Will omicron finally free us from the covid shackles?
Maybe the record-setting omicron storm is the prelude to the sunnier place we’ve hoped for during two years of covid-19. Dr. John Goldman, a UPMC infectious disease specialist, believes it’s possible. He bases it on the fact ultra-contagious omicron is touching so many people so fast it won’t be much...
Avalanche in Colorado mountains kills 2 snowshoers and dog
ALMA, Colo. — Two people snowshoeing in the mountains of Colorado were killed in an avalanche over the weekend, authorities said. Their bodies and the body of their dog were found buried near Hoosier Pass in central Colorado by searchers using an avalanche rescue dog, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center...
GOP seeks more control over Pa. legislative redistricting
HARRISBURG — State House Republicans who just lost a key vote on new preliminary legislative district maps moved Monday to regain more control of the process by advancing a GOP friendly constitutional amendment that would utterly revamp Pennsylvania’s redistricting process. The State Government Committee passed, on party lines, a plan...
‘American Idol’ star Clay Aiken will run for N.C. seat in Congress
Clay Aiken, the “American Idol” star and a Raleigh native, wants to represent North Carolina in Congress. Aiken, a Democrat who previously ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, announced Monday that he’s planning to run this year in the Durham-centric House district that’s now open. The 6th...
Pfizer seeks conditional EU authorization for covid pill
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The European drug regulator said Monday it has started evaluating an application by Pfizer for its pill to treat the effects of covid-19. The announcement comes as countries in much of the 27-nation bloc are reporting soaring numbers of infections as the highly transmissible omicron variant...
Pope on covid vaccines says health care a ‘moral obligation’
ROME — Pope Francis suggested Monday that getting vaccinated against the coronavirus was a “moral obligation” and denounced how people had been swayed by “baseless information” to refuse one of the most effective measures to save lives during the pandemic. Francis used some of his strongest words yet calling for...
U.S., Russia meet for talks amid tensions linked to Ukraine
GENEVA — Senior U.S. and Russian officials launched special talks Monday on strategic stability, part of a flurry of diplomatic activity in Europe this week aimed at defusing tensions over a Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine, though no major breakthrough was immediately in sight. Russian Deputy Foreign...
In Iran, Taliban hold talks with anti-Taliban Afghan group
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers held talks over the weekend with senior leaders of an anti-Taliban alliance, the Taliban said Monday. The meeting, held in Tehran, was the first of its kind, underscoring Taliban efforts to bring their former opponents into the fold. During the meeting, the alliance...
Norway tells conscripts to return underwear after service
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Conscripts in Norway have been ordered to return their underwear, bras and socks after the end of their military service so that the next group of recruits can use them. The Norwegian military said Monday that it is struggling with dwindling supplies, in part due to the...
Black man shot by off-duty deputy, sparking protest in North CarolinaVideo
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Protesters gathered outside a police station Sunday to decry the fatal shooting of a Black man a day earlier by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina. The demonstrators disputed an initial account of the shooting given by police Saturday. Police in Fayetteville said a preliminary investigation...
Death toll in rockfall on Brazilian lake rises to 10
BRASILIA, Brazil — The death toll from an accident in which a slab of cliff rock toppled onto pleasure boaters on a Brazilian lake has risen to 10, police said Sunday. Authorities worked to identify the dead and divers were searching the lake in case there were more victims. Police...
Man who bought Kyle Rittenhouse his assault-style rifle used in Kenosha killings reportedly will take plea deal
The man who bought Kyle Rittenhouse the gun used to kill two people in Kenosha, Wis., and injure a third when he was just 17 is expected to take a plea deal to avoid convictions on the two felony charges. Dominick Black, now 20, purchased the Smith & Wesson M&P...
Bob Saget, known for ‘Full House,’ ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos,’ dead at 65Video
Bob Saget, the actor-comedian known for his role as beloved single dad Danny Tanner on the sitcom “Full House” and as the wisecracking host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” died while on a stand-up tour. He was 65. Deputies in Orange County, Florida, were called Sunday about an “unresponsive man”...
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson announces bid for another term
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said he’ll seek a third term in 2022, counting on Wisconsin voters to reward his continued and staunch support of former President Donald Trump. “In order for my campaign to succeed, I will need the support of every Wisconsinite who values the truth and...
Man accused of shooting into party headquarters in suburban Philadelphia enters pleas
PHILADELPHIA — A suburban Philadelphia man accused of firing three shots into a local Democratic Party office on Inauguration Day has pleaded guilty to related federal charges. Anthony Nero, 48, entered the pleas last week to federal charges of sending threatening communications and cyberstalking in connection with threats days before...
19 dead, including 9 children, in New York City apartment fireVideo
NEW YORK — A malfunctioning space heater sparked a fire that filled a Bronx apartment building with thick smoke, killing 19 people including nine children Sunday in New York City’s deadliest fire in three decades. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the fire “started in a malfunctioning electric space heater” in...
27 people rescued from floating ice chunk in Green Bay
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Authorities rescued 27 people from a floating chunk of ice that broke away from shore in the bay of Green Bay in eastern Wisconsin, the sheriff’s office said Sunday. No injuries were reported in the incident that happened Saturday morning north of Green Bay, in the...
Stay home or work sick? Omicron poses a conundrum
As the raging omicron variant of covid-19 infects workers across the nation, millions of those whose jobs don’t provide paid sick days are having to choose between their health and their paycheck. While many companies instituted more robust sick leave policies at the beginning of the pandemic, some of those...
Watershed moment in NYC: New law allows noncitizens to vote
NEW YORK — More than 800,000 noncitizens and “Dreamers” in New York City will have access to the ballot box — and could vote in municipal elections as early as next year — after Mayor Eric Adams allowed legislation to automatically become law Sunday. Opponents have vowed to challenge the...
Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson will seek reelection
MADISON, Wis. — Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of former President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters, said Sunday that he will seek reelection, avoiding a wide open GOP primary in the narrowly divided swing state. Johnson had pledged in 2016 not to run for a third time,...
CES gadget show turnout falls more than 70% thanks to covid
LAS VEGAS — Attendance at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas fell more than 70% compared to its previous in-person event two years ago, its organizer said Saturday. The Consumer Technology Association said that more than 45,000 people attended the multi-day event on the Las Vegas Strip that ended...
Obama, Biden honor Sen. Reid as man ‘who got things done’
LAS VEGAS — Former President Barack Obama commemorated late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday as a man “who got things done,” as Democratic leaders gathered to recall Reid — often laughingly — as a man whose impatience for pleasantries was part of a drive to improve the lives...
Woman stole nearly $1 million from Walmart stores in 24 states, feds say
The nearly $1 million in checks that a woman and a man cashed at more than 300 Walmart stores in 24 states looked like legitimate bank checks, federal prosecutors said, but they were counterfeits. The pair spent the money — more than $850,000 — on prepaid debit cards, including from...
Moderna gives Mexico 2.7 million shots as deaths top 300,000
MEXICO CITY — The U.S. company Moderna donated 2.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to Mexico on Saturday as the country’s official death toll topped 300,000. Mexico passed 300,000 test-confirmed coronavirus deaths this week, but so little testing is done in the country that a government review of death certificates...
Conservative firebrand Doug Mastriano enters Pennsylvania’s governor’s race
Doug Mastriano, the state senator from Franklin County who parlayed anger over coronavirus pandemic rules and no-holds-barred support for former President Donald J. Trump into an extended political moment, opened his candidacy for governor Pennsylvania Saturday. Mastriano, who practices his politics with a messianic zeal that has helped him develop...
