AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST
Bomber to neighbor: The world is 'never going to forget me'
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - It seemed like a friendly chat between neighbors. Only after a bomb exploded in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning could Rick Laude grasp the sinister meaning behind his neighbor´s smiling remark that the city and the rest of the world would never forget him.
Laude told The Associated Press on Monday that he was speechless when he learned that authorities identified his 63-year-old neighbor, Anthony Quinn Warner, as the man suspected of detonating a bomb that killed himself, injured three other people and damaged dozens of buildings.
Laude said he saw Warner standing at his mailbox less than a week before Christmas and pulled over in his car to talk. After asking how Warner´s elderly mother was doing, Laude said he casually asked, "Is Santa going to bring you anything good for Christmas?"
Warner smiled and said, "Oh, yeah, Nashville and the world is never going to forget me," Laude recalled.
Laude said he didn´t think much of the remark and thought Warner only meant that "something good" was going to happen for him financially.
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Trump's hesitation on relief bill will delay aid payments
WASHINGTON (AP) - The $900 billion economic relief package that President Donald Trump signed over the weekend will deliver vital aid to millions of struggling households and businesses. Yet his nearly one-week delay in signing the bill means that it will take that much longer for the financial support to arrive.
The package that Trump signed at his private club in Florida on Sunday will extend two unemployment benefit programs providing aid to 14 million people that expired last week. It will also provide small business loans and up to $600 in cash payments to most individuals. In addition, it extends a moratorium on evictions for one month. The measure does not include aid for states and localities that are being forced to turn to layoffs and service cuts as their tax revenue dries up - a potential long-run drag on the economy.
The legislation extends the two federal jobless aid programs until mid-March and adds a $300 supplemental weekly payment. But because Trump signed the bill on Sunday, a day after the two programs lapsed, that could cost the unemployed a week of benefits, with payments not restarting until next week.
"The date was really unfortunate," said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, a workers' advocacy group. "Now there's some question as to when this gets paid out."
It is possible that the Labor Department will interpret the law to allow payments for the week ending Jan. 2, Evermore said. But if the bill had been signed Saturday, payments clearly could have restarted this week.
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A divided nation asks: What's holding our country together?
Elections are meant to resolve arguments. This one inflamed them.
Weeks after the votes have been counted and the winners declared, many Americans remain angry, defiant and despairing. Millions now harbor new grievances borne of President Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud. Many Democrats are saddened by results that revealed the opposition to be far more powerful than they imagined.
And in both groups there are those grappling with larger, more disquieting realizations: The foundations of the American experiment have been shaken - by partisan rancor, disinformation, a president's assault on democracy and a deadly coronavirus pandemic.
There is a sense of loss.
It burdens even the winners. In North Carolina, a soon-to-be state lawmaker whose victory made history says he is struck by how little feels changed. In Michigan, a suburban woman found her feminism in the Trump era only to see her family torn by the election outcome.
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As COVID-19 ravages US, shootings, killings are also up
DETROIT (AP) - When Andre Avery drives his commercial truck through Detroit, he keeps his pistol close.
Avery, 57, grew up in the Motor City and is aware that homicides and shootings are surging, even though before the pandemic they were dropping in Detroit and elsewhere. His gun is legal, and he carries it with him for protection.
"I remain extremely alert," said Avery, who now lives in nearby Belleville. "I´m not in crowds. If something looks a little suspicious, I´m out of there."
In Detroit, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and even smaller Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Milwaukee, 2020 has been deadly not only because of the pandemic, but because gun violence is spiking.
Authorities and some experts say there is no one clear-cut reason for the spike. They instead point to social and economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 virus, public sentiment toward police following George Floyd´s death in Minneapolis police custody and a historic shortage of jobs and resources in poorer communities as contributing factors. It's happening in cities large and small, Democrat and Republican-led.
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More COVID-19 vaccines in the pipeline as US effort ramps up
A huge U.S. study of another COVID-19 vaccine candidate got underway Monday as states continue to roll out scarce supplies of the first shots to a nation anxiously awaiting relief from the catastrophic outbreak.
Public health experts say more options in addition to the two vaccines now being dispensed - one made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, the other by Moderna - are critical to amassing enough shots for the country and the world.
The candidate made by Novavax Inc. is the fifth to reach final-stage testing in the United States. Some 30,000 volunteers are needed to prove if the shot - a different kind than its Pfizer and Moderna competitors - really works and is safe.
"If you want to have enough vaccine to vaccinate all the people in the U.S. who you´d like to vaccinate - up to 85% or more of the population - you´re going to need more than two companies," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press on Monday.
The coronavirus is blamed for about 1.8 million deaths worldwide, including more than 330,000 in the U.S. This has been the deadliest month of the outbreak in the U.S. yet, with about 65,000 deaths in December so far, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The nation has repeatedly recorded more than 3,000 dead per day over the past few weeks.
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As South Africa's virus spikes, president bans liquor sales
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reimposed a ban on alcohol sales and ordered the closure of all bars Monday as part of new restrictions to help the country battle a resurgence of the coronavirus, including a new variant.
Ramaphosa also announced the closure of all beaches and public swimming pools in the country´s infection hotspots, which include Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and several coastal areas. In addition, South Africa is extending its nighttime curfew by four hours, requiring all residents must be at home from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m., the president said.
"Reckless behavior due to alcohol intoxication has contributed to increased transmission. Alcohol-related accidents and violence are putting pressure on our hospital emergency units," Ramaphosa said in a nationwide address.
"As we had to in the early days of the lockdown, we now have to flatten the curve to protect the capacity of our healthcare system to enable it to respond effectively to this new wave of infections," he said.
Ramaphosa said the ban on selling alcohol and other new restrictions would take effect at midnight. They include the mandatory wearing of masks in public, and anyone found not wearing a mask in a public place will be subject to a fine or a criminal charge punishable by a possible jail sentence, the president said.
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Union: Ohio officer fired in fatal shooting of Black man
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -
A white Ohio police officer was fired Monday after bodycam footage showed him fatally shooting 47-year-old Andre Hill, a Black man holding a cellphone, and refusing to administer first aid for several minutes.
Columbus police officer Adam Coy hours was fired hours after a hearing was held to determine his employment, Brian Steel, the vice president of the local police union, told The Associated Press. Coy is also under criminal investigation for last week's shooting.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP´s earlier story follows below.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The fate of a white Columbus police officer who fatally shot a Black man last week hangs in the balance after a disciplinary hearing Monday that may result in his termination.
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Lawyer: Soldier charged in Rockford shooting may have PTSD
CHICAGO (AP) - An attorney for a U.S. Army special forces sergeant arrested in what authorities called an apparently random shooting at an Illinois bowling alley that left three people dead told an initial hearing Monday that her client may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Duke Webb, 37, faces three counts of murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder for injuring three others in the shooting at Don Carter Lanes, in Rockford, on Saturday evening.
According to Army service information, Webb had four deployments to Afghanistan, the most recent once ending in July.
His lawyer, Elizabeth Bucko, also told the hearing in a Winnebago County courtroom that Webb appeared to have issues with memory loss. She added that he will undergo mental health evaluations, the Rockford Register Star reported.
The judge denied bond for Webb, meaning he will remain jailed. His arraignment was set for Feb. 16.
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House voting on Trump's $2,000 checks as GOP balks
WASHINGTON (AP) - Pandemic aid secured, Congress turned Monday to confront the White House on additional year-end priorities after President Donald Trump reluctantly signed a $2 trillion-plus COVID-19 relief and federal spending package that will provide relief for millions of Americans.
The House was voting during the rare holiday week session on Trump's unmet demand for larger $2,000 virus relief checks. Democrats who control the House favor the larger stipends, beyond the $600 payments included in the massive COVID bill. But the president's push for more spending is forcing his Republican allies who oppose the higher payments into a tough spot.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared, "Republicans have a choice: Vote for this legislation or vote to deny the American people" the assistance she said they need during the pandemic.
The showdown could end up as more symbol than substance, and the outcome is highly uncertain. Republican leaders indicated their party is split - some objecting to more spending while others are inclined to support Trump's push for checks, wary of bucking the outgoing president's demands.
Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, acknowledged the division and said Congress had already approved ample funds during the COVID crisis. "Nothing in this bill helps anybody get back to work," he said.
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Saudi women's rights activist sentenced to nearly 6 years
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - One of Saudi Arabia´s most prominent women´s rights activists was sentenced Monday to nearly six years in prison under a vague and broadly worded counterterrorism law. The ruling nearly brings to a close a case that has drawn international criticism and the ire of U.S. lawmakers.
Loujain al-Hathloul has already been in pre-trial detention and has endured several stretches of solitary confinement. Her continued imprisonment was likely to be a point of contention in relations between the kingdom and the incoming presidency of Joe Biden, whose inauguration takes place in January - around two months before what is now expected to be al-Hathloul´s release date.
Al-Hathloul could be released in March 2021 based on time already served, according to rights group "Prisoners of Conscience," which focuses on Saudi political detainees. She has been imprisoned since May 2018, and 34 months of her sentencing will be suspended.
Her family said in a statement she will be barred from leaving the kingdom for five years and required to serve three years of probation after her release.
Biden has vowed to review the U.S.-Saudi relationship and take into greater consideration human rights and democratic principles. He has also vowed to reverse President Donald Trump´s policy of giving Saudi Arabia "a blank check to pursue a disastrous set of policies," including the targeting of female activists.
