By ZEKE MILLER and MIKE STOBBE WASHINGTON (AP) — COVID-19 cases are increasing in the United States — and could get even worse over the coming months, federal health officials warned Wednesday in urging areas hardest hit to consider reissuing calls for indoor masking. Increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are putting more of…
Read more
With movie producer Joseph “McG” Nichol as a partner, River Jetty Restaurant Group always had a Hollywood connection, but now it’s official. The brand is expanding and will add two L.A. County locations: Long Beach is coming in fall and West Hollywood on Sunset is slated to open by year’s end. “We’re going to be…
Read more
Eduardo Escobar watched a Steven Matz changeup sail into the center of the zone on Tuesday at Citi Field. His bat remained frozen just above his shoulder. Escobar was behind 0-1 in the count, but he didn’t waste time attacking the next pitch. Another changeup from Matz, but this time it moved outside. Escobar got…
Read more
By AMY FORLITI, STEVE KARNOWSKI and MOHAMED IBRAHIM MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd, admitting that he intentionally helped restrain the Black man in a way that created an unreasonable risk and caused his…
Read more
By Jordan Yadoo | Bloomberg US new-home home construction slipped in April amid ongoing supply-side challenges and the steepest climb in mortgage rates in decades. Residential starts decreased 0.2% last month to a 1.72 million annualized rate after a downwardly revised 1.73 million pace in the prior month, according to government data released Wednesday. The…
Read more
By MICHAEL HILL ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — She has four limbs, expressive eyes and likes to stroll through greenery in New York City. Happy, by species, is an Asian elephant. But can she also be considered a person? That question was before New York’s highest court Wednesday in a closely watched case over whether a…
Read more
By MATTHEW LEE and SUZAN FRASER WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States struggled Wednesday to get clarity from Turkey over the severity of its opposition to Finland and Sweden joining NATO, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took an increasingly tough line against their membership bids. In a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken…
Read more
The old joke goes like this: Two friends are at a resort and one says, “The food here is really terrible.” The other replies, “And the portions are so small!” Today, it’s investors who dislike the taste of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes — but seemingly want more anyway. Markets have plummeted over the…
Read more
By MATTHEW BARAKAT FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Amber Heard’s sister testified Wednesday that she found herself in the middle of fights — literally and figuratively — between her sister and Johnny Depp during their troubled relationship. Whitney Heard Henriquez is the first witness to testify at the five-week civil trial to say she personally…
Read more
By OLEKSANDR STASHEVSKYI and CIARAN McQUILLAN KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Nearly 1,000 last-ditch Ukrainian fighters who had held out inside Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant have surrendered, Russia said Wednesday, as the battle that turned the city into a worldwide symbol of defiance and suffering drew toward a close. Meanwhile, the first captured Russian soldier to…
Read more
