U.S./World category, Page 976
Israeli military says 2 Gaza rockets hit southern Israel
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military said Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets into southern Israel late Friday, shattering months of near-total calm. In response, Israeli aircraft attacked two military facilities for Hamas, the Islamic group ruling Gaza. There were no reports of injuries in...
Adult film star Ron Jeremy pleads not guilty to 3 rapes
LOS ANGELES — Adult film star Ron Jeremy pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of raping three women and sexually assaulting a fourth. Jeremy, 67, whose real name is Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, entered the plea at his arraignment in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom to three counts each of forcible...
Reporter at Trump’s Tulsa rally tests positive for COVID-19
OKLAHOMA CITY — A journalist who attended President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa last week said Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19. Oklahoma Watch reporter Paul Monies said he was notified Friday of his positive diagnosis. “I’m pretty surprised,” Monies wrote on Twitter. “I have zero symptoms (so far)...
Florida bans bar alcohol consumption as coronavirus spikes
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida banned alcohol consumption at its bars Friday after its daily confirmed coronavirus cases neared 9,000, a new record that is almost double the previous mark set just two days ago. The Florida agency that governs bars announced the ban on Twitter just minutes after the...
House moves to approve D.C. statehood; Senate GOP opposes
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House is moving toward approval of a bill to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, saying Congress has both the moral obligation and constitutional authority to ensure that the city’s 700,000 residents are allowed full voting rights, no longer subject to “taxation without representation.”...
Governors who quickly reopened backpedal as virus surges
AUSTIN, Texas — When Texas began lifting coronavirus restrictions, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t wear a mask. He wouldn’t let mayors enact extra precautions during one of America’s swiftest efforts to reopen. He pointed out that the White House backed his plan and gave assurances there were safe ways to...
Council advances plan to dismantle Minneapolis Police Department
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a radical proposal to change the city charter that would allow the police department to be dismantled, following mass public criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd. The 12-0 vote is just the first step in a...
Texas orders bars shut amid surge in confirmed virus cases
AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott shut down bars in Texas again on Friday and scaled back restaurant dining, the most dramatic reversals yet as confirmed coronavirus cases surge. Abbott also said rafting and tubing outfitters on Texas’ popular rivers must close and that outdoor gatherings of 100 people...
Confirmed new virus cases hit new high in U.S.
The number of confirmed new coronavirus cases per day in the U.S. hit an all-time high of 40,000 Friday — eclipsing the mark set during one of the deadliest stretches in late April — in a resurgence that has led some governors to backtrack or at least pause the reopening...
Iraqi forces arrest men suspected of attacks targeting U.S.
BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces arrested over a dozen men suspected of a spate of rocket attacks against the U.S. presence in Iraq, the Iraqi military said Friday — the strongest action to date by the new government in Baghdad against perpetrators suspected of ties to Iran. The arrests marked...
Rayshard Brooks struggled in system but didn’t hide his past
ATLANTA — Rayshard Brooks didn’t hide his history. About five months before he was killed by Atlanta police in a Wendy’s parking lot — before his name and case would become the latest rallying point in a massive call for racial justice and equality nationwide — Brooks gave an interview...
After waves of covid deaths, care homes face legal reckoning
PARIS — The muffled, gagging sounds in the background of the phone call filled Monette Hayoun with dread. Was her severely disabled 85-year-old brother, Meyer, choking on his food? Was he slowly suffocating like the Holocaust survivor who died a few months earlier in another of the care home’s bedrooms,...
Texas man cited with disorderly conduct over mask dispute
SAN ANTONIO — A 47-year-old Texas man was cited for disorderly conduct Thursday after he allegedly smacked the hand of a San Antonio-area official who was trying to persuade him to put on a face covering, officials said. The man’s lawyer disputes the claim. Terry Toller turned himself in to...
Tucson mayor sticks with police chief after custody death
TUCSON, Ariz. — The mayor of Tucson, Arizona, said Thursday that the city’s police chief should stay in his job, even as criticism mounts over the death of a young Hispanic man while handcuffed in police custody. Mayor Regina Romero, a Democrat, said Chief Chris Magnus should not resign because...
Colorado reopens inquiry into Elijah McClain’s 2019 death
DENVER — The Colorado governor on Thursday ordered prosecutors to reopen the investigation into the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man put into a chokehold by police who stopped him on the street in suburban Denver last year because he was “being suspicious.” Gov. Jared Polis signed an...
Lobbying grows against Mississippi’s rebel-themed flag
JACKSON, Miss. — University coaches and Christian ministers filled the Mississippi Capitol on Thursday, urging legislators to seize the moment and remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag while Americans are reckoning with difficult discussions about race and history. “It doesn’t take courage. It takes conscience,” said the...
U.S. Catholic bishops: Clergy sex abuse claims tripled in 2019
NEW YORK — U.S. Roman Catholic bishops said Thursday that the church tallied 4,434 sex abuse allegations against clergy in the 2018-19 audit year, triple the number seen the previous year, with much of the increase stemming from a wave of lawsuits and claims by survivors of decades-old molestation. In...
Families of 3 deceased workers sue Tyson over Iowa outbreak
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The families of three workers who died after contracting the coronavirus in an Iowa meat plant outbreak sued Tyson Foods and its top executives Thursday, saying the company knowingly put employees at risk and lied to keep them on the job. The lawsuit alleges that Tyson...
A look at a Colorado Black man’s death in police encounter
DENVER — As protests continue across the U.S. against excessive police force against people of color, Elijah McClain’s name has become another rallying cry on social media. McClain, a 23-year-old Black man in the Denver suburb of Aurora, died in August after police officers confronted him as he was walking...
Wildfire near Mount Rushmore contained ahead of Trump visit
CUSTER, S.D. — A wildfire located near Mount Rushmore in South Dakota has been completely contained, according to Gov. Kristi Noem’s office. The fire comes amid preparations for President Donald Trump’s visit to the monument for Independence Day celebrations and fireworks next week. The state called in 117 firefighters, including...
Kentucky capitol rally urges action in Breonna Taylor death
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Hundreds of people rallied at Kentucky’s capitol on Thursday to urge action in the investigation of three officers in the fatal police shooting of a Black woman, Breonna Taylor, at her Louisville home. Taylor’s family, hip hop artists and civil rights lawyers addressed a large crowd on...
Funding for key Minneapolis police initiative falls through
MINNEAPOLIS — Funding for a key Minneapolis Police Department accountability initiative after the death of George Floyd has fallen through, officials confirmed Thursday, meaning potential delays as the city scrambles to find another source for the money. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced June 10 the department would contract with Benchmark...
US virus cases near an all-time high as governors backtrack
NEW YORK —The coronavirus crisis deepened in Arizona on Thursday, and the governor of Texas began to backtrack after making one of the most aggressive pushes in the nation to reopen, as the daily number of confirmed cases across the U.S. closed in on the peak reached during the dark...
U.S. health officials estimate 20 million Americans have had virus
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials estimate that 20 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since it first arrived in the United States, meaning that the vast majority of the population remains susceptible. Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times as many infections as the 2.3 million cases that have been...
NYPD officer charged with using banned chokehold
NEW YORK — Moving swiftly amid a global furor over police misconduct, New York City prosecutors on Thursday filed criminal charges against a police officer caught on video putting a Black man in what they said was a banned chokehold. Officer David Afanador pleaded not guilty on Thursday to strangulation...
