Former President Jimmy Carter not planning to attend Biden inauguration
For the first time since 1977, Jimmy Carter will not attend a presidential inauguration. A spokeswoman for the former president and Georgia native said Tuesday that neither Carter, 96, nor his 93-year-old wife, Rosalynn Carter, would be attending the Jan. 20 ceremony for President-elect Joe Biden. The Carters “have sent...
EU commission greenlights Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine
AMSTERDAM — The European Union’s executive commission gave the green light Wednesday to Moderna Inc.’s covid-19 vaccine, providing the 27-nation bloc with a second vaccine to use in the desperate battle to tame the virus rampaging across the continent. The European Commission granted conditional marketing authorization for the vaccine. The...
Europeans press Iran to back down on uranium enrichment
BERLIN — Germany, France and Britain pressed Iran on Wednesday to reverse a decision to start enriching uranium to levels beyond the limits of a 2015 nuclear agreement, a move they said “risks compromising” chances of diplomacy with the incoming U.S. administration. The foreign ministers of the three European nations...
Governors scramble to speed covid-19 vaccine effort after slow start
New York’s governor is threatening to fine hospitals that don’t use their allotment of COVID-19 vaccine fast enough. His South Carolina counterpart says health care workers have until Jan. 15 to get a shot or move to the back of the line. California’s governor wants to use dentists to vaccinate...
Julian Assange denied bail during U.S. extradition appeal
Julian Assange was denied bail by a U.K. judge Wednesday, two days after the court blocked the WikiLeaks founder’s extradition to the U.S. on mental-health grounds. The ruling means the 49-year-old will remain in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison, where he’s been for nearly two years. He will be held while...
NYC fisherman reels in corpse near Brooklyn pier
A fisherman in New York City caught more than he bargained for when he pulled a dead body out of the waves instead of the usual fish. The New York Post reports that Edmond Stringa, 69, of Queens was fishing Tuesday afternoon off of a pier in Brooklyn when he...
California orders surgery delays as coronavirus swamps hospitals
LOS ANGELES — Hospitals in California are so swamped by the coronavirus pandemic that the state has ordered those with room to accept patients from others that are out of intensive care beds. The public health order issued Tuesday night could result in patients being shipped to Northern California from...
Capitol session on Biden victory halted as protesters swarm buildingVideo
WASHINGTON — Angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, marching through the building, shouting and waving Trump and American flags and forcing a halt to congressional deliberations over challenges to Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. Senators were being evacuated. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering...
Trump challenges to election reverberate in New Mexico
SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico’s top elections official is urging a federal court to dismiss a challenge by President Donald Trump of absentee voting procedures for ballot drop boxes. She also wants Trump’s campaign to be sanctioned for pursuing meritless litigation. Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver says the...
Warnock, Ossoff win in Georgia, handing Dems Senate control
ATLANTA — Democrats won both Georgia Senate seats — and with them, the U.S. Senate majority — as final votes were counted Wednesday, serving President Donald Trump a stunning defeat in his last days in office while dramatically improving the fate of President-elect Joe Biden’s progressive agenda. Jon Ossoff and...
Dr. Fauci: U.S. could soon give 1 million vaccinations a dayVideo
The United States could soon be giving at least a million covid-19 vaccinations a day despite the sluggish start, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday, even as he warned of a dangerous next few weeks as the coronavirus surges. The slow pace is frustrating health officials and a desperate public alike,...
Short on equipment, ambulances and oxygen, LA County hospitals face darkest monthVideo
LOS ANGELES — The coronavirus crisis battering Los Angeles County’s medical system is reaching increasingly desperate levels, with health care providers running low on equipment, ambulance operators being told not to bring patients who have virtually no chance of survival to hospitals, and officials scrambling to ensure they can provide...
Report on Chesapeake Bay health remains at a D-plus grade
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The nation’s largest estuary is still getting a D-plus grade for its overall health, according to a report released Tuesday by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. While the grade for the bay’s health remained the same, the score dropped one point from the foundation’s last report two years...
Trump reportedly won’t be allowed to visit Scotland golf course amid covid-19 worriesVideo
President Donald Trump will not be allowed to golf at his course in Scotland when President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. Responding to Sunday Post claim that Prestwick Airport was expecting the Jan. 19 arrival of a U.S. military Boeing 757 that has previously transported the U.S. president,...
Rev. Al Sharpton: Firing Columbus officer who killed Andre Hill is not enoughVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The life of Andre Hill was commemorated Tuesday morning as family and lawmakers called for justice to be brought against the white Columbus police officer who fatally shot the 47-year-old days before Christmas. “We don’t want your sympathy. We want justice,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said in...
Police: Protesters outside Sen. Josh Hawley’s home were peaceful
Protesters who gathered Monday evening outside the Virginia home of Republican Sen. Josh Hawley were peaceful and they left when police explained they were violating local picketing laws, police said Tuesday. The Missouri senator on Twitter accused the protesters of vandalism and threatening his family. Officers were called to Hawley’s...
A final EPA rollback under Trump curbs use of health studies
The Environmental Protection Agency released one of its last major rollbacks under the Trump administration on Tuesday, limiting what evidence it will consider about risks of pollutants in a way that opponents say could cripple future public health regulation. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the new rule, which restricts what...
Judge bans Proud Boys leader from Washington after arrestVideo
WASHINGTON — A judge has banned the leader of the Proud Boys from the nation’s capital after he was accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic black church and found with high-capacity firearm magazines when he was arrested. The order bans Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, from...
No charges against Wisconsin officer who shot Jacob Blake
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin prosecutor announced Tuesday that he will not file criminal charges against a white police officer who shot a Black man in the back in Kenosha last summer, leaving him paralyzed and setting off sometimes violent protests in the city. Officer Rusten Sheskey’s shooting of Jacob...
Tanya Roberts, Bond girl and ‘Sheena’ star, dead at 65Video
Tanya Roberts, who captivated James Bond in “A View to a Kill” and appeared in the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” has died, several hours after she was mistakenly declared dead by her publicist and her partner. She was 65. Lance O’Brien, her companion of nearly two decades, told The Associated...
U.S.: Hack of federal agencies ‘likely Russian in origin’Video
WASHINGTON — Top national security agencies confirmed Tuesday that Russia was likely responsible for a massive hack of U.S. government departments and corporations, rejecting President Donald Trump’s claim that China might be to blame. The rare joint statement represented the U.S. government’s first formal attempt to assign responsibility for the...
Hunting, fishing licenses will be unavailable next week as Pennsylvania updates system
Pennsylvanians who plan to go hunting or fishing in the next few weeks but have yet to get a license should do so soon, according to the state Game Commission and Fish and Boat Commission. Pennsylvania’s Automated Licensing System will be down for several days next week as it undergoes...
U.K. hospitals stagger as new virus variant takes huge toll
LONDON — Britain is facing a long, bleak winter as cold, wet weather and a more contagious variant of the coronavirus put unprecedented strain on the nation’s hospitals and force record numbers of patients to wait 12 hours or more, sometimes on ambulance gurneys, before receiving treatment. That picture made...
Trump administration scales back wild bird protections
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Trump administration on Tuesday finalized changes that weaken the government’s enforcement powers under a century-old law protecting most American wild bird species, brushing aside warnings that billions of birds could die as a result. Federal wildlife officials have acknowledged the move could result in more deaths...
Unidentified GIs who died in Philippines returned to Hawaii
HONOLULU — The remains of some U.S. military personnel who died during World War II and were buried anonymously in the Philippines have been returned to Hawaii to try to determine their identities. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recently conducted an “honorable carry” ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for...
