U.S./World category, Page 751
9-year-old boy killed in fire blamed on scooter charger
NEW YORK — A 9-year-old boy was killed and more than a dozen people were injured Wednesday in a fire caused by an electric scooter that was charging overnight, New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. Firefighters worked “heroically” to remove 14 people from the three-story Queens building where...
R. Kelly accuser says he kept gun nearby while berating her
NEW YORK — One of R. Kelly’s accusers testified on Wednesday that he kept a gun by his side while he berated her as a prelude to forcing her to give him oral sex in a Los Angeles music studio. “He had a weapon, so I wasn’t going to step...
Officers, paramedics charged in Elijah McClain’s 2019 death
DENVER — Colorado’s attorney general said Wednesday that a grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who was put in a chokehold and injected with a powerful sedative two years ago in suburban Denver. The 23-year-old’s death gained widespread attention...
New online site launched to help people get child tax credit
WASHINGTON — The government has collaborated on a new internet site to help more Americans apply for and receive the expanded child tax credit, a monthly payment of as much as $300 per child that was part of the coronavirus relief package. GetCTC.org was developed by Code for America in...
Wisconsin election probe includes $325,000 for data analysis
MADISON, Wis. — Nearly half of the money being spent on a Republican-ordered investigation into Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election is earmarked for data analysis, a contract released Wednesday spelling out how the $676,000 in taxpayer money will be spent shows. The Associated Press obtained the contract entered into by Assembly...
Texas’ 6-week abortion ban takes effect as Supreme Court stays mum on appeal
For the first time since 1973, a state law banning most abortions has taken effect. A Texas law that would drastically limit the availability of abortions in defiance of Roe vs. Wade took effect early Wednesday, as the Supreme Court took no action on pending appeals. The so-called Texas Heartbeat...
White House details plans to improve housing affordability
White House officials are outlining plans to build and restore more than 2 million homes, a response to the volcanic rise in housing prices over the past year. Millions of Americans are getting priced out of ownership or stuck spending the bulk of their income on rent. The S&P CoreLogic...
Post-Trump, Ukraine’s leader to push Biden for U.S. support
WASHINGTON — The Ukrainian leader who found himself ensnarled in Donald Trump’s first impeachment is in Washington on Wednesday to see a new U.S. president, seeking increased military aid and backing for his country’s bid for NATO membership. The White House says the meeting between President Joe Biden and President...
Texas 6-week abortion ban takes effect, with high court mum
A Texas law banning most abortions in the state took effect at midnight, but the Supreme Court has yet to act on an emergency appeal to put the law on hold. If allowed to remain in force, the law would be the most dramatic restriction on abortion rights in the...
Vatican exonerates Brooklyn Bishop accused of sexual abuse
NEW YORK — The Vatican has concluded that allegations of sexual abuse dating back a half century against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn do “not have the semblance of truth,” but an attorney for the accusers said they will continue to pursue their civil cases. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the...
House committee asks companies to save Jan. 6 phone, computer records
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is asking social media and telecommunications companies to preserve phone or computer records for hundreds of people who were potentially involved with efforts to “challenge, delay or interfere” with the certification that day of President Joe...
‘AntiVaxMomma’ accused of selling bogus vaccination cards
NEW YORK — A New Jersey woman calling herself the AntiVaxMomma on Instagram sold several hundred fake covid-19 vaccination cards at $200 a pop to New York City-area jab dodgers, including people working in hospitals and nursing homes, prosecutors said Tuesday. For an extra $250, a second scammer would then...
Ida’s sweltering aftermath: No power, no water, no gasolineVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Hundreds of thousands of Louisianans sweltered in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida on Tuesday with no electricity, no tap water, precious little gasoline and no clear idea of when things might improve. Long lines that wrapped around the block formed at the few gas stations that had...
President Biden praises airlift, defends departure from ‘forever war’Video
WASHINGTON — Addressing the nation, a defensive President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the U.S. military airlift to extract more than 120,000 Afghans, Americans and other allies to end a 20 year war an “extraordinary success,” though more than 100 Americans and thousands of Afghans looking to leave remain. Twenty-four...
Report: Louisiana man attacked by alligator in Ida’s floodwaters
SLIDELL, La. — A man had his arm ripped off by a large alligator while walking through floodwaters from Hurricane Ida and is now missing, a Louisiana sheriff said. The 71-year-old man’s wife told sheriff’s deputies that she heard a commotion around noon on Monday, then walked outside to see...
Victorious Taliban focus on governing after U.S. withdrawal
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban reveled in their victory after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, reiterating their pledge Tuesday to bring peace and security to the country after decades of war. Their anxious citizens, meanwhile, are waiting to see what the new order looks like. Having humbled the world’s most...
Ida collapses Mississippi road; kills 2, injures at least 10
LUCEDALE, Miss. — Two people were killed and at least 10 others were injured when seven vehicles plunged into a deep hole where a dark, rural highway collapsed as Hurricane Ida blew through Mississippi. Torrential rain may have caused the collapse Monday night, and the drivers may not have seen...
Wisconsin school board reverses on opting out of free meals
WAUKESHA, Wis. — A Wisconsin school district has reversed a decision to leave a federal free meals program following widespread criticism and loud protests from parents and others. Waukesha school board members said they received threats in the wake of national attention after voting to opt out of the program...
Poland seeks to stem migrants along border with Belarus
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s government asked the president Tuesday to declare a state of emergency along the border with Belarus as it tries to stop an increase number of migrants from entering from the neighboring country. The government citied the potential risk from foreign actors and the actions of protesters...
Thousands face weeks without power in Ida’s aftermath
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida are facing the depressing prospect of weeks without electricity in the stifling, late-summer heat. Ida ravaged the region’s power grid, leaving all of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of...
Ukraine’s leader to talk with Biden on security, Russian gas
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s leader is traveling to the United States this week in hopes of bolstering security ties with Washington and persuading the administration to ramp up sanctions against a new Russian natural gas pipeline that bypasses his country. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called Washington’s failure to block the...
Lightning strike at Jersey Shore kills lifeguard, injures 7Video
BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A young lifeguard was killed and seven other people, including three other lifeguards, were injured when lightning struck a Jersey Shore beach Monday afternoon, authorities said. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed that a lifeguard in Berkeley Township was killed in the afternoon. It marked the...
European Union takes U.S. off safe travel list; backs travel restrictionsVideo
BRUSSELS — The European Union recommended Monday that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on tourists from the United States because of rising coronavirus infections there, but member countries will keep the option of allowing fully vaccinated U.S. travelers in. The decision by the European Council to remove the U.S. from...
Florida officials withhold school board salaries over mask mandates
TALLAHASSEE — Florida state education officials on Monday began to make good on threats to withhold funding from local school districts that defied Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates, despite a circuit judge last week ruling the ban unconstitutional. Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran announced that the Florida Department...
Wildfire forces thousands from popular Lake Tahoe resortVideo
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Thousands of people rushed to get out of South Lake Tahoe as the entire tourist resort city came under evacuation orders and wildfire raced toward the large freshwater lake of Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada. Evacuation warnings issued for the resort city of...
