July 15, 2021 3:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. government is starting to deposit child tax credit money into the accounts of more than 35 million families. President Joe Biden has expanded the credit for one year as part of coronavirus relief. The result is that most families will now qualify for monthly payments of as much as $300 per child beginning Thursday. Biden is seeking to extend the payments and make them permanent. He says that would cut child poverty in half and help economic growth. Some Republican lawmakers say the payments will make parents less likely to work.
July 15, 2021 3:57 am
BEIJING (AP) – Search and rescue teams are pumping out water in an attempt to find 14 construction workers trapped by a flood in a tunnel being built in southern China. The emergency management department in the city of Zhuhai says rescuers have not been able to contact the missing workers. The cause of the 3:30 a.m. flood is under investigation. Two workers died in March in another part of the tunnel when a protective wall collapsed. Zhuhai is a coastal city near Macao at the mouth of the Pearl River delta. It was one of China’s early special economic zones.
July 15, 2021 3:56 am
BERLIN (AP) – More than 60 people have died and dozens are missing as severe flooding in Germany and Belgium turned streams and streets into raging, debris-filled torrents that swept away cars and toppled houses. Authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia state said at least 30 people were killed, while 28 deaths were reported in Rhineland-Palatinate state to the south. Belgian media reported eight deaths in that country. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock at the scope of the flooding and the number of deaths, adding that everything would be done to find those still missing. Evacuations also were ordered in the Dutch city of Maastricht.
July 15, 2021 3:55 am
PULGA, Calif. (AP) – A California blaze that erupted near the flashpoint of the deadliest wildfire in recent U.S. history is heading away from homes but survivors of the 2018 blaze in the town of Paradise are worried that history could repeat itself. Meanwhile, exploding trees and burning homes are among the terrifying sights residents in the Pacific Northwest are seeing as they flee dozens of fires amid a historic drought and sweltering heat. The Bootleg Fire has torched an area larger than New York City. The Dixie Fire is burning in California’s Butte and Plumas counties, not far from where a 2018 blaze killed 85 people.
July 15, 2021 3:52 am
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) – Pfizer Inc. and two of its subsidiaries have agreed to pay $345 million under a proposed settlement to resolve litigation over EpiPen price hikes. KCUR-FM reports that the New York-based Pfizer and its subsidiaries – Maryland-based Meridian Medical Technologies Inc. and Tennessee-based King Pharmaceuticals – asked a federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, on Thursday to grant preliminary approval to the settlement. Numerous class action lawsuits were filed alleging the companies engaged in anticompetitive conduct. EpiPens are auto-injectable devices that deliver the drug epinephrine and are used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions. When Mylan acquired the right to market and distribute the EpiPen in 2007, a package cost about $100. Today, it costs more than $650.
July 14, 2021 4:24 am
United Steelworkers members at Allegheny Technologies, Inc. have ratified a new, four-year contract. The specialty steelmaker made the announcement Tuesday night. The union, however, did not provide any details on the results of the voting. The deal puts an end to their strike that began March 30 over disagreements on pay and healthcare coverage. The union says workers will receive a raise and their health care was preserved without premiums. They are expected to be back to work by Monday.
July 14, 2021 4:16 am
(AP) – New COVID-19 cases per day in the U.S. have doubled over the past three weeks, driven by the fast-spreading delta variant, lagging vaccination rates and Fourth of July gatherings. Infections jumped to an average of about 23,600 a day on Monday, up from 11,300 on June 23. And all but two states – Maine and South Dakota – reported that case numbers have risen over the past two weeks. Some parts of the country are running up against deep vaccine resistance.
July 14, 2021 4:14 am
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) – An appeals court has ruled that a federal law banning licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults between age 18 and 21 is unconstitutional. In a 2-1 opinion Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned a lower court ruling upholding the law, which has been in place since 1968. Judge Julius Richardson, a Donald Trump Appointee, wrote that the law relegates both the right to bear arms and young adults under age 21 to second-class status. The Biden administration has the option to appeal the ruling.
July 14, 2021 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans hoping to travel abroad this summer may have to delay their plans if they need new or renewed passports. The State Department says the wait for a passport is now between 12 weeks and 18 weeks, even if you pay for expedited processing. That’s because of ripple effects from the coronavirus pandemic that caused extreme disruptions to the process at domestic issuance facilities and overseas embassies and consulates. A department official says a backlog of 1.5 to 2 million applications means that applications submitted now probably will not be issued until the fall.
July 14, 2021 4:12 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – President Joe Biden is declaring that preserving voting rights is “a test of our time” as he urges passage of federal legislation to combat efforts by Republican-led state legislatures to restrict access to ballots. Biden laid out what the White House called “the moral case” for voting rights in a speech in Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Democratic Texas state legislators took dramatic action to stymie their state’s latest effort in a nationwide Republican push to tighten ballot restrictions. They took flight to Washington to keep the Texas Legislature from a quorum that would allow legislative action.
