Alligator kills South Carolina woman in 2nd deadly attack of summer
BLUFFTON, S.C. — A woman in South Carolina was killed by an alligator Monday — the second such attack this year, authorities said. The woman’s body was discovered at the edge of the water near a pond in a gated community in the town of Bluffton by a resident, who...
House Republicans ramp up pressure over Afghanistan exitVideo
WASHINGTON — One year after the United States’ chaotic exit from Afghanistan last August, Republican lawmakers are putting renewed pressure on the Biden administration to answer questions about the withdrawal. In a new report from the House Foreign Affairs Committee minority, Republicans allege that President Joe Biden misled the American...
British regulator 1st to OK Moderna’s updated covid booster
LONDON — British drug regulators have become the first in the world to authorize an updated version of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine that includes protection against the omicron variant, which the government said would be offered to people aged 50 and over starting in the fall. In a statement Monday, the...
Vladimir Putin vows to expand arms trade with Russia’s alliesVideo
MOSCOW— Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday vowed to expand military cooperation with the country’s allies, noting that Moscow is ready to offer them its most advanced weapons. Speaking at the opening of an annual arms show outside Moscow that caters to foreign customers, Putin said Russia’s arms exports play...
Feds oppose unsealing affidavit for Mar-a-Lago warrant
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Monday rebuffed efforts to make public the affidavit supporting the search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida, saying the investigation “implicates highly classified material” and the document contains sensitive information about witnesses. The government’s opposition came in response to court filings...
West Virginia governor: Voters shouldn’t decide abortion access issue
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice scoffed Monday at a suggestion by Democratic lawmakers to let voters decide whether abortion should continue to be allowed in the state. The Republican governor said the state’s abortion law falls under the scrutiny of the Legislature and the attorney general. During...
Expanded IRS free-file system one step closer in Democrats’ bill
WASHINGTON — The flagship climate change and health care bill passed by Democrats and soon to be signed by President Joe Biden will bring U.S. taxpayers one step closer to a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system. It’s something lawmakers and advocates have been seeking for years. For many Americans,...
Smokies to require parking passes beginning next March
GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Beginning next March, visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park will need to purchase a parking pass to use the facilities. Park Superintendent Cassius Cash said in an interview the fee is needed to keep up with maintenance and staffing demands at the country’s most visited national...
Giuliani targeted in criminal probe of 2020 electionVideo
ATLANTA — Rudy Giuliani is a target of the criminal investigation into possible illegal attempts by then-President Donald Trump and others to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia, prosecutors informed attorneys for the former New York mayor on Monday. The revelation that Giuliani, an outspoken Trump defender, could...
Dog, missing 2 months, found alive inside Missouri cave
Jeff Bohnert had all but given up on seeing his poodle-hound mix again after she went missing in early June. Two months later, he got a text from a neighbor: People exploring a nearby cave found a dog. Could it be Abby? Bohnert doubted it, but still curious, he went...
Former Minneapolis cops say they rejected plea deal in George Floyd killing
MINNEAPOLIS — Two former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s killing told a judge Monday that they have rejected plea deals that would have resulted in three-year sentences, setting the stage for trial in October. Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree...
Starbucks asks labor board to halt union votes temporarily
Starbucks is asking the National Labor Relations Board to temporarily suspend all union elections at its U.S. stores after a career employee with the labor board told the company of alleged improper coordination between regional NLRB officials and the union. In a letter sent Monday to the NLRB, Starbucks said...
So-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law confuses some Florida schools
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Some Florida schools have moved library books and debated changing textbooks in response to a law critics call “Don’t Say Gay” — and some teachers have worried that family pictures on their desks could get them in trouble. As students return from summer break, educators are cautiously...
Norway bridge collapses, drivers of 2 vehicles rescued
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A wooden bridge over a river in southern Norway collapsed early Monday, with a car plunging into the water and a truck getting stuck on a raised section. The drivers of both vehicles were rescued and doing well, police said. Police were alerted shortly after 7:30 a.m....
Iran denies involvement but justifies Salman Rushdie attack
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An Iranian official Monday denied Tehran was involved in the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, though he sought to justify the attack in the Islamic Republic’s first public comments on the bloodshed. The remarks by Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, came three...
Judge: Sen. Graham must testify in Georgia election probe
ATLANTA — A federal judge on Monday said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham must testify before a special grand jury in Atlanta that is investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke any laws while trying to overturn his narrow 2020 general election loss in the state. Attorneys for...
Pa. man gets stuck in drain pipe while trying to hide from police: report
A man suspected of shoplifting a CVS store in Radnor Township, Delaware County, was rescued Sunday after he got stuck in a drain pipe while attempting to elude police, according to a story from WPVI. According to the report, around 4:30 p.m., officers from Radnor and Lower Merion township officers...
Afghanistan marks 1 year since Taliban seizure as woes mount
KABUL — The Taliban on Monday marked a year since they seized the Afghan capital of Kabul, a rapid takeover that triggered a hasty escape of the nation’s Western-backed leaders, sent the economy into a tailspin and fundamentally transformed the country. Bearded Taliban fighters, some hoisting rifles or the white...
3 injured in shooting at amusement park near Chicago
GURNEE, Ill. — Three people were injured late Sunday in a shooting at an amusement park north of Chicago. Three people were hurt in a parking lot outside Six Flags Great America in Gurnee when shots were fired from a vehicle, according to a spokesperson for the park, which is...
Police: 2 dead after SUV crashes into North Carolina restaurant
WILSON, N.C. — A sport utility vehicle crashed into a North Carolina fast-food restaurant on Sunday, killing two sibling customers, police said. The single-vehicle crash occurred at about 9:45 a.m. at a Hardee’s restaurant in the city of Wilson, around 40 miles east of the state capital, Raleigh. The Lincoln...
Fetterman keeps attacking Oz for being from New Jersey. That’s resonating in parochial Pa.
There’s something about Pennsylvania’s political DNA that’s playing out in this year’s crucial Senate race. It’s not that we have one unifying statewide identity, but we are a state with lots of intense regional identities — that can oftentimes breed distrust of out-of-towners. People don’t say they’re from Pennsylvania. They...
Norway puts down Freya the walrus that drew Oslo crowds
BERLIN — Authorities in Norway have euthanized a walrus that had drawn crowds of spectators in the Oslo Fjord after concluding that it posed a risk to humans. The 1,320-pound female walrus, known affectionately as Freya, became a popular attraction in Norway in recent weeks, despite warnings from officials that...
Fire at Cairo Coptic church kills 41, including 15 childrenVideo
CAIRO — A fire ripped through a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in Egypt’s capital on Sunday, quickly filling it with thick black smoke and killing 41 worshippers, including at least 15 children. Several trapped congregants jumped from upper floors of the Martyr Abu Sefein church to try...
California Rep. Adam Schiff says no sign that Trump declassified properlyVideo
WASHINGTON — A senior Democratic lawmaker said he hasn’t seen any evidence that materials the FBI seized from Donald Trump’s home were properly declassified, casting doubt on the former president’s explanations. “And the idea that 18 months after the fact Donald Trump could simply announce, ‘Well, I’m retroactively declassifying, or...
German minister decries ecological catastrophe in Oder RiverVideo
WARSAW, Poland — Germany’s environment minister said the mass die-off of fish in the Oder River is an ecological catastrophe and it isn’t clear yet how long it will take the river to recover. Steffi Lemke spoke Sunday at a news conference alongside her Polish counterpart, Anna Moskwa, after a...
