Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 66
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Journalists from around the U.S. are finding ways to help their colleagues simply pay rent or buy groceries as they face lost or reduced paychecks because of layoffs and furloughs caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Writers in Oklahoma can be paid stipends to continue chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on the state and their jobs when they take unpaid time off. Virginia journalists have collected money to donate to others working in their field. And a group of current and former reporters and editors from New York to C...
DANVILLE, Ill. (AP) — The Vermilion County Conservation District is bringing the great outdoors into homes across the area as well as some out of state. Even before Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker earlier this week extended the statewide stay-at-home order to April 30, the conservation district's environmental educators who lead activities for local school groups already were brainstorming ways to keep schoolchildren engaged and learning during spring break. "Before the shelter-in-place order began, we knew we didn't have any school groups coming i...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A deadline is near for those who believe they were victims of a 2016 toxic gas release over the Kansas town of Atchison. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that federal prosecutor are urging victims to submit written victim statements by Friday. U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said sentencing of Harcros Chemicals, Inc., and MGP Ingredients Inc., is May 27. Both companies pleaded guilty to violating the federal law and each agreed to pay a $1 million fine. In October 2016, two chemicals were mistakenly mixed to form a c...
CORONA, N.M. (AP) — Last Wednesday, I went for a drive. After leaving Las Cruces and driving to Tularosa, I headed north through the sagebrush, juniper, creosote and what might have been skunkbush sumac, Mexican poppies or yellow-flower purslane — or maybe Todson's pennyroyal — nestled between the rolling hills of the Tularosa Basin. In this time of coronavirus, I was headed to Corona, New Mexico — a tiny town of 163 residents in Lincoln County — to see how they were handling the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic. So far, Lincoln C...
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Pamela Thompson, a recruiter at Adventist Health Bakersfield in California, made seven job offers to foreign nurses in February and just finished a first round of interviews with 12 more candidates. They are from all over the world, including the United Kingdom, Philippines, Australia and Malaysia. The international candidates fill the private hospital's critical need for experienced nurses who can work in emergency rooms and intensive care units, Thompson said — jobs that can't be met only with U.S. nurses, many of whom are...
LONDON (AP) — During a pandemic, heroes wear scrubs. Amged El-Hawrani was one of them, a doctor who went to work every day as the coronavirus took hold even though he might be exposed, risking his own life to treat patients at a hospital in central England. The 55-year-old died on March 28, becoming one of the first doctors in Britain's National Health Service to succumb to COVID-19 and a symbol of the acute danger all health workers brave. Yet in life, he shunned attention, and would have been embarrassed to be described as a hero, a...
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The archetype of the gloomy, secluded artist never appealed to Bismarck painter Nicole Gagner. "Community connection is really another big part of my work, since everything is inspired by the world around me," she said. "It is really easy to get isolated as an artist and just hole up in your studio and not talk to anybody for days. It would be so easy for me to do that, and I know that that wouldn't make me happy." But in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, artists, like most people, are being asked to do just that: k...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood studios are shuffling more release dates as a result of the coronavirus, including sequels to "Doctor Strange," "Spider-Man: Far from Home" and "Into the Spider-Verse." Late Friday, both Sony Pictures and The Walt Disney Co. announced updated theatrical release schedules that significantly delay some of their marquee superhero films. Marvel's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," the sequel to the 2016 Benedict Cumberbatch film, has been pushed back from November 2021 to March 2022. Sony said its live-actio...
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Around this time of year, Floridians don't just have to worry about aggressive drivers on the road — they should be on the lookout for aggressive alligators, too, according to officials who on Friday had to remove a 9-foot (2.8-meter) gator from a county road. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office warned motorists that it's that time of year when alligators, um, fall in love but might not always be so affectionate. "It's gator mating season. This means they could be more mobile and aggressive than usual," the sheriff's off...
The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world: ___ The Professional Bull Riders returned from a 41-day break Saturday night in Guthrie, Oklahoma, for an Unleash The Beast event scheduled for Las Vegas. The competition at Lazy E Arena was closed to fans to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Taylor Toves of Stephenville, Texas, topped the 41 cowboys in the first round of the two-day event, scoring 89.5 points on Biker Bob. He joined Chandler Bownds as the only right-handed riders to reach the 8-second...
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline fell 9 cents over the past two weeks, to $1.93 per gallon. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey says Sunday that prices at the pump have dropped 61 cents over the past nine weeks and 80 cents since mid-October. Lundberg says prices are expected to continue their slide as demand declines amid widespread stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic. The highest average price in the nation for regular-grade gas is $3.13 per gallon in Honolulu. T...
EL PASO, Teas (AP) — A man shot in the Aug. 3 attack targeting Hispanics in an El Paso Walmart died after months in the hospital, raising the death toll from the attack to 23, according to a hospital official. "After a nearly nine-month fight, our hearts are heavy as we report Guillermo 'Memo' Garcia, our last remaining patient being treated from the El Paso shooting, has passed away," said Del Sol Medical Center CEO David Shimp. Garcia and his wife Jessica Coca Garcia were fundraising for their daughter's soccer team in the Walmart parking l...
TEMPLE, Texas (AP) — Authorities say a Bell County, Texas, deputy sheriff was killed early Sunday when he was struck by a vehicle while helping a neighboring county's sheriff’s department try to stop another vehicle it had pursued into Bell County on Interstate 35. Deputy John Andrew Rhoden, 31, was killed when he was struck about 1:45 a.m. Sunday in Temple, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) south of Dallas, said Bell County Sheriff's Lt. Bob Reinhard. Reinhard said Rhoden was assisting Williamson County deputies who were pursuing a vehicle on...
teacher greets her students. A firefighter reports for duty. New parents take their baby home from the hospital. These are routine moments in the lives of Coloradans. But the coronavirus has transformed the routine into the remarkable, upending how we live and interact with each other. As a heavy spring snow blanketed the state on Thursday, April 16, journalists from news organizations across Colorado set out to chronicle a day in the life of the state's residents during this extraordinary time. It happened that this day was the deadliest to...
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — State and local governments across the United States have obtained about 30 million doses of a malaria drug touted by President Trump to treat patients with the coronavirus, despite warnings from doctors that more research is needed. At least 22 states and Washington, D.C., secured shipments of the drug, hydroxychloroquine, according to information compiled from state and federal officials by The Associated Press. Sixteen of those states were won by Trump in 2016, although five of them, including North Carolina and L...
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic does not appear to be delaying the quickly approaching May 10 deadline for Kansas property taxes. Kansas believes delaying property tax deadlines is more of a local government decision, said Zach Fletcher, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Revenue. "Property taxes collected at the local and county level help fund critical functions like public safety and schools," Fletcher told the Lawrence Journal-World. "The governor cannot unilaterally change property tax structures or payments in g...
BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she has reached a deal that could resolve a lawsuit brought by two churches challenging her order banning religious gatherings of more than 10 people to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Under the deal, the two churches and the Democratic governor agreed to the extension of a temporary restraining order that allows the churches to disregard the 10-person limit. The court's initial order let the two churches to gather in-person until May 2 as long as they complied with s...
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Sunday defended his plans to reopen businesses in the state, saying signs point to the coronavirus threat decreasing as long as people take the proper precautions in public. Stitt said on Fox News that trends, including hospitalizations, are going down and that "we think it's a reasonable time to reopen." Barber shops and hair salons in cities without stricter restrictions were among businesses that were allowed to reopen Friday under health and social distancing guidelines. Churches and restaur...
BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she has reached a deal that could resolve a lawsuit brought by two churches challenging her order banning religious gatherings of more than 10 people to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Under the deal, the two churches and the Democratic governor agreed to the extension of a temporary restraining order that allows the churches to disregard the 10-person limit. The court's initial order let the two churches to gather in-person until May 2 as long as they complied with s...
Three publicly traded hotel companies tied to a Texas businessman said that they would not give back millions of dollars in loans from a government program aimed at helping small businesses. Facing pressure from the government, several big companies, including the Potbelly and Shake Shack restaurant chains, have said they will return loans they received under the Paycheck Protection Program. The three hotel companies, Ashford Inc., Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts, which are tied to Texas hotel magnate Monty Bennett, have...
WASHINGTON (AP) — After two months of frantic response to the coronavirus, the White House is planning to shift President Donald Trump's public focus to the burgeoning efforts aimed at easing the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. Days after he publicly mused that scientists should explore the injection of toxic disinfectants as a potential virus cure, Trump has now rejected the utility of his daily task force briefings, where he has time and again clashed with scientific experts. Trump's aides are aiming to move the president onto m...
WASHINGTON (AP) — They long for what's being lost: the ability to publicly question officials at committee hearings, to chat across the aisle, to speak from the House and Senate floor for all of America, and history, to hear. Congress wants its voice back. With no real plan to reopen Capitol Hill any time soon, the coronavirus shutdown poses an existential crisis that's pushing Congress ever so reluctantly toward the 21st century option of remote legislating from home. "It's the ability to be an equal branch of government," said Rep. Katie P...
NEW YORK (AP) — Javier Camarena was at his home in Zurich singing an aria from Bellini's "Il Pirata" when the screen for the video feed split, and he was joined by Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Montreal and general manager Peter Gelb in New York. "Just a second," the tenor from Mexico said, raising an index finger. He had just finished the slow-moving first section. An associate director an ocean away didn't realize he also planned to perform the cabaletta, the faster-moving second part. Restored to a full scr...
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Workers are wrapping up a project to transform a fortified island into a new habitat for Virginia's largest seabird colony. Contractors have been clearing out the island's trees, sealing up entrances to the buildings and laying sand and gravel for the birds to nest. The director of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries expects work to be done this week, The Virginian-Pilot reports. Thousands of birds already are arriving at the site where Fort Wool was built as a barrier against British ships after the War o...
NEW YORK (AP) — Brad Pitt portrayed Dr. Anthony Fauci in the second at-home episode of "Saturday Night Live," that featured musical guest Miley Cyrus, an Adam Sandler cameo and plenty of disinfectant jokes. A bespectacled Pitt, speaking in Fauci's raspy voice, tried to recast false assurances and misstatements pitched by President Donald Trump during the pandemic, for instance when Trump said there'd be a COVID-19 vaccine "relatively soon. " "Relatively soon is an interesting phrase. Relative to the entire history of earth? Sure, the vaccine i...
