Liberty University President Apologizes for Photo

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The president of Liberty University in Virginia has apologized for a recent photo posted on social media in which his pants are unzipped. Talking with local radio station WLNI 105.9 Lynchburg, Jerry Falwell Jr. gave an explanation for the photo in which his arm is around a woman whose pants are also unzipped, and he holds a plastic cup filled with “black water,” as he described the liquid.  “Yeah, it was weird. She’s pregnant. She couldn’t get her pants zipped and I was like trying to like …” said Falwell, who leads the conservative and religious university. “I had on a pairmore

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Doctors Ask Medical Schools to Drop MCAT Tests During Pandemic

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A professional society of 163,000 physicians, trainees and fellows of internal medicine in the United States is asking medical schools to waive the entrance exam because the COVID-19 pandemic has made testing unmanageable. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.The American College of Physicians (ACP) suggests the schools look at applicants holistically – considering factors including grades and experience – and dispense with the Medical College Admission Test – known as the MCAT – for entrance year 2021.“Applicants have experienced disruptions in taking the MCAT examination, whether due to personal health and safety concerns, vendor-initiated scheduling changes, or difficultiesmore

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Harvard Enrollments Drop by 20%

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Harvard College is likely to see a more than 20 percent drop in enrollment this fall, according to the student-staff The Harvard Crimson news outlet.  Harvard, considered among the top three universities in the United States, has been besieged with the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. Many students cannot travel, do not want to be on campus in close quarters with others, or are deferring while classes are online because those classes are not deemed a good value financially. Students Give Online Learning Low MarksMany call on universities to end the semester earlyAboutmore

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Trump Loses Bid to Add Fourth Debate with Biden in Early September

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign on Thursday lost its bid to add a fourth debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden in early September.In rejecting the request, the Commission on Presidential Debates said it remains committed to the current schedule of three 90-minute debates beginning in late September.It would only add a fourth debate, or move an existing debate to earlier in the month, if both sides in the campaign for the November 3 election agreed to it, it said.Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had asked for either a fourth debate in the first week of September or for themore

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Trump, McConnell Huddle; Virus Aid Talks at Risk of Collapse

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President Donald Trump huddled at the White House Thursday with the Senate’s top Republican over a vital COVID-19 rescue package, but hopes on Capitol Hill for a deal were souring and there was increasing worry that GOP negotiations with Democrats might collapse.The impasse in the negotiations is putting at risk more than $100 billion to help reopen schools, a fresh round of $1,200 direct payments to most people, and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments to help them avoid furloughing workers and cutting services as tax revenues shrivel.Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is a key player inmore

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‘See You in Court’: ACLU Files Nearly 400 Cases Versus Trump

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The day after Donald Trump’s election in November 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a message to him on its website: “See you in court.” As president, Trump hasn’t personally squared off against the ACLU from the witness stand, but the broader warning has been borne out. As of this week, the ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration, some meeting with setbacks but many resulting in important victories. Among other successes for the ACLU, it prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court case blocking the administration from placing a citizenship question onmore

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Trump Ties COVID-19 Vaccine Timing to November Election

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U.S. President Donald Trump is predicting a COVID-19 vaccine might be ready by this year’s election, less than 90 days away.  “I’m optimistic that it’ll probably be around that date,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn on Thursday.  “It wouldn’t hurt” his reelection chances to have the vaccine available by the November 3 election, acknowledged the president. “I’m doing it not for the election. I want it fast because I want to save a lot of lives.”  The scientific community, including prominent infectious disease experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is member of the White Housemore

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Professor Predicts Biden Will Beat Trump in November Vote

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A history professor who has correctly predicted the outcome of every U.S. presidential election since 1984 says Democrat Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States.Appearing in a FILE – Allan Lichtman of American University in Washington, D.C., is pictured at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, May 24, 2011.Six for TrumpTrump has the advantage in six keys. They include the president’s incumbency, no serious Republican primary challengers, no major foreign military failures, and what Lichtman says is Biden’s lack of charisma.Although Lichtman is predicting a close election, a CNN roundup of the latest polls showed Bidenmore

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Biden’s Challenge: Keeping Up Momentum

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Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is leading in the polls over incumbent President Donald Trump but must rally and unite his party’s progressive wing while appealing to the broader electorate if he hopes to win November’s presidential election.  The continuing coronavirus pandemic makes traditional campaigning difficult, and Biden campaign officials now say he will not travel to his party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to accept the presidential nomination.  VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports on the strengths and vulnerabilities of the man Democrats hope will win the White House. Produced by: Mike O’Sullivan …

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US Lawmakers Ask 6 Top Universities to Hand Over Records of Foreign Donations

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Three members of the U.S. Congress are asking six of the nation’s top universities to hand over records of donations they have accepted from certain foreign nations, including China and Russia, citing concerns that these multimillion-dollar donations present a growing national security threat.Letters aimed at helping the members to “further understand the effects of adversarial foreign direct investments in the U.S. higher education system” were sent to the presidents of Harvard, New York University, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago and University of Delaware. The U.S. Department of Education building building is seen in Washington, on July 22,more

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US Supreme Court Approval Rating at Highest in Over Decade

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At a time when other branches of the U.S. government remain relatively unpopular, public approval of the Supreme Court has risen to its highest level in more than a decade, according to a new Gallup survey.The Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks during a panel discussion celebrating Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to be a Supreme Court Justice, Sept. 25, 2019, at the Library of Congress in Washington.The nine-member court’s approval rating had hovered around 50% in recent years after rising as high as 61% in 2009, fueled in part by the historic appointment of the first Hispanic justice,more

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Biden to Skip Milwaukee Trip for Presidential Nomination Acceptance

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Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has decided to not travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to accept the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s national convention this month out of fear of the “worsening” coronavirus pandemic, convention organizers said Wednesday.The party said none of the planned convention speakers would go to the Midwestern city, in order to “prevent risking the health of our host community as well as the convention’s production teams, security officials, community partners, media and others.” Normally about 50,000 convention delegates, workers and media would have gone to the four-day event starting August 17.Much of the conventionmore

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Trump Campaign Sues to Block Nevada Mail-in Voting 

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign and the national Republican Party have sued to block the western state of Nevada from sending a mail-in ballot to every registered voter in the state, even as Trump says absentee voting is fine by him in his adopted home state of Florida. The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday claims the Nevada voting plan approved by the state legislature Sunday night will result in “inevitable” fraud in the Nov. 3 national presidential election.  President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Aug. 4, 2020, inmore

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Desperate to Play: Coronavirus’ Impact on College Sports

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Many colleges and universities in the U.S. are in danger of losing millions in revenue from canceled sports events.College sports make roughly $1 billion annually in ticket sales and promotions for universities, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Athletic dollars from basketball, football and baseball can contribute more than half to a school’s operating budget.“There’s never a good time for a pandemic but for college sports, I think this was particularly bad, because it happened right at the beginning of the men’s basketball tournament, and the men’s basketball tournament is the largest source of revenue for the NCAA,”more

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Marshall Tops Kobach in Kansas Senate Primary 

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Voters in the U.S. state of Kansas have picked Congressman Roger Marshall from a field of 11 Republican candidates, including former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, to be the nominee for U.S. Senate in the November election. Marshall will now go up against Barbara Bollier in the contest to fill the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts. Roberts endorsed Marshall in the race, as did many Republican leaders who expressed concern that voters might not support Kobach and his more polarizing record.  In a House of Representatives primary in Kansas, first-term Congressman Steve Watkins will lose his seat after beingmore

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Voters Cast Primary Ballots in 5 US States

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Five U.S. states are holding primary elections Tuesday, with a Republican battle for a Senate seat representing Kansas among the key races. A total of 11 candidates are competing for the chance to be on the November general election ballot as voters make their pick to fill the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts. Roberts has endorsed Congressman Roger Marshall, who also has the backing of other Republican leaders. Former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach and plumbing company founder Bob Hamilton are the other top contenders. Kobach lost a 2018 bid to be the governor of Kansas. The last time a Republican candidate lost an electionmore

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‘Generational Catastrophe’ Possible as Pandemic Creates Education Crisis

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says with schools being forced to shut their doors because of the coronavirus pandemic, the world is facing a “generational catastrophe.” Guterres made the comments Tuesday during a video briefing to launch a new U.N. campaign dubbed In this file photo taken on Feb. 8, 2020, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the African Union headquarters.The head of the world body said that as of mid-July, more than 1 billion children in at least 160 countries are missing out on formal studies, while at least 40 million children have missed outmore

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Voters in 5 US States Casting Primary Ballots

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Five U.S. states are holding primary elections Tuesday, with a Republican battle for a Senate seat representing Kansas among the key races. A total of 11 candidates are competing for the chance to be on the November general election ballot as voters make their pick to fill the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts. Roberts has endorsed Congressman Roger Marshall, who also has the backing of other Republican leaders. Former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach and plumbing company founder Bob Hamilton are the other top contenders. Kobach lost a 2018 bid to be the governor of Kansas. The last time a Republican candidate lost an electionmore

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Voters in Five US States Casting Primary Ballots

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Five U.S. states are holding primary elections Tuesday, with a Republican battle for a Senate seat representing Kansas among the key races. A total of 11 candidates are competing for the chance to be on the November general election ballot as voters make their pick to fill the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts. Roberts has endorsed Congressman Roger Marshall, who also has the backing of other Republican leaders. Former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach and plumbing company founder Bob Hamilton are the other top contenders. Kobach lost a 2018 bid to be the governor of Kansas. The last time a Republican candidate lost an electionmore

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White House, Democrats Cite Some Progress Toward Coronavirus Aid Deal

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White House officials and top congressional Democrats plan to meet again Tuesday after both sides cited some progress in their effort to find agreement on a new coronavirus aid package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday staff members would meet overnight, and that she and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer would hold another round of talks Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. “We are moving down the track,” Pelosi told reporters after two hours of negotiations Monday. “We still have our differences. We are trying to have clearer understanding of what the needs are.”White House Chief of Staff Markmore

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Nevada Adopts Mail-In Voting, But Trump Threatens Lawsuit

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Lawmakers in Nevada have agreed to send ballots to all voters in the western U.S. state for November’s presidential election, a move that drew an immediate rebuke from President Donald Trump as unfair to Republicans.The legislation, which is expected to be signed by Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak, would make Nevada the eighth state to automatically send mail-in ballots to make it easier to vote and avoid long lines at polling places on Nov. 3 in the midst of the continuing surge of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.Trump has contended, without evidence, that increased mail-in voting, in Nevada andmore

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RNC: Decision on Private Trump Renomination Vote Not Final

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The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in private later this month, without members of the press present, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention said Saturday, citing the coronavirus.However, a Republican National Committee official contradicted that assessment Sunday, emphasizing that no final decisions have been made and that logistics and press coverage options were still being evaluated, The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.While Trump called off the public components of the convention in Florida last month, citing spiking cases of the virus across themore

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Arts Students Lament COVID Shutting Down Practices, Performances

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A typical school day for Elon University junior Skyler Sajewski began at 7 a.m., starting with ballet, history, economics and tap classes, then rehersal for the upcoming musical. She would get back to her apartment around 11 p.m.     Then, the COVID pandemic hit.     The musical theater major who was used to “constantly running from place to place” returned home to Florida to shelter in place. She’s worried about missing out on “literally all of it” in terms of preparing for her future career.   “To be a well-rounded musical theater performer, you have to have amore

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