Vice President Pence, Texas governor acknowledge rapid virus rise
DALLAS — Vice President Mike Pence and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott acknowledged Sunday that there has been a rapid rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the state in recent weeks after Abbott begin allowing businesses to start reopening in early May. “Covid 19 has taken a very swift...
Man dies in fireworks accident in ScrantonVideo
SCRANTON — Authorities say a man was killed in a fireworks accident in northeastern Pennsylvania over the weekend. The Lackawanna County coroner said 31-year-old Corey Buckley died in an explosion shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday in Scranton. Coroner Tim Rowland said Buckley was killed instantly when the commercial-grade firework he...
Suspect in killing at Louisville protest in custody
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The suspect arrested in the shooting death of a man during a Louisville protest over the police killing of Breonna Taylor had taken part in demonstrations but was disruptive and had been asked by other protesters to leave, authorities and protesters said Sunday. The man, identified by...
Worldwide cornoavirus death toll exceeds 500,000
ROME — The world surpassed two sobering coronavirus milestones Sunday — 500,000 confirmed deaths, 10 million confirmed cases — and hit another high mark for daily new infections as governments that attempted reopenings continued to backtrack and warn that worse news could be yet to come. “Covid-19 has taken a...
Mississippi lawmakers vote to remove rebel emblem from flagVideo
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi lawmakers voted Sunday to surrender the Confederate battle emblem from their state flag, triggering raucous applause and cheers more than a century after white supremacist legislators adopted the design a generation after the South lost the Civil War. Mississippi’s House and Senate voted in succession Sunday...
Arkansas governor says he will encourage, not require, masksVideo
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday that he will encourage people to wear face masks in public to slow the spread of coronavirus but indicated that he doesn’t plan to enact a statewide requirement. “We’re not going to pass a mandate that is unenforceable,” Hutchinson said on...
Trump tweets video with ‘white power’ chant, then deletes it
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted approvingly of a video showing one of his supporters chanting “white power,” a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. He later deleted the tweet and the White House said the president had not heard “the one statement” on the video. The video...
California’s alleged Golden State Killer set to plead guilty
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Forty years after a sadistic suburban rapist terrorized California in what investigators later realized were a series of linked assaults and slayings, a 74-year-old former police officer is expected to plead guilty Monday to being the elusive Golden State Killer. The deal will spare Joseph James DeAngelo...
505 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths reported in Pa.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Sunday reported 505 new coronavirus cases and three new deaths. That brings the statewide total to 85,496 cases and 6,606 deaths. The state considers 633 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in the state are...
Summer may decide fate of lead shots in virus vaccine race
People on six continents already are getting jabs in the arm as the race for a covid-19 vaccine enters a defining summer, with even bigger studies poised to prove if any shot really works — and maybe offer a reality check. Already British and Chinese researchers are chasing the coronavirus...
Trump’s attacks seen undercutting confidence in 2020 vote
WASHINGTON — It was a startling declaration about one of the pillars of American democracy, all the more so given its source. The president of the United States last week publicly predicted without evidence that the 2020 presidential election would be “the most corrupt election in the history of our...
Trump struggles as furor grows over reported Russian bounty offer to kill U.S. troopsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, confronted with a damaging report that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American and allied troops in Afghanistan, declared Sunday on Twitter that he was never briefed about the finding by U.S. intelligence. Democrats including Trump’s prospective presidential rival, Joe Biden, and House...
Man fires shots at business center in northern California
RED BLUFF, Calif — Authorities shot a man who drove into a distribution center Saturday south of Red Bluff and started shooting at people, local media reported. The shooting by a man with “AR-type weapon” started about 3:30 p.m. at the Walmart distribution center, emergency dispatchers told the Record-Searchlight newspaper....
Mississippi takes step toward dropping rebel image from flag
JACKSON, Miss. — Spectators at the Mississippi Capitol broke into cheers and applause Saturday as lawmakers took a big step toward erasing the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, a symbol that has come under intensifying criticism in recent weeks amid nationwide protests against racial injustice. “The eyes of...
Alabama officer fired over post of protester in rifle scope
HOOVER, Ala. — An Alabama police chief says one of his officers has been fired after posting a photo on social media that depicted a protester in the crosshairs of a rifle scope. Former Officer Ryan Snow was fired Friday, Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis said. The officer posted the...
Thousands gather in Denver to protest Elijah McClain’s death
DENVER — Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside a suburban Denver police building Saturday to call for justice in the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man put into a chokehold by police last year. McClain’s death last August has prompted a handful of small protests over the last 10...
3 New Mexico deaths from drinking hand sanitizer likely tied to alcoholism
Three people in New Mexico have died and a fourth is permanently blind after drinking a dangerous amount of hand sanitizer, officials said. The state’s Department of Health on Friday said another three patients remained in critical condition over the weekend. All seven people “are believed to have drunk hand...
Experts: Covid-19 surges hit cities that reopened early, not those with big protests
The United States may be seeing the most compelling evidence yet that the best way to stop the coronavirus is also the most disruptive and difficult: Stay home and avoid other people. At first glance, the evidence seems conflicting. States in the South and West that reopened their economies early...
California cracks down on scofflaw businesses, delays reopenings as virus surges
LOS ANGELES — With coronavirus cases and hospitalizations spiking across California, officials are cracking down on scofflaw businesses and putting the brakes on reopening in hopes of slowing the spread. The worsening pandemic has prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to put a pause on issuing rules that would allow counties to...
N.Y. governor: Latest covid-19 numbers still trending in right direction
NEW YORK — The statewide coronavirus numbers continued to trend downward, with more than 99% of the most recent tests coming back negative, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday. Only 703 of the 73,262 tests conducted Friday indicated coronavirus infection, while patient hospitalizations and the number of patients in intensive care...
Man charged in bridge shooting fired with handgun, AR-15
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — A Kansas City-area man charged with randomly shooting into traffic last month on a bridge that connects Kansas and Missouri fired 15 rounds from a handgun before retrieving an AR-15-style rifle from his car and shooting at least 23 more rounds, according to court records. A criminal...
FBI investigates noose in Minnesota firefighter’s locker
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — The FBI is investigating after officials in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington said Saturday a piece of rope resembling a noose was found in a Black firefighter’s locker. FBI spokesman Kevin Smith told The Associated Press the investigation is in its initial stages. The rope was tied...
Trump ally Candace Owens sows division among other Black supporters
WASHINGTON — The White House’s embrace of a prominent Black advocate for President Trump who made inflammatory remarks about George Floyd has caused turmoil among other Black conservatives close to the president, threatening their support for his reelection. The dispute began this month, shortly after Floyd’s death in the custody...
‘Occupy City Hall’ protest urges budget cuts for NYC police
NEW YORK — Hundreds of protesters camped outside City Hall are demanding that lawmakers slash the New York City police budget. The encampment in City Hall Park in lower Manhattan began forming earlier this week following weeks of street protests sparked by the death of George Floyd and other Black...
Florida reports 9,585 new coronavirus cases, setting another daily record in statewide surgeVideo
MIAMI — Florida’s Department of Health on Saturday confirmed 9,585 additional cases of COVID-19, surpassing Friday’s record-breaking 8,942 cases. The new cases brings the state total of confirmed cases to 132,545. There were also 24 new deaths announced Saturday, bringing the statewide death toll to 3,390. In just over a...
