Tom Howell Jr.

No spectators allowed during Olympics because of virus uptick; Japan declares state of emergency

The Tokyo Olympics will be held without spectators, organizers said Thursday, delivering another major blow to the Summer Games less than two weeks before festivities begin.

July 8, 2021

Rapper Juvenile drops video to promote vaccines, dating app: ‘Vax that thing up’

New Orleans rapper Juvenile wants you to "vax that thing up."

July 7, 2021

75 House members to Biden: Open the U.S.-Canada border

Dozens of House members from both parties urged the Biden administration Wednesday to reopen the border with Canada and take other steps to ease international travel, citing the power of COVID-19 vaccines and widespread testing.

July 7, 2021

NYC ‘almost-mayor’ Eric Adams rips Democrats for ignoring urban problems for too long

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, the declared winner of the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, said Wednesday he wants to fix "crevices" in the city that are reeling from crime and poor education, as the broader society celebrates economic gains that shroud those problems.

July 7, 2021

Tropical Storm Elsa set to make landfall in Big Bend, Florida — avoids Tampa

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said early Wednesday that Tropical Storm Elsa will make landfall "in the next few hours" around the Big Bend coastal area of northern Florida.

July 7, 2021

Haitian President Jovenel Moise assassinated at home; Biden calls attack ‘very worrisome’

Gunmen assassinated the president of Haiti in an attack at his private residence early Wednesday, sparking new concerns about unrest in the Caribbean nation.

July 7, 2021

Eric Adams wins New York mayor Democratic primary

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams maintained his slim lead over former Sanitation Commissioner Kathyrn Garcia in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, the Board of Elections said Tuesday, making the retired police captain the apparent winner after a ranked-choice tabulation that included nearly all ballots.

July 6, 2021

Israel, South Korea strike a novel vaccine-swap deal

South Korea and Israel announced a vaccine swap Tuesday that will send 700,000 expiring COVID-19 doses to the Asian nation as it tries to accelerate its rollout.

July 6, 2021

Biden: We need to fight COVID-19 ‘neighborhood by neighborhood’

President Biden said Tuesday he is launching a "door-to-door" fight against COVID-19, making shots available to more doctors' offices and pharmacies in a scramble to reach unvaccinated Americans as dangerous variants threaten new outbreaks.

July 6, 2021

Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the 1619 Project, chooses Howard after N. Carolina tenure fight

Nikole Hannah-Jones will join the faculty at Howard University in Washington, D.C., with tenure, the school announced Tuesday, a notable twist after a rocky debate over the journalist's status at the University of North Carolina following her New York Times project that reexamined U.S. history through the lens of slavery.

July 6, 2021

Andy Slavitt: Full FDA licenses, global threat to the young may boost lagging COVID-19 vaccine rates

Former Biden adviser Andy Slavitt said Tuesday that a mix of complacency among people younger than 25 and wariness about side effects from the COVID-19 shots is to blame for lagging vaccination rates in the U.S.

July 6, 2021

Tropical Storm Elsa heads for Florida’s west coast, may complicate condo-collapse search to the east

Tropical Storm Elsa swept off Cuba and headed for Florida's west coast on Tuesday, bringing rains and winds that could complicate the search at the condo collapse site in Surfside.

July 6, 2021

NYC crime wave triggers rethink of racial-justice policing changes: ‘They made a mistake’

Stray bullets in Times Square and widespread violence in the city are evoking New York's bleakest days, forcing leaders to fine-tune recent changes to policing and rethink revolving-door policies that send prisoners back to the ZIP codes where they committed crimes.

July 5, 2021

‘We’re back’: Biden uses July 4th cookout to reflect on ‘how far we’ve come’

President Biden told Americans to reflect on "how far we've come" in a White House cookout designed to contrast the depths of the pandemic with Sunday's family reunions and carefree cookouts -- even as COVID-19 vaccination rates lag in places and a fast-moving variant threatens new peril.

July 4, 2021

Shelter-in-place orders didn’t save lives during the pandemic, research paper concludes

A little-noticed study says government orders to "shelter in place" during the COVID-19 fight did not save lives and actually spurred an uptick in excess deaths in some places, especially overseas.

July 3, 2021

Biden’s approval steady at 50%; gets high marks on pandemic, fails on immigration: Poll

President Biden's approval rating is holding steady around 50% and more than two-thirds of Americans fear that democracy is "under threat," according to a new poll.

July 2, 2021

Biden: ‘Lives will be lost’ due to delta threat, promotes vaccination

President Biden said Friday that "lives will be lost" because of the fast-moving delta variant of the coronavirus but that it shouldn't dampen July Fourth celebrations for the vaccinated.

July 2, 2021

Jobs rose by 850,000 in June, better than expected growth

Employers added a better-than-expected 850,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported Friday in another indication that the U.S. economy is heating up.

July 2, 2021

U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson faces suspension over marijuana, could miss 100M race in Tokyo

U.S. sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson has been suspended for a month after testing positive for marijuana following her headline-grabbing performance in the 100-meter qualifying race -- a shocking twist ahead of the Tokyo Games.

July 2, 2021

India’s COVID-19 death toll surpasses 400K; data show J&J shot effective against variant

India's death toll surpassed 400,000 on Friday as the nation tries to recover from a devastating spring outbreak fueled by a coronavirus variant that is wreaking havoc around the world.

July 2, 2021