London’s Tower Bridge stuck open due to a technical fault
London’s Tower Bridge was stuck with its roadway arms raised Monday afternoon, snarling traffic on both sides of the River Thames. Images of the 127-year-old drawbridge, one of several spans that connect the northern and southern parts of the British capital, show the two halves of the roadway pointing skyward...
Pentagon to require covid vaccine for all troops by Sept. 15
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will require members of the U.S. military to get the covid-19 vaccine by Sept. 15, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press. That deadline could be pushed up if the vaccine receives final FDA approval or infection rates continue to rise. “I will seek...
Jury selection starts in R. Kelly sex trafficking case
NEW YORK — After several delays, the first phase of the sex trafficking trial of R&B hitmaker R. Kelly started Monday with jury selection in New York City. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly began questioning potential jurors about whether they can keep an open mind about Kelly two years after...
From alpha to lambda — a guide to the Greek alphabet of covid variants
First, many called it simply the coronavirus, then covid or covid-19. Now, we are keeping track of descriptors like alpha, beta and gamma, the variants of covid-19. The World Health Organization created this naming system to make them easier to publicly discuss. Viruses are constantly changing through mutation, which results...
Fake covid vaccine cards online worry college officials
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — As the delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps across the United States, a growing number of colleges and universities are requiring proof of covid-19 vaccination for students to attend in-person classes. But the mandatory requirement has opened the door for those opposed to getting the...
U.S. job openings hit a record 10.1 million in June
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted a record 10.1 million job openings in June, another sign that the job market and economy are bouncing back briskly from last year’s coronavirus shutdowns. Job openings rose from 9.5 million in May, the Labor Department reported Monday. Employers hired 6.7 million workers in June....
Senate Dems unveil $3.5T budget for social, climate efforts
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats unveiled a budget resolution Monday that maps $3.5 trillion in spending boosts and tax breaks aimed at strengthening social and environmental programs, setting up an autumn battle over President Joe Biden’s domestic policy ambitions. The measure lays the groundwork for legislation later this year that over...
Fire-friendly weather to return to Northern California
Thick smoke that held down winds and temperatures began to clear Sunday from the scenic forestlands of Northern California as firefighters battling the largest single wildfire in state history braced for a return of fire-friendly weather. The winds weren’t expected to reach the ferocious speeds that helped the Dixie Fire...
Infrastructure senators brush off criticism from left, right
WASHINGTON — Often elusive, the political center is holding steady in the Senate as a coalition of Democratic and Republican senators brushes off critics to push the $1 trillion infrastructure package toward final passage. On the left, the Democrats have withstood the complaints of liberals who say the proposal falls...
‘Not normal’: Ex-Cuomo aide details groping allegations
ALBANY, N.Y. — An executive assistant who accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping her breast at the governor’s mansion detailed why she felt empowered to go public with her allegations Monday, as a key legislative committee is set to discuss possible impeachment hearings. Brittany Commisso, one of nearly...
‘Code red for humanity’: UN report says global warming nears limits
Earth’s climate is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released Monday that the United Nations called a “code red for humanity.” “It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to...
Senators push infrastructure bill a step closer to passageVideo
WASHINGTON — Senators hoisted the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package over another hurdle late Sunday, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans pushing it closer to passage despite a few holdouts trying to derail one of President Joe Biden’s top priorities. The rare bipartisan momentum was holding steady, a reflection of...
DA: 1 dead, 1 wounded in shopping center parking lot gunfire in Lower Nazareth Township
EASTON — One person was killed and another wounded by gunfire in the parking lot of a department store in eastern Pennsylvania, authorities said. Northampton County District Attorney Terence Houck told LehighValleyLive.com that the two were injured in a shootout between occupants of two vehicles on Sunday afternoon outside the...
Sheriff: Caretaker charged with murder in North Carolina woman’s death
NEWLAND, N.C. — A caretaker for a western North Carolina woman who was found dead last week in her home, buried in concrete, has been arrested and charged with murder, a sheriff said on Sunday. Elizabeth Carserino, 53, of Goose Creek, S.C. was in the Avery County jail on secured...
1 Chicago officer killed, 1 wounded in traffic stop shootingVideo
CHICAGO — A 29-year-old Chicago police officer was killed and another was wounded in an exchange of gunfire during a traffic stop, officials said Sunday. The death of the female officer Saturday night was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since 2018. Speaking...
Austin in ‘dire’ situation with rise in covid-19 hospitalizations, officials warnVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — Available hospital space for covid-19 patients in the Austin area continued to be a source of anxiety over the weekend, leading officials to redouble their efforts to persuade residents to get vaccinated as a means of slowing new cases driven by the delta variant. An automated phone...
Californians endure intense weekend of wildfire fearsVideo
After four years of homelessness, Kesia Studebaker thought she finally landed on her feet when she found a job cooking in a diner and moved into a house in the small community of Greenville. She had been renting for three months and hoped the stability would help her win back...
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy knocks bans on local mask mandates
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy says he disagrees with GOP governors in Florida and Texas who are blocking mask mandates even as covid-19 cases spike higher. Cassidy, a Louisiana physician, said Sunday that “local officials should be listened to” if hospital ICUs in a community are full because of...
Cuomo digs in, shows no sign of heeding calls to resign
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has dug in for the fight of his political life despite the threat of potential criminal investigations and widespread calls for his impeachment over findings that he sexually harassed 11 women, including close aides. Scores of Democrats, including President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...
Hundreds in Warsaw protest political repression in Belarus
Hundreds of people, among them many Belarusians living in exile in Poland, marched Sunday in Warsaw to protest political repression in neighboring Belarus — a demonstration held on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Belarus presidential election that they consider rigged. Many carried the Belarusian opposition’s red-and-white flag...
Census experts puzzled by high rate of unanswered questions
Census Bureau statisticians and outside experts are trying to unravel a mystery: Why were so many questions about households in the 2020 census left unanswered? Residents did not respond to a multitude of questions about sex, race, Hispanic background, family relationships and age, even when providing a count of the...
Crime historian conducts dig for D.B. Cooper case evidence
Nearly 50 years after skyjacker D.B. Cooper vanished out the back of a Boeing 727 into freezing Northwest rain — wearing a business suit, a parachute and a pack with $200,000 in cash — a crime historian is conducting a dig on the banks of the Columbia River in Vancouver,...
Mark Zuckerberg’s cash fuels GOP suspicion and new election rules
When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated $400 million to help fund election offices as they scrambled to deal with the coronavirus pandemic late last summer, he said he hoped he would never have to do it again. Republican legislatures are granting him that wish. At least eight GOP-controlled states have...
Fauci hopeful covid vaccines get full OK by FDA within weeks
The U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Sunday that he was hopeful the Food and Drug Administration will give full approval to the coronavirus vaccine by month’s end and predicted the potential move will spur a wave of vaccine mandates in the private sector as well...
New push to disband Minneapolis police after Floyd’s death
On a hot summer afternoon, Latrell Snider and his partner knocked on Abdullahi Mohamed’s door, introduced themselves and launched their pitch: Minneapolis, they said, has a chance to replace its police department with something new, and they wanted Mohamed’s support. With his children looking on from a living room window,...
