Arrest sought of Colorado clerk Tina Peters in voting tampering case
DENVER — An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for an indicted Colorado clerk who has become a hero to election conspiracy theorists after she allegedly traveled out of state despite a court order not to do so, according to court documents. A judge revoked bond for Mesa County Clerk Tina...
No deaths in Virginia flooding that washed out homes, roadsVideo
GRUNDY, Va. — Rain that swiftly flooded a remote corner of southwest Virginia washed out roads, tore homes from their foundations and left people scrambling to find loved ones in areas where phone service was knocked out completely. Authorities feared the worst Wednesday as they were inundated with calls from...
Steve Bannon’s criminal contempt trial on track for next week
WASHINGTON — A federal judge said Thursday that the criminal contempt trial of Steve Bannon can start as scheduled next week and that the extensive media coverage of the onetime adviser to former President Donald Trump should not be a barrier to selecting an unbiased jury to hear the case....
Stark political divides loom as U.S. governors gather
PORTLAND, Maine — With stark political divides on abortion, gun violence and other issues threatening to overshadow their meeting, the nation’s governors sought to find common ground — on other issues. The National Governors Association formally kicked off its summer gathering Thursday, the first in-person meeting since 2019, before the...
Long lines are back at U.S. food banks as inflation hits high
Long lines are back at food banks around the U.S. as working Americans overwhelmed by inflation turn to handouts to help feed their families. With gas prices soaring along with grocery costs, many people are seeking charitable food for the first time, and more are arriving on foot. Inflation in...
Buffalo supermarket to reopen 2 months after racist shooting
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The names of the 10 Black people massacred by a white gunman were read aloud Thursday outside the Buffalo supermarket where they died, two months after the racist attack. A bell tolled after each name at a ceremony marking the store’s reopening. Employees, neighbors and elected officials...
State lotteries increasingly cede control to huge firms
The companies that run state-backed lotteries already have a heavy hand in how the games are operated. But in the years ahead, their control over lotteries is expected to expand significantly while state officials take a step back. Analysts who track the industry say the largest companies are trying to...
Alex Jones defiant in deposition in Sandy Hook hoax lawsuit
HARTFORD, Conn. — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was defiant and cited free speech rights during a deposition in April, as part of a lawsuit by relatives of some of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims who are suing Jones for calling the massacre a hoax, according to court documents...
South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh charged with murder in death of wife, son
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was charged with murder Thursday in the deaths of his wife and younger son, who were fatally shot outside their home more than a year ago. Murdaugh is already jailed and faces dozens of criminal charges that have piled up in...
Ashes of 8,000 WWII victims found in 2 Poland mass graves
WARSAW, Poland — Special investigators in Poland say they have found two mass graves containing the ashes of at least 8,000 Poles slain by the Nazis during World War II in forest executions that the Nazis later tried to hide by incinerating the bodies and planting trees on the burial...
Russian missiles kill at least 23 in Ukraine, wound more than 100
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian missiles struck a city in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine’s president accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in locations without military value. Officials said Kalibr cruise missiles fired from a Russian submarine...
Venezuela’s alarmingly low vaccine rate among worst in world
CARACAS, Venezuela — Wails pierced the walls of the walk-in clinic tucked among rundown homes in the heart of Venezuela’s capital. Artemis Parra got one vaccine in each arm, for polio and measles. The shots were free at the government site, and they filled gaps in the 1-year-old’s vaccination record....
U.S. regulators OK new covid-19 shot option from Novavax
The United States is getting another covid-19 vaccine choice as the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday cleared Novavax shots for adults. Novavax makes a more traditional type of shot than the three other covid-19 vaccines available for use in the U.S. — and one that’s already available in Europe...
Sen. Lindsey Graham, trying to quash subpoena, denies election meddling
COLUMBIA, S.C. — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham wasn’t seeking to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 election when he called state officials to ask them to reexamine certain absentee ballots after President Donald Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden, his lawyers said in a federal court filing. Graham’s lawyers made the...
Southwest Virginia flooding damages homes, prompts rescuesVideo
WHITEWOOD, Va. — Flooding in a remote pocket of southwest Virginia has damaged more than 100 homes and left some 40 people unaccounted for, but there are no confirmed deaths or injuries, authorities said Wednesday. First responders in Buchanan County began receiving reports of rising water and damage Tuesday night,...
Ex-CIA engineer convicted in largest theft ever of secret information
NEW YORK — A former CIA software engineer was convicted Wednesday of federal charges accusing him of the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history. Joshua Schulte, who chose to defend himself at a New York City retrial, had told jurors in closing arguments that the CIA and FBI...
Biden administration warns pharmacies can’t discriminate on reproductive health scripts
The Biden administration is warning pharmacies not to discriminate against women who may seek reproductive health prescriptions, including some that might be involved in ending a pregnancy. The Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that pharmacies receiving federal money from programs such as Medicare and Medicaid cannot discriminate...
Witness tampering at Jan. 6 hearing? Rep. Liz Cheney raises prospectVideo
WASHINGTON — In the latest Jan. 6 hearing, already standing out for its notable moments, Rep. Liz Cheney saved the most startling for last. In her closing remarks, the co-chair of the House investigating committee said the panel had learned that former President Donald Trump had recently tried to contact...
Rhode Island lawmaker suspended from TikTok defends twerking video
BOSTON — A state senator in Rhode Island who was suspended from TikTok after posting a video in which she twerked while doing a handstand in a bikini says she has no regrets. Sen. Tiara Mack, a 28-year-old Providence Democrat, is Black and queer and dismissed any criticism of the...
Explainer: Why U.S. inflation is so high, and when it may ease
WASHINGTON — Inflation’s relentless surge didn’t merely persist in June. It accelerated. For the 12 months ending in June, the government’s consumer price index rocketed 9.1%, the fastest year-over-year jump since 1981. And that was nothing next to what energy prices did: Fueled by heavy demand and by Russia’s invasion...
Federal prosecutor: Pa. dentist confessed to wife’s safari death
DENVER — A wealthy Western Pennsylvania dentist killed his wife of 34 years with a shotgun blast at dawn on a remote African safari in 2016, collected nearly $5 million in insurance proceeds and later blurted out to his longtime lover that “I killed my (expletive) wife for you!,” a...
Amazon handed Ring footage to police without user consent
Amazon has provided Ring doorbell footage to law enforcement 11 times this year without the user’s permission, a revelation that’s bound to raise more privacy and civil liberty concerns about its video-sharing agreements with police departments across the country. The disclosure came in a letter from the company that was...
A ‘blockbuster’ movie about Doug Mastriano is ready to premiere — if a theater will show it
PHILADELPHIA — It’s been billed as a summer “blockbuster,” a hagiographic documentary about State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, that is set to premiere Saturday. But filmmaker Steve Turley’s red-carpet rollout for “The Return of the American Patriot” has stumbled twice in the last week,...
Digital mental health companies draw scrutiny and growing concerns
When Pat Paulson’s son told her he was feeling anxious and depressed at college, Paulson went through her Blue Cross Blue Shield provider directory and started calling mental health therapists. No providers in the Wisconsin city where her son’s university is located had openings. So she bought a monthly subscription...
Relaxed methadone rules appear safe, researchers find
As the coronavirus pandemic shut down the nation in March of 2020, the U.S. government told methadone clinics they could allow stable patients with opioid addiction to take their medicine at home unsupervised. Methadone, an opioid itself, can be dangerous in large amounts and most patients are required to take...