| | | | | | For many Christians, this weekend marks the first time in three years they will gather in person to celebrate Easter Sunday, a welcome chance to share one of the faith's holiest days side-by-side with fellow parishioners. In the United States, the pandemic stuck in March, 2020, forcing many churches to resort to online or televised Masses weeks ahead of Easter. In Boston, Catholic churches are among houses of worship opening their doors with few COVID-19 restrictions for Easter services. On Saturday evening, hundreds of people in Minnesota gathered in the grand Cathedral of St. Paul to observe an Easter Vigil service. | | | | | | The governor of St. Petersburg in Russia says a general whose troops have been besieging the Ukrainian port of Mariupol died in battle and was buried Saturday. Maj. Gen. Vladimir Frolov was deputy commander of the 8th Army. Russian media identified the 8th Army as being among the forces battering Mariupol for weeks. Gov. Alexander Beglov released a statement saying the general "died a heroic death in battle." It didn't say when or where. Russian news websites show his grave at a St. Petersburg cemetery piled high with flowers. Ukraine has claimed that a growing number of Russian generals have been killed during the war. | | | | | | Several businesses and residents have filed suit in state court in Pennsylvania seeking to overturn Philadelphia's renewed indoor mask mandate scheduled to be enforced beginning Monday amid a surge in COVID-19 infections. Philadelphia earlier this week became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections. Attorney Thomas W. King III said the city's emergency order went against Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations and "imposed a renegade standard." The Philadelphia mayor's office declined comment but said courts have ruled that the city "has both the legal authority and requisite flexibility" to take steps to control COVID-19 spread. | | | | | | The medicinal use of hallucinogenic mushrooms is making inroads in U.S. states as military veterans advocate for the therapeutic value of psychedelic drugs, including in conservative states like Utah, Texas and Oklahoma. At least four states have approved studying their medicinal properties in the last two years and several U.S. cities have also decriminalized so-called magic mushrooms. Oregon is the first, and so far only, state to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the psychedelic active ingredient found in certain mushrooms. But studying them has gotten approval not only in blue states like Hawaii, Connecticut and Maryland but also GOP-led Utah, Texas, and Oklahoma, where the state House passed a bill this year. | | | | | | Kyrie Irving cost himself millions of dollars in salary. He may have cost the Brooklyn Nets any realistic chance of winning the NBA title. His decision not to be vaccinated against the coronavirus left him ineligible to play in New York for most of the season. Irving was criticized for being stubborn and selfish, for thinking only about the individual in a sport that's about the team. But on the eve of the postseason, Irving isn't second-guessing anything, saying he knows he "made the right decision for me." The Nets open the playoffs Sunday against the Boston Celtics. | | | | | | An Arizona Supreme Court decision means victims of long-ago child sex abuse can proceed with lawsuits against groups like the Boy Scouts of America. The court refused to overturn lower court rulings that found a 2019 law creating a one-time window for victims to sue is constitutional. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and its southern and central Arizona affiliates are being sued by two men who allege their "Big Brothers" abused them in the 1970s and 1980s. The group said the new law violated their due process rights by changing the statute of limitations, but trial court judges disagreed. The Supreme Court last week refused to overturn those decisions. Phoenix attorney Robert Pastor says he can now try to prove Big Brothers Big Sisters was negligent. | | | | | | Month by month, more of the roughly 40 million Americans who get help buying groceries through the federal food stamp program are seeing their benefits plunge. The reductions come even as the nation struggles with the biggest increase in food costs in decades. The payments to low-income individuals and families are dropping as governors end COVID-19 disaster declarations and opt out of a still-ongoing federal program that made their states eligible for dramatic increases in SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps. The increased benefit were in response to surging unemployment after the COVID-19 pandemic swept over the country. The result is that depending on the politics of a state, people find themselves eligible for significantly different levels of help buying food. | | | | | | California top health official says the state has no plans to impose new statewide pandemic restrictions despite a rise in coronavirus cases. The spike is primarily due to a new highly transmissible omicron variant. Health Secretary Mark Ghaly says the most populous state has seen a much slower increase than in previous waves and in other U.S. regions. He defended California's recent focus on encouraging individuals to get vaccinated and boosted, wear a mask where appropriate and take other precautions to "make good, thoughtful personal decisions to protect themselves." He also has seen no indication that local officials plan to toughen their approach despite an increase in case rates. | | | | | | |
