U.S./World category, Page 969
1 Houston police officer killed, 1 injured in copter crash
HOUSTON — A Houston police helicopter crashed early Saturday, killing one of the two officers on board and critically injuring the other, officials said. A pilot and tactical flight officer were aboard a police helicopter when it crashed at an apartment complex around 2 a.m. They were flown to a...
Virgin Galactic completes first glide flight in New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Virgin Galactic’s spaceship VSS Unity landed in the New Mexico desert on Friday, marking its first glide flight from Spaceport America as the company moves toward commercial operations. The company announced the flight on social media and shared photos of the craft on the runway and members...
‘Freedom’ protest against coronavirus orders leads to arrests at California Capitol
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — They came with babies strapped to their chests, flags waving and even a speedboat parked at the curb to symbolize California’s closed beaches. Hundreds of people — likely more than 1,000 — crowded around the California State Capitol on Friday to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom’s social distancing...
Anheuser-Busch wins latest round of beer wars against Molson
MADISON, Wis. — A federal appeals court on Friday struck down a lower court’s ruling in favor of brewing giant Molson Coors, determining that Anheuser-Busch can advertise and use packaging implying that its rival beers contain corn syrup. The order from a three-judge panel on the 7th U.S. Court of...
Middle finger didn’t warrant traffic stop, says North Carolina court
RALEIGH, N.C. — A state trooper’s decision to stop a driver who flashed an obscene hand gesture wasn’t justified, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Friday, overturning lower court decisions. The justices ruled unanimously that the evidence showed Trooper Paul Stevens lacked reasonable suspicion to pull over Shawn Patrick Ellis...
Remdesivir given go-ahead by FDA for emergency use against coronavirus
WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators on Friday allowed emergency use of an experimental drug that appears to help some coronavirus patients recover faster. It is the first drug shown to help fight COVID-19, which has killed more than 230,000 people worldwide. The FDA said in a statement that Gilead Science’s intravenous...
Stocks slide as Amazon, other companies detail coronavirus fallout
Stocks closed broadly lower on Wall Street on Friday after Amazon and other big companies reported disappointing results, the latest evidence of how the coronavirus pandemic is hobbling the economy and hurting corporate earnings. A day after closing out its best month since 1987, the S&P 500 fell 2.8%. The...
Trump says Michigan governor should ‘give a little’ to restart economy
LANSING, Mich. — President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer should “give a little” and “put out the fire” a day after hundreds of conservative demonstrators, some with assault weapons, protested at the state Capitol against stay-at-home restrictions she imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The Governor...
Man goes to clear out dead mom’s New York home, finds body in freezer
NEW YORK — A man found a decomposed body in his dead mother’s freezer as he was clearing out her Manhattan apartment, police said. He found the body this week in a chest freezer that had been sealed with duct tape, the Daily News reported. Investigators said the body appeared...
House panel wants Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to testify in antitrust probe
WASHINGTON — House lawmakers investigating the market dominance of Big Tech are asking Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to testify to address possible misleading statements by the company on its competition practices. In a letter to Bezos on Friday, leaders of the House Judiciary Committee from both parties are holding out...
WHO chief reiterates coronavirus had natural origin
GENEVA — The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization reiterated that the group believes the novel coronavirus is “natural in origin.” Dr. Michael Ryan responded Friday to comments by President Donald Trump, who said he has seen information that the virus may have emerged from a virology institute...
South Dakota Smithfield pork plant will reopen Monday, according to union
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A South Dakota pork processing plant will partially reopen Monday after shuttering for more than two weeks because of a coronavirus outbreak that infected hundreds of employees, a union that represents plant workers said Friday. Smithfield Foods asked about 250 employees to report to the plant...
Decline in critical coronavirus patients in Italy continues
ROME — The number of patients in Italy’s intensive care beds is continuing to decline. That’s allowing hospitals to better deal with the covid-19 outbreak, which when it began weeks ago had overwhelmed the national health care system, especially in heavily stricken northern regions. According to health ministry figures released...
New York schools staying closed through spring, Gov. Andrew Cuomo says
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s schools and colleges will remain shut through the end of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday. The order, which applies to 4.2 million students statewide, continues a shutdown that had been set to expire May 15. The Democratic...
California county defies governor’s coronavirus shutdown order
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A rural California county allowed nonessential businesses to reopen and diners to eat in restaurants on Friday, becoming the first to defy Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide orders barring such moves during the coronavirus pandemic. Modoc County is “moving forward with our reopening plan,” Modoc County Deputy Director...
Judge orders release of migrants in Florida as coronavirus measure
MIAMI — A federal judge ordered authorities to release hundreds of immigrants from three Florida detention centers to prevent a wider spread of the coronavirus and protect detainees with underlying conditions. U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Cooke issued an order late Thursday for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin...
Canada bans assault-style weapons after mass shootingVideo
TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Canada is banning the use and trade of assault-style weapons immediately. Trudeau cited numerous mass shootings in the country, including the killing of 22 people in Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19. He announced the ban of over 1,500 models...
New White House press secretary McEnany to hold 1st briefing
WASHiNGTON — President Donald Trump’s new spokeswoman, Kayleigh McEnany, is to face reporters for the first time in the White House Briefing Room on Friday, something her predecessor never did during a nine-month stint as press secretary. During past administrations, a White House press secretary holding a formal briefing would...
Kim Jong Un appears in public amid health rumors
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in 20 days as he celebrated the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang, state media said Saturday, ending an absence that had triggered global rumors that he was seriously ill. The North’s official Korean...
‘Unconscionable’ body overflow at Brooklyn funeral home prompts probeVideo
NEW YORK — It started with reports of a strange stench in Brooklyn. Police who investigated found another example of how the cornavirus has overwhelmed the city: A funeral home had resorted to storing dozens of bodies on ice in rented trucks. Now state officials say the funeral home could...
Alabama high school student names NASA’s first Mars helicopterVideo
NORTHPORT, Ala. — An Alabama high school student named NASA’s first Mars helicopter that will be deployed to the red planet later this summer. Ingenuity, the name submitted by Vaneeza Rupani, was selected for the 4-pound solar-powered helicopter, NASA said in a statement on Wednesday. The name coined by the...
California governor orders Orange County beaches to close
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom closed beaches in Orange County on Thursday, overriding some local officials who had rejected his pleas to limit access as the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the state. A memo to the state’s police chiefs on Wednesday indicated Newsom was preparing to close...
Police: South Carolina woman drove car with her 5-year-old child on hood
Rock Hill, S.C. — A woman who allegedly recorded a video of herself driving a car while her 5-year-old child was sitting on the hood of the vehicle was arrested in South Carolina. Thrista Miquisha Johnson turned herself in Tuesday when Rock Hill police learned about the video and issued...
Protesters, some armed, enter Michigan Capitol as House blocks extension of coronavirus emergency measuresVideo
Throngs of protesters, several of them armed, marched Thursday inside the Michigan Capitol as the House voted to block the state’s coronavirus emergency measures and authorized a lawsuit challenging Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s actions to fight the pandemic. The governor wanted lawmakers to extend her emergency declaration by 28 days....
West Virginia lifting stay-home order under eased benchmark
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Thursday said he is lifting the statewide stay-home order next week as part of his plan to ease coronavirus restrictions. The Republican said a new rule will go into effect Monday encouraging people to stay home but not requiring them to...
