Iraqi forces arrest men suspected of attacks targeting U.S.
BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces arrested over a dozen men suspected of a spate of rocket attacks against the U.S. presence in Iraq, the Iraqi military said Friday — the strongest action to date by the new government in Baghdad against perpetrators suspected of ties to Iran. The arrests marked...
Free service APPRISE helps older adults understand insurance options
Understanding Medicare, Medicaid, Medigap and other supplemental insurance options for older adults can be a confusing and frustrating process. There’s a lot of information to sift through, and it’s not always easy to find answers to questions that arise. What few people are aware of, however, is that Pennsylvanians don’t...
Rayshard Brooks struggled in system but didn’t hide his past
ATLANTA — Rayshard Brooks didn’t hide his history. About five months before he was killed by Atlanta police in a Wendy’s parking lot — before his name and case would become the latest rallying point in a massive call for racial justice and equality nationwide — Brooks gave an interview...
After waves of covid deaths, care homes face legal reckoning
PARIS — The muffled, gagging sounds in the background of the phone call filled Monette Hayoun with dread. Was her severely disabled 85-year-old brother, Meyer, choking on his food? Was he slowly suffocating like the Holocaust survivor who died a few months earlier in another of the care home’s bedrooms,...
Trump zeroes in on base to overcome reelection obstacles
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is sharpening his focus on his most ardent base of supporters as concern grows inside his campaign that his standing in the battleground states that will decide the 2020 election is slipping. Trump turned his attention this week to “left wing mobs” toppling Confederate monuments...
Dueling Trump-Biden events offer contrasting virus responses
LANCASTER — A presidential campaign that has largely been frozen for several months because of the coronavirus is looking a bit more like those from other years. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden swung through critical battleground states, presenting starkly different visions for America as it struggles with...
Texas man cited with disorderly conduct over mask dispute
SAN ANTONIO — A 47-year-old Texas man was cited for disorderly conduct Thursday after he allegedly smacked the hand of a San Antonio-area official who was trying to persuade him to put on a face covering, officials said. The man’s lawyer disputes the claim. Terry Toller turned himself in to...
Tucson mayor sticks with police chief after custody death
TUCSON, Ariz. — The mayor of Tucson, Arizona, said Thursday that the city’s police chief should stay in his job, even as criticism mounts over the death of a young Hispanic man while handcuffed in police custody. Mayor Regina Romero, a Democrat, said Chief Chris Magnus should not resign because...
Colorado reopens inquiry into Elijah McClain’s 2019 death
DENVER — The Colorado governor on Thursday ordered prosecutors to reopen the investigation into the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man put into a chokehold by police who stopped him on the street in suburban Denver last year because he was “being suspicious.” Gov. Jared Polis signed an...
Lobbying grows against Mississippi’s rebel-themed flag
JACKSON, Miss. — University coaches and Christian ministers filled the Mississippi Capitol on Thursday, urging legislators to seize the moment and remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag while Americans are reckoning with difficult discussions about race and history. “It doesn’t take courage. It takes conscience,” said the...
U.S. Catholic bishops: Clergy sex abuse claims tripled in 2019
NEW YORK — U.S. Roman Catholic bishops said Thursday that the church tallied 4,434 sex abuse allegations against clergy in the 2018-19 audit year, triple the number seen the previous year, with much of the increase stemming from a wave of lawsuits and claims by survivors of decades-old molestation. In...
Philly police head decries tear gas usage against protesters
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia’s police commissioner, along with the mayor, apologized to the public Thursday for giving statements that were inaccurate in the days after tear gas, bean bags and pepper spray were used against protesters who were trapped on a highway. At least one high ranking commander took a voluntary...
A look at a Colorado Black man’s death in police encounter
DENVER — As protests continue across the U.S. against excessive police force against people of color, Elijah McClain’s name has become another rallying cry on social media. McClain, a 23-year-old Black man in the Denver suburb of Aurora, died in August after police officers confronted him as he was walking...
Wildfire near Mount Rushmore contained ahead of Trump visit
CUSTER, S.D. — A wildfire located near Mount Rushmore in South Dakota has been completely contained, according to Gov. Kristi Noem’s office. The fire comes amid preparations for President Donald Trump’s visit to the monument for Independence Day celebrations and fireworks next week. The state called in 117 firefighters, including...
Kentucky capitol rally urges action in Breonna Taylor death
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Hundreds of people rallied at Kentucky’s capitol on Thursday to urge action in the investigation of three officers in the fatal police shooting of a Black woman, Breonna Taylor, at her Louisville home. Taylor’s family, hip hop artists and civil rights lawyers addressed a large crowd on...
Trump tweets about plan for BLM mural in front of his Tower
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump has taken issue with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to paint “Black Lives Matter” in giant letters on the street in front of Trump’s namesake Manhattan tower. Trump tweeted Thursday that de Blasio “wants to paint the fabled & beautiful Fifth...
Funding for key Minneapolis police initiative falls through
MINNEAPOLIS — Funding for a key Minneapolis Police Department accountability initiative after the death of George Floyd has fallen through, officials confirmed Thursday, meaning potential delays as the city scrambles to find another source for the money. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced June 10 the department would contract with Benchmark...
California to vote on 1st-in-US electric truck sales rule
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California regulators approved new rules on Thursday that would force automakers to sell more electric work trucks and delivery vans, a first-of-its-kind rule aimed at helping the nation’s most populous state clean up its worst-in-the-nation air quality. The rules require a certain percentage of work truck sales...
US virus cases near an all-time high as governors backtrack
NEW YORK —The coronavirus crisis deepened in Arizona on Thursday, and the governor of Texas began to backtrack after making one of the most aggressive pushes in the nation to reopen, as the daily number of confirmed cases across the U.S. closed in on the peak reached during the dark...
NYC judge rejects Trump family effort to halt tell-all book
WASHINGTON — A New York City judge has dismissed a claim by Donald Trump’s brother that sought to halt the publication of a tell-all book by the president’s niece. In a ruling handed down on Thursday, Judge Peter Kelly said the Surrogates Court lacked jurisdiction in the case. Mary Trump...
U.S. health officials estimate 20 million Americans have had virus
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials estimate that 20 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since it first arrived in the United States, meaning that the vast majority of the population remains susceptible. Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times as many infections as the 2.3 million cases that have been...
Biden, Trump stage rare dueling events in pandemic era
LANCASTER — Both President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, are swinging through key battleground states on Thursday, presenting dueling events that haven’t happened much in the age of coronavirus and showcasing their contrasting styles in response to the pandemic. The former vice president wore a black face...
NYPD officer charged with using banned chokehold
NEW YORK — Moving swiftly amid a global furor over police misconduct, New York City prosecutors on Thursday filed criminal charges against a police officer caught on video putting a Black man in what they said was a banned chokehold. Officer David Afanador pleaded not guilty on Thursday to strangulation...
Arizona politician condemned for using George Floyd’s last words
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A city council member in suburban Phoenix is drawing criticism from the governor and others after invoking George Floyd’s dying words of “I can’t breathe” during a protest over an order to wear masks to stop the spread of coronavirus. Scottsdale Councilman Guy Phillips uttered the remark...
‘We started getting sores all over us’: Grand jury report blasts DEP, health department over fracking failures in Pa.
A scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report two years in the making blasted the state departments of Environment Protection and Health, alleging years of turning a blind eye to complaints against the oil and gas industry left residents exposed to harmful water and air pollution that caused nosebleeds, mysterious sores and...
