U.S./World category, Page 776
2 Pittsburgh firefighters join search teams at Surfside collapse; North Side nonprofit starts fund for victims
Two Pittsburgh fire officials traveled to Surfside, Fla. on Thursday to join hundreds of first responders in the search for possible survivors of the 12-story building collapse that has killed at least 18 people and left 145 missing. A captain and a lieutenant of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire have...
Boy Scouts of America reaches pivotal agreement with victims
DOVER, Del. — The Boy Scouts of America have reached an agreement with attorneys representing some 60,000 victims of child sex abuse in what could prove to be a pivotal moment in the organization’s bankruptcy case. Attorneys for the BSA filed court papers late Thursday outlining a restructuring support agreement,...
Attorney General Merrick Garland halts federal executions, orders review of protocols
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is halting federal executions after a historic use of capital punishment by the Trump administration, which carried out 13 executions in six months. Attorney General Merrick Garland made the announcement Thursday night, saying he was imposing a moratorium on federal executions while the Justice Department...
5 injured after building under construction collapses in D.C.Video
WASHINGTON — Five workers were injured Thursday when a building under construction collapsed in the nation’s capital, trapping one man for more than an hour as firefighters worked feverishly to free him from layers of debris. The collapse happened around 3:30 p.m. in the Brightwood Park neighborhood of Washington. Fire...
Wildfire consumes small British Columbia town that hit 121 degreesVideo
LILLOOET, British Columbia — A wildfire that forced people to flee a small town in British Columbia that had set record high temperatures for Canada on three consecutive days burned out of control Thursday as relatives desperately sought information on evacuees. The roughly 1,000 residents of Lytton had to abandon...
Phylicia Rashad draws critics and dismissal calls for defending Bill CosbyVideo
WASHINGTON — Phylicia Rashad has found herself embroiled in controversy after expressing public support for Bill Cosby’s release from prison, with some prominent Black voices calling for her dismissal as dean of Howard University’s College of Fine Arts. It remains to be seen whether Rashad’s position at Howard is in...
Mitch McConnell has warned of ‘likely catastrophe’ over U.S. troop pullout in Afghanistan. Will he be proved right?
WASHINGTON — For more than two months, Mitch McConnell has excoriated President Joe Biden’s decision to leave Afghanistan as a “hasty abandonment” that will “threaten the U.S. homeland” and lead to a “likely catastrophe.” An accelerated exit that will now pull a significant number of U.S. troops out by this...
Crews cleaning up after Zion National Park flash flood
SPRINGDALE, Utah — Zion National Park officials and business owners in a nearby tourist town were still cleaning up and assessing the damage Thursday from a massive flash flood that ripped through the popular red rock park, sending mud and debris onto streets. No injuries were reported. Tuesday’s flash flood...
Trump Organization, CFO Allen Weisselberg indicted on tax fraud charges
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s company and its longtime finance chief were charged Thursday in what prosecutors called a “sweeping and audacious” tax fraud scheme in which the executive collected more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation, including apartment rent, car payments and school tuition. Trump himself was not charged,...
Rescue efforts resume after delay at Florida condo collapse site
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Rescue efforts at the site of a partially collapsed Florida condominium building resumed Thursday evening, about 15 hours after the work was halted out of concern about the stability of the remaining structure, the mayor said. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said he did not know why officials...
Picasso kept in Maine house closet for 50 years is sold
AMESBURY, Mass. — A mixed-media painting attributed to Pablo Picasso has been sold after spending 50 years in a closet in a house in Maine. John McInnis Auctioneers, based in Massachusetts, confirmed that the painting entitled “Le Tricorne” sold on Saturday, the Boston Globe reported. The 16 x 16 inch...
Supreme Court upholds Arizona voting restrictions
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld voting restrictions in Arizona in a decision that could make it harder to challenge other voting limits put in place by Republican lawmakers following last year’s elections. The court, by a conservative-majority 6-3 vote, reversed a lower court ruling in deciding that...
U.S. jobless claims fall to 364,000, a new pandemic low
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid fell again last week to the lowest level since the pandemic struck last year, further evidence that the job market and the broader economy are rebounding rapidly from the coronavirus recession. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dropped...
Monument unveiled to activist, journalist Ida B. Wells
CHICAGO — A monument to journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett was unveiled Wednesday in Chicago. Officially called The Light of Truth Ida B. Wells National Monument, the commemoration created by sculptor Richard Hunt was dedicated in the South Side neighborhood where Wells lived out her life. The...
Israel welcomes German leader as ally against antisemitism
JERUSALEM — Israel’s president warmly welcomed his German counterpart on Thursday, praising him as an ally in combatting antisemitism. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to meet with Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and is expected to reiterate Germany’s strong support for Israel. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said that...
Registered sex workers in Germany drop sharply in pandemic
BERLIN — The number of people registered as sex workers with German authorities declined sharply last year as coronavirus restrictions shut brothels for months, official data showed Thursday. Legislation in 2002 legalized and regulated prostitution in Germany, giving sex workers social benefits, and they are now obliged to register. But...
GOP congressman flouts mask rules on airline flight to Texas
WASHINGTON — A Texas congressman who has been an outspoken critic of covid-19 mask mandates went without a mask for at least a portion of a commercial airline flight Tuesday evening, an apparent violation of federal law. Republican Rep. Chip Roy flew from Washington back to his home district in...
GOP embraces Trump during visit to Texas, border wall
PHARR, Texas — Republican lawmakers traveled to Texas to cheer former President Donald Trump as he paid a visit to the southern border Wednesday and hammered the Biden administration for its immigration policies amid a decades-high spike in border crossings. Trump, who was joined by more than two dozen House...
Lawsuit: St. Louis officers killed innocent man in ‘no knock’ raid
A lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses a St. Louis police SWAT team of killing an innocent man during a “no knock” raid at his home four years ago. The civil rights law firm ArchCity Defenders filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of the children of Don Clark Sr. It names the...
Wyoming man accused of torching toddler has bail set at $1M
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A Wyoming man accused of burning a toddler with a butane torch, killing him and disposing of his body in an apartment complex dumpster in February has had his bail set at $1 million. The bail was set for Wyatt Dean Lamb, the boyfriend of the boy’s...
Revised vote count shows Adams ahead in New York City mayoral primary
NEW YORK — Revised vote counts in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary show Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams maintaining a thin lead, a day after a first attempt to report the results of a ranked choice voting analysis went disastrously wrong. The mayor’s race, part of the first city...
Over 100 deaths may be tied to historic Northwest heat wave
SALEM, Ore. — The grim toll of the historic heat wave in the Pacific Northwest became more apparent as authorities in Canada, Washington state and Oregon said Wednesday that they were investigating more than 100 deaths likely caused by scorching temperatures that shattered all-time records. Oregon health officials said more...
6 more bodies pulled from tower rubble in highest daily toll; confirmed dead reaches 18
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Search crews going through the ruins of a Florida condo tower pulled six more bodies from the rubble Wednesday, bringing the number of confirmed dead to 18. It was the highest one-day toll since the building collapsed almost a week ago into a heap of broken concrete....
AP, others win records lawsuit against Wisconsin legislators
MADISON, Wis. — The Associated Press and three other Wisconsin media outlets won a lawsuit Wednesday seeking records related to sexual harassment allegations against a former legislator. The AP, the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sued in March 2020 after then-Assembly Chief Clerk Pat...
Atlanta mayor: 2 officers ambushed, 1 wounded in shooting
ATLANTA — Two police officers responding to reports of gunfire in one of Atlanta’s busiest commercial districts were ambushed Wednesday, leaving one of them shot and wounded, the city’s mayor said. A bystander reported hearing a barrage of shots and said he later saw an officer, bleeding badly and, being...
