June 29, 2020 1:28 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – The shutdown on Broadway has been extended again – until at least early January. Although an exact date for performances to resume has yet to be determined, Broadway producers are now offering refunds and exchanges for tickets purchased for shows through Jan. 3. Broadway theaters abruptly closed on March 12, knocking out all shows – including 16 that were still scheduled to open – and postponing indefinitely the Tony Award schedule. Producers, citing health and city authorities, previously extended the shutdown to June 7 and then again to Sept. 6. Producers and labor unions are discussing ways theaters can reopen safely.
June 29, 2020 10:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics, reasserting a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era. Chief Justice John Roberts joined with his four more liberal colleagues in ruling that the law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals violates the abortion right the court first announced in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. In two previous abortion cases, Roberts had favored restrictions.
June 29, 2020 10:24 am
SEATTLE (AP) – One person was killed and another wounded early Monday in Seattle’s “occupied” protest zone – the second deadly shooting in the area. Police said the shooting happened in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, east of downtown. The Seattle Times reports that áHarborview Medical Center said one of the wounded males was brought to the hospital by private vehicle around 3:15 a.m. The second was brought in by Seattle Fire Department medics about 15 minutes later. The hospital said one man died and the other was in critical condition, Seattle police didn’t immediately release any further information.
June 29, 2020 4:15 am
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) – The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline increased by 6 cents over the past two weeks, to $2.22 per gallon. That’s 51 cents below the average pump price from a year ago. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday that demand for gasoline remains weak even as states reopen for business amid the coronavirus pandemic. She said prices at the pump may slow soon. The highest average price in the nation for regular-grade gas is $3.15 per gallon in the San Francisco Bay Area. The lowest average is $1.78 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
June 29, 2020 4:14 am
BEIJING (AP) – Authorities in southwestern China’s Sichuan province say at least 12 people have died and 10 are missing following heavy rains, adding to a grow toll from summer flooding across the country. More than 7,700 people were evacuated in part of Sichuan’s Mianning county where flooding was particularly bad. The area lies on a plain at the foot of steep hills that eventually rise to the Tibetan Plateau, the source of China’s major rivers. China’s emergency management ministry says flooding since the start of June has left 78 people dead or missing, destroyed or damaged more than 100,000 homes and caused direct economic losses estimated at more than $3.5 billion.
June 29, 2020 4:09 am
Another tragic milestone was passed Sunday in the coronavirus pandemic: 500,000 deaths worldwide. The reported tally comes from Johns Hopkins University researchers. About 1 in 4 of those deaths – more than 125,000 – have been reported in the U.S. The country with the next highest death toll is Brazil, with more than 57,000, or about 1 in 9. Meanwhile, more Florida beaches will be closing again to avoid further spread of the new coronavirus as officials try to tamp down on large gatherings amid a spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Sunday in Pensacola that interactions among young people are driving the surge.
June 29, 2020 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump tweeted approvingly of a video showing one of his supporters chanting “white power,” a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. He later deleted the tweet and the White House said the president had not heard “the one statement” on the video. The video appears to have been taken at The Villages, a Florida retirement community. It shows dueling demonstrations between Trump supporters and opponents. Trump tweeted: “Thank you to the great people of The Villages.” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott told CNN that “there’s no question ” that Trump should not have retweeted the video and “should just take it down.” Scott is the only Black Republican in the Senate.
June 29, 2020 4:07 am
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi legislators have taken historic votes to remove a Confederate battle emblem from their state flag. Spectators in the Capitol cheered and applauded after the votes Sunday. It’s the last state flag with the Confederate symbol that many people condemn as racist. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has said he will sign the bill. The change comes amid widespread protests over racial injustice. Mississippi has a 38% Black population. A commission will design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate symbol but must have the words “In God We Trust.” Voters will be asked to approve the new design in the Nov. 3 election.
June 29, 2020 4:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is asking for a report to Congress after news reports cited U.S. intelligence from months ago that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan. President Donald Trump denies being briefed and says he’s now told the intelligence wasn’t credible. Pelosi tells ABC’s “This Week” that she hasn’t been informed about the reported bounties. She says “this is as bad as it gets” and yet Trump won’t confront Russia. A senior administration official says the White House plans to brief select members of Congress on Monday.
June 29, 2020 4:01 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s health secretary is defending her agency’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak inside nursing homes and personal care facilities. They account for almost 70% of the state’s nearly 6,600 fatalities. Criticism has focused on the state’s policy that sent recovering patients back to nursing homes after being treated in hospitals. Dr. Rachel Levine’s agency has said it was following a March directive from the federal government that nursing homes admit anyone they normally would, including patients from hospitals where COVID-19 has been present. Levine says the main source of COVID-19 infections inside the facilities is more likely the homes’ own employees.
