U.S./World category, Page 939
Georgia senators say hate crimes law should protect police
ATLANTA — Republicans in Georgia’s state Senate have added police as a protected class to proposed hate crimes legislation deemed essential by state leaders, complicating chances of its passage by lobbing a political grenade into the belly of the bill with little time left in the legislative session. The Senate...
Bond hearing set for ex-Atlanta cop charged in Rayshard Brooks’ death
ATLANTA — A bond hearing will be held Tuesday for the former Atlanta police officer charged with felony murder and other charges in Rayshard Brooks’ shooting death. Garrett David Rolfe, 27, surrendered Thursday, a day after Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced criminal charges in the case. After turning...
Summer vacationers weigh testing, quarantine or staying home
PORTLAND, Maine — Homebound travelers desperate to venture out for the first time since the pandemic are confronting a vacation landscape this summer that may require coronavirus tests for the family and even quarantines. States from Maine to Hawaii are trying to strike a balance between containing the new coronavirus...
N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo ends string of more than 100 daily covid-19 briefings
ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrapped up a string of more than 100 daily briefings that became appointment viewing around the nation, alternatively informative, grave, jocular and combative, by declaring Friday that New York has “done the impossible” in taming the coronavirus. Cuomo appeared alone behind his desk during...
Tulsa mayor sets curfew around site of Trump’s weekend rallyVideo
TULSA, Okla. — The mayor of Tulsa has declared a civil emergency and set a curfew for the area around the arena where President Donald Trump plans to hold a campaign rally this weekend. In his executive order establishing a curfew around the BOK Center from 10 p.m. to 6...
Putin orders officials to fully clean Arctic fuel spill area
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government Friday to fully repair environmental damage from a massive fuel leak in the Arctic. A power plant in the Siberian city of Norilsk leaked 20,000 tons of diesel fuel into the ecologically fragile region, the worst such accident in decades. Putin...
Washington D.C. announces phase 2 reopening starting Monday
WASHINGTON — The nation’s capital is moving ahead with the second phase of its reopening Monday, as city officials credited months of social restrictions with blunting an anticipated spike in COVID-19 infections. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that playgrounds, libraries, gyms and nail salons in Washington, D.C., will be able to...
AP-NORC poll: Majority of Americans support police protestsVideo
NEW YORK — Ahead of the Juneteenth holiday weekend’s demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality, a majority of Americans say they approve of recent protests around the country. Many think they’ll bring positive change. And despite headline-making standoffs between law enforcement and protesters in cities nationwide, the poll from...
Officer involved in Breonna Taylor shooting to be firedVideo
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville’s mayor said Friday that one of three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor will be fired. Mayor Greg Fisher said interim Louisville police Chief Robert Schroeder has started termination proceedings for Officer Brett Hankison. Two other officers remain on administrative reassignment while...
Sheriff’s office: 6 killed in fiery head-on crash in Kansas
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Six people were killed and one was seriously injured in a fiery head-on crash on a northeast Kansas highway, authorities said. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said the crash happened around 6:40 p.m. Thursday when a Ford Fusion and another vehicle collided on U.S. 40 southwest of...
Momentum builds for making Juneteenth a federal holiday
There is a growing movement afoot to declare June 19, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday. The date marks the day in 1865 when Union Gen. Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, informing former slaves of their freedom provided by the order President Abraham Lincoln issued on Jan....
Germany, France, UK press Iran to provide atomic site access
BERLIN — The board of the United Nations’ atomic watchdog agency on Friday adopted a resolution calling for Iran to provide inspectors access to sites where the country is thought to have stored or used undeclared nuclear material, the Russian representative said. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to international organizations in...
U.S. in mind, UN body to report on racism after Floyd killing
GENEVA — The U.N.’s top human rights body voted unanimously Friday to commission a U.N. report on systemic racism and discrimination against black people while stopping short of ordering a more intensive investigation singling out the United States after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police sparked...
Atlanta police call out sick over charges in fatal shootingVideo
ATLANTA — Atlanta police officers called out sick to protest the filing of murder charges against an officer who shot a man in the back, while the interim chief acknowledged members of the force feel abandoned amid protests demanding massive changes to policing. Interim Chief Rodney Bryant told The Associated...
Bank of England apologizes for past links to slavery
LONDON — The Bank of England has apologized for the links some of its past governors had with slavery, as a global anti-racism movement sparked by the death of George Floyd forces many British institutions to confront uncomfortable truths about their pasts. The central bank called the trade in human...
New solo version of Aretha song about race, faith released on JuneteenthVideo
A never-before-heard solo version of the late Aretha Franklin’s riveting and powerful collaboration with Mary J. Blige about faith and race, 2006’s “Never Gonna Break My Faith,” has arrived on Juneteenth. Sony’s RCA Records, RCA Inspiration and Legacy Recordings released the song Friday, aligning with the holiday celebrating the day...
U.S. holding 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine after FDA rules it doesn’t help against coronavirus
Good news for President Donald Trump — he can have all the hydroxychloroquine he wants. The federal government suddenly finds itself with a surplus of more than 60 million doses of hydroxychloroquine now that the FDA has deemed the anti-malarial medication ineffective in treating coronavirus. CNN reports that the government...
Nancy Pelosi orders removal of Confederate portraits from CapitolVideo
WASHINGTON — Portraits honoring four former House speakers who served in the Confederacy were removed Thursday after Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that the men “embody the violent bigotry and grotesque racism of the Confederacy.″ Pelosi directed the House clerk to oversee the immediate removal of portraits depicting former speakers from...
Kentucky AG urges patience amid probe of Breonna Taylor’s death
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s attorney general asked for patience Thursday as his office investigates the shooting death of a black woman by Louisville police and decides whether the police officers involved will face criminal charges. Attorney General Daniel Cameron declined to publicly set a timetable for completing his investigation into...
Police capture 65-pound snapping turtle in Virginia suburb
A 65-pound alligator snapping turtle with a face only its mother could love has found a new home at a Virginia zoo after freaking out residents in a northern Virginia suburb. The turtle, dubbed Lord Fairfax, was repeatedly crossing a residential road in the Alexandria area, according to Fairfax County...
Proof of life: Photos emerge of stolen Van Gogh painting
A Dutch art sleuth has received “proof-of-life” photos of a Vincent van Gogh painting stolen in late March from a Dutch museum that was closed at the time because of the coronavirus. Arthur Brand, an art detective with a long track record of recovering stolen works, said Thursday that he...
Facebook says it’s promoting accurate info on vote-by-mail
WASHINGTON — Facebook said Thursday that it is working to help Americans vote by mail, including by notifying users about how to request ballots and whether the date of their state’s election has changed. The Vote By Mail notification connects Facebook users to information about how to request a ballot....
Britain scraps virus tracing app for Google-Apple system
LONDON — Britain is scrapping plans to launch its own coronavirus contact tracing smartphone app because of technical problems and will now work on building one using technology supplied by Apple and Google, health authorities said Thursday. The government’s app had been undergoing trials on the Isle of Wight, and...
EPA drops regulation for contaminant harming babies’ brains
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday ended an Obama-era drive to regulate a widespread contaminant in drinking water linked to brain damage in infants. The agency rejected warnings that the move will mean lower IQs for an unknown number of American newborns. Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s announcement was the latest in...
Injunction extended against removing Lee statue in VirginiaVideo
RICHMOND, Va. — A judge on Thursday indefinitely extended an injunction preventing the Virginia governor from removing a historic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s famed Monument Avenue. Richmond Circuit Court Judge Bradley Cavedo made the decision after hearing from attorneys for the state and for the...
