National

Negligence probed in deadly Beirut blast amid public anger

Updated: 39 minutes ago

By BASSEM MROUE and ZEINA KARAM Associated Press

The Lebanese government says it is putting an unspecified number of Beirut port officials under house arrest pending an investigation into how 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate came to be stored at the port for years.

National

38,000 pounds of imported ground beef under recall

Updated: 1 hour ago

More than 38,000 pounds of ground beef imported to the United States from Canada is being recalled because it may not have been properly inspected.

National Politics

Virus aid: Where things stand in high-level Washington talks

Updated: 1 hour ago

By ANDREW TAYLOR

After more than a week’s worth of meetings, at least some clarity is emerging in the bipartisan Washington talks on a huge COVID-19 response bill.

National

Bank of America glitch; accounts show $0 balance

Updated: 1 hours ago

By Ed Payne

The bank said it’s trying to address the problem as quickly as possible.

National

Fiat Chrysler to recall vehicles that may pollute too much

Updated: 1 hours ago

By TOM KRISHER

About 1 million Fiat Chrysler vehicles with four-cylinder engines in the U.S. may spew too much pollution, and the company is working with government officials on a recall.

National

UConn becomes 1st FBS team to cancel football season because of coronavirus

Updated: 2 hours ago

By PAT EATON-ROBB

UConn canceled its 2020-2021 football season Wednesday, becoming the first FBS program to suspend football because of the coronavirus pandemic, as other schools had taken the Huskies off their schedules and the governor was reluctant to allow UConn to travel to states with high infection rates.

National

FBI raids California home of YouTube star Jake Paul

Updated: 2 hours ago

By ANDREW DALTON

FBI agents including a SWAT team have raided the home of YouTube star Jake Paul.

National

5 found dead in suspected arson fire at Denver home

Updated: 3 hours ago

By Associated Press

Five people were found dead Wednesday after an early morning fire destroyed a suburban Denver home — a blaze that authorities said they suspect was intentionally set. Three people escaped the fire by jumping from the home's second floor.

National

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Shirley Ann Grau dies at 91

Updated: 3 hours ago

By Associated Press

Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer Shirley Ann Grau has died at the age of 91.

National

Beirut: Wedding photo shoot video captures blast

Updated: 3 hours ago

Photographer Mahmoud Nakib is still rolling as he get pushed down the street by the shockwave.

National

Facebook launches its new TikTok clone, Instagram Reels

Updated: 4 hours ago

By Associated Press

The company has been testing Reels in Brazil since November and in France, Germany and India since earlier this summer.

Coronavirus

‘We are no less American’: Deaths pile up on Texas border

Updated: 4 hours ago

By PAUL J. WEBER

For nearly a month, this borderland of 2 million people in South Texas pleaded for a field hospital, but not until Tuesday was one ready and accepting patients.

National

Big Ten football season set to begin on Labor Day weekend

Updated: 4 hours ago

By Associated Press

Under the revised schedule, teams will play conference opponents they originally were set to meet and will have one additional cross-division game.

Coronavirus

More millennials buying homes during pandemic

Updated: 4 hours ago

By Gray News staff

Some in real estate say the coronavirus is pushing younger homebuyers out of the city and into their first homes.

National

Trump considering giving convention speech from White House

Updated: 4 hours ago

By Associated Press

Trump also called for the first formal presidential debate, scheduled for Sept. 29, to be moved up on the calendar because early voting will have already begun in some states.

Coronavirus

Virginia first to roll out pandemic app from Apple, Google

Updated: 4 hours ago

By Associated Press

The free Covidwise app is available in Apple and Android app stores as of Wednesday.

Coronavirus

Major cruise lines cancel departures through October

Updated: 5 hours ago

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

With new coronavirus clusters sprouting aboard ships overseas, the U.S. cruise industry is extending its suspension of operations through October.

Coronavirus

Homeless among most vulnerable during COVID-19 pandemic

Updated: 5 hours ago

By CNN Staff

This might be the worst time to be homeless in America, and the nation may not have seen the worst of it yet.

National Politics

Biden on cognitive test: Why would I take a test?

Updated: 5 hours ago

By BILL BARROW Associated Press

Biden's exchange was part of an interview conducted with the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

Coronavirus

Student loan borrowers: Don’t wait on Congress for more relief

Updated: 6 hours ago

By Anna Helhoski

Restarting payments for tens of millions of student loan borrowers will likely lead to delinquencies and defaults, experts say.

National Politics

State Department watchdog resigns after predecessor’s ouster

Updated: 6 hours ago

By MATTHEW LEE

The State Department’s acting inspector general resigned abruptly on Wednesday following the firing of his predecessor in circumstances now being investigated by Congress.

National Politics

Biden will not go to Milwaukee to accept Democratic presidential nomination

Updated: 6 hours ago

By BILL BARROW

Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee to accept the Democratic presidential nomination because of concerns over the coronavirus, party officials said Wednesday, signaling a move to a convention that essentially has become entirely virtual.

Coronavirus

Virus testing in the US is dropping, even as deaths mount

Updated: 6 hours ago

By MATTHEW PERRONE, NICKY FORSTER and MICHELLE LIU

An Associated Press analysis found that the number of tests per day slid 3.6% over the past two weeks to 750,000, with the count falling in 22 states. That includes places like Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Iowa where the percentage of positive tests is high and continuing to climb.

National

COVID-19 vaccine developer eyeing doses for less than $40

Updated: 6 hours ago

One of the U.S. companies working on a COVID-19 vaccine has released an anticipated price range for doses.

Coronavirus

Walmart releases schedule for its parking lot drive-in theaters

Updated: 7 hours ago

By Ed Payne

Starting at 5 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, families can sign up for a location near them at: TheWalmartDriveIn.com.

National

Pete Hamill, legendary New York columnist and novelist, dies

Updated: 8 hours ago

By THALIA BEATY

Pete Hamill died at a Brooklyn hospital from heart and kidney failure.

National

Minneapolis commission takes up proposal to disband police

Updated: 10 hours ago

By AMY FORLITI

A Minneapolis commission is expected to take up a proposed amendment Wednesday that would dismantle the city’s Police Department in the wake of George Floyd’s death and replace it with a new public safety department.

National Politics

Trump encourages mail voting in Florida but sues in Nevada

Updated: 10 hours ago

By KEVIN FREKING

In an abrupt reversal, President Donald Trump is encouraging voters in the critical swing state of Florida to vote by mail after months of criticizing the practice — and while his campaign and the GOP challenge Nevada over its new vote-by-mail law.

National

Lawyers to argue about psychologist in newspaper attack case

Updated: 10 hours ago

By Associated Press

A pretrial hearing set for Wednesday relates to the second part of the case against Jarrod Ramos, who already has pleaded guilty to killing five at the Capital Gazette newspaper in 2018.

National

Clorox wipes shortage to last into 2021

Updated: 11 hours ago

Clorox's shortage of disinfectant cleaning materials will remain difficult to find well into 2021, according to their incoming CEO.

National

President Trump says generals feel Beirut blast was likely an ‘attack’

Updated: 11 hours ago

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

President Donald Trump says U.S. military generals have told him that they think the massive explosion that rocked Beirut on Tuesday, killing more than 70 people, was likely a bomb.

Coronavirus

Images of student crowds raise questions in Georgia schools

Updated: 11 hours ago

By JEFF AMY

Two suburban Atlanta school districts that began in-person classes Monday with mask-optional policies face more questions about COVID-19 safety protocols after on-campus pictures showed students packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

National

Off-duty deputy, friend save 3 lives after ATV flips into water in Calif.

Updated: 12 hours ago

Two men jumped in to help after the ATV crash, with one making tourniquets for the injured driver and the other freeing the two passengers, who were face down in the water, from their harnesses.

National

5 young men honored for rescuing Wash. deputy under attack from suspect

Updated: 13 hours ago

By Kali O'Rourke

Authorities say the five young men helped subdue a suspected drunken driver who had a deputy in a chokehold following a multiple car collision.

National

Judge orders trial tied to discovery of Idaho kids’ bodies

Updated: 17 hours ago

By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press

Chad Daybell has pleaded not guilty to charges related to hiding the remains of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan. Authorities have yet to file charges related to the deaths of the children.

National

Tropical storm Isaias whips up eastern US, killing at least 6

Updated: 18 hours ago

By BRYAN ANDERSON and SARAH BLAKE MORGAN

Tropical Storm Isaias spawned tornadoes and dumped rain along the U.S. East Coast on Tuesday after making landfall as a hurricane in North Carolina, where it smashed boats together and caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people.

Coronavirus

Progress slow as urgency grows on virus relief legislation

Updated: 18 hours ago

By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the two sides set a goal of reaching an agreement by the end of the week to permit a vote next week.

National

Virgin Atlantic airline files for US bankruptcy protection

Updated: 21 hours ago

By Associated Press

Virgin Atlantic is the latest airline to wind up in court because of the financial harm from the coronavirus outbreak.

National

Massive Beirut blast kills more than 70, injures thousands

Updated: 21 hours ago

By BASSEM MROUE

A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings and blowing out windows and doors across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky.

National Politics

Sidestepping Congress, Trump says he will act to deliver Americans another stimulus

Updated: 21 hours ago

By Jacqueline Policastro

In a broadcast exclusive, the president says he wants to extend the $600 weekly benefit to unemployed Americans.

National

Astronauts: SpaceX Dragon capsule ‘came alive’ on descent

Updated: 22 hours ago

By MARCIA DUNN

The astronauts on SpaceX's first crew flight say their Dragon capsule “came alive” and sounded like a beast as it descended through the atmosphere to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

National

US Space & Rocket Center reaches fundraising goal

Updated: 23 hours ago

By Jonathan Grass

The campaign began last week with the hope of raising a minimum of $1.5 million to sustain museum operations and to be able to reopen Space Camp in April 2021.

National

Disney to release ‘Mulan’ on streaming service, for a price

Updated: Aug. 4, 2020 at 2:40 PM AKDT

“Mulan” is no longer headed for a major theatrical release. The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday that it will debut its live-action blockbuster on its subscription streaming service, Disney+, on Sept. 4.

National

U.S. Marines locate sunken vehicle with human remains on board

Updated: Aug. 4, 2020 at 1:58 PM AKDT

By Amanda Alvarado

The vehicle sunk off a southern California coast July 30.

Coronavirus

‘Too many are selfish’: US nears 5 million virus cases

Updated: Aug. 4, 2020 at 1:16 PM AKDT

By PHIL MARCELO, CARLA K. JOHNSON and LISA MARIE PANE

Big house parties, no-mask weddings, crowded bars and restaurants — there are reasons the U.S. has racked up more than 155,000 coronavirus deaths, by far the most of any country, and is fast approaching an off-the-charts 5 million confirmed infections, easily the highest in the world.

National Politics

Trump signs $3B-a-year plan to boost conservation, parks

Updated: Aug. 4, 2020 at 12:21 PM AKDT

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law legislation that will devote nearly $3 billion annually to conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands. The measure was overwhelmingly approved by Congress.

National Politics

Trump’s demand for US cut of a TikTok deal is unprecedented

Updated: Aug. 4, 2020 at 12:06 PM AKDT

By TALI ARBEL AP Technology Writer

Microsoft is in talks to buy parts of TikTok.

Coronavirus

COVID-19 measures could disrupt rare polio-like disease

Updated: Aug. 4, 2020 at 11:33 AM AKDT

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer

Health experts once thought 2020 might be the worst year yet for a rare paralyzing disease that has been hitting U.S. children for the past decade.

National

Navy SEALs cut ties with museum over Colin Kaepernick video

Updated: Aug. 4, 2020 at 11:23 AM AKDT

By JAMES LAPORTA

The leader of the U.S. Navy SEAL said the unit has severed ties with the National Navy SEAL Museum, a nonprofit organization that is not overseen by the Navy in Fort Pierce, Florida.

National

Coronavirus: Parents may be spending more on back-to-school shopping than ever amid pandemic

Updated: Aug. 4, 2020 at 10:33 AM AKDT

By Travis Leder

Retailers believe the coronavirus pandemic could bring increased back-to-school business.