Pennsylvania posts another day of new covid-19 cases below 1,000
On Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 970 new cases of covid-19, the third straight day new incidents were under the 1,000 mark. Health officials posted 13 new deaths, its lowest new count since Monday, when it added only four deaths. On Friday, the department added new deaths in...
Twitter permanently bans former KKK leader David Duke
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has been banned from Twitter for breaking the social media platform’s site’s rules forbidding hate speech. The company said Friday that Duke’s account “has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of the Twitter rules on hateful conduct.” It didn’t specify what exactly Duke...
Doctors try pressurized oxygen chambers in covid fight
As a New York University medical researcher who works once a week in an emergency room, Dr. David Lee had the luxury of time to think like a scientist while also treating coronavirus patients whose lungs kept giving out. In every case, he saw the same thing: Their blood was...
Sleepy lions, empty bars, lost jobs: A world without tourism
PARIS — With no American visitors to show around the D-Day beaches or the Loire Valley’s chateaux, and no work on the immediate horizon, Paris tour guide Linda Zenou frets about how she’ll pay off a loan and continue to care for her ailing mother in the achingly lean months...
Judge bans lawyers from identifying Epstein abuse victims
NEW YORK — The judge presiding over the criminal case against a British socialite charged with recruiting teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse said Friday that her attorneys are not permitted to publicly identify accusers even if they’ve spoken in a public forum. “Not all accusations or...
‘Into the Wild’ bus likely lands a home at Fairbanks museum
An infamous bus appears headed to a new home at a museum in Fairbanks after being removed from Alaska’s backcountry to deter people from making dangerous, sometimes deadly treks to visit the site where a young man documented his demise in 1992. The state Department of Natural Resources said Thursday...
Indian police say tainted liquor kills at least 21 people
NEW DELHI — Indian police said Friday that at least 21 people have died in a northern state over the past three days after drinking tainted alcohol. The police chief for Punjab state, Dinkar Gupta, said the first five deaths were reported on Wednesday night in two villages in Amritsar...
Hong Kong government postpones elections, citing coronavirusVideo
HONG KONG — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Friday that the government will postpone highly anticipated legislative elections, citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. The Hong Kong government is invoking an emergency regulations ordinance in delaying the elections. Lam said the government has the support...
Supreme leader says Iran won’t negotiate with U.S.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday his country will not negotiate with the United States because America would only use talks for propaganda purposes. The Trump administration has said it is willing to talk with Iran “with no preconditions,” but that the U.S. will continue...
1 Marine dead, 2 injured, 8 missing after vehicle accident
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — One Marine has died, two injured and eight others were missing after an amphibious assault vehicle accident off the coast of southern California, the Marines said early Friday. The accident happened Thursday and search and rescue efforts were underway Friday morning with support from the Navy...
Trump, GOP suggest temporary fix for $600 jobless benefitVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House and some of its Republican allies in the Senate are signaling they want to extend, at least temporarily, a $600-per-week expanded jobless benefit that has helped keep families and the economy afloat during the covid-19 pandemic. The move looks to be too little, too late...
Trump nominee hearing pulled after furor over Islam remarks
WASHINGTON — A Senate committee abruptly canceled a confirmation hearing Thursday on a controversial former general’s nomination to a top Pentagon post after a furor over offensive remarks he made about Islam and other inflammatory comments. The nomination of retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata to be the Pentagon’s under...
Prosecutor: No charges for officer in Michael Brown’s death
CLAYTON, Mo. — St. Louis County’s top prosecutor announced Thursday that he will not charge the former police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., a dramatic decision that could reopen old wounds amid a renewed and intense national conversation about racial injustice and the police treatment of...
1st dog that tested positive for covid-19 dies in New York
NEW YORK — A German shepherd in New York that had the first confirmed case of covid-19 in a dog in the U.S. has died. Robert and Allison Mahoney of Staten Island told National Geographic that their 7-year-old shepherd, Buddy, developed breathing problems in mid-April after Robert had been sick...
At John Lewis funeral, Obama calls for renewing Voting Rights ActVideo
ATLANTA — Former President Barack Obama used Rep. John Lewis’ funeral on Thursday to issue a stark warning that the voting rights and equal opportunity the late civil rights icon championed are threatened heading into the 2020 election. Speaking from the pulpit of the church that Martin Luther King Jr....
Philadelphia trash piles up as pandemic stymies its removal
What would Ben Franklin think? The Founding Father who launched one of America’s first street-sweeping programs in Philadelphia in the late 1750s would see and smell piles of fly-infested, rotting household waste, bottles and cans as the city that he called home struggles to overcome a surge in garbage caused...
Gov. Wolf, GOP critic spar over social media post parroting health secretary’s LGBQT comments
A public back-and-forth between Gov. Tom Wolf and one of his vocal House critics played out Thursday over the Lebanon County lawmaker’s parody of the health department secretary. The feud ended in calls from both parties for censures, resignations and dismissals. The incident started Wednesday with a social media post...
‘Stain on the House’: Ohio reps oust GOP speaker Larry Householder amid probe
COLUMBUS — In a historic, unanimous and bipartisan vote Thursday, the Ohio House ousted its Republican speaker as the chamber’s top leader following his indictment in an alleged $60 million bribery scheme. Rep. Larry Householder is the first Ohio House speaker ever removed by the chamber, according to the Ohio...
‘Isaias’ unleashes flooding, landslides in north CaribbeanVideo
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Isaias battered Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on Thursday as it continued on a forecast track toward the East Coast. The storm unleashed small landslides and caused widespread flooding and power outages on an island still recovering from previous hurricanes and earthquakes....
Dismissal of Michael Flynn’s case will be heard by full appeals court
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court agreed to reconsider its ruling that the judge overseeing the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn had no choice but to dismiss it. The decision to grant a rare “en banc” rehearing before a larger panel of judges...
Pennsylvania reports 860 new coronavirus cases, 14 deaths
Pennsylvania’s total cases of coronavirus has reached 111,078. The state’s Department of Health on Thursday reported 860 new cases. Officials said the number of tests administered statewide within the past seven days is 163,936, with 6,822 individual positive cases being found. With 14 new deaths, the statewide total is now...
Ohio governor asks state pharmacy board to rescind rule prohibiting hydroxychloroquine
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio pharmacy board should rescind a rule prohibiting the prescription of a malaria drug for use by patients with covid-19, Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday. At issue is the prescribing of the drug hydroxychloroquine, whose effectiveness for the coronavirus has been widely questioned. On Wednesday, the...
Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain dies after covid-19 battleVideo
ATLANTA — Herman Cain, former Republican presidential candidate and former CEO of a major pizza chain who went on to become an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, died Thursday of complications from coronavirus. He was 74. Dan Calabrese, who authored a post on Cain’s website announcing the death, told...
Key witness in Red Bull heir hit-and-run case dies in road accident
BANGKOK — Police in Thailand said Thursday that a witness whose testimony was important in having hit-and-run charges dropped against a heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune has died in a traffic accident. The accident in the northern province of Chiang Mai occurred late Wednesday night, just days...
Magnitude 4.2 earthquake shakes Los Angeles, but no damage
LOS ANGELES — A magnitude 4.2 earthquake shook the Los Angeles region before dawn Thursday but no significant damage was reported. The 4:29 a.m. jolt was centered in the northern San Fernando Valley and occurred at a depth of 5.5 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. A magnitude 3.3 aftershock...
