White House details plans to improve housing affordability
White House officials are outlining plans to build and restore more than 2 million homes, a response to the volcanic rise in housing prices over the past year. Millions of Americans are getting priced out of ownership or stuck spending the bulk of their income on rent. The S&P CoreLogic...
France starts covid-19 booster shot campaign for the elderly
PARIS — France on Wednesday started administering booster shots of covid-19 vaccine to people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions as the delta variant spreads in the country. France is the first big EU country to introduce widespread booster shots, and several other European countries are expected to...
Post-Trump, Ukraine’s leader to push Biden for U.S. support
WASHINGTON — The Ukrainian leader who found himself ensnarled in Donald Trump’s first impeachment is in Washington on Wednesday to see a new U.S. president, seeking increased military aid and backing for his country’s bid for NATO membership. The White House says the meeting between President Joe Biden and President...
Texas 6-week abortion ban takes effect, with high court mum
A Texas law banning most abortions in the state took effect at midnight, but the Supreme Court has yet to act on an emergency appeal to put the law on hold. If allowed to remain in force, the law would be the most dramatic restriction on abortion rights in the...
Vatican exonerates Brooklyn Bishop accused of sexual abuse
NEW YORK — The Vatican has concluded that allegations of sexual abuse dating back a half century against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn do “not have the semblance of truth,” but an attorney for the accusers said they will continue to pursue their civil cases. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the...
Moderna makes twice as many antibodies as Pfizer, study saysVideo
Moderna Inc.’s covid-19 vaccine generated more than double the antibodies of a similar shot made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in research that compared immune responses evoked by the two inoculations. The study is one of the first to compare levels of antibodies produced by the two vaccines, which...
As Florida mask fight rages, more children being hospitalizedVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Pediatricians from several Florida hospitals all had the same message Tuesday: the covid-19 delta variant is infecting more children than previous strains, putting more in the hospital and until it abates, schools should require masks in the classroom — an assertion Gov. Ron DeSantis disputes as...
House committee asks companies to save Jan. 6 phone, computer records
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is asking social media and telecommunications companies to preserve phone or computer records for hundreds of people who were potentially involved with efforts to “challenge, delay or interfere” with the certification that day of President Joe...
Texas Legislature sends broad GOP elections bill to governor
AUSTIN — The GOP-controlled Texas Legislature passed a broad overhaul of the state’s election laws Tuesday, tightening already strict voting rules and dealing a bruising defeat to Democrats after a monthslong, bitter fight over voting rights. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he will sign the bill, the latest in a...
‘AntiVaxMomma’ accused of selling bogus vaccination cards
NEW YORK — A New Jersey woman calling herself the AntiVaxMomma on Instagram sold several hundred fake covid-19 vaccination cards at $200 a pop to New York City-area jab dodgers, including people working in hospitals and nursing homes, prosecutors said Tuesday. For an extra $250, a second scammer would then...
Ida’s sweltering aftermath: No power, no water, no gasolineVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Hundreds of thousands of Louisianans sweltered in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida on Tuesday with no electricity, no tap water, precious little gasoline and no clear idea of when things might improve. Long lines that wrapped around the block formed at the few gas stations that had...
President Biden praises airlift, defends departure from ‘forever war’Video
WASHINGTON — Addressing the nation, a defensive President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the U.S. military airlift to extract more than 120,000 Afghans, Americans and other allies to end a 20 year war an “extraordinary success,” though more than 100 Americans and thousands of Afghans looking to leave remain. Twenty-four...
Report: Louisiana man attacked by alligator in Ida’s floodwaters
SLIDELL, La. — A man had his arm ripped off by a large alligator while walking through floodwaters from Hurricane Ida and is now missing, a Louisiana sheriff said. The 71-year-old man’s wife told sheriff’s deputies that she heard a commotion around noon on Monday, then walked outside to see...
Victorious Taliban focus on governing after U.S. withdrawal
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban reveled in their victory after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, reiterating their pledge Tuesday to bring peace and security to the country after decades of war. Their anxious citizens, meanwhile, are waiting to see what the new order looks like. Having humbled the world’s most...
Ida collapses Mississippi road; kills 2, injures at least 10
LUCEDALE, Miss. — Two people were killed and at least 10 others were injured when seven vehicles plunged into a deep hole where a dark, rural highway collapsed as Hurricane Ida blew through Mississippi. Torrential rain may have caused the collapse Monday night, and the drivers may not have seen...
Pennsylvania mandates masks in K-12 schools, day cares
In a move that undoubtedly pleased some parents and infuriated others, the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Tuesday laid out an order mandating masks for students, teachers and staff in K-12 schools that will take effect next week. “I preferred for local school boards to make this decision,” Gov. Tom...
USDA to conduct hemp acreage and production survey
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is conducting its first hemp acreage and production survey. The survey, sent to those identified as hemp producers, will collect information on the total planted and harvested area, yield, production and value of hemp in the United States. Survey data will...
U.S. home prices soar at record pace in June
WASHINGTON — U.S. home prices jumped by a record amount in June as homebuyers competed for a limited supply of available houses, the latest evidence that the housing market remains red-hot. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index jumped 19.1% in June compared with a year earlier, the largest...
J&J: Potential HIV vaccine falls short in mid-stage study
A potential HIV vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson did not provide protection against the virus in a mid-stage study, the drugmaker said Tuesday. J&J plans to end that study, which involved young women in sub-Saharan Africa. But researchers will continue a separate, late-stage trial involving a different composition...
Wisconsin school board reverses on opting out of free meals
WAUKESHA, Wis. — A Wisconsin school district has reversed a decision to leave a federal free meals program following widespread criticism and loud protests from parents and others. Waukesha school board members said they received threats in the wake of national attention after voting to opt out of the program...
Poland seeks to stem migrants along border with Belarus
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s government asked the president Tuesday to declare a state of emergency along the border with Belarus as it tries to stop an increase number of migrants from entering from the neighboring country. The government citied the potential risk from foreign actors and the actions of protesters...
Thousands face weeks without power in Ida’s aftermath
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida are facing the depressing prospect of weeks without electricity in the stifling, late-summer heat. Ida ravaged the region’s power grid, leaving all of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of...
Ukraine’s leader to talk with Biden on security, Russian gas
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s leader is traveling to the United States this week in hopes of bolstering security ties with Washington and persuading the administration to ramp up sanctions against a new Russian natural gas pipeline that bypasses his country. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called Washington’s failure to block the...
Lightning strike at Jersey Shore kills lifeguard, injures 7Video
BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A young lifeguard was killed and seven other people, including three other lifeguards, were injured when lightning struck a Jersey Shore beach Monday afternoon, authorities said. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed that a lifeguard in Berkeley Township was killed in the afternoon. It marked the...
European Union takes U.S. off safe travel list; backs travel restrictionsVideo
BRUSSELS — The European Union recommended Monday that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on tourists from the United States because of rising coronavirus infections there, but member countries will keep the option of allowing fully vaccinated U.S. travelers in. The decision by the European Council to remove the U.S. from...
