U.S./World category, Page 711
U.S. seeks interest to build solar on public lands in West
BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. officials moved Tuesday to open more than 140 square miles of public lands in western states to potential solar energy development, as part of the Biden administration’s effort to counter climate change by shifting away from fossil fuels. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday...
U.S. population growth at lowest rate in pandemic’s 1st year
U.S. population growth dipped to its lowest rate since the nation’s founding during the first year of the pandemic as the coronavirus curtailed immigration, delayed pregnancies and killed hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents, according to figures released Tuesday. The United States grew by only 0.1%, with only an additional...
SpaceX launches Christmas presents, supplies to station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched Christmas gifts, goodies and supplies to the International Space Station on Tuesday and got a present in return: the company’s 100th successful rocket landing. The predawn liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center was barely visible in the fog and clouds, as the Falcon rocket...
Texas governor’s decision: Whether to pardon George Floyd
AUSTIN, Texas — Doling out pardons is a holiday tradition for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who around every Christmas grants them to a handful of ordinary citizens, typically for minor offenses committed years or decades ago. But one name stands out on his desk: George Floyd. Abbott has not said...
Putin blames West for tensions, demands security guarantees
MOSCOW — The Russian president on Tuesday reiterated his demand for guarantees from the U.S. and its allies that NATO will not expand eastwards, blaming the West for “tensions that are building up in Europe.” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech at a meeting with Russia’s top military brass came just...
Biden to pledge 500M free covid-19 tests to counter omicron
WASHINGTON — With the omicron variant on the march, President Joe Biden plans to announce 500 million free rapid tests for Americans, increased support for hospitals under strain and a redoubling of vaccination and boosting efforts. In a speech scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, Biden is announcing major changes to his...
Jan. 6 committee seeks interview with Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection requested an interview and documents from Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania on Monday, marking the first time the committee publicly sought to sit down with a sitting member of Congress. The latest request launches a new phase...
Man who joined Capitol melee gets nearly 4 years in prison
A man who joined a mob in one of the most violent attacks on police during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Monday to nearly four years in prison. Devlyn Thompson, 28, wrote an apology letter to the officer whom he assaulted during a melee...
Jury ends first day of deliberations in Kimberly Potter trialVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — The suburban Minneapolis police officer who says she meant to use her Taser instead of her gun when she shot and killed Black motorist Daunte Wright made a “blunder of epic proportions” and did not have “a license to kill,” a prosecutor told jurors on Monday shortly before...
Pentagon issues rules aimed at stopping rise of extremism
WASHINGTON — Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials are issuing detailed new rules prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. The new guidelines come nearly a year after some current and former service members participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, triggering a...
Hubble telescope’s bigger, more powerful successor to soar
The Hubble Space Telescope’s successor is a time-traveling wonder capable of peering back to within a hair’s breadth of the dawn of the universe. And it’s finally on the brink of flight. It will be the biggest and most powerful astronomical observatory ever to leave the planet, elaborate in its...
W.Va. judge temporarily blocks charter schools’ implementation
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A judge on Monday temporarily blocked public charter schools from being implemented in West Virginia. Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey granted a preliminary injunction sought by parents in a lawsuit filed against Gov. Jim Justice and leaders of the House of Delegates and state Senate, news...
Biden boosts fuel-economy standards to fight climate change
WASHINGTON — In a major step to fight climate change, the Biden administration is raising vehicle mileage standards to significantly reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. A final rule being issued Monday would raise mileage standards starting in the 2023 model year, reaching a projected industry-wide target of 40 miles...
Trump sues N.Y. attorney general, seeking to end civil probeVideo
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump sued New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, resorting to a familiar but seldom successful strategy as he seeks to end a yearslong civil investigation into his business practices that he alleges is purely political. In the lawsuit, filed in federal court...
Inflation squeezes holiday budgets for low-income shoppers
NEW YORK — Emarilis Velazquez is paying higher prices on everything from food to clothing. Her monthly grocery bill has ballooned from $650 to almost $850 in recent months. To save money, she looks for less expensive cuts of meat and has switched to a cheaper detergent. She also clips...
Pope says parents should never slap their kids
ROME — Pope Francis has denounced domestic violence against woman as “nearly satanic” and said parents should never slap their children. Francis made the comments in a televised encounter with an abused woman who recently fled her home with her four children. Their meeting was broadcast late Sunday on the...
Japanese space tourists safely return to Earth
MOSCOW — A Japanese billionaire, his producer and a Russian cosmonaut safely returned to Earth on Monday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station. Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, his producer Yozo Hirano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin made a soft landing in a Russian Soyuz capsule in the...
Fauci says omicron variant is `just raging around the world’
WILMINGTON, Del. — The covid-19 omicron variant is “just raging around the world,” the White House’s top medical adviser said Sunday, and President Joe Biden is planning to give “a stark warning of what the winter will look like” for unvaccinated Americans. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease...
Johnny Isakson, former Georgia Republican U.S. senator, dies
ATLANTA — Johnny Isakson, an affable Georgia Republican politician who rose from the ranks of the state Legislature to become a U.S. senator known as an effective, behind-the-scenes consensus builder, died Sunday. He was 76. Isakson’s son John Isakson told The Associated Press his father died in his sleep before...
Sen. Joe Manchin says no to $2T bill: ‘I can’t vote for it’
WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Sunday he cannot back his party’s signature $2 trillion social and environment bill, dealing a potentially fatal blow to President Joe Biden’s leading domestic initiative heading into an election year when Democrats’ narrow hold on Congress was already in peril. Manchin told “Fox...
Fire damages QVC distribution center in North Carolina
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — A fire ripped through a distribution center in North Carolina for the QVC home-shopping television network early Saturday, causing extensive damage to the facility, officials said. More than 300 employees were working at the facility near Rocky Mount when the fire was reported shortly after 2...
Governor: No one still missing in Kentucky after tornadoes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — All of the people reported missing in Kentucky after tornadoes swept through the state last weekend have been accounted for, Gov. Andy Beshear said Saturday. Beshear hailed the report by state emergency management officials and said he hoped it meant that no additional people in Kentucky would...
Gas explosion in sewer kills 12 in Pakistan’s largest city
KARACHI, Pakistan — A powerful gas explosion in a sewage system in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, killed at least 12 people and injured 11 others Saturday, police and a health official said. Police spokesman Sohail Jokhio said the blast was apparently caused when something ignited gas that had accumulated in...
Biden marks anniversary of 1972 car crash that killed wife
GREENVILLE, Del. — President Joe Biden on Saturday commemorated the 49th anniversary of the car crash that killed his first wife and infant daughter, visiting their graves at the Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church. Their deaths occurred just after Delaware voters elected Biden to the Senate in...
Ransomware persists even as high-profile attacks have slowed
In the months since President Joe Biden warned Russia’s Vladimir Putin that he needed to crack down on ransomware gangs in his country, there hasn’t been a massive attack like the one last May that resulted in gasoline shortages. But that’s small comfort to Ken Trzaska. Trzaska is president of...
