ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska’s latest COVID-19 surge accelerated this week as state health officials reported 376 new cases for Tuesday alone, the highest single-day tally since early January before the vaccine was widely available.

Two new deaths were also reported by the state: an Anchorage man and a Soldotna man, both in their 70s.

A ...Read more

Twitter has reversed its re-opening of offices in San Francisco and New York as a resurgent coronavirus sows fear and uncertainty in the Bay Area and across the U.S.

The San Francisco social media giant has put any future re-openings on hold, citing new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and the “current conditions” that ...Read more

MIAMI — Florida recorded its fourth highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began 16 months ago, reporting 17,589 new cases Wednesday to the federal government and deepening the state’s exposure to the virulent delta variant.

This is the eighth consecutive day Florida has reported to the Centers for Disease Control and...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden picked Florida International University professor Frank Mora as his nominee for U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States on Thursday, putting a prominent South Florida campaign surrogate into a key Latin America diplomatic post at a crucial time for the region.

Mora, a Cuban-American Democrat who...Read more

WASHINGTON — A cascade of Republicans called on the U.S. Supreme Court to roll back constitutional abortion protections, potentially by overruling the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide.

In a brief filed Thursday, 228 GOP members of Congress urged the court to uphold Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is running ads encouraging Kentuckians to get the COVID-19 vaccination as the delta variant is causing a fourth surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.

The ads were purchased by McConnell's Senate Campaign Committee and will air on 100 radio stations in Kentucky.

"Not enough people are vaccinated," ...Read more

A high-profile figure in the Central Coast's marijuana industry has agreed to plead guilty to bribing a San Luis Obispo County supervisor, the first charges to be made public in what a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in Los Angeles called "an ongoing public corruption investigation."

Helios "Bobby" Dayspring, 35, who owns ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senators voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve a $2.1 billion spending bill meant to shore up their own safety in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, reimburse the National Guard for a monthslong activation to secure the complex and relocate Afghans who helped the U.S. government during the war.

The 98-0 vote sends ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will require federal employees to wear masks, physically distance from others in the workplace and get tested regularly if they’re not willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The new rules place the federal government, the country’s largest employer, at the forefront of efforts to boost vaccination ...Read more

MIAMI — Surfside police opened an investigation after building records potentially holding clues about the Champlain Towers South collapse appeared to go missing from the town’s rented storage facility, according to a police report obtained by the Miami Herald.

Police focused their inquiry on former building official Ross Prieto, who was ...Read more

A post-pandemic boom in national park tourism has left lawmakers wondering how to preserve nature and the visitor experience amid increased traffic, crowds and waiting times.

“Yosemite is one of the most spectacular places in the world, but I can guarantee the people in that traffic jam weren’t enjoying it,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine,...Read more

NEW YORK — A teenage boy jumped to his death at from the Vessel at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards as his horrified family watched, police said.

The 15-year-old leaped off the 150-foot-tall structure near W. 33rd Street and 10th Avenue about 12:53 p.m., cops said.

The youth’s name was not immediately disclosed.

The teen is the fourth suicide ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein succeeded in getting one of the 11 counts in his Southern California sex assault case dismissed by a judge Thursday, but prosecutors vowed to revive it.

Weinstein appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom in a wheelchair and wrinkled brown jail uniform. After a deputy removed his handcuffs for the ...Read more

Almost 690,000 people in England and Wales were told to isolate by the official COVID-19 mobile phone app in the week ending July 21, illustrating the pressure on key industries as staff shortages brought some supply chains close to breaking point. Contact-tracing “pings” from the National Health Service app were up 11% from 620,000 the week...Read more

He has proposed abolishing the IRS, welfare and the minimum wage, opposes gun restrictions and mask mandates and doesn’t believe policing has a systemic race problem. He boasts nearly a million Twitter followers and even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, the Democrats who dominate deep blue ...Read more

CHICAGO — On the opening day of Lollapalooza Thursday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she expects the city to start recording 200 new daily COVID-19 cases but noted that other key metrics give reason for “optimism, in quotes.”

Lightfoot earlier this week told The New York Times she would consider a mask mandate and other restrictions ...Read more

Amid a surge in shootings this year, a majority of California voters say that they believe gun control laws are effective in reducing violent crime, but confidence in them has slipped, according to a new University of California, Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.

The poll released Thursday ...Read more

Nikola Corp. founder and former chairman Trevor Milton has been charged by prosecutors with making false statements to investors in the electric-vehicle startup. The charges follow a difficult year for the company, which went public last year and almost immediately faced questions about its production and technology.

Milton, 39, who stepped ...Read more