Even as covid cases rise, mask mandates stay shelved
NEW YORK — An increase in covid-19 infections around the U.S. has sent more cities into new high-risk categories that are supposed to trigger indoor mask wearing, but much of the country is stopping short of bringing back restrictions amid deep pandemic fatigue. For weeks, much of upstate New York...
‘Still in shock’: Abortion defenders, foes stunned by Supreme Court leak
The owner of an Alabama abortion clinic was flying home from a conference with other abortion providers Monday night when a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion began ricocheting around the world. As Dalton Johnson read it, he was struck by the harshness of the language that would end the constitutional...
Yazidis, displaced again, fear more strife in Iraqi homeland
ZAKHO, Iraq — Iraqis in a northern town still traumatized by memories of the Islamic State group feared more violence Tuesday after hostilities between the military and a local militia erupted, people internally displaced by the fighting said. Tensions reached a fever pitch when Iraq’s military launched an offensive in...
U.S. Capitol officer fires gun in break room, gets suspended
WASHINGTON — A U.S. Capitol Police officer fired a gun inside a break room in a House office building on Tuesday and was promptly suspended — the latest stain for a police department struggling to regain the public’s trust following the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection and a recent communications failure...
Ukrainian fighters: Russian forces storming Mariupol plant
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — Russian forces Tuesday began storming the steel mill containing the last pocket of resistance in Mariupol, Ukrainian defenders said, just as scores of civilians evacuated from the bombed-out plant over the weekend reached relative safety in Ukrainian-held territory. Osnat Lubrani, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said...
Biden blasts ‘radical’ Roe draft, warns other rights at risk
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday blasted a “radical” draft Supreme Court opinion that would throw out the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling that has stood for a half century and warned that other rights including same-sex marriage and birth control are at risk if the court...
Minnesota appeals court: Trump flag protected free speech
BUFFALO, Minn. — The Minnesota Court of Appeals has sided with a man who said he shouldn’t have been fined for flying a huge Donald Trump flag atop a crane over his business, calling it a protected expression of free speech. The Buffalo City Council had found the 30- by...
New coronavirus variants emerge: BA.4, BA.5 likely reinfecting omicron survivors
A pair of new omicron subvariants has emerged, raising the possibility that survivors of earlier omicron strains can get reinfected. BA.4 and BA.5 have gained increasing attention in South Africa as weekly coronavirus cases tripled in the last two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. “It really came...
Slovakia, Hungary won’t back EU sanctions on Russian energy
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Slovakia and Hungary said Tuesday that they will not support sanctions against Russian energy that the European Union is preparing over the war in Ukraine, saying they are too reliant on those supplies and there are no immediate alternatives. The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, has...
Fall election could determine future of abortion rights in Pennsylvania
The future of legal abortion access in Pennsylvania could hinge on the outcome of the general election in November after a draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court suggests the court is poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case. On Monday, Politico published a story containing a leaked...
Pfizer profit soars in 1st quarter, revises 2022 forecast
Covid-19 vaccine and treatment sales helped Pfizer breeze past Wall Street’s first-quarter expectations, as the drugmaker’s profit grew 61%. The coronavirus vaccine Comirnaty, which has been Pfizer’s top seller for about a year, brought in more than $13 billion in sales in the quarter. The pill treatment Paxlovid, which launched...
Ukrainian fighters: Russian forces storming Mariupol plant
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — Russian forces Tuesday began storming the steel mill containing the last pocket of resistance in Mariupol, Ukrainian defenders said, just as scores of civilians evacuated from the bombed-out plant over the weekend reached relative safety in Ukrainian-held territory. Osnat Lubrani, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said...
U.K.’s Boris Johnson addresses Ukraine parliament
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told Ukraine’s parliament that their country has achieved the “greatest feat of arms of the 21st century” by repelling Russia’s attempt to capture Kyiv. Johnson addressed lawmakers in Ukraine’s legislature, the Verkhovna Rada, by video link on Tuesday. He is the first...
Pope offers to meet Putin, still waiting to hear back
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has told an Italian newspaper that he has offered to travel to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin to try to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, but that he hasn’t yet heard back. Francis said he made the offer about three weeks into Russia’s...
Trump appeal: $10,000 fine in record search ‘unconscionable’
NEW YORK — In a court appeal, a lawyer for Donald Trump said Monday it is “unconscionable and indefensible” for the ex-president to be held in contempt and fined $10,000 a day for failing to turn over documents he doesn’t possess. Attorney Alina Habba made the argument in a submission...
Report: Supreme Court set to strike down abortion rights
WASHINGTON — A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report. A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states and could have huge...
Jan. 6 panel wants answers from GOP’s Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, Ronny Jackson
WASHINGTON — Three more House Republicans received requests Monday to voluntarily appear before the congressional committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection and answer questions about their involvement in the effort to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss. The committee sent letters to GOP Reps. Mo Brooks of Alabama, Andy Biggs...
Biden meets with parents of Austin Tice, journalist missing in Syria
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden met with the parents of Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria in 2012, at the White House on Monday after journalists encouraged him over the weekend to prioritize Tice’s case. White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the meeting took place,...
Body in barrel exposed as level of Nevada’s Lake Mead drops
LAS VEGAS — A body inside a barrel was found over the weekend on the the newly exposed bottom of Nevada’s Lake Mead as drought depletes one of the largest U.S. reservoirs — and officials predicted the discovery could be just the first of more grim finds. “I would say...
Florida lawmakers suspect Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to take control of Disney World’s government
ORLANDO, Fla. — Central Florida lawmakers suspect Gov. Ron DeSantis is planning to replace Disney World’s special government district with a new one that he would control. DeSantis hasn’t released a plan for the future of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which is set to be dissolved on June 1,...
NYPD veteran convicted of assaulting officer in Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — A federal jury on Monday convicted a New York Police Department veteran of assaulting an officer during the U.S. Capitol riot, rejecting his claim that he was defending himself when he tackled the officer and grabbed his gas mask. Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first...
Trump election probe special grand jury selected in Atlanta
ATLANTA — A special grand jury was selected Monday for the investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia. The investigation has been underway since early last year, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis took this unusual step of...
Trump suggested shooting D.C. protesters according to ex-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper in new bookVideo
Former President Donald Trump suggested shooting racial justice protesters when the demonstrations neared the White House, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper writes in a new memoir. “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump asked the newly appointed Esper in a tense Oval...
Arrest warrant issued in Alabama for missing jail officialVideo
FLORENCE, Ala. — Authorities issued an arrest warrant Monday for a corrections official who they say helped an inmate arrested on a murder charge escape from an Alabama jail even as they searched for the pair. The inmate, Casey Cole White, 38, disappeared Friday after he left the Lauderdale County...
2 die in car driven into West Virginia river, firefighter dies attempting rescue
SUTTON, W.Va. — An Ohio woman and child died after the woman drove her vehicle into a river in central West Virginia, and a volunteer firefighter died trying to save them, officials said. The vehicle went into the Elk River in Braxton County, the West Virginia fire marshal’s office said....
