Government seizes more than 10M phony N95 masks in covid-19 probe
WASHINGTON — Federal agents have seized more than 10 million fake 3M brand N95 masks in recent weeks, the result of an ongoing investigation into counterfeits sold in at least five states to hospitals, medical facilities and government agencies. The most recent seizures occurred Wednesday when Homeland Security agents intercepted...
South Carolina House passes bill restricting abortions
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina House on Wednesday passed a bill banning nearly all abortions, following the lead of other states with similar measures that would go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade. The proposal passed the Senate on Jan. 28. It...
Fact check: Joe Biden and his shifting goalposts on reopening schools
WASHINGTON — How do you define success when it comes to reopening schools in the pandemic? President Joe Biden and his aides are having difficulty settling on an answer to that question. At his town-hall forum Tuesday night, Biden denied that his administration ever thought one day of classroom instruction...
Russia rejects European rights court’s order to free Navalny
MOSCOW — Europe’s top human rights court has ordered Russia to release jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a ruling quickly rejected Wednesday by Russian authorities who are bent on isolating the Kremlin’s most prominent foe. The decision by the European Court of Human Rights had demanded that Russia free Navalny...
Executioners sanitized accounts of deaths in federal cases
Executioners who put 13 inmates to death in the last months of the Trump administration likened the process of dying by lethal injection to falling asleep and called gurneys “beds” and final breaths “snores.” But those tranquil accounts are at odds with reports by The Associated Press and other media...
Rush Limbaugh, ‘voice of American conservatism,’ dies at 70
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Rush Limbaugh, the talk radio host who ripped into liberals, foretold the rise of Donald Trump and laid waste to political correctness with a merry brand of malice that made him one of the most powerful voices on the American right, died Wednesday. He was 70....
Pennsylvania reports 193 covid deaths, while cases remain steady, hospitalizations drop
Pennsylvania on Wednesday added 193 coronavirus deaths, the highest number of deaths reported on a single day this month. The total number of covid-related deaths in the state stands at 23,319. The newly reported deaths come after only seven were added Tuesday and 23 on Monday. The seven-day average of...
Vaccine mix-up prompts rescheduling shuffle in PennsylvaniaVideo
Vaccine providers in Pennsylvania could be short 55,000 first doses of Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine in the coming weeks after a “perfect storm of circumstances” meant some providers spent weeks giving out dedicated second-dose shots as first doses, health department leaders said Wednesday. In addition, 30,000 to 60,000 second-dose appointments could...
California lawmaker proposes ban on fracking by 2027
Heeding the call of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a state senator introduced legislation Wednesday that would ban all fracking in the nation’s most populated state by 2027 and halt the oil and gas extraction method around schools and homes by Jan. 1. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique used...
NASA rover attempting most difficult Martian touchdown yet
Spacecraft aiming to land on Mars have skipped past the planet, burned up on entry, smashed into the surface, and made it down amid a fierce dust storm only to spit out a single fuzzy gray picture before dying. Almost 50 years after the first casualty at Mars, NASA is...
Kamala Harris calls for teachers to get covid vaccine priority
Speaking in her first sit-down network television interview since taking office, Vice President Kamala Harris stressed the importance of getting educators vaccinated since their work is so important and they work in an environment where protective measures are tough to implement. “Teachers should be a priority,” said Harris on Wednesday....
11 rescued from flooded Philadelphia streets following water main break
At least 11 people were rescued Tuesday evening after a large water main break in Philadelphia left cars submerged and the area completely flooded, authorities said. The 48-inch break occurred around 6 p.m. in the Nicetown area of North Philadelphia, news outlets reported. Flood waters consumed the streets, swamping cars...
British queen’s husband, Prince Philip, admitted to hospital
LONDON — Britain’s 99-year-old Prince Philip has been admitted to a London hospital after feeling unwell, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday. The palace said the husband of Queen Elizabeth II was admitted to the private King Edward VII Hospital on Tuesday evening. It called the admission “a precautionary measure” taken on...
‘Face diapers not required’: Florida restaurant’s mask policy goes viral
A Florida restaurant’s face mask policy is going viral. On Facebook, BeckyJack’s Food Shack in Weeki Wachee, Fla., reminded its customers that it does not require face masks to be worn inside during the covid-19 pandemic. The post on Valentine’s Day has received more than 2,500 comments and more than...
Japan starts covid vaccinations with eye on Olympics
TOKYO — Japan launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign Wednesday, months after other major economies started giving shots and amid questions about whether the drive would reach enough people quickly enough to save a Summer Olympics already delayed by the pandemic. Despite a recent rise in infections, Japan has largely dodged...
100 million Americans brace for more cold, ice and snow
The winter weather that has overwhelmed power grids unprepared for climate change and left millions without electricity in record-breaking cold kept its grip on the nation’s midsection Wednesday. At least 20 people have died, some while struggling to find warmth inside their homes. In the Houston area, one family succumbed...
Watch live: Trump Plaza being imploded in Atlantic City
The former Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, shuttered in 2014 and vacant since, is set to be demolished around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17. Unlike the implosion of the Sands casino in 2007 — which was held on a Friday night and featured a fireworks display and drew 100,000...
Man set fire to his lawn to clear snow and ice, cops say
If you encounter a particularly rough patch of ice or snow while shoveling this winter, don’t reach for a can of gasoline like a Midland Park, N.J., man did on Friday, police say. Police and firefighters responded to the man’s home on Paterson Avenue where he had set a small...
Biden reframes his goal on reopening of elementary schoolsVideo
MILWAUKEE — President Joe Biden is promising a majority of elementary schools will be open five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, restating his original goal after his administration came under fire when aides said schools would be considered open if they held...
Seattle woman, 90, walks 6 miles through snow for vaccine
SEATTLE — A rare winter storm that dumped a foot of snow on Seattle couldn’t keep a 90-year-old woman from her first appointment for the coronavirus vaccine. The Seattle Times reports that Fran Goldman walked six miles round trip to get her shot. “I have been calling to get an...
Trump slams Mitch McConnell as GOP divide deepens post-impeachmentVideo
WASHINGTON — In the most caustic sign yet of deepening GOP divisions, former President Donald Trump blistered Mitch McConnell as a “political hack” on Tuesday, days after the Senate’s top Republican denounced him as the inciter of U.S. Capitol attack. “The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong...
Western Pa. GOP focuses ire on Pat Toomey, as Republicans battle for control of the party
The border separating Allegheny County from the surrounding metro area is beginning to look more like the fault lines shaking a Republican Party trying to come to terms with the aftermath of a second impeachment trial of former President Trump. County GOP chairs in Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette, Lawrence, York and...
Global vaccine gaps could leave Americans vulnerableVideo
WASHINGTON — Over and over, President Joe Biden has emphasized the need to inoculate as many Americans as quickly as possible, all but staking his presidency on successfully shielding the country from covid-19. Yet the uneven vaccination effort globally is expected to leave large swaths of the planet unprotected for...
Some dinosaur migration was delayed by climate, study shows
Plant-eating dinosaurs probably arrived in the Northern Hemisphere millions of years after their meat-eating cousins, a delay likely caused by climate change, a new study found. A new way of calculating the dates of dinosaur fossils found in Greenland shows that the plant eaters, called sauropodomorphs, were about 215 million...
‘A complete bungle:’ Texas’ energy pride goes out with frigid temperaturesVideo
AUSTIN — Anger over Texas’ power grid failing in the face of a record winter freeze mounted Tuesday as millions of residents in the energy capital of the U.S. remained shivering with no assurances that their electricity and heat — out for 24 hours or longer in many homes —...
