Author: Staff Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers are balking at the cost of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue plan — but the Biden team is trying to convince the country that the cost is a bargain compared to the potential damage to the world’s largest economy. Biden hammered the message at a Friday meeting with […]

Johnson & Johnson’s long-awaited vaccine appears to protect against COVID-19 with just one shot – not as strong as some two-shot rivals but still potentially helpful for a world in dire need of more doses. J&J said Friday that in the U.S. and seven other countries, the single-shot vaccine was 66% effective overall at preventing […]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois House on Wednesday elected its first Black speaker to replace the longest-serving legislative leader in modern U.S. history, picking Democratic Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch for the job and pushing aside Michael Madigan after he was implicated in an ongoing bribery investigation. Welch, an eight-year House veteran from the Chicago […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — Just a week before the deadline, Britain and the European Union struck a free-trade deal Thursday that should avert economic chaos on New Year’s and bring a measure of certainty for businesses after years of Brexit turmoil. Once ratified by both sides, the agreement will ensure Britain and the 27-nation bloc can […]

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — When cops pulled over Marquis Jones for loud music one sunny afternoon in October 2017, the 27-year-old Black man got out of his car and ran. Jones escaped one officer’s tackle and carried a handgun as he fled through a neighborhood in Burlington, Iowa. Police yelled for him to drop […]