Russia releases U.S. Marine vet as part of prisoner exchange
WASHINGTON — Russia and the United States have carried out a dramatic prisoner exchange, trading a Marine veteran jailed in Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in America, both countries announced Wednesday. The surprise deal involving Trevor Reed, an American jailed for nearly three...
Court says U.K.’s nursing home covid-19 policy was illegal
LONDON — A British court ruled Wednesday that the government’s decision to discharge hospital patients into nursing homes without testing them for covid-19, which led to thousands of deaths early in the pandemic, was illegal. Two High Court judges said the policy from March and April 2020 was unlawful because...
Researchers: Covid, Israel-Gaza war fueled antisemitism
JERUSALEM — The coronavrius pandemic and Israel’s overwhelming force during the Gaza war helped fuel a worldwide spike in antisemitism last year, Israeli researchers reported on Wednesday. The prominence of political extremism and the reach of social media also may have intensified the ancient phenomenon of scapegoating Jews in recent...
Los Angeles sheriff investigates how reporter obtained leaked videoVideo
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County sheriff on Tuesday disputed allegations he orchestrated a cover-up of an incident where a deputy knelt on a handcuffed inmate’s head and said a Los Angeles Times reporter who used leaked documents and video to first report on the case is part of...
Billions in surplus have Pennsylvania lawmakers thinking business tax cut
HARRISBURG — Hundreds of millions of dollars in business profit tax cuts passed the Republican-majority state House on Tuesday, and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said he was optimistic a final deal can be struck in the coming months. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly for a bill that would reduce the corporate net...
House Jan. 6 committee wants to hear from Kevin McCarthy after new audioVideo
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol is redoubling its efforts to have GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy appear for an interview amid new revelations concerning his private conversations about the deadly attack, the chairman said Tuesday. Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the panel...
Disney tells investors Florida can’t dissolve special district without paying debt
MIAMI — As Florida legislators were rushing through passage of a bill to repeal the special district that governs Walt Disney World last week, they failed to notice an obscure provision in state law that says the state could not do what legislators were doing — unless the district’s bond...
Video: Pa. Republican candidates for U.S. Senate debateVideo
A debate between Republican candidates vying for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat was held Tuesday night and featured Kathy Barnette, Jeff Bartos, Carla Sands, George Bochoetto and Sean Gale. Spotlight PA organized the debate with its media partners The Philadelphia Inquirer, PennLIVE/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and WITF Public Media. The event,...
Nuclear chief: Russia’s Chernobyl seizure risked accidentVideo
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine — Thirty-six years after the world’s worst nuclear disaster, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that Russian troops risked causing an accident with their “very, very dangerous” seizure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Standing under an umbrella during a rain shower...
Report: N.C. Rep. Madison Cawthorn found with a loaded gun at Charlotte airportVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn was cited for having a gun at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Charlotte Douglas International Airport Tuesday morning, WSOC-TV reported. Cawthorn was stopped after agents found the North Carolina Republican congressman with a 9 mm handgun at Checkpoint D, according to the...
Explainer: Covid-19 pills must be taken within 5 days of symptoms
Newly infected covid-19 patients have two treatment options that can be taken at home. But that convenience comes with a catch: The pills have to be taken as soon as possible once symptoms appear. The challenge is getting tested, obtaining a prescription and starting the pills in a short window....
U.S. preps for even busier border amid lifting of health order
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration released a plan Tuesday to deal with an expected increase in already high numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border because of the planned lifting of a public health order that has kept people from seeking asylum — and that Republican and some Democratic lawmakers...
Wisconsin’s GOP-ordered election investigation will continue
MADISON, Wis. — The Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 election in Wisconsin that was supposed to wrap up this week will continue just as Donald Trump urged, but with no more taxpayer money to pay for it, the state’s top Republican said Tuesday. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ announcement that the...
Daily aspirin to prevent heart disease, stroke no longer recommended for people 60 and older
This might be a tough pill to swallow. People aged 60 and older are no longer recommended to take aspirin medication as a way of avoiding heart disease because of the potential health risks, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force announced Tuesday. The new stance by the leading task force...
Pennsylvania nursing home buyers would face more scrutiny under state health proposal
In the most complete revision of its nursing home rules in at least 25 years, the Pennsylvania Department of Health last month proposed new regulations that would require more scrutiny of homes’ prospective owners. For the first time, regulators would analyze the financial strength and past performance of owners —...
CDC estimates 3 in 4 kids have had coronavirus infections
NEW YORK — Three out of every four U.S. children have been infected with the coronavirus and more than half of all Americans had signs of previous infections, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers estimated in a report Tuesday. The researchers examined blood samples from more than 200,000 Americans...
Activist’s self-immolation stirs questions on faith, protest
Wynn Bruce, a 50-year-old climate activist and Buddhist, set himself on fire in front of the U.S. Supreme Court last week, prompting a national conversation about his motivation and whether he may have been inspired by Buddhist monks who self-immolated in the past to protest government atrocities. Bruce, a photographer...
Vice President Kamala Harris positive for covid-19, Biden not ‘close contact’
WASHINGTON —Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for covid-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy. Harris press secretary Kirsten Allen said neither President Joe Biden nor first lady...
Biden pardons former Secret Service agent, 2 others
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has granted the first three pardons of his term, providing clemency to a Kennedy-era Secret Service agent convicted of federal bribery charges that he tried to sell a copy of an agency file and to two people who were convicted on drug-related charges but went...
Mississippi protesters call for end to Confederate holiday
TUPELO, Miss. — On a day that many state and local government offices were closed for Confederate Memorial Day in Mississippi, protesters on Monday said the state needs to stop commemorating the Confederacy. Several members of Indivisible Northeast Mississippi held signs denouncing the holiday in front of a Confederate monument...
Wisconsin election investigation may be nearing end, or not
MADISON, Wis. — One of a handful of 2020 election reviews pushed by Republicans could be nearing an end in Wisconsin — or not. A special investigator’s taxpayer-funded contract to look into President Joe Biden’s win in the battleground state is set to expire on Saturday. But Donald Trump as...
UN nuclear watchdog chief visits Chernobyl
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine — The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency says it was possible that an accident could have occurred when Russian troops seized control of the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster during the war in Ukraine. Speaking on a visit to the former nuclear power plant...
Trial of 3 ex-officers in George Floyd death won’t be livestreamed
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota judge ruled Tuesday that the trial of three fired Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting George Floyd’s killing will not be livestreamed. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill, who cited the threat of COVID-19 to allow livestreaming of last year’s murder trial of Derek...
U.S. urges more arms for Ukraine amid fears of expanding war
TORETSK, Ukraine — The United States pressed its allies Tuesday to move “heaven and earth” to keep Kyiv well-supplied with weapons as Russian forces rained fire on eastern and southern Ukraine amid growing new fears the war could spill over the country’s borders. For the second day in a row,...
Suicide blast in southern Pakistan kills 3 Chinese nationals, driver
KARACHI, Pakistan — An explosion ripped through a van inside a university campus in southern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing three Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver, officials said. A separatist militant group claimed responsibility and said the attack was carried out by a woman suicide bomber. The bombing at the...
