U.S./World category, Page 830
Biden opens sign-up window for uninsured in time of covidVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered government health insurance markets to reopen for a special sign-up window, offering uninsured Americans a haven as the spread of covid-19 remains dangerously high and vaccines aren’t yet widely available. Biden signed an executive order directing the HealthCare.gov insurance markets to take...
Cemetery apologizes after Black deputy is denied burial
The board of a Louisiana cemetery that denied burial to a Black sheriff’s deputy is holding an emergency meeting Thursday to remove a whites-only provision from its sales contracts. Board President H. Creig Vizena said he was stunned and ashamed to learn that the family of Allen Parish Sheriff’s Deputy...
By Sea of Galilee, archaeologists find ruins of early mosque
TIBERIAS, Israel — Archaeologists in Israel say they have discovered the remnants of an early mosque — believed to date to the earliest decades of Islam — during an excavation in the northern city of Tiberias. This mosque’s foundations, excavated just south of the Sea of Galilee by the Hebrew...
Panel overturns 4 Facebook content takedowns in first ruling
LONDON — Facebook’s quasi-independent oversight board issued its first rulings Thursday, overturning four out of five decisions by the social network to take down questionable content. The social media giant set up the oversight panel to rule on thorny issues about content on its platforms, in response to furious criticism...
Apple to crack down on tracking iPhone users in early spring
Apple says it will roll out a new privacy control in the spring to prevent iPhone apps from secretly shadowing people. The delay in its anticipated rollout aims to placate Facebook and other digital services that depend on such data surveillance to help sell ads. Although Apple didn’t provide a...
Pelosi denounces GOP leaders over Georgia lawmaker’s posts
WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi intensified pressure Thursday on House Republican leaders for their handling of a controversial GOP freshman, denouncing them for placing a lawmaker who Pelosi says has “mocked the killing of little children” on the chamber’s education committee. Pelosi’s comments focused on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.,...
Tom Brokaw: Journalists should get out of power centers
NEW YORK — If Tom Brokaw has one piece of advice to leave for television journalists upon his retirement, it’s to get out to more of the country —and not just to visit. The Capitol insurrection is but one example of a story that might not have seemed as much...
N.C. man hits 2 deer with new car, then he hits $2M in lottery
LELAND, N.C. — An unlucky start to a North Carolina man’s day turned upside down when he discovered he won a $2 million lottery prize hours after hitting two deer with his new car. Anthony Dowe, of Leland, had an accident on his way to work, the North Carolina Education...
Poland: Near-total abortion ban takes effect amid protests
WARSAW, Poland — A near-total ban on abortion has taken effect in Poland and triggered a new round of nationwide protests three months after a top court ruled that the abortion of congenitally damaged fetuses is unconstitutional. Led by a women’s rights group, Women’s Strike, people poured onto the streets...
New Biden health care orders begin to unspool Trump policies
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to take his first steps to reverse Trump administration health care policies. The White House said Biden plans on Thursday to sign orders on a range of issues including getting more Americans covered and removing curbs on abortion counseling. The most concrete short-term...
Emmett Till’s Chicago home granted city landmark status
CHICAGO — The Chicago South Side home of Emmett Till and his mother — where the boy was living when he was tortured and murdered during a 1955 trip to Mississippi — was granted city landmark status by the City Council on Wednesday as a group seeks to turn it...
Far-right influencer charged in 2016 Clinton voter scheme
NEW YORK — A self-styled far-right propagandist was arrested in Florida on Wednesday on charges he used social media to try to suppress votes for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. A criminal complaint accused 31-year-old Douglass Mackey — known on the internet...
San Francisco to strip Washington, Lincoln from public school namesVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — The names of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and other prominent figures including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California will be removed from 44 San Francisco public schools, a move that stirred debate Wednesday on whether the famously liberal city has taken the national reckoning on America’s racist...
U.S. puts hold on foreign arms sales, including F-35s to United Arab Emirates
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has put a temporary hold on several major foreign arms sales initiated by former President Donald Trump. Officials say that among the deals being paused is a massive $23 billion transfer of stealth F-35 fighters to the United Arab Emirates. That sale and several other...
Oklahoma seeking to return $2M worth of hydroxychloroquine
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma attorney general’s office is attempting to return $2 million worth of a malaria drug once touted by former President Donald Trump as an effective treatment for covid-19, a spokesman said Wednesday. Alex Gerszewski, a spokesman for Attorney General Mike Hunter, said Hunter is attempting to...
Empty seas: Shark numbers in ‘devastating’ worldwide decline
WASHINGTON — When marine biologist Stuart Sandin talks about sharks, it sounds like he’s describing Jedis of the ocean. “They are terrific predators, fast swimmers and they have amazing senses — they can detect any disturbance in the ocean from great distance,” such as smells or tiny changes in water...
U.S. terrorism alert warns of politically motivated violenceVideo
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security issued a national terrorism bulletin Wednesday warning of the potential for lingering violence from people motivated by anti-government sentiment after President Joe Biden’s election, suggesting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol may embolden extremists and set the stage for additional attacks. The...
Bernie Sanders’ mittens, memes help raise $1.8M for charity
About those wooly mittens that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders wore to the presidential inauguration, sparking endless quirky memes across social media? They’ve helped to raise $1.8 million in the last five days for charitable organizations in Sanders’ home state of Vermont, the independent senator announced Wednesday. The sum comes from...
Police raid Russian opposition leader’s apartment, offices
MOSCOW — Police are searching the Moscow apartment of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, another apartment where his wife is living and two offices of his anti-corruption organization. Navalny’s aides reported the Wednesday raids on social media. It was not immediately clear whether anyone had been arrested. The searches...
Man to plead guilty in plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
DETROIT — One of six men charged in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy, admitting that the group discussed an incredible scheme to snatch her at her lakeside vacation home and destroy a bridge to slow down police. Ty Garbin’s guilty plea...
Hikers told to forgo entire Appalachian Trail due to virus
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Hikers are being told by the agency that oversees the Appalachian Trail to postpone plans to cover the nearly 2,200-mile (3,540 kilometer) distance this year due to COVID-19. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy made the suggestion because it feels the pandemic makes long-distance hikes unsafe, the Asheville Citizen...
Killer winter tornado stuns storm-savvy Alabama town
FULTONDALE, Ala. — James Scott has never lived anywhere other than a two-story house on hilly Darlene Drive north of Birmingham. Home will never be the same after a tornado smashed the structure into pieces, killed another teen and left the community devastated in the middle of the night. Standing...
Capitol Police chief, sergeant-at-arms acknowledge failures in Jan. 6 siegeVideo
WASHINGTON — Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda D. Pittman on Tuesday apologized to Congress and acknowledged her department’s failure to adequately act on intelligence before a violent mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists infiltrated the Capitol on Jan. 6. Pittman, who took over the force when former Chief Steven Sund resigned Jan....
Feds: Former Air Force captain threatened family of congressman, journalist
NEW YORK — A California man disgruntled about the presidential election result was arrested Tuesday on charges alleging he threatened family members of a New York congressman and a journalist in text messages sent during the attack on the Capitol, authorities said. Robert Lemke, 35, was arrested in Bay Point,...
Florida ‘Paramedic of the Year’ accused of helping to steal vaccine
BARTOW, Fla. — A Florida man who had been recently named “Paramedic of the Year” helped a supervisor steal covid-19 vaccines meant for first responders, sheriff’s officials said. Joshua Colon, 31, forged the vaccine screening and consent forms to help cover up the theft of three vials containing 10 doses...
