U.S./World category, Page 1002
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says car and race tracks in New York can reopen with no fans
ALBANY, N.Y. — In another step toward reopening its economy going into the summer, New York will allow horse racing tracks and Watkins Glen International car track to reopen with the coronavirus outbreak easing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday. But the Democrat was quick to add a caveat: “No...
Coronavirus masks a boon for crooks who hide their faces
CHICAGO — The way the FBI tells it, William Rosario Lopez put on a surgical mask and walked into the Connecticut convenience store looking to the world like a typical pandemic-era shopper as he picked up plastic wrap, fruit snacks and a few other items. Then, when the only other...
Lawyer: Iran sentences dual national academic to 6 years in prison
An Iranian court has sentenced a prominent researcher with dual French-Iranian citizenship to six years in prison on security charges, her lawyer said Saturday. Fariba Adelkhah was sentenced to five years for “gathering and collusion” against the country’s security and one year for “spreading propaganda” against the Islamic system, her...
Group buys Alabama abortion clinic to keep it from closing
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Conservative lawmakers in Alabama last year tried to enact the nation’s most stringent abortion ban, but the attempt to outlaw the procedure may have had one ironic twist. An Alabama-based abortion rights group used a flood of donations that poured in from across the country after the...
Virus rules tighten illegal immigration on northern border
Five Mexican citizens apprehended this week after illegally entering the United States in remote northern Maine were returned to Canada within hours under a rule put into place as part of the U.S. government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A similar policy by the Canadian government allows the return to...
Report: Bryant crash pilot had no drugs, alcohol in system
LOS ANGELES — The pilot flying Kobe Bryant and seven others to a youth basketball tournament did not have alcohol or drugs in his system, and all nine sustained immediately fatal injuries when their helicopter slammed into a hillside outside Los Angeles in January, according to autopsies released Friday. The...
Judge orders Los Angeles to move thousands of homeless
LOS ANGELES — The city of Los Angeles and LA County must find shelter for thousands of homeless people who are living near freeways, a federal judge ordered Friday, saying their health is at risk from pollution, earthquakes and the coronavirus. U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a...
Alaska lawmaker likens virus screening stickers to Star of David
JUNEAU, Alaska — An Alaska lawmaker on Friday defended asking whether stickers that individuals may be asked to wear as part of a Capitol coronavirus screening process will be “available as a yellow Star of David.” Republican Rep. Ben Carpenter of Nikiski said he was serious in making the comment...
Tesla picks Austin, Tulsa as finalists for new US factory
DETROIT — Tesla has picked Austin, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, as finalists for its new U.S. assembly plant, a person briefed on the matter said Friday. The person says company officials visited Tulsa in the past week and were shown two sites. It wasn’t clear if there were any other...
‘Pretty unprecedented’: NYC’s blood supply dangerously low, possibly at 2-day supply
NEW YORK — The Big Apple is running out of blood. The blood bank that supplies all of New York City’s public hospitals — as well as nearly 200 private hospitals throughout the state and in parts of New Jersey — is stocked with only enough donations to last the...
Man paroled over coronavirus concerns charged in slaying
DENVER — A parolee suspected of killing a woman in Denver had been released from prison three weeks before the slaying because of concerns over the coronavirus. Cornelius Haney, 40, was released April 15 under powers granted to the Colorado Department of Corrections by Gov. Jared Polis, The Denver Post...
Will Congress help California? Governor’s budget banks on it
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom may call California a nation state, but he’s hanging his hopes for avoiding drastic state budget cuts squarely on the federal government. The money may not come easily in a divided Congress, even with two Californians in the top roles in the U.S. House....
Nebraska court orders disclosure of execution drug records
OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska prison officials cannot withhold public records that reveal where they purchased their supply of lethal injection drugs, the state’s highest court said Friday in a ruling that could threaten Nebraska’s ability to carry out executions for the dozen men on its death row. In ordering the...
Florida governor says 9 of 10 people frustrated by unemployment system made application errors
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said some Floridians waiting on unemployment checks have themselves to blame for not filling out their applications properly. During an exchange with a reporter during a Friday news conference in Jacksonville, DeSantis expressed frustration with news stories that quote Floridians who have been unable...
Homeless tax in Portland, Ore., tests voter mood in pandemic
PORTLAND, Ore. — Voters in metropolitan Portland, Oregon, will be asked Tuesday to approve taxes on personal income and business profits that would raise $2.5 billion over a decade to fight homelessness even as the state grapples with the coronavirus and its worst recession in years. The ballot measure was...
Historically black colleges work to help students amid virus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ja’nayla Johnson worked hard in high school with the dream of being the first in her family to graduate from college, but she started to doubt herself as several colleges rejected her. Then Bennett, a small historically black women’s college in North Carolina, saw Johnson’s potential and...
Nevada highway reopens after largest area quake in 65 years
LAS VEGAS — The cracked main highway between Las Vegas and Reno reopened Friday, 10 hours after a predawn magnitude 6.5 earthquake that a researcher called the largest to strike the remote area of western Nevada in 65 years. No injuries were reported, but officials said goods tumbled from market...
U.S. on track to pull troops from Afghanistan despite turmoil
WASHINGTON — The United States is on track to meet its commitment to the Taliban to withdraw several thousand troops from Afghanistan by summer, even as violence flares, the peace process is stalled, and Kabul struggles in political deadlock. U.S. officials say they will reduce to 8,600 troops by July...
‘We are desperate’: French hospital staff confront Macron
PARIS — French nurses and doctors faced off with President Emmanuel Macron at a leading Paris hospital Friday, demanding better pay and a rethink of a once-renowned public health system that found itself quickly overwhelmed by tens of thousands of virus patients. “We are desperate. We no longer believe in...
U.S. blames brutal attack on Afghan maternity hospital on IS
KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. official said Friday he is convinced the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan carried out this week’s horrific attack on a maternity hospital in a majority Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Kabul, killing 24 people, including newborn babies and mothers. Peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said the U.S....
Vegas-Reno highway cracked, closed after 6.5 quake in Nevada
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The main highway between Las Vegas and Reno was damaged and closed early Friday following a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in a remote area of Nevada. Nevada Highway Patrol photos showed cracks on U.S. 95 that Trooper Hannah DeGoey said were caused by the temblor a little...
Mayor: NYPD won’t break up small groups, police masks
NEW YORK — The New York Police Department, criticized over instances of harsh social distancing enforcement, will step back from ticketing people for gathering in small clusters or for failing to wear a mask, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday. The police will continue to disperse large gatherings that are...
Infections soar as Mexico moves toward restarting economy
MEXICO CITY — As Mexico moves toward a gradual reactivation of its economy Monday, the number of new coronavirus infections grows higher every day, raising fears of a new wave of infections that other countries have seen after loosening restrictions. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is straddling the issue, telling...
For Paul Manafort, home confinement won’t be same as shelter-in-placeVideo
Paul Manafort’s release from federal prison to serve his sentence at home amid the coronavirus pandemic probably won’t be a walk in the park. Unlike millions of other people who are allowed to get outdoor exercise and walk their dogs even while they’re under virus shelter-in-place orders, convicts serving home...
FDA: Trucks used to store bodies during pandemic can return to food use
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday said refrigerated trucks that preserved the bodies of coronavirus victims during the pandemic may be used for food transport after a thorough cleaning. The FDA has released a handbook on converting the trailers back to their original purpose of hauling food. New...
