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Biden helps his Amtrak family
celebrate its
50th anniversary
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- President Joe Biden didn't want to be anywhere else Friday than helping his Amtrak family celebrate 50 years on the rails.
"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," he said at Amtrak's station in Philadelphia, where he used the occasion to plug his $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal.
Biden rode Amtrak almost daily between Washington and his home in Wilmington, Delaware, during his 36 years as a U.S. senator. As vice president, he went home by train most weekends to visit his mother, who was ill, before she passed away.
"In the process, Amtrak became my family," Biden said.
He told of how Amtrak once helped him get out of trouble with his daughter Ashley. It was his birthday and the 6-year-old had made him a cake, but was upset that he was in Washington because the Senate was voting and wouldn't get home for it.
Number of
Americans fully vaccinated tops 100 million
DALLAS (AP) -- Disneyland reopened on Friday and cruise lines welcomed the news that they could be sailing again in the U.S. by midsummer, as the number of Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 reached another milestone: 100 million.
Visitors cheered and screamed with delight as the Southern California theme park swung open its gates for the first time in 13 months in a powerful symbol of the U.S. rebound, even though the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth is allowing only in-state guests for now and operating at just 25% capacity.
The reopening and similar steps elsewhere around the country reflect increasing optimism as COVID-19 deaths tumble and the ranks of the vaccinated grow -- a stark contrast to the worsening disaster in India and Brazil and the scant availability of vaccines in many poor parts of the world.
In fact, the U.S. announced Friday it will restrict travel from India starting Tuesday, citing the devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus.
While the overall number of lives lost to COVID-19 in the U.S. has eclipsed 575,000, deaths have plummeted to an average of about 670 per day from a peak of around 3,400 in mid-January.
US to restrict travel from India over COVID
starting Tuesday
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. will restrict travel from India starting Tuesday, the White House said Friday, citing a devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden's administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden signed a proclamation barring entry to most foreigners who have been in India in the past 14 days, with exceptions for legal permanent residents, spouses and close family members of U.S. citizens, and some others. He cited the spread of the virus and its variants.
"The CDC advises, based on work by public health and scientific experts, that these variants have characteristics of concern, which may make them more easily transmitted and have the potential for reduced protection afforded by some vaccines," Biden said in the proclamation.
He said the CDC has concluded that "proactive measures" are needed to protect public health from travelers from India.
Venezuela gives
US oilmen
house arrest in gesture to Biden
MIAMI (AP) -- Six American oil executives jailed in Venezuela more than three years ago on corruption charges were granted house arrest on Friday in a gesture of goodwill toward the Biden administration as it reviews its policy toward the politically turbulent South American country.
The partial release of the six employees of Houston-based Citgo was confirmed to The Associated Press by family members of the men.
Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cardenas and Jose Pereira were hauled away by masked security agents while at a meeting in Caracas just before Thanksgiving in 2017. They had been lured to Venezuela in order to attend a meeting at the headquarters of Citgo's parent, state-run oil giant PDVSA.
The so-called Citgo 6 were granted house arrest once before -- in December 2019 -- only to be re-jailed two months later on the same day that President Donald Trump welcomed opposition leader Juan Guaido to the White House.
In releasing the men, Maduro could be betting he'll receive a better hearing from President Joe Biden, who on the campaign trail called Trump's policy of regime change an "abject failure" that has served only to strengthen the socialist leader.
With Idaho case, AP counts 109 statehouse #MeToo
allegations
An Idaho lawmaker was accused of raping an intern; a Missouri lawmaker of abusing his children. In North Dakota and Oregon, a pair lawmakers faced claims of a pattern of sexual harassment. All are now out of office -- either resigning under pressure or getting expelled by colleagues within the past two months. Three other lawmakers accused this year remain in their jobs.
The flurry of sexual misconduct claims in state capitols comes three-and-a-half years after the #MeToo movement sparked a public reckoning for people in power accused of sexual wrongdoing and an overhaul of many state policies. The continued incidents highlight both that problems persist and that some legislatures are responding more assertively.
"These institutions don't change overnight," said Kelly Dittmar, research director at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. "Part of what the #MeToo movement did was shed a spotlight on the problem, but fixing that problem that has been so deep-seeded is going to take longer."
Since 2017, at least 109 state lawmakers in 40 states have faced public allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment, according to an Associated Press tally. Of those, 43 have resigned or been expelled and 42 have faced other repercussions such as the loss of committee chair or party leadership positions.
Mars helicopter aces 4th flight,
gets extra
month of flying
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA's little Mars helicopter has gotten a reprieve. Instead of wrapping up flight tests at the beginning of May, NASA is giving its Ingenuity helicopter at least an extra month to tackle tough new terrain and serve as a scout for its companion rover, Perseverance.
Officials announced the flight extension Friday, following three short flights in under two weeks for the $85 million tech demo. Soon afterward, there was more good news: Ingenuity -- the first powered aircraft to soar at another planet -- had aced its fourth flight at Mars.
For Friday's trip, Ingenuity traveled 872 feet (266 meters) at a height of 16 feet (5 meters) for two minutes -- considerably farther and longer than before. An attempt Thursday had failed because of a known software error.
On its fifth flight in another week or so, the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) chopper will move to a new airfield on Mars, allowing the rover to finally start focusing on its own rock-sampling mission. The rover is seeking signs of ancient life at Jezero Crater, home to a lush lakebed and river delta billions of years ago.
3 officers resign
in rough arrest
of woman
with dementia
DENVER (AP) -- Three Colorado police officers involved in the rough arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia -- and later seen on video talking about her arrest, laughing and joking at times -- have resigned, police said Friday.
Loveland Police Chief Robert Ticer announced the departures of Officers Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali and Community Services Officer Tyler Blackett in connection to the arrest of Karen Garner at a news conference, without providing details about how they left. Department spokesman Tom Hacker later confirmed they had resigned. Ticer noted that last year's treatment of Garner in the city about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Denver, revealed by the filing of a federal lawsuit this month, had led to an outpouring of concern and anger in the community, the country and around the world and apologized.
"Our goal at the Loveland Police Department has always been to make our community proud. We failed and we are very sorry for that," he said.
Grammys overhaul process for picking nominees for top awards
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Grammy Awards have changed its tune and voted to remove its anonymous nomination review committees -- groups that determined the contenders for key awards at the coveted music show.
The Recording Academy made the announcement Friday after the board of trustees met and approved the change. The decision came hours after The Associated Press reported that the academy was planning to discuss its nomination review committees and whether it was time to eliminate them.
"It's been a year of unprecedented, transformational change for the Recording Academy, and I'm immensely proud to be able to continue our journey of growth with these latest updates to our awards process," Harvey Mason Jr., the academy's interim president and CEO, said in a statement Friday.