U.S./World category, Page 794
Lawmakers seek long-term limit on governors’ emergency power
As governors loosen long-lasting coronavirus restrictions, state lawmakers across the U.S. are taking actions to significantly limit the power they could wield in future emergencies. The legislative measures are aimed not simply at undoing mask mandates and capacity limits that have been common during the pandemic. Many proposals seek to...
Study: Facebook delivers biased job ads, skewed by gender
Facebook is showing different job ads to women and men in a way that might run afoul of anti-discrimination laws, according to a new study. University of Southern California researchers who examined the ad-delivery algorithms of Facebook and LinkedIn found that Facebook’s were skewed by gender beyond what can be...
Biden orders study to explore adding seats to Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday ordered a study of adding seats to the Supreme Court, creating a bipartisan commission that will spend the next six months examining the politically incendiary issues of expanding the court and instituting term limits for its justices. In launching the review, Biden fulfilled...
Judge orders delay amid debate over Dakota Access pipeline
BISMARCK, N.D. — A judge on Friday delayed a decision on whether the Dakota Access Oil pipeline should be shut down while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts an environmental review on the project, after lawyers for the pipeline asked for more time to outline the effects of recent...
Archeologists unearth an ancient pharaonic city in Egypt
Egyptian archeologists have unearthed a 3,000-year-old lost city, complete with mud brick houses, artifacts, and tools from pharaonic times. Noted archeologist Zahi Hawass said an Egyptian mission discovered the mortuary city in the southern province of Luxor. It dates back to what is considered a golden era of ancient Egypt,...
Kremlin says it fears full-scale fighting in Ukraine’s east
The Kremlin said Friday it fears a resumption of full-scale fighting in eastern Ukraine and could take steps to protect Russian civilians there, a stark warning that comes amid a Russian troop build-up along the border. The statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, reflected the Kremlin’s determination...
West Virginia weighs income tax cut to stem population loss
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With West Virginia about to lose another congressional seat because of steady population decline, Republican lawmakers are convinced a massive income tax cut is the key to reversing the trend. But figuring out how to do that without harming the state’s most vulnerable or punching a massive...
U.S. urges arms embargo and sanctions against Myanmar military
UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations urged the international community to take “concrete action” against the military in Myanmar on Friday including an arms embargo and sanctions against its holding companies and those who profit from them, saying this is the only way to change the...
Kentucky limits no-knock warrants after Breonna Taylor death
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed a partial ban on no-knock warrants Friday after months of demonstrations set off by the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in her home during a botched police raid last year. The law signed by the Democratic governor is not the total ban...
Florida man sentenced in crash that killed Ohio mom, child
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida judge sentenced a 21-year-old man to 24 years in prison for killing an Ohio mother and her young daughter in a 2018 traffic crash. Hillsborough Circuit Judge Christopher Nash heard hours of testimony on Thursday before announcing his decision to send Cameron Herrin to prison....
Transgender woman seeks transfer from Georgia men’s prison
ATLANTA — A transgender woman held in a Georgia men’s prison says she has been sexually assaulted repeatedly and denied necessary medical treatment and that prison officials retaliated against her after she filed complaints and a lawsuit. Lawyers for Ashley Diamond asked a federal judge in court filings Friday to...
Federal appeals court sides with Evers over press access
MADISON, Wis. — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers can exclude members of a conservative think tank from attending press briefings and keep them off his email list sent to other reporters, upholding a ruling from a lower court. The MacIver Institute for Public...
Medical examiner blames police pressure for George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — The chief county medical examiner who ruled George Floyd’s death a homicide testified Friday that the way police held him down and compressed his neck “was just more than Mr. Floyd could take,” given the condition of his heart. Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner, took...
Airlines pull Boeing Max jets to inspect electrical systems
Airlines pulled dozens of Boeing Max 737s out of service for inspections after the aircraft maker told them about a possible electrical problem, the latest setback for the plane. Boeing said Friday that the issue affected planes used by 16 airlines. The company did not say how many planes are...
‘How many of us will be left?’ Catholic nuns face loss, pain through toll of pandemic
At the front desk, the kindly nun who greeted visitors at St. Anne’s Home is missing, and in the chapel, where stained glass paints the walls with pastels, she no longer waves hello from the last pew on the left. In the convent’s living room, Sister Mary Evelyn Labik isn’t...
U.S.-Russian trio blast off on mission to space station
MOSCOW — A Russian-U.S. trio of space travelers launched successfully Friday, heading for the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov blasted off as scheduled at 3:42 a.m. EDT aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in...
Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, dead at 99
LONDON — Prince Philip, the irascible and tough-minded husband of Queen Elizabeth II who spent more than seven decades supporting his wife in a role that both defined and constricted his life, has died, Buckingham Palace said Friday. He was 99. His life spanned nearly a century of European history,...
Explosive eruption rocks volcano on Caribbean’s St. Vincent
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — An explosive eruption rocked La Soufriere volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent on Friday following mandatory evacuation orders from the local government. Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies Seismic Center, said the ash column is estimated to have...
Reigning Mrs. World arrested over onstage melee in Sri LankaVideo
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Police in Sri Lanka on Thursday arrested the reigning Mrs. World for pulling the crown off the head of the winner of a Mrs. Sri Lanka beauty pageant and allegedly causing injuries. She was later released on bail. Caroline Jurie, who won the Mrs. World 2020...
Police: Employee kills 1, wounds 5 at Texas cabinet business
BRYAN, Texas — A man opened fire Thursday at a Texas cabinet-making company where he worked, killing one person and wounding five others before shooting and wounding a state trooper prior to his arrest, authorities said. Bryan Police Chief Eric Buske told reporters he believes the suspect, whose name wasn’t...
Northern Ireland leaders seek calm after violence escalatesVideo
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Authorities in Northern Ireland sought to restore calm Thursday after Protestant and Catholic youths in Belfast hurled bricks, fireworks and gasoline bombs at police and each other. It was the worst mayhem in a week of street violence in the region, where Britain’s exit from the...
Records: Kansas lawmaker’s blood alcohol twice legal limit; called cop ‘donut boy’
LIBERTY, Mo. — A powerful Kansas lawmaker accused of drunken driving had a blood alcohol level that was twice the legal limit and taunted the Highway Patrol officer who arrested him last month for allegedly speeding the wrong way on an interstate, according to documents released Thursday. Kansas GOP Senate...
Ohio paint plant explosion and fire kill 1, hurt 8; cause unclearVideo
COLUMBUS — An explosion and fire rocked a paint manufacturer early Thursday in Ohio’s capital, killing one person and injuring eight others. Some of the injured were able to get out of the Yenkin-Majestic Paint plant in Columbus, authorities said. Others were rescued and taken to the hospital. All of...
Background checks no longer required for Tennessee gunowners
NASHVILLE — Tennessee has become the latest state to allow most adults 21 and older carry handguns without first clearing a background check and training after Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday signed the measure into law. “I signed constitutional carry today because it shouldn’t be hard for law-abiding Tennesseans to...
Number of kids alone at U.S.-Mexico border hits all-time high
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government picked up nearly 19,000 children traveling alone across the Mexican border in March, authorities said Thursday, the largest monthly number ever recorded and a major test for President Joe Biden as he reverses many of his predecessor’s hardline immigration tactics. A complex mix of factors...
