U.S./World category, Page 889
Report: Alaska AG quit after reports of sexual misconduct
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska’s then-attorney general resigned while the Anchorage Daily News and the ProPublica investigative journalism organization were preparing an article about allegations of sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl three decades ago. The Daily News and the ProPublica Local Reporting Network reported Saturday that the resignation of Ed...
Thousands flee Hong Kong for UK, fearing China crackdown
LONDON — Cindy had a comfortable lifestyle in Hong Kong: she owned several properties with her husband, they had a good business going. But last year she made up her mind to leave it all behind and move her family to Britain, and not even a global pandemic was going...
Uproar: Alabama governor to lease prisons, despite criticism
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said she plans to sign agreements Monday for two privately built prisons, despite lawmakers’ complaints about the pricetag and lack of public transparency and warnings from advocacy groups that such prisons won’t address chronic violence and severe staffing woes. Ivey spokeswoman Gina Maiola...
Kentucky AG urges dismissal of impeachment petition
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s attorney general is urging state lawmakers to dismiss an impeachment petition against him, fighting back against allegations by three grand jurors from the Breonna Taylor death investigation who joined in seeking his ouster from office. The petition, signed by a handful of Kentuckians, alleges Attorney General...
Merriam-Webster adds more than 520 new words to dictionary, including ‘COVID-19,’ ‘second gentleman’ and ‘sapiosexual’
Merriam-Webster, the United States’ leading language provider announced it was adding over 520 new words and definitions to the publisher’s website. These new words include “covid-19,” “second gentleman,” “long-hauler,” “flex,” “ASMR” and “sapiosexual.” Before the pandemic, “long-hauler” was defined as a person or vehicle that travels long distances, but it...
Warden out after new allegations at embattled federal jail in New York
NEW YORK — The warden brought in to clean up the federal jail where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself has abruptly stepped down after a yearlong tenure marred by the rampant spread of the coronavirus, inmates’ complaints about squalid conditions, a smuggled gun and an inmate’s death. Marti Licon-Vitale, 54, quit...
Pistol-packing congresswoman Boebert mocks former Parkland student as not ‘tough’
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, the Colorado Republican who is so pro-gun she carries a Glock handgun everywhere and owns a firearms-themed restaurant, mocked gun control activist David Hogg on Twitter. In a Thursday evening post, Boebert responded with disdain to a tweet from Hogg, who survived...
Blame game begins over Pennsylvania’s slow vaccine rollout
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republicans are faulting the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf for Pennsylvania’s slow covid-19 vaccine rollout even as Wolf himself says insufficient supply is the real culprit, setting up a fresh political fight over who’s to blame for the frustrations of eligible residents trying to get inoculated....
Biden warns of growing cost of delay on $1.9T econ aid plan
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden warned Friday of a steep and growing “cost of inaction” on his $1.9 trillion covid relief plan as the White House searched for “creative” ways to win public support for a package that is getting a cold shoulder from Senate Republicans. In the age of...
Workers escaped deadly leak by going through nitrogen fog
GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Workers at a northeast Georgia poultry plant said they escaped through a fog of vaporizing liquid nitrogen that killed six of their coworkers, as an investigation continued Friday into the cause of the leak at Foundation Food Group. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims on...
Judge blocks Trump rule to limit health studies in EPA regs
A federal judge has blocked a last-minute rule issued by the Trump administration to limit what evidence the Environmental Protection Agency may consider as it regulates pollutants to protect public health. Former EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the Jan. 6 rule was aimed at ending what he and other Republicans...
Army: Sick soldiers drank compound found in antifreeze
FORT BLISS, Texas — An investigation into what sickened 11 soldiers who ingested an unauthorized substance shows they drank an industrial compound found in antifreeze believing it was alcohol following a 10-day field training exercise at Fort Bliss in Texas, U.S. Army officials said Friday. Lt. Col. Allie Payne, public...
Moscow court puts opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s allies under house arrest
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe. Navalny’s supporters called for rallies on Sunday to demand his release. Tens...
Police: Newly found blood sample solves 1988 homicide in Michigan
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Police said they solved the murder of a Battle Creek woman more than 30 years later, after a newly discovered blood sample connected a man to the fatal stabbing. But no charges will be filed because Roger Plato was killed in 1988, three days before Gayle...
Checked by reality, some QAnon supporters seek a way out
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Ceally Smith spent a year down the rabbit hole of QAnon, devoting more and more time to researching and discussing the conspiracy theory online. Eventually it consumed her, and she wanted out. She broke up with the boyfriend who recruited her into the movement, took six months...
Fauci sees covid vaccination for kids by late spring or the summer
WASHINGTON — The government’s top infectious disease expert said Friday he hopes to see children being vaccinated starting in the next few months. It’s a needed step to securing widespread immunity to the coronavirus. “Hopefully by the time we get to the late spring and early summer we will have...
Constitutional ban on medical and recreational pot advances in Idaho
BOISE, Idaho — A proposed constitutional amendment that would prevent the legalization of marijuana in Idaho moved forward Friday as lawmakers in the conservative state try to halt the increasing acceptance of the drug nationwide. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted to send the joint resolution that bans all psychoactive...
Putin signs extension of last Russia-U.S. nuclear arms treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a bill extending the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States a week before the pact was due to expire. Both houses of the Russian parliament voted unanimously Wednesday to extend the New START treaty for five years....
U.S. extends temporary residency for thousands from Syria
WASHINGTON — The United States extended the temporary legal residency status Friday for nearly 7,000 people from Syria because of the country’s civil war. Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary David Pekoske said Friday that temporary protected status would be extended for 18 months. It was set to expire on...
AstraZeneca covid vaccine authorized for all adults by European Union
BERLIN — Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population. The European Medicines Agency licensed the vaccine to be used in people 18 and over, though concerns had been raised...
Japan prime minister says he’s determined to hold Olympics
TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, despite growing uncertainty as coronavirus cases rise at home, renewed his determination Friday to host the postponed Tokyo Olympics this summer as a symbol of human victory over the pandemic. Suga, speaking from Tokyo at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum,...
Johnson & Johnson’s 1-dose shot prevents covid-19, but less than some others
Johnson & Johnson’s long-awaited vaccine appears to protect against covid-19 with just one shot — not as strong as some two-shot rivals but still potentially helpful for a world in dire need of more doses. J&J said Friday that in the U.S. and seven other countries, the single-shot vaccine was...
Moscow court mulls house arrest for Navalny’s allies
A Moscow court on Friday considered a request to put several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest as authorities work to stymie more protests over the anti-corruption investigator’s jailing. Navalny’s supporters are calling for rallies on Sunday to demand his freedom. Tens of thousands of people...
Lawsuit: Subway’s tuna is not actually tuna, but a ‘mixture of various concoctions’
Sorry, Charlie. Two Bay Area customers allege there’s something fishy with Subway’s tuna sandwiches. Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin of California’s Alameda County recently filed a lawsuit accusing the restaurant franchise of misrepresenting its tuna sandwich. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges...
Oregon health workers stuck in snow give other drivers vaccineVideo
GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Oregon health workers who got stuck in a snowstorm on their way back from a covid-19 vaccination event went car to car injecting stranded drivers before several of the doses expired. Josephine County Public Health said on Facebook that the “impromptu vaccine clinic” took place after...
