U.S./World category, Page 980
Hong Kong police fire tear gas, water cannon at protesters
HONG KONG — Hong Kong police fired tear gas and a water cannon at protesters in a popular shopping district Sunday, as thousands took to the streets to march against China’s move to impose national security legislation on the city. Pro-democracy supporters have sharply criticized a proposal, set to be...
Peter Salk, whose father conquered polio, says coronavirus fight is far from over
SAN DIEGO — He lives in La Jolla Village, near a cove that will be crowded this weekend by sunbathers who are no longer willing to shelter in place from the coronavirus. Peter Salk’s favorite stores and restaurants are nearby. Many are beginning to reopen now that the pandemic is...
Large hail, tornadoes damage North Texas region
DALLAS — Storms carrying large hail and damaging winds, including tornadoes, caused severe damage to parts of North Texas, officials said Saturday. The town of Bowie, about 65 miles northwest of Fort Worth, was hit hard by one tornado about 9 p.m. Friday, the National Weather Service confirmed Saturday. A...
Holiday amid pandemic: Americans divided as nations grapple with 2nd waves of virus
NEW YORK — President Trump visited one of his golf courses Saturday at the start of Memorial Day weekend as he urges states to reopen after coronavirus-related lockdowns. Yet many Americans remained cautious as the number of confirmed cases nationwide passed 1.6 million. In California, where many businesses and recreational...
Police: Miami mom faked son’s abduction, faces murder charge
MIAMI — A Miami woman faked her son’s abduction after trying to drown him twice, with witnesses rescuing the boy from a canal the first time, and the second attempt ending in the boy’s death, officials said Saturday. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Patricia Ripley, 45, is facing...
Massive fire strikes San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, spares WWII ship
Firefighters were able to save an historic warship after a massive fire ripped through a warehouse at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco on Saturday morning. The fire broke out about 4:15 a.m. in a large warehouse at the end of Pier 45, said Lt. Jonathan Baxter, public information officer for...
‘Strong’ after shooting, El Paso vulnerable to virus
EL PASO, Texas — Inked on skin and hashtagged on social media, the words “El Paso Strong” united city residents after a mass shooting at a Walmart last year. As covid-19 took hold in El Paso, government officials have tried to repurpose the slogan, much like “Don’t mess with Texas,”...
Restrictions eased while virus deaths decline in New York
NEW YORK — New Yorkers experiencing cabin fever after two months of coronavirus quarantine received an unexpected reprieve when Gov. Andrew Cuomo eased the state’s ban on gatherings in time for the Memorial Day weekend. But beachgoers faced inclement weather Saturday that dampened crowds. A look at those and other...
Trump to attend Wednesday’s NASA astronaut launch in Florida
STERLING, Va. — President Donald Trump plans to be on the Florida coast Wednesday to watch American astronauts blast into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center for the first time in nearly a decade. It will be the first time since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 that U.S....
‘Strong’ after shooting, El Paso now vulnerable to virus
EL PASO, Texas — Inked on skin and hashtagged on social media, the words “El Paso Strong” united city residents after a mass shooting at a Walmart last year. As COVID-19 took hold in El Paso, government officials have tried to repurpose the slogan, much like “Don’t mess with Texas,”...
Spain’s far-right holds car protest against virus lockdown
Several thousand followers of Spain’s far-right Vox party gathered Saturday in their cars and on motorbikes in the center of Madrid and other Spanish cities to protest the Spanish government’s handling of the nation’s coronavirus crisis. The party accuses the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of lying about...
‘Last responders’ seek to expand postmortem COVID-19 testing in unexplained deaths
Examining dead bodies and probing for a cause of death is rarely seen as a heroic or glamorous job. Rather, as the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded, all eyes have been on the medical workers and public health disease detectives fighting on the front lines — and sometimes giving their lives...
Allies: Ex-Detroit mayor to be released from prison early
DETROIT — Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is being quarantined at a federal prison while awaiting a likely release in June, which would be years before he was scheduled to finish his 28-year sentence for corruption, a pastor said Friday. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons declined to comment about Kilpatrick,...
US warns Los Angeles stay-at-home extension could be illegal
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday warned the mayor of Los Angeles and the county’s top health officer that an extension of the coronavirus stay-at-home order may be unlawful. The vague letter sent to Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer did...
NY judge tosses R. Kelly’s attempt to dismiss charge he gave herpes to fan
NEW YORK — A Supreme Court ruling that struck down states’ anti-sodomy laws will not spare disgraced R&B star R. Kelly from charges that he knowingly infected a 19-year-old fan with herpes, a Brooklyn Federal Court judge ruled Friday. Judge Ann Donnelly rejected the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer’s...
Vermont ER doctor charged with child porn, hiding camera in bathroom
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A former emergency room doctor at Vermont’s largest hospital who was charged last month with setting up a video camera in a staff bathroom is now facing federal child pornography charges. Eike Blohm, 38, of South Burlington appeared in court Friday where he was ordered held pending...
Judge orders Los Angeles to move thousands of homeless
LOS ANGELES — A judge on Friday ordered Los Angeles city and county to move thousands of homeless people living near freeways after an agreement on a plan fell through. U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction requiring the relocation, by Sept. 1, of an estimated...
Pandemic job losses hit tourism-dependent states hardest
HONOLULU — The coronavirus pandemic has been particularly brutal to the tourism-dependent economies of Nevada and Hawaii, lifting the unemployment rate in both states to about one-quarter of the workforce. Nevada topped the nation with an April unemployment rate of 28.2%, the worst any state has seen since the national...
NASA’s newest test pilots are veteran astronauts, friends
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The two astronauts who will test drive SpaceX’s brand new rocketship are classmates and friends, veteran spacefliers married to veteran spacefliers, and fathers of young sons. Together, they will end a nine-year drought for NASA when they blast into orbit next week from Florida’s Kennedy Space...
Will virus keep Florida spectators from astronaut launch?
ORLANDO, Fla. — In ordinary times, the beaches and roads along Florida’s Space Coast would be packed with hundreds of thousands of spectators, eager to witness the first astronaut launch from Florida in nine years. In the age of coronavirus, local officials and NASA are split on whether that’s a...
Prosecutor to drop charge against Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky prosecutor is moving to dismiss an attempted murder charge against the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, who shot a police officer as they entered Taylor’s home. Tom Wine, Louisville’s top prosecutor, announced Friday that the case needs more investigation and he wants to let state and...
DA: Long Island man confesses to fatally stabbing dad during Zoom call
NEW YORK — A Long Island man suspected of fatally stabbing his father on a live Zoom call confessed to the caught-on-camera killing after police found him trying to wash blood off his body with Dr. Pepper, prosecutors said Friday. Thomas Scully-Powers, 32, was arraigned via video and ordered jailed...
Chicago will cautiously reopen in early June, mayor says
CHICAGO — The city of Chicago is on pace to begin cautiously reopening and ease restrictions on certain activities in early June, with outdoor dining at restaurants, barber shops, non-lakefront park buildings and libraries slated to resume limited business, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday. If safety measures can be put...
South Carolina girl, 11, says racism behind white woman’s assault
An 11-year-old African American girl from South Carolina said she didn’t think a white woman who accused her of stealing mail was being racist until the woman’s husband told the girl that if she were “a different type,” things would have turned out differently. Elizabeth Shirey, 38, was charged with...
Trump deems churches ‘essential,’ calls for them to reopen
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that he has deemed churches and other houses of worship “essential” and called on governors across the country to allow them to reopen this weekend, even as some parts of the nation remain under coronavirus lockdown. “Today I’m identifying houses of worship —...
