Washington state again fails to live-track murder hornet
SEATTLE — Washington state officials said Monday they were again unsuccessful at live-tracking a “murder” hornet while trying to find and destroy a nest of the giant insects. The Washington State Department of Agriculture said an entomologist used dental floss to tie a tracking device on a female hornet, only...
Driverless boat in Florida spins out of control, smashing docksVideo
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Three men conducting a photo shoot on a boat in a busy Florida river somehow went overboard, leaving the 24-foot vessel unmanned and out of control. The three men told deputies that they accidentally fell into the St. Lucie River along Florida’s Atlantic coast on...
Police: Louisiana boy, 11, steals school bus and leads police on chaseVideo
BATON ROUGE, La. — An 11-year-old boy stole a school bus Sunday morning and lead Louisiana officers on a chase before crashing into a tree, authorities said. Baton Rouge Police said the boy was not injured in the crash, news outlets reported. Police spokesperson Sgt. L’Jean McKneely Jr. said the...
U.N. warns against pursuing herd immunity to stop coronavirusVideo
LONDON — The head of the World Health Organization warned against the idea that herd immunity might be a realistic strategy to stop the pandemic, dismissing such proposals as “simply unethical.” At a media briefing on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health officials typically aim to achieve herd...
Attorney General Barr broke elections law, ethics groups say in call to impeach
WASHINGTON — Two groups promoting ethics in government called for the impeachment of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, accusing him of violating laws and undermining public confidence in the Justice Department. Barr has used the department to further President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, a bipartisan group of lawyers from the...
California GOP says it owns unofficial ballot drop boxes
LOS ANGELES — California’s Republican Party on Monday acknowledged owning unofficial ballot drop boxes that state election officials said are illegal. California election officials received reports over the weekend about the boxes in Fresno, Los Angeles and Orange counties. On Sunday, the secretary of state issued a memo telling county...
UK sheep farmer jailed for contaminated Heinz baby food plot
LONDON — A sheep farmer was sentenced to 14 years in prison Monday for his plot to use baby food laced with metal shards to blackmail one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains. Nigel Wright planted jars of the contaminated baby food in Tesco grocery stores and sent dozens of letters...
U.S. trails other developed nations in curbing coronavirus deaths
The proportion of Americans dying from coronavirus infections is the highest in the developed world, according to a study of global mortality rates that shows the U.S. pandemic response left citizens exposed to the lethal disease. Early in the outbreak, the U.S. mortality rate from covid-19 was lower than in...
World Health Organization leader warns against herd immunity solution
LONDON — The head of the World Health Organization warned against the idea that herd immunity might be a realistic strategy to stop the pandemic, calling such proposals “unethical.” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing on Monday that health officials typically aim to achieve herd immunity...
Over 2 days, Pennsylvania adds over 2,250 new covid cases, 24 new deaths
Pennsylvania saw 2,254 new coronavirus cases over the past two days — 1,166 on Sunday, 1,088 on Monday — according to a report from state Department of Health on Monday. The state said 239,484 tests were conducted from Oct. 5-11, with 9,117 positives found. Six new covid-related deaths were reported...
Carnival Cruise Line cancels Florida, Australia trips
Carnival Cruise Line said Monday it was canceling its remaining cruises scheduled for November out of two Florida ports, as well as five cruises from Australia at the beginning of next year. The cruise line had previously announced it was canceling for the rest of the year all U.S. cruises...
Danes start culling 2.5 million minks after virus hits farms
Danish veterinarians and farmers have begun culling at least 2.5 million minks in northern Denmark, authorities said Monday, after coronavirus has been reported in at least 63 farms. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration is handling the culling of the infected animals while breeders who have non-infected animals on a...
Security guard jailed in deadly shooting at Denver protests
A private security guard working for a Denver TV station is behind bars and accused in the deadly shooting of another man during dueling right- and left-wing protests, police said Sunday. Matthew Dolloff, 30, was booked into jail for investigation of first-degree murder following the clash Saturday afternoon in Civic...
5th night of Wisconsin police shooting protest more peaceful
WAUWATOSA, Wis. — Demonstrators protested for a fifth night in a Milwaukee suburb following a prosecutor’s decision not to charge a police officer who fatally shot a Black teenager. About two dozen demonstrators remained at a corner in Wauwatosa on Sunday night past the 7 p.m. curfew. Police warned the...
Technical problems arise as early voting starts in Georgia
ATLANTA — Long lines of people eager to cast ballots formed as early in-person voting began in Georgia on Monday, and problems soon developed in the state’s most populous county. Election officials in Fulton County were aware of an issue with the electronic pollbooks used to check voters in at...
Facebook bans Holocaust denial, distortion postsVideo
Facebook is banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust and will start directing people to authoritative sources if they search for information about the Nazi genocide. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new policy Monday, the latest attempt by the company to take action against conspiracy theories and misinformation...
Pa. Republicans drop effort to create ‘election integrity’ panel with subpoena power
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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 weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Republicans have dropped their plan to create an “election integrity” panel with subpoena power, an effort Democrats...
Supreme Court nominee Barrett vows to interpret laws ‘as they are written’Video
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett declared Monday that Americans “deserve an independent Supreme Court that interprets our Constitution and laws as they are written,” encapsulating her conservative approach to the law that has Republicans excited about the prospect of her taking the place of the late Justice Ruth Bader...
NYC virus lockdown protest leader arrested on riot charge
NEW YORK — A leader of protests against new coronavirus restrictions in several New York neighborhoods has been arrested on charges of inciting to riot and unlawful imprisonment for allegedly instigating an assault on a journalist, police said. The New York City Police Department said Heshy Tischler was taken into...
Poland evacuates 750 people as WWII Tallboy bomb is defused
Hundreds of people in northwest Poland have been evacuated for a few days to allow Navy sappers to neutralize a British World War II giant Tallboy bomb resting under a waterway leading to the port of Szczecin. The 5.4 ton bomb was found in September 2019 during work to deepen...
2 Stanford economists win Nobel prize for auction theory
STOCKHOLM — Two American economists won the Nobel Prize on Monday for improving the theory of how auctions work and inventing new and better auction formats that are now woven into many parts of the economy. The discoveries of Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “have benefitted sellers, buyers...
Iran has highest daily virus death toll, new patient count
TEHRAN, Iran — For the second day in a row, Iran announced on Monday its highest single-day death toll from the coronavirus with 272 people confirmed dead. The announcement by Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari saw Iran also give its single-day highest count of new cases with 4,206 new...
India, China hold fresh talks on ending military faceoff
SRINAGAR, India — Senior Indian and Chinese military commanders were holding fresh talks Monday aimed at ending a months-long standoff along their disputed border in the remote Ladakh region. The talks were being held on the Indian side of the frontier in the Chushul area. No details were immediately available....
EU plans big building renovation project to save energy
BRUSSELS — The European Union is announcing a major building renovation project this week seeking to cut down energy costs and polluting emissions while providing a big boost to the construction industry. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that the 27-nation bloc “must speed up” the pace...
Supreme Court nominee Barrett faces Senate despite virus
WASHINGTON — Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett are set to begin as a divided Senate charges ahead on President Donald Trump’s pick to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and cement a conservative court majority before Election Day. Barrett, a federal appeals court judge, will...
