Officials in Michigan county will return coronavirus bonuses
CORUNNA, Mich. — Elected officials in a conservative Michigan county who gave themselves bonuses of $65,000 with federal covid-19 relief aid said they will return the money following days of criticism. Shiawassee County commissioners acted after the prosecutor said the payments were illegal, The Argus-Press reported. The Michigan Constitution bars...
Service slated for New Jersey man killed outside Philadelphia cheesesteak shopVideo
PHILADELPHIA — A funeral service is scheduled Thursday for a New Jersey man shot outside a well-known Philadelphia cheesesteak shop last week over what witnesses said was a dispute over a parking space. David Padro, 23, of Camden, N.J., was shot shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday after an argument broke...
California’s largest fire burns homes as blazes scorch WestVideo
INDIAN FALLS, Calif. — California’s largest wildfire merged with a smaller blaze and destroyed homes in remote areas with limited access for firefighters, as numerous other fires gained strength and threatened property across the U.S. West. The massive Dixie Fire, which started July 14, had already leveled over a dozen...
Pelosi appoints 2nd GOP critic of Trump to Jan. 6 committee
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday named a second Republican critic of Donald Trump, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, to a special committee investigating the Capitol riot and pledged that the Democratic-majority panel will “get to the truth.” Kinzinger said he “humbly accepted” the appointment even as his party’s leadership...
Fauci says U.S. headed in ‘wrong direction’ on coronavirus
WILMINGTON, Del. — The United States is in an “unnecessary predicament” of soaring covid-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated Americans and the virulent delta variant, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday. “We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, describing himself as “very frustrated.” He said recommending...
Sparked by pandemic fallout, homeschooling surges across U.S.
Although the pandemic disrupted family life across the U.S. since taking hold in spring 2020, some parents are grateful for one consequence: They’re now opting to homeschool their children, even as schools plan to resume in-person classes. The specific reasons vary widely. Some families who spoke with The Associated Press...
Groups urge Maine to protect last wild Atlantic salmon in U.S.
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine is home to the last wild Atlantic salmon populations in the U.S., but a push to protect the fish at the state level is unlikely to land them on the endangered list. Atlantic salmon once teemed in U.S. rivers but now return from the sea to...
Facing headwinds on new Alzheimer’s drug, Biogen launches controversial campaign
Do you sometimes lose your train of thought or feel a bit more anxious than is typical for you? Those are two of the six questions in a quiz on a website co-sponsored by the makers of Aduhelm, a controversial new Alzheimer’s drug. But even when all responses to the...
French protesters reject virus passes, vaccine mandate
PARIS — Some 160,000 people, including far-right activists and members of France’s yellow vest movement, protested Saturday across the country against a bill requiring everyone to have a special virus pass to enter restaurants and mandating covid-19 vaccinations for all health care workers. Similar protests were held in neighboring Italy....
Residents say flood-hit German towns got little warning
AHRWEILER, Germany — Like other residents of his town in Germany, Wolfgang Huste knew a flood was coming. What nobody told him, he says, was how bad it would be. The 66-year-old antiquarian bookseller from Ahrweiler said the first serious warning to evacuate or move to higher floors of buildings...
Beware of budget gimmicks in push for massive spending deals
WASHINGTON — Senators fashioning a pair of colossal bills that would deliver more than $4 trillion for infrastructure, health care, environment and other initiatives insist they will fully pay for both plans. Will they? In a Washington ritual as reliable as panic-buying when light snow is forecast, both parties have...
As delta variant spreads, CDC is pressured to revise mask guidance
A growing number of public-health experts are urging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend that even fully vaccinated people wear face masks in public amid the resurgence of virus cases fed by the delta variant. Doctors including former surgeon general Jerome Adams say the CDC acted prematurely...
Pa. GOP strategist running for governor being investigated for fatal crash on Turnpike
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Gerow was involved in a crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Chester County this week...
‘Ridiculous’: Vaccine myths cripple U.S. uptake as delta surges
The excuses range from the merely false to the absurd. The shots don’t work. They impair fertility. They’ll alter your DNA. They’ll magnetize you. They actually spread the virus. Unvaccinated Americans cite a litany of myths to explain their hesitance to get shots, confounding local health officials battling yet another...
To reach a peace deal, Taliban say Afghan president must go
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban say they don’t want to monopolize power, but they insist there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed. In an interview with The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who is also a...
Pa. health officials request $124 million in pandemic-related emergency contracts as GOP calls for oversight
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. Wolf administration officials doubled down this week on pursuing more than $100 million in new pandemic-related emergency contracts as they faced...
Tom Barrack to be freed on $250 million bail ahead of criminal trial
Tom Barrack will be freed on $250 million bond as he awaits trial on charges he illegally lobbied the U.S. government on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. Barrack, the founder of Colony Capital Inc. and a Trump ally, has been in a San Bernardino jail since his arrest Tuesday...
Killer says he regrets kidnapping Amish teen, fails to offer motive: ‘I knew better than this’
Justo Smoker said he drank two bottles of liquor the day before he snatched Linda Stoltzfoos in broad daylight off a road not far from her Lancaster County home. Just before the abduction, he had bought beer from Sheetz, his attorney said, who described his client as an alcoholic when...
Firefighters officially end search in Florida condo collapse
Firefighters officially ended their search for bodies in the debris of the collapsed Surfside condo building on Friday, even as police and forensic specialists continue working to identify human remains. Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told The Associated Press that the fire department’s role in recovering remains at the...
Pa. Republicans criticize decision to decertify voting machines
HARRISBURG — Republican state lawmakers are criticizing the decision by Pennsylvania’s top election official to decertify the voting machines a sparsely populated county used in the 2020 presidential election. Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid decertified the machines after Fulton County disclosed it had agreed to requests by local Republican...
Confederate bust moved from Tennessee Capitol building
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader that had been displayed prominently inside of the Tennessee Capitol for decades was removed from its pedestal on Friday. The image of Nathan Bedford Forrest has sparked protests ever since its installation in 1978. Some...
Western wildfires: Crews make progress on huge Oregon blaze
BLY, Ore. — The nation’s largest wildfire raged through southern Oregon on Friday but crews were scaling back some night operations as hard work and weaker winds helped reduce the spread of flames even as wildfires continued to threaten homes in neighboring California. The Bootleg Fire, which has destroyed an...
Crafty cockatoos master dumpster diving and teach each other
WASHINGTON — A few years ago, a Sydney scientist noticed a sulfur-crested cockatoo opening his trash bin. Not every resident would be thrilled, but ornithologist Richard Major was impressed by the ingenuity. It’s quite a feat for a bird to grasp a bin lid with its beak, pry it open,...
Mississippi argues Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade
JACKSON, Miss. — The U.S. Supreme Court should overturn its landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide and let states decide whether to regulate abortion before a fetus can survive outside the womb, the office of Mississippi’s Republican attorney general argued in papers filed Thursday with the high court. “Under...
House passes bill to authorize 8,000 more visas for Afghan allies
WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation to authorize an additional 8,000 special immigrant visas for Afghan interpreters, contractors and other vulnerable U.S. allies. The bill would also expand eligibility to family members of SIV applicants who have been killed, as well as Afghans who worked with certain...
