Florida site of GOP convention orders wearing of masksVideo
The city of Jacksonville, Fla., where mask-averse President Donald Trump plans to accept the Republican nomination in August, ordered the wearing of face coverings Monday, joining the list of state and local governments reversing course to try to beat back a resurgence of the coronavirus. Less than a week after...
Trump campaign sues over mail-in drop-off sites for ballots in Pa.
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, the national Republican Party and four Western Pennsylvania members of Congress sued Monday to force changes to how the state collects and counts mail-in ballots under revamped rules. The federal lawsuit filed in Pittsburgh claims that as voters jumped to make use of...
Billions of dollars in aid for small businesses go unclaimed
NEW YORK — Billions of dollars offered by Congress as a lifeline to small businesses struggling to survive the pandemic are about to be left on the table when a key government program stops accepting applications for loans. Business owners and advocacy groups complain that the money in the Paycheck...
‘White power’ flare-up in retirement haven The Villages reveals tensions
THE VILLAGES, Fla. — There has always been a low-boil tension in The Villages retirement community between the Republican majority and the much smaller cohort of Democrats, but a veneer of good manners in “Florida’s Friendliest Hometown” mostly prevailed on golf courses and at bridge tables. Those tensions, though, flared...
Prosecutor: Golden State Killer said inner voice drove him
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The man dubbed the Golden State Killer made incriminating statements after his arrest and indicated he was driven by an internal force he couldn’t control, a prosecutor said Monday. Sacramento County prosecutor Thien Ho said that Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was alone in a police interrogation room...
Court: Ex-Ross Township postal worker who killed lover when she wouldn’t leave her husband needs to stay in prison
Robert Metz killed his lover when she refused to leave her husband. Her body was still there, lying on the floor of Metz’s Ross Township apartment, when police burst in three days later. And Metz, a 69-year-old retired postal worker, was sitting in a bathtub filled with bloody water, holding...
NYC mayor seeks $1 billion police cut amid City Hall protestVideo
NEW YORK — A week after a “defund the police” protest became a full-blown occupation outside City Hall, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday he has a plan for the New York City police department budget to be slashed by $1 billion. The mayor, a Democrat, declined to discuss the...
Boris Johnson says covid-19 has been a disaster for BritainVideo
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged Monday that the coronavirus pandemic has been a “disaster” for Britain, as he announced a spending splurge designed to get the country — and his faltering Conservative government — back on track. As the U.K. emerges from a three-month lockdown, Johnson has lined...
Dems push election-season health care bill toward House OK
WASHINGTON — Democrats pushed a strengthening of “Obamacare” patient protections toward House passage Monday, an effort they hoped would help them sharpen the coronavirus pandemic and President Donald Trump’s efforts to scuttle the increasingly popular law into a lethal election-year weapon. The campaign-season bill seemed certain to move through the...
Westmoreland County reports 20 new coronavirus cases
Westmoreland County on Monday reported 20 new covid-19 cases and no additional deaths, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The countywide case total is now 640, with 38 deaths. There have been no reported coronavirus deaths in the county since May 18. Of the total number of covid-19 cases...
Pennsylvania reports 492 new coronavirus cases, 8 new deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Monday reported 492 new coronavirus cases and eight new deaths. That brings the statewide total to 85,988 cases and 6,614 deaths. The state considers 2,414 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in the state are...
Public input sought on state’s 2.2 million acres of forest land
State officials are asking Pennsylvanians to weigh in via a survey on plans for the roughly 2.2 million acres of land that make up its state forests. “As the department moves forward in developing a new strategic plan, those who appreciate, work in or recreate in Pennsylvania’s forests have a...
Gilead’s $2,340 price for coronavirus drug draws criticismVideo
The maker of a drug shown to shorten recovery time for severely ill covid-19 patients says it will charge $2,340 for a typical treatment course for people covered by government health programs in the United States and other developed countries. Gilead Sciences announced the price Monday for remdesivir, and said...
Long-controversial Robert E. Lee marker in Ohio vandalized
FRANKLIN, Ohio — A vandal or vandals over the weekend spray-painted a marker honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in the southwest Ohio city of Franklin. WHIO-TV reports they also wrote “no racist monuments” on the road in front of the marker, which was moved from alongside a public highway...
Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion clinic law
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics, reasserting a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era. Chief Justice John Roberts joined with his four more liberal colleagues in...
Supreme Court refuses to block upcoming federal executions
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block the execution of four federal prison inmates who are scheduled to be put to death in July and August. The executions would mark the first use of the death penalty on the federal level since 2003. The justices rejected an...
Supreme Court declines to hear border wall challenge
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision that rejected environmental groups’ challenge to sections of wall the Trump administration is building along the U.S. border with Mexico. The high court on Monday declined to hear an appeal involving construction of 145 miles of steel-bollard walls along...
Putin seizes moment to rule until he’s 83 amid fading popularityVideo
MOSCOW — After two decades in power, Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings are at an all-time low as Russia’s economy reels under the impact of the coronavirus epidemic and the slump in oil prices. What better time for him to seek to extend his presidency for potentially 16 more years? It’s...
Alabama mayor resigns after post on Crimson Tide’s BLM video
CARBON HILL, Ala. — A controversial Alabama mayor has resigned after posting disparaging comments about the University of Alabama football team voicing its support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Carbon Hill Mayor Mark Chambers submitted his resignation letter to the city clerk on Saturday, news outlets reported. The council...
French former prime minister, wife found guilty of fraud
PARIS — A Paris court on Monday found French former prime minister Francois Fillon guilty of having used public funds to pay his wife and children for work they never performed. The work had brought the family more than $1.13 million since 1998. The couple’s lawyers immediately announced an appeal....
Little Caesars workers fired after swastika found on pizza
BROOK PARK, Ohio — Two employees were fired after an Ohio couple who purchased a pizza at Little Caesars found pepperonis had been placed to form a backward swastika. Misty and Jason Laska made the discovery when they opened the box that they had purchased Saturday at the store. Misty...
Afghan official: Bomb, mortars kill 23 civilians in Helmand
KABUL, Afghanistan — A car bombing and mortar shells fired at a busy market in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province on Monday killed 23 people, including children, a statement form a provincial governor’s office said. Both the Taliban and the Afghan military blame each other for the attack in Sangin district....
U.K. judge warns Assange on U.S. extradition hearing attendance
LONDON — A British judge said Monday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange must attend his next court hearing unless he can provide medical evidence to support his absence. Lawyers for Assange said he could not attend the latest hearing on his U.S. extradition case by video link from prison for...
Trump denies being briefed about reported Russian bounties on U.S. troops in AfghanistanVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has denied he was made aware of U.S. intelligence officials’ conclusions Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan. The Trump administration was set to brief select members of Congress on the matter Monday. The intelligence assessments came amid Trump’s...
Couple draw guns at crowd heading to St. Louis mayor’s homeVideo
ST. LOUIS — A white couple stood outside their mansion and pointed guns at protesters in St. Louis as the group marched toward the mayor’s home to demand her resignation. Mark McCloskey, 63, told a TV station that he and wife, Patricia, both personal injury lawyers, were facing an “angry...
