, police clash again on Greek-Turkish borderVideo
KASTANIES, Greece — Clashes between Greek riot police and migrants attempting to cross the border from Turkey erupted anew Friday as European Union foreign ministers held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation on the Turkey-Greece border and in Syria, where Turkish troops are fighting. Greek riot-control police used tear...
Man gets probation for tossing water on Iowa Rep. King
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — A Colorado man who threw a cup of water on Iowa Congressman Steve King has been sentenced to two years of probation. The sentence was handed down Thursday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to Blake Gibbins, of Lafayette, Colo. He’d pleaded guilty to misdemeanor...
Gunmen kill at least 27 at memorial for Afghan Shiite leader
KABUL, Afghanistan — Gunmen killed at least 27 people and wounded at least 55 others in Afghanistan’s capital on Friday at a remembrance ceremony for a minority Shiite leader, officials said. Heath Ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar said the injured had been taken to hospitals in Kabul. All of the casualties...
Rick Santelli of CNBC says giving every American coronavirus would settle the marketsVideo
Rick Santelli apparently wants many people to perish so the stock market will stabilize. Santelli, an on-air editor at CNBC, said Thursday on the network’s “The Exchange” that every person in the country should be administered the coronavirus so the “global and domestic economies” would be “better off.” As the...
Alabama executes inmate convicted in killing of 3 officers
ATMORE, Ala. — A man convicted in the 2004 killings of three police officers in Alabama who were shot by another man was executed Thursday evening. Inmate Nathaniel Woods, 43, was pronounced dead at 9:01 p.m. CST Thursday following a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore, authorities said....
HHS removed images of condoms from HIV/AIDS education material
The Department of Health and Human Services stripped from a government website HIV/AIDS educational material that featured condoms, calling the images “unapproved,” according to official correspondence obtained by Kaiser Health News. The images had been included in a 2017 fact sheet posted by HHS’ Office on Women’s Health to mark...
Scientists seed local seas with imperiled fish. Can giant sea bass make a comeback?
LOS ANGELES — A team of scuba-diving biologists has released nearly 200 baby giant sea bass into the murky depths of Santa Monica Bay where the critically endangered fish will grow to be the size of Volkswagen Beetles. The captive-bred infants released Wednesday quickly adapted to their new home, a...
In Tornado Alley, storms are even more dangerous for people with disabilities
NORMAN, Okla. — John High has diabetes, which led to his leg being amputated below the knee two years ago. He has been using a wheelchair since then and hasn’t gotten used to having to work out solutions to everyday problems — such as getting into and out of the...
