August 23, 2021 10:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. has given full approval to the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer. The Food and Drug Administration’s decision on Monday may help lift public confidence in vaccinations as the nation battles the most contagious coronavirus mutant yet. The FDA has never before had so much evidence to judge a shot’s safety. More than 200 million doses already have been administered in the U.S. since emergency use began in December. The decision could push some vaccine holdouts toward getting the shots. And it could spur more vaccine mandates by companies, universities and local governments.
August 23, 2021 4:17 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Don Everly, one-half of the pioneering rock ‘n’ roll Everly Brothers, has died. He was 84. An attorney and family spokesperson said Everly died Saturday at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. His brother, Phil Everly, died in January 2014. In the late 1950s and 1960s, the duo molded rock ‘n’ roll with their high, yearning harmony, while their poignant lyrics embodied teenage restlessness and energy. Their career spanned five decades, although they performed separately from 1973 to 1983. In their heyday between 1957 and 1962, they had 19 top 40 hits, including “Bye Bye Love,” “All I Have to Do Is Dream” and “Wake Up Little Susie.”
August 23, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon says it will require service members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine now that the Pfizer vaccine has received full approval. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is making good on his vow earlier this month to require the shots once the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine. He said guidance is being developed and a timeline will be provided in the coming days. Austin’s decision reflects similar moves by governments and companies around the world, as nations struggle with the highly contagious delta variant that has sent U.S. cases surging to heights not seen since last winter. And hospitalizations and deaths are increasing among the military. The FDA gave full approval to the Pfizer vaccine Monday morning.
August 23, 2021 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S military troops flying round the clock have managed their biggest day of airlifts out of Afghanistan by far. But deadly violence that has blocked many desperate Afghans and foreigners from entering Kabul’s airport persisted Monday. And the Taliban signaled they may insist on the airlifts ending at the end of the month. A White House official says 28 U.S. military flights carried about 10,400 people to safety out of Taliban-held Afghanistan over the 24 hours that ended early Monday morning. In a 9-day-old evacuation plagued by Taliban forces and crushing crowds preventing entrance to the airport and a series of logistical problems, the number for the first time met – and exceeded – U.S. projections.
August 23, 2021 4:12 am
WAVERLY, Tenn. (AP) – Search crews are working through shattered homes and tangled debris in Tennessee, looking for about a dozen people still missing after record-breaking rain unleashed floods that killed at least 22 people. Saturday’s flooding took out roads, cellphone towers and telephone lines in a rural area northwest of Nashville, leaving people uncertain about whether family and friends survived. Emergency workers are still searching door to door in neighborhoods where the water rose the fastest. The National Weather Service says up to 17 inches of rain fell in Humphreys County in less than 24 hours Saturday, triple the forecast and shattering the Tennessee record for one-day rainfall.
August 23, 2021 4:10 am
MONROE TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) – Residents across the waterlogged Northeast are clearing mud and tearing out soggy carpets after deluges dropped by Tropical Storm Henri. The smell of sewage filled the air in a New Jersey retirement community as people returned to their soaked homes and possessions Monday. The storm’s remnants still threaten further flooding in New England as they made a slow trek back to the sea. Officials fret that just a few more inches would be a back-breaker following a wet summer. Henri hit Rhode Island on Sunday as a tropical storm but spared coastal areas major damage.
August 23, 2021 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A county in southern Pennsylvania is suing over last month’s decertification of its voting machines, and asking a court to reverse the order by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s top elections official. In the suit filed Wednesday in Commonwealth Court, Fulton County said it had complied with the guidance in force at the time for the inspection of voting machines by third-party vendors. The lawsuit also said Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid should have re-examined the machines before decertifying them. Degraffenreid ordered the machines decertified after Fulton County agreed to an “audit” amid former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud.
August 23, 2021 4:05 am
HELENA, Mont. (AP) – A shortage of bus drivers is complicating the start of a new school year already facing a surge in COVID-19 cases and conflicts over whether masks should be required in school buildings. School districts are offering hiring bonuses, training to get commercial driver’s licenses and pay increases in an effort to attract more drivers. First Student contracts with school districts across the country to provide bus service, and held test driving events this summer. Its “Big Bus, No Big Deal” events were an effort to show people that driving a bus is not as difficult as people might think.
August 22, 2021 7:32 am
PLACERVILLE, Calif. (AP) – Crews were digging in and burning out fire lines amid another round of high winds Saturday that contributed to the fury to a Northern California wildfire. The Caldor Fire in the northern Sierra Nevada has destroyed dozens of homes and on Friday authorities closed down a 46-mile stretch of Interstate 50, the main route between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. The National Weather Service says that by Saturday evening winds “combined with continued extremely dry fuels will result in critical fire weather conditions in the vicinity of the Caldor Fire.” The blaze is one of about a dozen large wildfires that have scorched Northern California, incinerating at least 700 homes.
August 22, 2021 7:30 am
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – The British military says seven Afghan civilians have been killed in a panicked crush of people trying to enter Kabul’s international airport. The deaths happened amid the chaos of those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country. The Defense Ministry said in a statement Sunday that “conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible.” The airport has been the focal point for thousands trying to flee the Taliban, who swept into Kabul a week ago after their lightning advance seized the country.
