Mississippi opening field hospital amid surge of covid cases
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi will open a 50-bed field hospital and the federal government will send medical professionals to help treat patients as covid-19 cases continue surging in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, officials said Wednesday. Many Mississippi hospitals face a crunch for...
Heat wave hits Northwest, sending people to cooling centers
PORTLAND, Ore. — People headed to cooling centers Wednesday as the Pacific Northwest began sweltering under another major, multiday heat wave just more than a month after record-shattering hot weather killed hundreds of the region’s most vulnerable people. Temperatures soared to 95 degrees Fahrenheit by mid-afternoon in Portland, Ore. In...
Florida sheriff: Deputy fired for slamming girl to the groundVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A former Florida deputy who worked at a school for children with emotional and behavioral problems was fired Wednesday, nearly two years after a video showed him slamming a female student to the ground after she tapped his knee with her foot. Willard Miller, 40, was...
Police: Man arrested for tattooing child inside a South Carolina McDonald’sVideo
LAURENS, S.C. — A South Carolina man accused of tattooing a juvenile in a fast-food restaurant has been arrested and is facing charges, police said. Brandon Presha, 28, of Laurens, was arrested Tuesday on charges of illegal tattooing and underage tattooing, Laurens Police Chief Chrissie Latimore said. The chief said...
Philadelphia requiring masks at businesses indoors and large outdoor gatheringsVideo
The city of Philadelphia announced it will be requiring masks for businesses indoors and for many large outdoor gatherings. The new mask policy goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. In a news release issued Wednesday, the city cites the rise of the delta variant of the coronavirus, as cases...
19-month-old boy dies after mauling from dog inside Brooklyn homeVideo
NEW YORK — A 19-month-old boy was killed as a result of being mauled by a dog inside a Brooklyn apartment, police said. The New York Police Department said officers responded to a 911 call of a dog attack on a child just before 11 p.m. Tuesday at a building...
Tropical Storm Fred makes landfall in Dominican Republic, South Florida remains on edgeVideo
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Fred made landfall in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, with forecasters warning that heavy rain could cause dangerous flooding and mudslides there and in the neighboring country of Haiti. After a quiet month of no named storms in the region, Fred became the...
Trump accounting firm must release some financial records to Congress
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington ruled that Donald Trump must disclose certain financial records held by his accounting firm Mazars in response to a subpoena from congressional Democrats. But in an order on Wednesday, the judge stopped short of calling for the handover of all the financial records...
NCAA hands Baylor probation, fine in sex assault scandal
The NCAA said Wednesday that its long investigation of the Baylor sexual assault scandal would result in nothing more than probation and other relatively minor sanctions because the egregious, “unacceptable” behavior at the heart of the case did not violate its rules. The NCAA ruling came more than five years...
California to require covid-19 vaccine or test for teachers
SAN FRANCISCO — California will become the first state in the nation to require all teachers and school staff to get vaccinated or undergo weekly covid-19 testing, as schools return from summer break amid growing concerns about the highly contagious delta variant, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday. Newsom announced the...
Hochul says she’s ready to lead following Cuomo’s exit
ALBANY, N.Y. — Suddenly tapped to lead New York through a pandemic and a political earthquake, Lt. Gov Kathy Hochul said Wednesday she was ready to steer the state and would set a different tone than Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is resigning amid sexual harassment allegations. “While it was not...
Court tosses ruling against Pennsylvania covid-19 measures
PHILADELPHIA — A federal appeals court has dismissed a judge’s ruling that threw out Gov. Tom Wolf’s sweeping covid-19 restrictions, saying the case is now moot because statewide mitigation measures have expired and Pennsylvania voters have since constrained a governor’s emergency powers. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled...
New census data expected to reveal a more diverse America
Almost 120 years ago, African American domestic workers settled in the Como neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas, where they held Fourth of July parades, patronized shops on Horne Street and lived for several generations in what seemed like a small town within the big city. But many young families started...
Greek wildfires: Multinational force works to tame flare-ups
PEFKI, Greece — Hundreds of firefighters from across Europe and the Mideast worked alongside their Greek colleagues in rugged terrain Wednesday, trying to contain flareups of the huge wildfires that have ravaged Greece’s forests for a week, destroying homes and forcing thousands to evacuate. The spread of the blazes has...
CDC urges covid vaccines during pregnancy as delta surges
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged all pregnant women Wednesday to get the covid-19 vaccine as hospitals in hot spots around the U.S. see disturbing numbers of unvaccinated mothers-to-be seriously ill with the virus. Expectant women run a higher risk of severe illness and pregnancy complications from the...
Cuomo dynasty sputters out as scandal ends in lonely resignation
Andrew Cuomo’s resignation as governor of New York this week brought to an end a political dynasty stretching back to the 1980s, as a once-towering presence in Democratic politics was forced off stage for sexual misconduct ahead of a possible impeachment trial. It was an ignominious ending to the once-bright...
Democrats renew push on elections bill that Republicans vows to block
WASHINGTON — Democrats are renewing their push to enact their marquee voting bill, pledging to make it the first order of business when the Senate returns in the fall even though they don’t have a clear strategy for overcoming steadfast Republican opposition. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced early Wednesday...
Senate nears OK of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget, despite GOP attacks
WASHINGTON — Democrats pushed their expansive $3.5 trillion framework for bolstering family services, health, and environment programs toward Senate passage early Wednesday, as Republicans unleashed an avalanche of amendments aimed at making their rivals pay a price in next year’s elections. Congressional approval of the budget resolution, which seems assured,...
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear orders masks in schools as covid surges
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Masking up in Kentucky schools was mandated by Gov. Andy Beshear on Tuesday as the fast-spreading delta variant causes waves of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. The new executive action requiring indoor mask wearing applies to K-12 Kentucky schools, regardless of vaccination status for covid-19, the Democratic...
Ambulances wait outside Florida hospitals as covid infections spreadVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Covid-19 cases have filled so many Florida hospital beds that ambulance services and fire departments are straining to respond to emergencies. In St. Petersburg, some patients wait inside ambulances for up to an hour before hospitals can admit them — a process that usually takes about...
Rain batters Puerto Rico, USVI as storm warnings issued
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Heavy rain pelted the northern Caribbean on Tuesday as forecasters warned that a disturbance could soon become Tropical Storm Fred following a quiet month of no named storms in the region. Power outages were already reported in Puerto Rico, where Luma, the company in charge...
Pa. is trying county fairs, text messages and door-knocking to raise the vaccination rate. Success is slow coming.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. Nicole Diehl attended the Wayne County Fair in northeastern Pennsylvania last weekend, not for the livestock exhibitions, carnival games, demolition derbies,...
Unvaccinated students will have to pay $750 at West Virginia Wesleyan
BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — West Virginia Wesleyan College says it will charge a $750 fee to students who aren’t vaccinated for covid-19 for the fall semester. The school in Buckhannon also said in its campus arrival guidance for the upcoming semester that students who come down with the virus and can’t...
Arrest made in crash that killed Utah bride in wedding dressVideo
SALT LAKE CITY — The driver of a pickup truck who Utah police say caused a vehicle crash last weekend that killed a newlywed bride who was still in her purple wedding dress has been arrested, a TV station reported. The bride, Angelica Jimenez Dhondup, 26, was on her way...
What’s inside the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill
WASHINGTON — The Senate has passed a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan plan to rebuild roads and bridges, modernize public works systems and boost broadband internet, among other improvements to the nation’s infrastructure. The White House is projecting that the investments will add, on average, about 2 million jobs per year...
