U.S./World category, Page 733
South Carolina county GOP leader who railed against mask requirements dies from covid-19
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A tea party Republican who recently helped turn over the party leadership in South Carolina’s largest county has died from complications of covid-19. Pressley Stutts died Thursday, according to party leaders and his family. The U.S. Navy veteran was 64. Over the summer, Stutts led a group...
Texas Supreme Court declines to hold up mask mandate ban
The Texas Supreme Court declined Thursday to block restraining orders against Gov. Greg Abbott’s mask mandate ban. The justices remanded Attorney General Ken Paxton’s appeal to the 3rd Texas Court of Appeal in Austin for a hearing. The court did not issue an opinion for its decision. The move came...
Casey calls for calm in the wake of the withdrawal from Afghanistan
Calling the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan a painful spectacle, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, is calling on Americans to turn down the blame game and concentrate on assisting those trying to escape the Taliban. Casey said his office alone logged 280 calls about the collapse of Afghanistan as of Wednesday...
Afghanistan war unpopular amid chaotic pullout: AP-NORC poll
WASHINGTON — A significant majority of Americans doubt that the war in Afghanistan was worthwhile, even as the United States is more divided over President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and national security, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Roughly two-thirds said...
Kind acts accentuated slain Chicago officer’s brief careerVideo
CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer who was fatally shot during a routine traffic stop was remembered Thursday for a brief career marked by compassion; for her fellow officers, a one-year-old gunshot victim she sped to a hospital, and the stray dogs she ferried to an animal shelter in her...
2 dead, 20 missing in North Carolina county flooded by Fred
RALEIGH, N.C. — Authorities combing areas of North Carolina flooded by the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred said Thursday that two people have been found dead and about 20 were unaccounted for. Meanwhile, Fred — now a post-tropical cyclone — was pushing through New York and New England with drenching...
U.S. to erase student debt for those with severe disabilities
The Biden administration announced Thursday it will automatically erase student loan debt for more than 300,000 Americans with severe disabilities that leave them unable to earn significant incomes. The move will wipe out more than $5.8 billion in debt, according to the Education Department, and it marks the start of...
Man surrenders after claiming to have bomb near CapitolVideo
WASHINGTON — A man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck near the Capitol surrendered to law enforcement after an hourslong standoff Thursday that prompted a massive police response and the evacuations of government buildings and businesses in the area. Police did not immediately know whether there...
Appeals court upholds Texas law to ban abortion procedure
NEW ORLEANS — A Texas law outlawing an abortion method commonly used to end second-trimester pregnancies was upheld Wednesday by a federal appeals court in New Orleans. The 2017 law in question has never been enforced. It seeks to prohibit the use of forceps to remove a fetus from the...
U.S. jobless claims hit a pandemic low as hiring strengthens
WASHINGTON — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week for a fourth straight time to a pandemic low, the latest sign that America’s job market is rebounding from the pandemic recession as employers boost hiring to meet a surge in consumer demand. The Labor Department reported Thursday...
German on trial for killing 5, injuring 18 in car rampage
BERLIN — A 51-year-old man has gone on trial in Germany for a vehicle rampage that killed five people in the western city of Trier last year. The defendant, a local resident identified only as Bernd W. due to German privacy laws, was indicted on five counts of murder and...
How AI-powered tech landed man in jail with scant evidence
CHICAGO — Michael Williams’ wife pleaded with him to remember their fishing trips with the grandchildren, how he used to braid her hair, anything to jar him back to his world outside the concrete walls of Cook County Jail. His three daily calls to her had become a lifeline, but...
Gulf Coast’s beloved ‘Redneck Riviera’ now a virus hotspot
GULF SHORES, Ala. — Tourists and servers alike dance atop tables and in the aisles at one restaurant on the “Redneck Riviera,” a beloved stretch of towns along the northern Gulf Coast where beaches, bars and stores are packed. Yet just a few miles away, a hospital is running out...
Afghans protest Taliban in emerging challenge to their rule
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan protesters defied the Taliban for a second day Thursday, waving their national flag in scattered demonstrations that were met with renewed violence by the militants who are facing growing challenges to their rule. A U.N. official warned of dire food shortages in this nation of 38...
Authorities: Woman, granddaughter dead in shooting at Indiana automotive plant
FRANKFORT, Ind. — A woman and her granddaughter were fatally shot Wednesday when a gunman opened fire outside a central Indiana automotive plant where the women worked, the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office said. The shooting happened around 4:15 p.m. during a shift change in the parking lot of the NHK...
EPA bans pesticide linked to health problems in children
The Biden administration said Wednesday it was banning use of chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide long targeted by environmentalists, on food crops because it poses risks to children and farm workers. The Environmental Protection Agency acted after a federal appeals court ordered the government in April to determine quickly whether...
Big bird on water is mystery, but town calls it just ducky
BELFAST, Maine — The sudden appearance of a giant rubber duck in a Maine harbor is a whimsical whodunit that’s defied sleuths so far. The yellow waterfowl emblazoned with the word “joy” appeared in Belfast Harbor over the weekend, and it’s a mystery who put it there. Harbor Master Katherine...
Kushner pal Ken Kurson hit with state charges months after Trump pardon
NEW YORK — A newspaper editor friend of former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was hit Wednesday with state cyberstalking charges in New York, seven months after Trump pardoned him in a similar federal case just before leaving office. Manhattan prosecutors accused Ken Kurson, the New York Observer’s editor...
Woman comes face-to-face with snake in Australia supermarket
CANBERRA, Australia — Helaina Alati was browsing the spice aisle of an Australian supermarket when she came face-to-face with a huge snake. The head of the 10-foot-long non-venomous diamond python emerged through a space in a shelf above the spice jars in the Sydney store. “I was in the spice...
Official: 1 killed, 6 wounded as Taliban break up protest
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan health official says at least one person was killed and six were wounded Wednesday when the Taliban violently dispersed a protest in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Dozens of people raised the national flag Wednesday and lowered the Taliban’s own flag the day before Afghanistan’s...
Belgium: Teenager seeks to break women’s solo flight record
KORTRIJK, Belgium — A Belgian-British teenager took to the skies Wednesday in her quest to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo. With her parents looking on, 19-year-old Zara Rutherford took off from an airstrip in Kortrijk, western Belgium in gusty, overcast conditions. Rutherford is aiming to...
EU holds migrant talks, accuses Belarus of ‘hybrid warfare’
BRUSSELS — European Union ministers are holding emergency talks on Wednesday in response to allegations that Belarus is deliberately sending migrants to Lithuania as part of a “hybrid warfare” campaign to destabilize the Baltic EU member country. The ministers are holding a videoconference in a so-called “integrated political crisis response”...
R. Kelly due back in court for opening of sex abuse trial
NEW YORK — R&B star R. Kelly will be back in a criminal court on Wednesday, this time for opening statements in his long-anticipated federal trial arising from years of allegations that he sexually abused women and girls while pursuing fame and fortune. More than a decade has passed since...
Mustang roundups fuel deepening debate as drought grips West
TOOELE, Utah — The sound of the helicopter propeller thundered across the horizon as it dipped down toward mustangs dotting the golden brown plain. The horses burst into a gallop at the machine’s approach, their high-pitched whinnies rising into the dry air. That helicopter roundup in the mountains of western...
Heir: Sackler family won’t settle unless freed from opioid suits
Members of the family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma won’t contribute billions of dollars to a legal settlement unless they get off the hook for all current and future lawsuits over the company’s activities, one of them told a court Tuesday in a rare public appearance. David Sackler, grandson...
