U.S./World category, Page 911
Mississippi flag could have Choctaw-inspired diamond shape
JACKSON, Miss. — The new Mississippi flag could include a magnolia or stars or representations of rivers. Or it could reflect the state’s Native American heritage with a diamond shape that is important to the Choctaw community. A group that will recommend a new flag met Friday and narrowed the...
Indiana police to stop blocking roads during executions
CHICAGO — Indiana State Police agreed Friday to stop blocking roads to a prison where federal executions resumed last month and are set to continue, backing down after anti-death penalty activists said in a lawsuit the roadblocks impeded their free speech rights. During the first three federal executions in July...
California becomes first state to pass 600,000 coronavirus cases
LOS ANGELES — California has become the first state in the nation to surpass 600,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. As of Friday morning, there were more than 603,000 recorded cases. The state also has now reported more than 11,000 deaths. Yet despite the grim numbers, there is growing evidence that the...
Hundreds of sea lions to be killed in Northwest in effort to save endangered fish
SEATTLE — Approval to kill up to 840 sea lions in a portion of the Columbia River and its tributaries over the next five years to boost the survival of salmon and steelhead at risk of extinction is expected from federal officials Friday. The kill program has been in the...
Mourners gather in Houston to remember slain soldier
HOUSTON — Flags from the U.S., Texas and Mexico flew at half staff Friday as a white, horse-drawn carriage embellished with white flowers brought in the custom green casket that carried the remains of a slain soldier. Vanessa Guillen, who was last seen on April 22, was memorialized nearly four...
Trump gets endorsement of NYC police union
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Seeking to amplify his law-and-order message, President Donald Trump on Friday told hundreds of New York Police Department officers that “no one will be safe in Biden’s America” if the former Democratic vice president defeats him in November . “This guy has been taking your dignity away...
Sens. Casey, Toomey demand U.S. Health Secretary Azar take action to protect nursing homes
Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey are giving U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar until the end of the month to respond to their calls for urgent federal actions to protect residents of nursing homes during the pandemic. The bipartisan pair of Pennsylvania lawmakers requested that the Trump administration’s top public...
9th Circuit ends California ban on high-capacity magazines
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday threw out California’s ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, saying the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s protection of the right to bear firearms. “Even well-intentioned laws must pass constitutional muster,” appellate Judge Kenneth Lee wrote...
Governor: New Jersey election will be done mostly by mail
TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey will move to a nearly all-mail election this November, following the model the state used in its July primary, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday. Murphy, a Democrat, said during an interview with CNN that all voters would get a ballot, but it’s not clear...
Palestinians say UAE deal hinders quest for Mideast peace
JERUSALEM — Israel’s agreement to establish diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates marks a watershed moment in its relations with Arab countries, but the Palestinians say it puts a just resolution of the Middle East conflict even farther out of reach. The UAE presented its decision to upgrade longstanding...
Pompeo to meet head of UN nuclear watchdog as council votes
VIENNA — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Austria, where he will see the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog as members of the U.N. Security Council vote on a long-shot American bid to extend an arms embargo on Iran. The vote in New York will likely...
TikTok and its employees prepare to fight Trump over app ban
TikTok and its U.S. employees are planning to take President Donald Trump’s administration to court over his sweeping order to ban the popular video app, according to a lawyer preparing one of the lawsuits. The employees’ legal challenge to Trump’s executive order will be separate from a pending lawsuit from...
More U.S. churches sue to challenge covid-19 restrictions
Churches in California and Minnesota, backed by a conservative legal group, filed lawsuits this week against the governors of their states challenging restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak that they contend are violations of religious liberty. They’re the latest in a long series of legal challenges, many of them...
Death toll from storm rises in Iowa as power outages persist
DES MOINES, Iowa — It will take five days or longer to restore power to some Iowa homes and businesses that have been without electricity since Monday’s wind storm left damage across the Midwest and killed at least four people, officials said Thursday. The straight-line winds that toppled trees and...
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle move into new California home
LOS ANGELES — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have moved into a new family home, a representative for the couple said Thursday without providing its location or other details. Real estate agents and tax records point to a seven-acre estate in Santa Barbara County, according to The Los Angeles Times....
Mazda-Toyota boosts investment in Alabama plant by $830M
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, the new joint-venture between the two auto companies, on Thursday announced an additional $830 million investment in its new Alabama plant. Gov. Kay Ivey said in a news release that the investment in the new auto facility is now $2.3 billion, up from the...
Trump, Biden trade barbs on coronavirus response
WILMINGTON, Del. — President Donald Trump on Thursday attacked Joe Biden for calling on governors to mandate that all Americans wear masks for the next three months, accusing the Democratic presidential candidate of politicizing an issue Trump himself has used for political gain in recent months. Trump claimed Biden has...
Bill to create Purple Heart coin series gains traction in CongressVideo
Josh Marino suffered a traumatic brain injury when an enemy mortar exploded a few feet away from him during his 2007 deployment to Baghdad. In the moment, he had no idea what had happened. “At the time I thought, ‘Man, those cannons we have on base are really loud. They’re...
EPA relaxes greenhouse gas emission limits on oil and gas industry
HARRISBURG — President Trump’s administration is undoing Obama-era rules designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas fields and pipelines, formalizing the changes Thursday in the heart of the nation’s most prolific natural gas reservoir and in the premier presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania. Andrew Wheeler, the Environmental...
Georgia governor to drop lawsuit over Atlanta mask mandate
ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday said he’s dropping a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta in a dispute over the city’s requirement to wear masks in public and other restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kemp had sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the City Council....
Feds now investigating Florida man accused of making bombs
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — Federal agents are taking over the investigation of a Florida man who was arrested after police found more than two dozen pipe bombs near his home, including some that contained nails, screws and metal pellets. Boynton Beach police said Thursday that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,...
Portland protest clashes re-emerge near U.S. courthouse
PORTLAND, Ore. — Protesters and police clashed in downtown Portland in a demonstration that lasted into the predawn hours of Thursday, with some in the crowd setting a fire and exploding commercial grade fireworks outside a federal courthouse that’s been a target in months of conflict for Oregon’s largest city....
Pompeo, in Slovenia, pushes 5G security, warns about China
BLED, Slovenia — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Slovenia to make the case for high-speed wireless networks that bar Chinese companies like Huawei. On the second leg of a four-nation tour of central and eastern Europe, Pompeo was meeting Slovenian officials in the mountain lake town of...
Thousands in Belarus form ‘lines of solidarity’ in protest
MINSK, Belarus — Thousands of people were back on the streets of Belarus’ capital on Thursday to keep protesting against a vote that extended the 26-year rule of the country’s authoritarian leader, and against a brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrations. In several areas of Minsk, hundreds of women formed long...
Air Force helicopter shot at while flying over Virginia, injuring 1
WASHINGTON — An Air Force helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at a Virginia airport this week when someone shot at it, injuring a member of the crew, local and military officials said. The UH-1N Huey helicopter is assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Joint Base Andrews....
