U.S./World category, Page 818
Ahmaud Arbery memorialized in Georgia a year after slaying
SAVANNAH, Ga. — When white men armed with guns pursued and killed Ahmaud Arbery as he ran through their neighborhood, few outside the Georgia port city of Brunswick paid much attention at first. A year later, as three men await trial in the Feb. 23, 2020 slaying, those closest to...
Judge says wife of drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ to stay in jail
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ordered the wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to remain temporarily jailed after she was arrested and accused of helping her husband run his multibillion-dollar cartel and plotting his audacious escape from a Mexican prison in 2015. Emma Coronel Aispuro, a...
Senate confirms Biden’s choice for UN ambassador
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s choice to lead U.S. diplomacy at the United Nations on Tuesday. The vote for Linda Thomas-Greenfield reflected a divide between the Biden administration’s determination to re-engage with the world body and former President Donald Trump’s diplomacy that often left the U.S. isolated...
Drug executives: Big jump in vaccine supply is coming soon
Covid-19 vaccine makers told Congress on Tuesday to expect a big jump in the delivery of doses over the coming month after a rocky start to inoculations, and the companies insist they will be able to provide enough for most Americans by summer. By the end of March, Pfizer and...
Coronavirus forces Biden to forgo pomp for U.S.-Canada meeting
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing President Joe Biden to alter another first for his administration: the typically formal White House meeting with a foreign counterpart. Biden will play host to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday for the first bilateral meeting of his presidency, but he will do it...
Texas AG Ken Paxton was in Utah after historic freeze back home
AUSTIN, Texas — As Texas was reeling from last week’s historic freeze, the state’s attorney general was in Utah for previously scheduled meetings, a spokesman said Monday. Republican Ken Paxton’s trip was not previously known publicly, and he made no mention of being out of state while lashing out at...
Colorado city probe faults overall police treatment of Elijah McClain
DENVER — The results of an investigation into the fatal arrest of Elijah McClain in suburban Denver released Monday criticizes how police handled the entire incident, faulting officers for their quick, aggressive treatment of the 23-year-old Black man and the department for having a weak accountability system that failed to...
Wife of drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ arrested on U.S. drug charges
WASHINGTON — The wife of Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested on Monday at an airport in Virginia on international drug trafficking charges, the Justice Department said. Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, who is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, was arrested at Dulles International Airport and...
In Rush Limbaugh’s home state, a flap over lowering flagsVideo
TALLAHASSEE — In life, the conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh was a divisive figure, who proudly waved the flag of conservatism and wallowed in the controversies he helped ignite. In death, those controversies follow him as partisans in his home state of Florida debate over whether to lower flags in...
U.N. experts: Erik Prince, UAE firms violated Libya sanctions
UNITED NATIONS — American security contractor Erik Prince, a close ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, violated the U.N. arms embargo against Libya along with three United Arab Emirates-based companies and their top managers during an operation to help a rebel military commander take the capital Tripoli, U.N. experts...
After long wait, New Jersey moves ahead on recreational potVideo
TRENTON, N.J. — A recreational marijuana marketplace, cannabis decriminalization and looser penalties for underage possession of the drug and alcohol became law Monday in New Jersey, more than three months after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question to legalize adult use of the drug. Acknowledging that the legislation took much...
Dominion Voting Systems sues ‘MyPillow Guy’ for $1.3 billionVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit Monday against the founder and CEO of Minnesota-based MyPillow, saying that Mike Lindell falsely accused the company of rigging the 2020 presidential election. The lawsuit filed in federal court in the District of Columbia alleges that Lindell ignored repeated...
Police say N.Y. man killed by exploding gender reveal device
LIBERTY, N.Y. — An expectant father was killed when a device he was building for a gender reveal party exploded, police in New York said Monday. Christopher Pekny, 28, was assembling a device for his child’s gender reveal party in the Catskills town of Liberty when it exploded just before...
2 giraffes in Kenya park electrocuted by power linesVideo
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s wildlife agency says two giraffes were electrocuted Sunday when they walked into low-lying electric power transmission lines that pass through the Soysambu Conservancy in western Kenya. Trizer Mwakinya, head of communications at the Kenya Wildlife Service, said Monday that workers from the Kenya Power and Lighting...
Repeal of Virginia’s death penalty headed to governor’s desk
RICHMOND, Va. — State lawmakers gave final approval Monday to a bill that will end capital punishment in Virginia, a dramatic turnaround for a state that has executed more people in its history than any other. The legislation repealing the death penalty now heads to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who...
Court to take up Trump immigration, abortion referral rules
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Monday it will take up challenges to controversial Trump administration policies affecting family-planning clinics and immigrants, even though the Biden administration has announced it is reviewing them. The justices agreed to hear appeals over the Trump policy that keeps taxpayer-funded clinics from referring women...
Customs inspectors find cocaine-coated corn flakes in Ohio
CINCINNATI, Ohio — Customs authorities in Ohio say they intercepted a shipment of cereal earlier this month with a special frosting — cocaine. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Cincinnati reported finding 44 pounds of cocaine-coated cornflakes that had been shipped from South America to a Hong Kong home....
Bone cancer survivor to join billionaire on SpaceX flight
After beating bone cancer, Hayley Arceneaux figures rocketing into orbit on SpaceX’s first private flight should be a piece of cosmic cake. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced Monday that the 29-year-old physician assistant — a former patient hired last spring — will launch later this year alongside a billionaire...
139-year-old house rolls to new San Francisco address
After 139 years at 807 Franklin St. in San Francisco, a two-story Victorian house has a new address. The green home with large windows and a brown front door was loaded onto giant dollies and moved Sunday to a location six blocks away. Onlookers lined the sidewalks to snap photos...
Alaska woman using outhouse attacked by bear, from below
An Alaska woman had the scare of a lifetime when using an outhouse in the backcountry and she was attacked by a bear, from below. “I got out there and sat down on the toilet and immediately something bit my butt right as I sat down,” Shannon Stevens told The...
Boeing: 777s with engine that blew apart should be grounded
Boeing has recommended that airlines ground all 777s with the type of engine that blew apart after takeoff from Denver this weekend, and most carriers that fly those planes said they would temporarily pull them from service. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered United Airlines to step up inspections of...
Scotland vaccinations lead to sharp drop in covid hospitalizations
Scotland’s covid-19 vaccination program has led to a sharp drop in hospitalizations, researchers said Monday, boosting hopes that the shots will work as well in the real world as they have in carefully controlled studies. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduced hospital admissions by up to 94% four weeks after people received...
National Spelling Bee to return in mostly virtual format
The Scripps National Spelling Bee will return this year in a mostly virtual format, with the in-person competition limited to a dozen finalists who will gather on an ESPN campus at Walt Disney World in Florida, Scripps announced Monday. Last year’s bee was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the...
William says hospitalized grandfather Prince Philip is ‘OK’
LONDON — Prince William said Monday that his grandfather, Prince Philip, is “OK” as the 99-year-old royal consort remains under in a hospital for rest and observation. William was asked about Philip when he visited a coronavirus vaccination center in eastern England. “Yes, he’s OK, they’re keeping an eye on...
Biden to boost pandemic lending to smallest businesses
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is targeting federal pandemic assistance to the nation’s smallest businesses and taking steps to further equity in what is known as the Paycheck Protection Program. The administration is establishing a two-week window, starting on Wednesday, in which only businesses with fewer than 20 employees —...
