June 19, 2023 5:00 am
(AP) – A spate of mass shootings and violence across the U.S. over the weekend killed at least six people including a Pennsylvania state trooper and left dozens injured. The shootings follow a surge in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. They happened in suburban Chicago, Washington state, central Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Southern California and Baltimore. Experts disagree over causes of the increased violence. It could be due to the prevalence of guns in America, less aggressive police tactics or a decline in prosecutions for misdemeanor weapon offenses.
June 19, 2023 2:43 am
West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins has resigned following a drunken driving arrest. The university announced his resignation Saturday night. Huggins was charged with driving under the influence on Friday night after his SUV had stopped in the middle of traffic in Pittsburgh with a shredded tire. According to a criminal complaint, a breath test determined Huggins’ blood alcohol content was 0.21%, more than twice the legal limit. Last month the university had suspended Huggins three games for using an anti-gay slur while also denigrating Catholics during a radio interview. Huggins entered the Basketball Hall of Fame last September and was the third winningest coach all-time in Division I.
June 18, 2023 8:08 am
GARDNERVILLE, Nevada (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis condemned Walt Disney World and the U.S. Justice Department — not his chief Republican rival, Donald Trump — as he courted Nevada Republicans deep in the heart of Trump country. He spoke to Nevada voters on Saturday for the first time as a presidential candidate. He cast himself as willing to fight any and all rivals. But DeSantis made no direct mention of the federal indictment of Trump, who is facing dozens of felony counts for mishandling classified documents. The appearance come as the GOP’s crowded 2024 presidential class grapples with how to respond to Trump’s recent indictment. Some Republicans have raised serious concerns, but DeSantis has touched on it only generally by attacking the Justice Department.
June 18, 2023 8:07 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden struck an economic populist message during the first rally of his reelection campaign. The president told an exuberant crowd of union members in Philadelphia that his policies had created jobs and lifted the middle class. Now, he said, is the time for the wealthy to “pay their fair share” in taxes. His choice of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania – and a friendly union audience — for the campaign venue reflects their crucial role in his reelection effort. The city was the site of his campaign headquarters in 2020 and the state was one of a handful that had voted for Republican Donald Trump in 2016 but flipped back to Democrats four years later.
June 18, 2023 8:05 am
BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has kicked off two days of high-stakes diplomatic talks in Beijing aimed at trying to cool exploding U.S.-China tensions that have set many around the world on edge. Blinken was meeting Sunday with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang for an extended discussion to be followed by a working dinner. Despite his presence in the Chinese capital the prospects for any significant breakthrough on the most vexing issues facing the planet’s two largest economies are slim. The trip comes after he postponed plans to visit in February after the shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the U.S. Blinken is the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office.
June 18, 2023 8:04 am
June 18, 2023 8:03 am
The 2024 Republican presidential field is full of long-shot candidates. And Miami Mayor Francis Suarez may be the longest long shot of all, on paper anyway. No sitting mayor has ever been elected U.S. president. Presidents have historically comes from the ranks of governors, vice presidents, senators or Cabinet secretaries. That doesn’t seem to have deterred Suarez. He got into the race last week by talking up his experience leading the city of about 450,000 people. Suarez says being a two-term mayor of Miami has helped him understand and confront issues facing most Americans, such as crime and homelessness.
June 18, 2023 8:02 am
LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Indian officials say at least 96 people have died in two of India’s most populous states over the last several days with swaths of the country reeling from scorching heat. The death toll, announced Sunday, comes as authorities are warning residents over 60 and others suffering various maladies to stay indoors during the daytime. The deaths happened in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and eastern Bihar. Officials found out most of those who passed away were over 60 years old and had preexisting health conditions, which may have been exacerbated by the intense heat. The India Meteorological Department issued an alert saying heatwave conditions will last until June 19 in parts of Uttar Pradesh.
June 18, 2023 8:00 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pennsylvania’s governor says the collapsed stretch of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia will reopen within two weeks. That word from Gov. Josh Shapiro came after he had joined President Joe Biden on a helicopter tour over the critical segment of the highway that’s been closed to East Coast traffic since last weekend. “We are getting it done here in Philly,” Shapiro said at a briefing Saturday at Philadelphia International Airport after the flyover that included members of Congress and the city’s mayor. Biden said “there is no more important project” going on right now, as far as he’s concerned.
June 18, 2023 7:55 am
LEWISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — State police say a state trooper and a suspect were killed in a shootout in central Pennsylvania, hours after the suspect seriously wounded another trooper. Police in Juniata County say a man engaged troopers at about 12:45 p.m. near the Lewistown barracks and shot one trooper, who was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. Authorities found the man around 3 p.m. in Walker Township, resulting in a shootout that killed the suspect and the trooper. The name of the trooper and the suspect were not immediately available. Police say there is no threat to the public.
