Associated Press stories, Page 2032
Wolf’s mask order inflames partisan fight over coronavirus
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf’s more expansive mask order issued this week as the coronavirus shows new signs of life in Pennsylvania and the July Fourth holiday starts has been met with hostility from Republicans objecting to the Democrat’s use of power or even to wearing a mask itself. It...
Amid virus fight, campaign season brings ethical quandaries
BILLINGS, Mont. — Candidates in the November election who already hold office are grappling with a thorny question: where does the coronavirus stop and the campaign begin? In Montana, Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s actions helped keep the state’s infection rate from the COVID-19 pandemic among the lowest in the nation....
New outbreaks push inmate coronavirus cases past 50,000
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The number of prison inmates testing positive for the coronavirus soared well past the 50,000 mark last month, as recent outbreaks threatened to undo control measures put in place earlier in the pandemic. At the end of June, the total number of coronavirus cases among prisoners had...
Iran will not disclose cause of mysterious nuclear site fire
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An online video and messages purportedly claiming responsibility for a fire that analysts say damaged a centrifuge assembly plant at Iran’s underground Natanz nuclear site deepened the mystery Friday around the incident — even as Tehran insisted it knew the cause but would not make...
MLB cancels All-Star Game for 1st time since 1945
LOS ANGELES — Dodger Stadium’s 40-year wait to host the All-Star Game is going to last even longer. The game scheduled for July 14 was canceled Friday because of the coronavirus pandemic, and Dodger Stadium was awarded the 2022 Midsummer Classic. The 2021 game is set for Atlanta’s Truist Park,...
Redskins to have ‘thorough review’ of name amid race debate
WASHINGTON — The Washington Redskins began a “thorough review” of their name Friday, a significant step toward moving on from what experts and advocates call a “dictionary-defined racial slur.” Even though owner Dan Snyder had shown no willingness to change the name since buying the team in 1999, the recent...
Complaint: Missing Texas soldier was killed at Fort Hood
AUSTIN, Texas — Federal and military investigators say a soldier missing since April was killed and dismembered by a fellow soldier stationed at the same Texas base. The revelation followed demands for the Army to release details about its investigation of the disappearance. A criminal complaint released Thursday by the...
4th of July weekend will test Americans’ discipline
The U.S. headed into the Fourth of July weekend with many parades and fireworks displays canceled, beaches and bars closed, and health authorities warning that this will be a crucial test of Americans’ self-control that could determine the trajectory of the surging coronavirus outbreak. With confirmed cases climbing in 40...
Putin orders amendments extending his rule, outlawing same-sex marriage into constitution
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered amendments that would allow him to remain in power until 2036 to be put into the Russian Constitution after voters approved the changes during a week-long plebiscite. “The amendments come into force. They come into force, without overstating it, at the people’s...
Trump’s Mount Rushmore trip draws real and figurative fireworks
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — President Donald Trump will begin his Independence Day weekend on Friday with a patriotic display of fireworks at Mount Rushmore, an event expected to draw thousands where masks and social distancing aren’t required as coronavirus cases spike across the country. Trump is expected to speak at...
English pubs are reopening — and they won’t be the same
LONDON — Asking people in English pubs to keep their distance is going to be tough after they’ve had a few of their favorite tipples. Pub managers will have to be resourceful come Saturday when they and other parts of the hospitality industry in England open their doors to customers...
In shake-up, U.K. government plans televised media briefings
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his government will introduce White House-style televised media briefings, in a shake-up to the traditional system of political communication. For years, political journalists have been briefed off-camera but on the record by the prime minister’s official spokespeople, who are civil servants rather...
4 dead, 97 injured in blast at Turkish fireworks factoryVideo
ANKARA, Turkey — An explosion at a fireworks factory in northwestern Turkey on Friday killed four people and injured 97 others, officials said. At least three people were reported missing. There were 186 workers at the factory outside the town of Hendek, in Sakarya province, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told...
19 dead as train hits bus carrying Sikh pilgrims in Pakistan
LAHORE, Pakistan — A passenger train crashed into a bus carrying Sikh pilgrims at an unmanned railway crossing in eastern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 19 people and injuring several others, officials said. The accident happened in the district of Sheikhupura in Punjab province, Raja Ijaz, an official at...
Supreme Court blocks curbside voting in Alabama
MONTGOMERY, Ala. —The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision Thursday blocked a lower court ruling allowing curbside voting in Alabama and waiving some absentee ballot requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conservative justices granted Alabama’s request to stay a federal judge’s order that would allow local officials to offer curbside...
US jobs surge: Trump sees sunshine, Biden ‘no victory yet’
NEW YORK — The U.S. economy just posted its best single-month job gain in history. U.S. unemployment is at one of its worst points since the Great Depression. Both are true. As Republicans and Democrats fought to spin Thursday’s jobs numbers to their advantage, both sides face tremendous political risks...
Harley-Davidson cuts ties with dealership over racist posts
MILWAUKEE — Harley-Davidson said it is pulling its Facebook ads for the month of July and severing ties with a Tennessee dealership whose owner was accused of posting racist comments on social media disparaging Black Lives Matter protesters. The post was allegedly made on the Facebook page of Abernathy’s Cycles,...
Booker reaches out to unite Democrats against McConnell
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Looking to flex his newfound influence among Kentucky Democrats after his Senate campaign fell just short, Charles Booker reached out Thursday to unite behind Amy McGrath’s uphill fight to unseat Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Booker, a progressive who lost to McGrath by about 15,100 votes...
Zooming in to start unprecedented MLB summer camp amid virusVideo
Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward was going to address his entire team before the start of MLB’s unprecedented summer training camp, just like he did when spring training opened about 4 1/2 months ago. It was on a Zoom call instead of in person this time. When the New York...
Military chief: Troops were issued bayonets in DC unrest
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has confirmed a report by The Associated Press that some of the service members who were mobilized to Washington, D.C., last month in response to civil unrest over the killing of George Floyd were issued bayonets. Defense documents obtained...
One officer shown in Elijah McClain photos resigns
AURORA, Colo. — One of the police officers investigated over photographs connected with the death of Elijah McClain in Colorado has resigned, Aurora police said Thursday. In a tweet, the department said that Jaron Jones was one of those depicted in the photos, which were taken sometime after McClain’s death...
NASCAR, IndyCar collide for racing extravaganza at IndyVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — The once-frosty schism between the two biggest racing series in the United States has finally thawed, and the result is a blockbuster event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — even without fans. NASCAR’s elite Cup Series will share a venue with IndyCar on the same weekend for the first...
Iowa governor signs abortion law amid court challenge
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Monday signed into law a bill that requires women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion, trying again to institute a restriction similar to one struck down two years ago by the Iowa Supreme Court. Reynolds signed the measure into law just after lawyers...
Judge: N.Y. lockup’s covid-19 response lacked common sense
NEW YORK — A Manhattan federal lockup failed to implement common-sense measures to protect prisoners after a COVID-19 outbreak infected dozens of inmates at the facility, a judge said Thursday. U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos said four inmates who sued over conditions at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on behalf of...
Zion Williamson confident in his health, Pelicans’ prospects
NEW ORLEANS — Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson credits his mother’s wisdom with helping him manage life’s unanticipated twists and inevitable assortment of successes and setbacks. It has served the NBA’s top overall draft choice well during a highly unusual debut season that has gone nothing like he imagined, yet still...
