July 8, 2020 4:06 am
HOUSTON (AP) – Houston officials have canceled the Texas GOP’s in-person convention. They say the spread of the coronavirus made it impossible to hold the event as scheduled. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday that the city’s lawyers exercised provisions in the contract that the Texas Republican Party signed to rent the downtown convention center for a three-day event to have started July 16. Virus cases have surged in Texas, particularly in the state’s largest cities. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott had publicly deferred to state party leaders who last week voted to go forward with an in-person event.
July 8, 2020 4:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Newly released government data show at least a dozen lawmakers have ties to organizations that received federal coronavirus aid. Among businesses that received money was a California hotel partially owned by the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as a shipping business started by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s family. Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Car dealerships owned by Republican Reps. Roger Williams of Texas and Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, and fast-food franchises owned by Republican Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, also received money through the Paycheck Protection Program.
July 8, 2020 4:03 am
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says he is confident that he will swiftly recover from the new coronavirus thanks to treatment with hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that has not been proven effective against COVID-19. Bolsonaro said he tested positive for the new coronavirus on Tuesday after months of downplaying its severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country. The president told reporters he underwent a lung X-ray on Monday after experiencing fever, muscle aches and malaise. As of Tuesday, his fever had subsided, he said, and he attributed the improvement to hydroxychloroquine.
July 8, 2020 4:01 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – President Donald Trump’s point man to North Korea says the U.S. administration is ready to resume stalled nuclear negotiations despite the North’s repeated claims that it has no immediate intent for dialogue with Washington. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun spoke to reporters following meetings with South Korean officials, where they reaffirmed their commitment toward a diplomatic approach in resolving the nuclear standoff with the North but avoided specific answers on what was discussed. Biegun says the U.S. did not request any meetings with North Korea during his trip. Just days earlier, North Korea’s first vice foreign minister said the North won’t resume negotiations unless Washington discards what it describes as hostile policies.
July 8, 2020 3:59 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Former Vice President Joe Biden will campaign in Pennsylvania the same day as his successor, Mike Pence, makes several stops in the premier presidential battleground state. The men are working the campaign trail Thursday in Pennsylvania with fewer than four months until the election. Recent polls show Biden leading in Pennsylvania. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, plans to tour a metal works plant in Dunmore in northeastern Pennsylvania and speak about his economic recovery plan, the campaign says. Biden, who grew up in nearby Scranton, is targeting an area where President Donald Trump showed unexpected strength in the 2016 election, when he narrowly won Pennsylvania.
July 8, 2020 2:13 am
MANNINGTON, W.Va. (AP) – Two men have drowned while swimming in a northern West Virginia pond. Marion County Sheriff Jimmy Riffle says Dalton Shuck and Charles Barber died Monday night near Mannington. Both were 23 years old and from Fairmont. Riffle says three people had gone into the pond and one began to struggle. As the other two tried to get the man to shore, one of the other swimmers also began struggling. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene. Riffle says the deaths appear to be accidental.
July 7, 2020 10:28 am
The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again. That’s according to doctors, nurses and some lawmakers. The new shortages come as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs. Deborah Burger is president of National Nurses United. She says there are shortages of gowns, hair covers, shoe covers, masks and N95 masks. Democratic members of Congress want the Trump administration to devise a national strategy to acquire and distribute gear in anticipation of the crisis worsening into the fall.
July 7, 2020 4:23 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Retailers have a message for state governors: Please make everyone wear a face mask. The Retail Industry Leaders Association, which represents Target, Home Depot and other major chains, says different rules around the country have made it confusing for shoppers and often lead to conflicts between customers and workers trying to enforce store rules. Videos on social media have shown shoppers getting angry when employees ask them to wear a mask. The retail association has sent a letter to the National Governors Association asking that all states require face mask wearing. According to the retailers, fewer than half of U.S. states require wearing a face mask in public.
July 7, 2020 4:22 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A white woman walking her dog who called the police during a videotaped dispute with a Black man in Central Park was charged Monday with filing a false report. In May, Amy Cooper drew widespread condemnation for calling 911 to report she was being threatened by “an African-American man” when bird watcher Christian Cooper appeared to keep his distance as he recorded her rant on his phone. District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement on Monday that his office had charged Amy Cooper with falsely reporting the confrontation, a misdemeanor. She was ordered to appear in court on Oct. 14.
July 7, 2020 4:21 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Atlanta’s mayor says she has tested positive for COVID-19, despite having what she describes as “no symptoms.” 50-year-old Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms is among the women named as a potential vice-presidential running mate for presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden. Bottoms announced her positive test in a tweet on Monday. She says she decided that she and family members should get retested because her husband has been sleeping an unusual amount since Thursday. Bottoms’ national profile has risen in recent months both as a mayor handling the coronavirus pandemic and amid the national reckoning on race since the death of George Floyd.
