Georgia board to review Fulton elections, takeover possible
ATLANTA — Georgia’s State Election Board on Wednesday took a step toward a possible eventual takeover of elections in the state’s most populous county under a process outlined in the state’s sweeping new voting law that critics argue could open elections up to political interference. The board voted unanimously Wednesday...
Woman comes face-to-face with snake in Australia supermarket
CANBERRA, Australia — Helaina Alati was browsing the spice aisle of an Australian supermarket when she came face-to-face with a huge snake. The head of the 10-foot-long non-venomous diamond python emerged through a space in a shelf above the spice jars in the Sydney store. “I was in the spice...
Official: 1 killed, 6 wounded as Taliban break up protest
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan health official says at least one person was killed and six were wounded Wednesday when the Taliban violently dispersed a protest in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Dozens of people raised the national flag Wednesday and lowered the Taliban’s own flag the day before Afghanistan’s...
Belgium: Teenager seeks to break women’s solo flight record
KORTRIJK, Belgium — A Belgian-British teenager took to the skies Wednesday in her quest to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo. With her parents looking on, 19-year-old Zara Rutherford took off from an airstrip in Kortrijk, western Belgium in gusty, overcast conditions. Rutherford is aiming to...
EU holds migrant talks, accuses Belarus of ‘hybrid warfare’
BRUSSELS — European Union ministers are holding emergency talks on Wednesday in response to allegations that Belarus is deliberately sending migrants to Lithuania as part of a “hybrid warfare” campaign to destabilize the Baltic EU member country. The ministers are holding a videoconference in a so-called “integrated political crisis response”...
R. Kelly due back in court for opening of sex abuse trial
NEW YORK — R&B star R. Kelly will be back in a criminal court on Wednesday, this time for opening statements in his long-anticipated federal trial arising from years of allegations that he sexually abused women and girls while pursuing fame and fortune. More than a decade has passed since...
Mustang roundups fuel deepening debate as drought grips West
TOOELE, Utah — The sound of the helicopter propeller thundered across the horizon as it dipped down toward mustangs dotting the golden brown plain. The horses burst into a gallop at the machine’s approach, their high-pitched whinnies rising into the dry air. That helicopter roundup in the mountains of western...
Judge rules that Christopher Columbus statue can stay in South Philly
A Philadelphia judge on Tuesday ruled that the controversial Christopher Columbus statue at Marconi Plaza in South Philadelphia can remain there, reversing a decision by city officials to have it removed. In a seven-page decision, Common Pleas Court Judge Paula Patrick said the decision last year to remove the statue...
Heir: Sackler family won’t settle unless freed from opioid suits
Members of the family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma won’t contribute billions of dollars to a legal settlement unless they get off the hook for all current and future lawsuits over the company’s activities, one of them told a court Tuesday in a rare public appearance. David Sackler, grandson...
Florida’s DeSantis top donor invests in covid drug governor promotes
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has been criticized for opposing mask mandates and vaccine passports — is now touting a covid-19 antibody treatment in which a top donor’s company has invested millions of dollars. DeSantis has been flying around the state promoting Regeneron, a monoclonal antibody treatment that was...
TSA extends mask rule to January for airline passengers
Federal officials are extending into January a requirement that people on airline flights and public transportation wear face masks, a rule intended to limit the spread of covid-19. The Transportation Security Administration was scheduled to enforce the rule until Sept. 13. An agency spokesman said Tuesday that the mandate will...
‘Tainted’ blood: Covid skeptics request blood transfusions from unvaccinated donors
The nation’s roiling tensions over vaccination against covid-19 have spilled into an unexpected arena: lifesaving blood transfusions. With nearly 60% of the eligible U.S. population fully vaccinated, most of the nation’s blood supply is now coming from donors who have been inoculated, experts said. That’s led some patients who are...
West Virginia University requiring masks in classes, labs
CHARLESTON — West Virginia University said Tuesday that it is requiring masks to be worn in classrooms and labs for the next 30 days, citing several factors, including that not enough students and employees have submitted proof that they have been vaccinated against covid-19. The university announced the change effective...
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tests positive for covid-19, in ‘good health’
AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tested positive for covid-19 on Tuesday, according to his office, who said the Republican is in good health and experiencing no symptoms. Abbott, who was vaccinated in December and has refused calls to reinstate mask mandates as the highly contagious delta variant surges in...
U.S. appeals court revives lawsuit over Western Pa. gun club restrictions
HARRISBURG — A federal judge should not have thrown out a legal challenge to township zoning rules that restricted operations at a gun range in Western Pennsylvania and limited “sportsman’s clubs” to nonprofit entities, an appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the case and...
George Bush watches Afghan pullout with ‘deep sadness’ after warning of ‘unbelievably bad’ consequences
WASHINGTON — George W. Bush, who ordered the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan to dislodge the Taliban and hunt down al-Qaida terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks, has watched the religious fundamentalists’ abrupt return to power with “deep sadness.” And with the Taliban back in control, he wistfully lauded a generation...
Fueled by wind, largest wildfire moves near California cityVideo
SUSANVILLE, Calif. — Firefighters faced dangerously windy weather Tuesday as they struggled to keep the nation’s largest wildfire from moving toward a Northern California city and other small mountain communities. Forecasters issued red flag warnings of critical fire weather conditions including gusts up to 40 mph from late morning to...
Death toll from Haiti’s weekend earthquake rises to 1,941Video
LES CAYES, Haiti — Haitian officials raised the death toll from a deadly weekend earthquake by more than 500 on Tuesday after Tropical Storm Grace forced a temporary halt to search and rescue efforts, a delay that fed growing anger and frustration among thousands who were left homeless. Grace battered...
Artists to chalk portraits of passengers, crew of Flight 93 as part of 9/11 20th anniversary events
Ambassadors and park rangers tell visitors to the Flight 93 National Memorial repeatedly, “It’s all about the heroes of Flight 93.” Those would be the men and women aboard the United jetliner who made America’s first stand in the war on terror in the skies above Somerset County on Sept....
Pandemic pushed people to buy groceries online. How many will still get them delivered?
Jon Roesser, the general manager of Weavers Way Co-op, usually works with banks and suppliers to keep the grocery running, puts together the $34 million budget, or plans marketing promotions, like an upcoming sale on frozen shrimp. But as the demand for home deliveries exploded during the pandemic, Roesser became...
Judge won’t close hearings in Florida school shooting case
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida judge refused Tuesday to close pretrial hearings to the media and public in the case of the man accused of killing 17 people in a 2018 high school mass shooting. Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer rejected a motion by defendant Nikolas Cruz’s lawyers...
NYC begins requiring proof of vaccination at eateries, gyms
NEW YORK — Notices taped to the windows and front door of the Stop Inn, a diner in Queens, made it clear the eatery would comply with the city’s new edict against the coronavirus: All patrons dining indoors at restaurants, browsing works of art at museums or sweating it out...
Pentagon: U.S., Taliban coordinate as Kabul evacuation speeds
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is coordinating with the Taliban while accelerating the airlift of Americans and Afghan allies from the Kabul airport, and also bringing in additional U.S. troops in a scramble to complete the evacuation in two weeks, Pentagon officials said Tuesday. The disclosure by Pentagon spokesman John...
Taliban announce ‘amnesty,’ urge women to join government
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee their rule. Following a blitz across Afghanistan...
Amid new virus surge, Florida skeptics reconsider vaccines
CALLAHAN, Fla. — In a rural stretch of northeastern Florida where barely half the people have gotten a coronavirus shot, Roger West had no problem telling others he was “adamantly anti-vaccination.” The co-owner of the Westside Journal weekly newspaper used his voice as a columnist to widely share his doubts...
