U.S./World category, Page 935
Princeton strips Woodrow Wilson’s name from school, citing his racist past
Princeton University Saturday announced it would strip the name of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson from its school of public and international affairs and one of its residential colleges, following letters and calls from students and alumni. “We have taken this extraordinary step because we believe that Wilson’s racist thinking...
Critics question `less lethal’ force used during protests
AUSTIN, Texas — When a participant at a rally in Austin to protest police brutality threw a rock at a line of officers in the Texas capital, officers responded by firing beanbag rounds — ammunition that law enforcement deems “less lethal” than bullets. A beanbag cracked 20-year-old Justin Howell’s skull...
Mississippi gov: I’d sign bill to remove flag’s rebel emblem
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi lawmakers could vote in the next few days to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, a symbol that has come under intensifying criticism in recent weeks amid nationwide protests against racial injustice. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Saturday, for the first time, that...
Bar owners worry as virus surges in their workplaces
HOUSTON — The din of conversation and music that normally fills The Cottonmouth Club in downtown Houston fell silent last Friday when the owners shut it down for a second time during the coronavirus pandemic — a week before the Texas governor ordered all bars to follow suit amid a...
What to wear: Feds’ mixed messages on masks sow confusion
Forgive the American people if they’re in a fog about face masks. President Donald Trump and the federal government have done a number on them. First there was the don’t-do-it phase. Then the nice-but-not-for-me dissonance. Followed by the local-rules-don’t-apply exceptions. Topped off by Trump’s stated suspicion that some people wear...
Advocates, experts warn against polling place reductions
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — With only one polling place open on election day this week in Louisville, Kentucky, voting went relatively smoothly compared with other recent primaries held amid the global pandemic. Does that mean other cities should consider the same in November? Voting rights groups say no. They caution that...
Milton Glaser, designer of ‘I Love NY’ logo, dies at 91
NEW YORK — Milton Glaser, the groundbreaking graphic designer who adorned Bob Dylan’s silhouette with psychedelic hair and summed up the feelings for his native New York with “I (HEART) NY,” died Friday, his 91st birthday. The cause was a stroke and Glaser had also had renal failure, his wife,...
Judge: Alaska corporations can get tribal virus relief money
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Alaska Native corporations are eligible for a share of coronavirus relief funding set aside for tribes, a federal judge ruled late Friday in a case that has been closely watched around Indian Country. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., initially granted a request from tribal...
Police: Illinois warehouse shooting suspect killed himself
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A 48-year-old man suspected in the fatal shooting of two co-workers and the critical wounding of another at a Springfield, Illinois, warehouse died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, the city’s police chief said Friday. Michael L. Collins of Springfield, two other men and a woman all...
Seattle mayor meets with protesters over dismantling zone
SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan met with demonstrators Friday after some lay in the street or sat on barricades to thwart the city’s effort to dismantle an “occupied” protest zone that has drawn scorn from President Donald Trump and a lawsuit from nearby businesses. Crews arrived with heavy equipment...
Georgia governor signs hate crimes measure into law
ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed hate crimes legislation into law Friday after state lawmakers brokered a compromise over the proposal after 16 years of debate over whether to extend protections to people who are targeted because of biases. The Republican signed the proposal at the state Capitol surrounding...
Attorney: Ex-Baltimore mayor surrenders for prison term
Baltimore’s disgraced former mayor surrendered to federal authorities Friday to begin serving a three-year prison sentence stemming from a public corruption scandal. Catherine Pugh’s attorney, Steven Silverman, told The Associated Press his client “surrendered as directed.” Pugh was sentenced in February for fraudulently selling her self-published children’s books to nonprofit...
Family lawyer probing police actions in Elijah McClain’s death
DENVER — The lawyer for the family of Black man who died after being stopped by suburban Denver police last year because he was “being suspicious,” said Friday she and Elijah McClain’s relatives have been conducting their own investigation after an official inquiry cleared three white police officers Mari Newman...
Israeli military says 2 Gaza rockets hit southern Israel
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military said Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets into southern Israel late Friday, shattering months of near-total calm. In response, Israeli aircraft attacked two military facilities for Hamas, the Islamic group ruling Gaza. There were no reports of injuries in...
Adult film star Ron Jeremy pleads not guilty to 3 rapes
LOS ANGELES — Adult film star Ron Jeremy pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of raping three women and sexually assaulting a fourth. Jeremy, 67, whose real name is Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, entered the plea at his arraignment in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom to three counts each of forcible...
Reporter at Trump’s Tulsa rally tests positive for COVID-19
OKLAHOMA CITY — A journalist who attended President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa last week said Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19. Oklahoma Watch reporter Paul Monies said he was notified Friday of his positive diagnosis. “I’m pretty surprised,” Monies wrote on Twitter. “I have zero symptoms (so far)...
Florida bans bar alcohol consumption as coronavirus spikes
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida banned alcohol consumption at its bars Friday after its daily confirmed coronavirus cases neared 9,000, a new record that is almost double the previous mark set just two days ago. The Florida agency that governs bars announced the ban on Twitter just minutes after the...
House moves to approve D.C. statehood; Senate GOP opposes
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House is moving toward approval of a bill to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, saying Congress has both the moral obligation and constitutional authority to ensure that the city’s 700,000 residents are allowed full voting rights, no longer subject to “taxation without representation.”...
Governors who quickly reopened backpedal as virus surges
AUSTIN, Texas — When Texas began lifting coronavirus restrictions, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t wear a mask. He wouldn’t let mayors enact extra precautions during one of America’s swiftest efforts to reopen. He pointed out that the White House backed his plan and gave assurances there were safe ways to...
Council advances plan to dismantle Minneapolis Police Department
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a radical proposal to change the city charter that would allow the police department to be dismantled, following mass public criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd. The 12-0 vote is just the first step in a...
Texas orders bars shut amid surge in confirmed virus cases
AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott shut down bars in Texas again on Friday and scaled back restaurant dining, the most dramatic reversals yet as confirmed coronavirus cases surge. Abbott also said rafting and tubing outfitters on Texas’ popular rivers must close and that outdoor gatherings of 100 people...
Confirmed new virus cases hit new high in U.S.
The number of confirmed new coronavirus cases per day in the U.S. hit an all-time high of 40,000 Friday — eclipsing the mark set during one of the deadliest stretches in late April — in a resurgence that has led some governors to backtrack or at least pause the reopening...
Iraqi forces arrest men suspected of attacks targeting U.S.
BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces arrested over a dozen men suspected of a spate of rocket attacks against the U.S. presence in Iraq, the Iraqi military said Friday — the strongest action to date by the new government in Baghdad against perpetrators suspected of ties to Iran. The arrests marked...
Rayshard Brooks struggled in system but didn’t hide his past
ATLANTA — Rayshard Brooks didn’t hide his history. About five months before he was killed by Atlanta police in a Wendy’s parking lot — before his name and case would become the latest rallying point in a massive call for racial justice and equality nationwide — Brooks gave an interview...
After waves of covid deaths, care homes face legal reckoning
PARIS — The muffled, gagging sounds in the background of the phone call filled Monette Hayoun with dread. Was her severely disabled 85-year-old brother, Meyer, choking on his food? Was he slowly suffocating like the Holocaust survivor who died a few months earlier in another of the care home’s bedrooms,...
