U.S./World category, Page 279
Free speech and digital rights groups argue TikTok law would infringe on 1st Amendment
A group of nonprofits argued in a legal filing that the federal law requiring TikTok’s parent company to sell the platform, or face a ban, is an unconstitutional measure that restricts speech and makes it impossible for users to associate on the app. The legal brief, submitted late Wednesday to...
Supreme Court allows emergency abortions in Idaho — for now — in limited ruling
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for Idaho hospitals to provide emergency abortions, for now, in a procedural ruling that left key questions unanswered and could mean the issue ends up before the conservative-majority court again soon. The ruling came a day after an opinion was briefly...
Supreme Court rejects nationwide opioid settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would have shielded members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids but also would have provided billions of dollars to combat the opioid epidemic....
Supreme Court strips the SEC of a critical enforcement tool in fraud cases
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday stripped the Securities and Exchange Commission of a major tool in fighting securities fraud in a decision that also could have far-reaching effects on other regulatory agencies. The justices ruled that people accused of fraud by the SEC, which regulates securities markets, have...
Supreme Court halts enforcement of EPA’s plan to limit downwind pollution from power plants
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is putting the Environmental Protection Agency’s air pollution-fighting “good neighbor” plan on hold while legal challenges continue, the conservative-led court’s latest blow to federal regulations. The justices in a 5-4 vote on Thursday rejected arguments by the Biden administration and Democratic-controlled states that the plan...
3 killed and dozens injured in northern Russia when a passenger train derails
MOSCOW — A passenger train derailment in northern Russia killed three people and injured dozens, officials said Thursday. The 14-carriage train derailed Wednesday night in Russia’s northern republic of Komi, state rail company Russian Railways said in a statement, with nine carriages coming off the tracks. About 40 people were...
Vigilante fake NYPD cop pepper-sprays Manhattan tourist subway fare evader
NEW YORK — A vigilante posing as an NYPD cop pepper-sprayed a tourist he caught entering a Manhattan subway station without paying the fare, police said Thursday. The bizarre incident sparked off 6:35 p.m. Sunday at the Whitehall St.-South Ferry station on the uptown R train platform. The vigilante saw...
Walgreens woes continue with earnings miss; plans to shutter significant number of stores
Walgreens shares tumbled early Thursday after the drugstore chain signaled that more store closings are on the way, missed earnings expectations for its third quarter and cut its annual forecast. The company said a quarter of U.S. stores are underperforming and it plans to shutter a significant number of them...
Bolivia reels from short-lived coup attempt as apparent calm returns
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Calm returned to Bolivia’s capital on Thursday after troops led by a top general stormed the presidential palace, then quickly retreated, tumultuous scenes that threatened to pitch the long-troubled South American democracy into chaos. The nation of 12 million watched in shock and bewilderment Wednesday as...
7 in 10 Americans think Supreme Court justices put ideology over impartiality: AP-NORC poll
WASHINGTON — A solid majority of Americans say Supreme Court justices are more likely to be guided by their own ideology rather than serving as neutral arbiters of government authority, a new poll finds, as the high court is poised to rule on major cases involving former President Donald Trump...
Baby cousin with cancer inspires girls to sew hospital gowns for sick kids across U.S., Africa
FREEHOLD, N.J. — Fighting brain cancer, little Giada Demma was lying in her pediatric hospital bed, her tiny body virtually swimming in a drab green hospital gown. Her cousin Giuliana Demma remembers looking at the 1-year-old and thinking how sad the scene was: a small child awash in an ugly...
Tribes honor birth of a rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone and reveal its name: Wakan Gli
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — In a gathering near a picturesque lake outside Yellowstone National Park, hundreds of people cheered Wednesday as a Native American leader spoke the name revealed on a painted hide for a rare white buffalo that was born in the park earlier this month: Wakan Gli, which...
Wisconsin youth prison counselor is declared brain-dead after inmate assault
MADISON, Wis. — A counselor at Wisconsin’s troubled youth prison has been declared brain-dead following a fight with a 16-year-old inmate, the county coroner said Wednesday, less than three weeks after prosecutors filed criminal charges against a warden and multiple staffers in connection with two maximum security inmates’ deaths. Corey...
More than a hundred Haitian migrants arrived in a sailboat off the Florida Keys
MIAMI — A group of more than a hundred Haitian migrants arrived in a sailboat off the lower Florida Keys on early morning Wednesday, local and federal officials said. The boat arrived about 100 yards away from a condominium in Key West at 4:00 a.m., and shortly after that law...
Coup attempt underway in Bolivia as president urges people to mobilize against itVideo
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace Wednesday in what appeared to be a failed coup attempt, as President Luis Arce said the country stood firm against attacks on democracy and urged people to mobilize. In a video of Arce surrounded by ministers...
Bishop Sean Rowe, a Western Pa. native, elected new leader of Episcopal Church. He’s the youngest since 1789
The Right Rev. Sean Rowe, a 49-year-old bishop from Western Pennsylvania, on Wednesday became the youngest person ever elected as leader of the Episcopal Church. He immediately issued a sobering call for the church, which has faced division and chronic membership loss, to confront an “existential crisis” that he compared...
Biden pardons potentially thousands of ex-service members convicted under now-repealed gay sex ban
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden pardoned potentially thousands of former U.S. service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex, saying Wednesday that he is “righting an historic wrong” to clear the way for them to regain lost benefits. Biden’s action grants a pardon to service...
Supreme Court appears poised to allow emergency abortions in Idaho, report says
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appears poised to allow emergency abortions in Idaho when a pregnant patient’s health is at serious risk, as a legal case plays out, according to Bloomberg News, which said a copy of the opinion was briefly posted Wednesday on the court’s website. The document suggests...
Suspect in Ohio killing rearrested after jail freed him by mistake
CLEVELAND — A suspect in an Ohio killing who was mistakenly released from jail because of a clerical error was captured Wednesday, authorities said. U.S. marshals arrested Amarion Sanders, 22, of Cleveland, during a morning traffic stop in the city. Sanders was mistakenly released Monday from the Cuyahoga County Corrections...
Former Honduran president sentenced for helping traffickers get tons of cocaine into U.S.
NEW YORK — Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was sentenced Wednesday in New York for his conviction on charges that he enabled drug traffickers to use his military and national police force to help get tons of cocaine into the United States. Judge P. Kevin Castel sentenced Hernández to...
Feds charge 5, including man acquitted at trial, for attempting to bribe Minnesota juror with $120K
MINNEAPOLIS — Five people were charged on Wednesday for trying to bribe a juror in one of the country’s largest pandemic aid fraud cases with a bag of $120,000 in cash, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI announced Wednesday. The bribe attempt, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson previously...
He flipped off a trooper and got charged. Now Vermont is on the hook for $175,000
ST. ALBANS, Vt. — Vermont has agreed to pay $175,000 to settle a lawsuit on behalf of a man who was charged with a crime for giving a state trooper the middle finger in 2018, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday. The lawsuit was filed...
Supreme Court overturns ex-mayor’s bribery conviction, narrowing scope of public corruption law
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court overturned the bribery conviction of a former Indiana mayor on Wednesday in an opinion that narrows the scope of public corruption law. The high court’s 6-3 opinion along ideological lines sided with James Snyder, who was convicted of taking $13,000 from a trucking company after...
Supreme Court rules for Biden administration in a social media dispute with conservative states
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics including covid-19 and election security. By a 6-3 vote, the justices threw out lower-court rulings that...
U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich goes on trial in Russia on espionage charges that he and his employer deny
YEKATERINBURG, Russia — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich went on trial behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday, 15 months after his arrest in the Russian city on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The 32-year-old journalist appeared in the court in a...
