States can bar insanity defense, Supreme Court rules
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can prevent criminal defendants from pleading insanity without violating their constitutional rights. The decision could prompt states across the country to toughen standards for defendants who wish to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. The justices’ 6-3 decision came in...
Man gets 25 years for trying to bomb Oklahoma bank
OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma man was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison after being convicted of trying to blow up an Oklahoma City bank with a massive vehicle bomb, according to federal prosecutors. Jerry Drake Varnell, 26, of Sayre was sentenced in federal court in Oklahoma City. When...
South Africa to go into nationwide lockdown over coronavirus
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa, Africa’s most industrialized economy and a nation of 57 million people, will to go into a nationwide lockdown for 21 days starting Thursday to try to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, the president said Monday. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the measures in...
Italy records smaller increase in virus cases for 2nd dayVideo
ROME — Italy has recorded a smaller day-to-day increase in new coronavirus cases for the second straight day, officials said while cautioning it was too soon to know if the worst is behind the country with the world’s second-biggest caseload. Data released by Italy’s Civil Protection agency on Monday showed...
Prosecutors: Woman should owe $28M for defrauding investorsVideo
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say an Israeli woman should be ordered to pay $28 million in restitution to thousands of investors who were defrauded in a scheme she orchestrated. Lee Elbaz, 38, was sentenced in December to 22 years in prison, but U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang hasn’t...
UN chief urges immediate global cease-fire to fight covid-19Video
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Monday for an immediate cease-fire in conflicts around the world to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. The U.N. chief said: “It is time to put armed conflict on lock-down and focus together on the true fight of our lives.” Guterres said the world...
North Carolina wins court piracy case over Blackbeard’s shipVideo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court sided unanimously Monday with North Carolina in a copyright fight with a company that has documented the salvage of the pirate Blackbeard’s ship off the state’s coast. Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court that the company’s copyright infringement lawsuit, which she called “a modern...
Supreme Court last chance for Trump to block Twitter criticsVideo
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump will have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court if he wants to block critics from his personal Twitter account. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected by a 7-2 vote his lawyers’ request for all of the court’s active judges...
Gov. Wolf issues stay-at-home order for Allegheny, 6 other counties; school closures extended
Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday ordered residents in Allegheny and six other Pennsylvania counties to stay at home unless “someone’s life depends on your leaving.” The order, which also affects Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Monroe, Philadelphia and Montgomery counties, is an effort to staunch the spread of the coronavirus in the...
Attacks in Libya kill 5 despite calls for pause in fighting
At least five civilians were killed, including two members of the same family, by heavy shelling in Libya’s capital of Tripoli on Monday, officials in the U.N.-backed government said, despite increased international pressure to halt fighting over coronavirus concerns. Mortar shells launched by Libya’s eastern-based forces struck houses in Tripoli’s...
Klobuchar says husband hospitalized with coronavirusVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced Monday that her husband, John Besser, has tested positive for the coronavirus. The former Democratic presidential candidate said in a statement that Besser began feeling sick when she was in Minnesota and he was in Washington, D.C., and he immediately quarantined himself. She...
Merkel negative in 1st virus test; more to be doneVideo
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman says the German leader has tested negative for the new coronavirus. Spokesman Steffen Seibert told news agency dpa on Monday that “further tests will be conducted in the coming days.” Merkel went into quarantine at home on Sunday evening after being informed that a...
PG&E pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in wildfireVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric said Monday it will plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2018 fire in Northern California that killed 84 people and decimated three towns. The utility said in a statement it will also admit to a single count...
Tensions rise as $2 trillion virus aid stalls in Washington
WASHINGTON — Tensions flared Monday as Washington strained to respond to the worsening coronavirus outbreak, with Congress arguing over a nearly $2 trillion economic rescue package and an impatient President Donald Trump musing openly about letting the 15-day shutdown expire. As the U.S. braces for an onslaught of sick Americans,...
Toilet paper calculator: How long will your stash last?Video
Toilet paper — it’s just about the most prized commodity these days. Or is that commode-ity? Anyway, you’re likely guarding your stash of TP carefully. But how do you know if you have enough? How do you know how long your rolls will keep you in business. Well, enter howmuchtoiletpaper.com....
Fallout of ’08 bailout looms over Washington negotiations
WASHINGTON — In the fall of 2008, an unlikely alliance of lawmakers, regulators and Bush administration officials banded together to rescue an economy they feared was hours away from collapse. They also unwittingly reshaped American politics, unleashing a populist furor that lingers in both parties to this day. More than...
Fauci says he can’t stop Trump from talking at briefings
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci says he can’t jump in front of the microphone to stop President Donald Trump from speaking at daily White House briefings on the coronavirus outbreak. The nation’s top infectious disease expert tells Science magazine in an interview that Trump listens “even though we disagree on...
India halts its crucial train network to try to stop virusVideo
NEW DELHI — As India expanded its virus-containment measures and halted its train network, the country’s lifeblood, the federal government warned Monday of strict legal action for those who flout the rules. The wholesale shutdown of India’s massive train system is unprecedented. “Please save yourself, save your family,” Prime Minister...
Pa. Supreme Court dismisses challenge to Wolf shutdown orderVideo
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by a gun shop that challenged Gov. Tom Wolf’s authority to shutter businesses determined to be “non-life-sustaining,” paving the way for enforcement to begin Monday. Without comment, a majority of the state’s high court late Sunday denied the petition by...
Federal Reserve to lend up to $300B to businesses, citiesVideo
WASHINGTON — In a series of sweeping steps, the U.S. Federal Reserve will lend to small and large businesses and local governments as well as extend its bond buying programs. The announcement Monday is part of the Fed’s ongoing efforts to support the flow of credit through an economy ravaged...
World update on coronavirus: 2 who tested positive on ship dieVideo
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected nearly 350,000 people and killed over 14,700. The covid-19 illness causes mild or moderate symptoms in most people, but severe symptoms are more likely in the elderly or those with existing health problems. More than 98,800 people have recovered so...
Pa. toilet paper factory gets Gov. Wolf’s OK to stay open
You can wipe another factory off the list of Pennsylvania businesses forced to close amid the coronavirus outbreak. And we can all be thankful for it. According to a report in USA Today, Gov. Tom Wolf has granted an exemption for Procter & Gamble’s largest factory, in Wyoming County, to...
Syrians brace for lockdown after first virus caseVideo
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrians rushed to stock up on food and fuel Monday amid fears that authorities would resort to even stricter measures after reporting the first coronavirus infection in the country, where the healthcare system has been decimated by nearly a decade of civil war. The arrival of the...
Police chief: Ohio officer killed in crash during chase
SPRINGDALE, Ohio — An Ohio police officer was killed when a suspect collided with her vehicle during a chase, authorities in a Cincinnati suburb said. Kaia Grant, 33, is the first police fatality in the line of duty in the history of Springdale, Mayor Doyle Webster said at a news...
23 inmates dead after protest over virus fears in Colombia
BOGOTA, Colombia — A deadly riot broke out in a prison in Colombia’s capital, leaving 23 inmates dead, authorities said Sunday, as tensions rise over the spread of the coronavirus in one of the most vulnerable locations: crowded, poorly kept penitentiaries. Justice Minister Margarita Cabello described the events at the...
