Florida officials withhold school board salaries over mask mandates
TALLAHASSEE — Florida state education officials on Monday began to make good on threats to withhold funding from local school districts that defied Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates, despite a circuit judge last week ruling the ban unconstitutional. Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran announced that the Florida Department...
2 unborn babies die after their unvaccinated moms get covid, Texas officials say
FORT WORTH, Texas — Two unborn babies died after their unvaccinated mothers contracted covid-19, Texas health officials reported. The women were 29 and 23 weeks along in their pregnancies, respectively, the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District announced Friday. The deaths of their unborn children are considered to be “Covid-19...
Ex-lawmaker Rick Saccone to run for lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — A former state lawmaker and two-time congressional candidate from the Pittsburgh area who appeared to support efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory said Monday that he will run for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor next year. Rick Saccone, 63, will make a formal announcement on Sept....
Covid-19 cases stay high, hospitalizations drop in Florida
MIAMI — The number of patients with coronavirus in Florida hospitals continues to drop as infection rates stay high, a sign that while more people are testing positive for the virus, they are not necessarily developing severe illness. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tallied 15,488 patients with...
Wildfire forces thousands from popular Lake Tahoe resortVideo
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Thousands of people rushed to get out of South Lake Tahoe as the entire tourist resort city came under evacuation orders and wildfire raced toward the large freshwater lake of Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada. Evacuation warnings issued for the resort city of...
Another conservative anti-vaccine radio talk show host dies of covid, 3rd in a month
A conservative Florida radio host who was dead-set against taking a coronavirus vaccine is now dead. Marc Bernier died Saturday of covid-19 after a three-week battle, his bereft radio station announced. He was 65. “It’s with great sadness that WNDB and Southern Stone Communications announce the passing of Marc Bernier,...
‘Season of shivers’ awaits in winter 2021-22, according to Old Farmer’s Almanac
Sounds like you best have long underwear on your Christmas list this year. The 2022 Old Farmer’s Almanac, which goes on sale Tuesday, is calling for the winter of 2021-22 to be a “season of shivers.” “This winter will be punctuated by positively bone-chilling, below-average temperatures across most of the...
China limits children to 3 hours of online gaming a week
China is banning children from playing online games for more than three hours a week, the harshest restriction so far on the game industry as Chinese regulators continue cracking down on the technology sector. Minors in China can only play games between 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays, weekends...
‘Unprecedented’ NYC subway breakdown sparked by power surge
NEW YORK — A momentary power surge disrupted half of the New York City subway system for several hours and stranded hundreds of passengers, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday. The unprecedented breakdown affected more than 80 trains on the subway system’s numbered lines plus the L train from shortly after...
Hostile school board meetings have members calling it quits
A Nevada school board member said he had thoughts of suicide before stepping down amid threats and harassment. In Virginia, a board member resigned over what she saw as politics driving decisions on masks. The vitriol at board meetings in Wisconsin had one member fearing he would find his tires...
Universal Studios sets opening for 1st theme park in China
BEIJING — Universal Studios announced Monday that its first theme park in China will open in the country’s capital in September. The company set the opening date for Sept. 20, according to a statement and video posted on the Chinese social media site WeChat. Under construction since 2016, the theme...
After months, Egypt frees reporter, activist, YouTube star
CAIRO — Egypt has released an online comedian, a journalist and a political activist after they spent months in pre-trail detention, two lawyers said on Monday. It was the latest in a series of recent releases amid concerns by the United States and international rights groups over the arrests and...
Last troops exit Afghanistan, ending America’s longest warVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan late Monday, ending America’s longest war and closing a chapter in military history likely to be remembered for colossal failures, unfulfilled promises and a frantic final exit that cost the lives of more than 180 Afghans and 13 U.S. service...
Hurricane Ida traps Louisianans, shatters the power grid
NEW ORLEANS — Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought hundreds of people trapped by Hurricane Ida’s floodwaters to safety Monday and utility repair crews rushed in, after the furious storm swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid in the stifling, late-summer heat. Residents living amid the...
IAEA: North Korea appears to have resumed nuke reactor operation
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea appears to have restarted the operation of its main nuclear reactor used to produce weapons fuels, the U.N. atomic agency said, as the North openly threatens to enlarge its nuclear arsenal amid long-dormant nuclear diplomacy with the United States. The annual report by the...
White House: U.S. has capacity to evacuate remaining AmericansVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States has the capacity to evacuate the approximately 300 U.S. citizens remaining in Afghanistan who want to leave before President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline, senior administration officials said, as rocket fire in Kabul and another U.S. drone strike against suspected Islamic State militants underscored the grave...
Mask, vaccine mandates have broad support, polls show. But some Pa. Republicans are campaigning against them
Bill McSwain, the former prosecutor turned potential gubernatorial candidate, went after the “radical left” for “ignoring science by forcing kids to wear masks at school.” Facebook ads paid for by Jeff Bartos’ Senate campaign feature an image meant to mock President Joe Biden’s call for a grassroots vaccine education campaign...
White House rushes to booster doses as CDC advisers bide timeVideo
U.S. public health advisers are moving slowly toward considering the nationwide plan for booster doses of covid-19 vaccines to ward off the fast-spreading delta variant, even as the Biden administration seeks a Sept. 20 kickoff. While the booster plan laid out earlier this month had targeted individuals who received their...
Texas man who worked against covid measures dies from virus
SAN ANGELO, Texas — A man who led efforts in his Central Texas community against mask wearing and other preventative measures during the coronavirus pandemic has died from covid-19, one month after being admitted to the emergency room. Caleb Wallace died on Saturday, his wife Jessica Wallace said on a...
Flames consume high-rise in Milan; residents evacuated
MILAN — Italian firefighters on Sunday battled a high-rise blaze in Milan that spread rapidly through a 20-story residential building and poured black smoke into the air. Residents were hurriedly evacuated. Mayor Giuseppe Sala said there were no reports of injuries or deaths, but that firefighters were kicking down doors,...
Weather heats up as California fire inches toward Lake Tahoe
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Spiking temperatures and increasing wind on Sunday added to the challenges faced by firefighters battling blazes across Northern California, including one that continued its march toward the Lake Tahoe resort region. “It is going to be the hottest day so far since the fire began,...
U.S. says drone kills suicide bombers targeting Kabul airport
KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. drone strike Sunday struck a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate before they could target the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul’s international airport, American officials said. There were few initial details about the incident, as well as a rocket that struck...
Biden pays respects to U.S. troops killed in AfghanistanVideo
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — In hushed reverence, President Joe Biden stood witness with grieving families Sunday under a gray sky as, one by one, the remains of 13 U.S. troops killed in the Kabul suicide bombing were removed with solemnity from a military aircraft that brought them home....
1st death from Hurricane Ida; power out across New OrleansVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Ida blasted ashore Sunday as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S., knocking out power to all of New Orleans, blowing roofs off buildings and reversing the flow of the Mississippi River as it rushed from the Louisiana coast into one of...
Biden: Another attack likely, pledges more strikes on ISIS-K
President Joe Biden vowed Saturday to keep up airstrikes against the Islamic extremist group whose suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed scores of Afghans and 13 American service members. Another terror attack, he said, is “highly likely” this weekend as the U.S. winds down its evacuation. The Pentagon said...
