U.S./World category, Page 988
Roy Horn, dark-haired half of flamboyant illusionists Siegfried & Roy, dies of complications related to coronavirus
Roy Horn, the dark-haired half of Siegfried & Roy, the flamboyant, German-born illusionists whose lavish stage productions and trademark disappearing white tigers and lions made them one of the biggest draws on the Las Vegas Strip, died Friday. He was 75. Horn, who suffered a severe wound to his neck...
SeaWorld develops plans for reopening; no official date set
ORLANDO, Fla. — SeaWorld guests could be sitting in every other row of the stadium to watch orca shows when the parks eventually reopen, the company’s CEO said Friday. Interim CEO Marc Swanson gave an update Friday on a coronavirus safety plan under development, but no official reopening dates have...
IRS sets Wednesday deadline for direct deposit stimulus payments
WASHINGTON — The IRS said it will accept bank account information until noon Wednesday for people who want to receive stimulus payments by direct deposit. After that, the IRS will send the money by check to the address on file, with those payments expected to arrive in late May and...
New Mexico town near vast US reservation shuts everyone out
GALLUP, N.M. — Like clockwork, payday arrives and tens of thousands of people from the Navajo reservation and other rural stretches along the New Mexico-Arizona border flood into Gallup, a freewheeling desert oasis of just 22,000 that can quickly quadruple in size with all the visitors. Not now. As the...
Mike Pence says lack of religious services has been ‘burden’
URBANDALE, Iowa — Vice President Mike Pence spoke Friday to a group of faith leaders in Iowa about the importance of resuming religious services, saying the cancellations in the name of slowing the spread of the coronavirus have “been a burden” for congregants. Pence spoke with the religious leaders and...
Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. kids are obese, according to latest data
NEW YORK — Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. children are obese, according to the latest national data. The news is disappointing, given that programs across the country have for years been trying to reduce childhood obesity, one expert said. “We really were expecting and hoping to see the trends decrease,”...
Crossings rise on US northern border; many are Mexicans
SWANTON, Vt. — The number of people apprehended for illegally crossing from Canada into the United States along its northern border has nearly tripled over the past three years, and a growing portion are Mexican citizens, according to federal data. One Mexican man who crossed illegally to work on a...
Lawyers: Investigators recommend that whistleblower at HHS be reinstated
WASHINGTON — Federal investigators have found “reasonable grounds” that a government whistleblower was punished for opposing widespread use of an unproven drug that President Donald Trump touted as a remedy for covid-19, his lawyers said Friday. Dr. Rick Bright headed the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. He had received...
Judge denies bid to dismiss charges against Lori Loughlin
A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss charges against actress Lori Loughlin; her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli; and other prominent parents accused of cheating the college admissions process, siding with prosecutors who denied that investigators had fabricated evidence. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton rejected a bid by the defense...
Jetliner hits and kills man on Texas airport runway
AUSTIN, Texas — A man was struck and killed by a commercial jet landing on a runaway at an Austin, Texas, airport, authorities said. The pilot of Southwest Airlines Flight 1392, a Boeing 737 arriving from Dallas, reported seeing a person on Runway 17R at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport shortly after...
Space agency: Human urine could help make concrete on moon
BERLIN — The European Space Agency said Friday that human urine could one day become a useful ingredient in making concrete to build on the moon. The agency said researchers in a recent study it sponsored found that urea, the main organic compound in urine, would make the mixture for...
President Donald Trump says in his mother’s eyes, he ‘could do no wrong’
WASHINGTON — Reflecting on Mother’s Day this weekend, President Donald Trump said Friday that he could do no wrong in his mother’s eyes and perhaps that’s what framed his personality today. “I had a great mom. I loved my mom and she loved me, which … is probably not easy...
New York City stepping up distancing enforcement in parks
NEW YORK — Police officers will start limiting access to a handful of New York City parks whose scofflaw visitors have become poster children for bad social distancing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday. Users of the parks, two built on piers that jut into the Hudson River and one...
Grit and red wine: Famous war photographer beats virus at 97
NEW YORK — Tony Vaccaro’s mother died in childbirth, and at a tender age he also lost his father to tuberculosis. By age 5, he was an orphan in Italy, enduring beatings from an uncle. As an American GI during World War II, he survived the Battle of Normandy. Now,...
World Health Organization says it has $1.3 billion funding shortfall
LONDON — The head of the World Health Organization says the agency needs $1.7 billion to fund its response efforts for covid-19 for the rest of the year — and that it’s about $1.3 billion short. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was suspending funding to the U.N....
Georgia promises thorough probe in killing of Ahmaud Arbery
SAVANNAH, Ga. — More than two months after a black man was shot to death while jogging on a Sunday afternoon, Georgia investigators conceded that the facts show enough evidence to jail a white father and son on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. The investigation appeared stalled by...
Lost your job? Here’s an updated list of things you need to know
Nearly 33.5 million Americans have lost their jobs and applied for unemployment benefits in the past 7 weeks — a stunning record high that reflects the near-complete shutdown of the U.S. economy. On Friday, the government said the U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the...
World War II veterans to join Trump at V-E Day ceremony
WASHINGTON — Seven World War II veterans, ages 96 to 100, planned to join President Donald Trump at a wreath-laying ceremony Friday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe. The veterans had hoped to mark the day in Moscow, but that idea was dashed...
U.S. jobless rate spikes to 14.7%, highest since Great Depression
WASHINGTON — The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record. The figures are stark evidence of the damage the coronavirus has done to a now-shattered economy. The losses reflect what has...
2 men arrested in killing of unarmed black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia after outrage
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Georgia authorities arrested a white father and son Thursday and charged them with murder in the February shooting death of a black man they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood. The charges came more than two months after Ahmaud Arbery, 25,...
Shooting over dining area closure hurts 3 McDonald’s workers in OklahomaVideo
OKLAHOMA CITY — Three McDonald’s employees in Oklahoma City suffered gunshot wounds when a customer opened fire because she was angry that the restaurant’s dining area was closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, police said Thursday. Gloricia Woody, 32, was in custody after the Wednesday night shooting on four counts...
Republican donor, fundraiser Louis DeJoy named next postmaster general
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Republican fundraiser and prolific political donor from North Carolina will be the next postmaster general. Louis DeJoy of Greensboro, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was the unanimous pick of the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors, which made the announcement. He’s expected to begin...
Ohio restaurants, bars, salons, barbershops to fully reopen by May 21
Ohio restaurants with outdoor seating, salons and barbershops will begin to reopen next week, with a more expanded opening of restaurants coming the following week, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday. Personal services — barbershops, hair salons, day spas, nail salons and others — can reopen May 15, as can outdoor-seating...
U.S. pulls anti-missile systems from Saudi Arabia amid oil disputeVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States is pulling two Patriot missile batteries and some fighter aircraft out of Saudi Arabia, an American official said Thursday, amid tensions between the kingdom and the Trump administration over oil production. The official said the decision removes two batteries that were guarding oil facilities in...
Justice Department dropping Michael Flynn’s Trump-Russia caseVideo
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry for the president and his supporters in attacking the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation. The action was a stunning reversal...
