Moderna says its low-dose covid shots work for kids under 6
Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine works in babies, toddlers and preschoolers, the company announced Wednesday — and if regulators agree it could mean a chance to finally start vaccinating the littlest kids by summer. Moderna said in the coming weeks it would ask regulators in the U.S. and Europe to authorize two...
Girl survives tornado that lifted house, dropped it onto street
The tornado that ripped through the New Orleans suburb of Arabi lifted one house into the air and dropped it onto the middle of a street with a family of three inside. Neighbors said the parents of a girl climbed out of the wreckage screaming frantically for help. Their daughter...
Ketanji Brown Jackson appears headed for confirmation despite GOP darts
WASHINGTON — Federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced down a barrage of Republican questioning Wednesday about her sentencing of criminal defendants, as her history-making bid to join the Supreme Court veered from lofty constitutional questions to attacks on her motivations on the bench. In her final day of Senate questioning,...
NATO: 7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops dead in Ukraine
NATO estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of fighting in Ukraine, where the country’s defenders have put up stiffer-than-expected resistance and denied Moscow the lightning victory it hoped for. A senior NATO military official said the estimate was based on information...
Madeleine Albright, 1st female U.S. secretary of state, dies
Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. secretary of state, has died of cancer, her family said Wednesday. She was 84. President Bill Clinton chose Albright as America’s top diplomat in 1996, and she served in that capacity for the last four years of the Clinton administration. She had previously been...
Sen. Bob Casey tests positive for covid-19
U.S. Senator Bob Casey, D-Scranton, has tested positive for covid-19, but said he is not experiencing symptoms. In a tweet posted Tuesday night, Casey said it was during regular testing that he received his positive result. Although he is grateful to be asymptomatic, he said he will isolate for five...
Woman charged in shoving death of Broadway singing coach, 87
NEW YORK — A 26-year-old woman charged in the death of an 87-year-old Broadway singing coach hurled an epithet at her before shoving her to the ground and walking away while the older woman lay bleeding on the sidewalk, prosecutors said at an arraignment Tuesday. Lauren Pazienza, of Port Jefferson,...
Hillary Clinton tests positive for covid; Bill quarantining
NEW YORK — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she has tested positive for covid-19 with “mild” symptoms. On social media, the former Democratic presidential candidate said she was “feeling fine” and that former President Bill Clinton had tested negative and was quarantining until their household was fully...
Scientists worry virus variant may push up covid cases in U.S.Video
With coronavirus cases rising in parts of Europe and Asia, scientists worry that an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant may soon push cases up in the United States too. Experts are also keeping their eyes on another mutant: a rare delta-omicron hybrid that they say doesn’t pose much of...
6 students killed in Oklahoma crash were in car that seats 4Video
Six teenage girls on a high school lunch break were killed when their small car with only four seats collided with a semi, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Wednesday. Only the 16-year-old car’s driver and front-seat passenger were wearing seat belts when the 2015 Chevrolet Spark collided with the rock...
Murder charges filed in I-95 crash that killed Pa. state troopers, manVideo
PHILADELPHIA — A woman has been charged with third-degree murder and vehicular homicide while driving under the influence in an early morning crash on a Philadelphia interstate that claimed the lives of two Pennsylvania troopers and a civilian. State police said Tuesday that the charges against 21-year-old Jayana Tanae Webb...
4 GOP candidates for Pa. governor set rules to join a debate
HARRISBURG — Four Republican candidates for governor in the party’s crowded primary race say they will not join a debate before the primary election unless it is moderated by a Republican who lives in Pennsylvania, eliciting criticism that they are afraid of hard questions. The four — Lou Barletta, Jake...
Louisiana sends National Guard to tornado disaster areaVideo
A tornado flipped cars, ripped off rooftops and deposited a house in the middle of a street in the New Orleans area, part of a storm front that caused damage in places as it blew from Texas to South Carolina. Two deaths were attributed to the weather. Other tornadoes spawned...
Wrongly convicted brothers released after 25 years in Michigan prison
LANSING, Mich. — Two Michigan brothers who were wrongfully convicted in the murder of a family friend walked free Tuesday and were reunited with their family after 25 years behind bars. George and Melvin DeJesus were convicted in the 1995 killing of Margaret Midkiff. Oakland County Circuit Judge Martha Anderson...
MacKenzie Scott gives Philly nonprofit $20 million to help needy get government benefits
PHILADELPHIA — Benefits Data Trust, a Philadelphia nonprofit that helps people overcome barriers to government benefits for food, housing and health care, received a $20 million gift from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the organization announced Tuesday. The gift allows the group to “energize our thinking...
White House press secretary Jen Psaki positive for covid
WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that she has tested positive again for covid-19 and will not accompany President Joe Biden to Europe for meetings on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Psaki tweeted that she took a test in preparation for Wednesday’s trip and it came back...
Michigan Republicans delay absentee ballot signature rules
LANSING, Mich. — Republican lawmakers on Tuesday delayed until after the November election rules that will tell Michigan election clerks how to match the signatures of people applying for and submitting absentee ballots. The GOP-led Joint Committee on Administrative Rules’ maneuver to propose bills keeps the regulations from taking effect...
State police: Phone scammers seeking donations for fallen troopers’ families
If you get a call asking to donate to the families of two fallen Pennsylvania state troopers, the president of their association wants you to know: It’s fake. The Pennsylvania State Troopers Association warned residents statewide this week about groups pretending to raise money for the families of troopers Martin...
Elected official guilty of illegally entering Capitol grounds Jan. 6
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday convicted an elected official from New Mexico of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds but acquitted him of engaging in disorderly conduct during the riot that disrupted Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden heard one...
Ukraine calls on Chinese drone maker to stop use by Russia
Ukraine is appealing to a Chinese maker of civilian drones to block what the Ukrainian government says is their use by the Russian army to target missile attacks. Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Federov’s appeal to DJI Technology Co., publicized on Twitter, highlights the tensions over Ukraine for Chinese companies. Foreign...
Trudeau reaches deal to keep his party in power till 2025
TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday his Liberal Party has reached an agreement with the opposition New Democratic Party that would keep his party in power until 2025. “What this means is during this uncertain time the government can function with predictability and stability, present and implement budgets...
Ukraine thwarts Russian advances; fight rages for Mariupol
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces battled continuing Russian efforts to occupy Mariupol and claimed to have retaken a strategic suburb of Kyiv on Tuesday, mounting a defense so dogged that it is stoking fears Russia’s Vladimir Putin will escalate the war to new heights. “Putin’s back is against the wall,”...
Navalny sentenced to 9 years in prison by Russian court
MOSCOW — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was convicted of fraud and contempt of court and sentenced to nine years in a maximum security prison on Tuesday, in a trial Kremlin critics see as an attempt to keep President Vladimir Putin’s most ardent foe in prison for as long as...
Ketanji Brown Jackson pushes back at GOP critics, defends judicial recordVideo
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson forcefully defended her record as a judge Tuesday, pushing back against Republican assertions that she was soft on crime and declaring she would rule as an “independent jurist” if confirmed as the first Black woman on the high court. In a marathon...
NYPD accused of collecting DNA for ‘rogue’ database
NEW YORK — The Legal Aid Society has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the New York Police Department of surreptitiously collecting genetic material from thousands of New Yorkers and storing it indefinitely in a “rogue” DNA database. According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan on Monday, the...
