4 Pennsylvania state troopers hurt in crash during pursuit
CHAMBERSBURG — A crash during a police pursuit left four Pennsylvania state troopers injured, authorities said. The chase began in Chambersburg around 11:45 p.m. Monday when the troopers attempted to stop the driver of a vehicle after observing traffic violations, state police said in a news release. The driver failed...
World leaders focus on how to punish Russia over Ukraine
BRUSSELS — With the smell of war in the air over Europe, world leaders got over the shock of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to deploy troops to separatist regions of eastern Ukraine and they are focused on producing as forceful a reaction as possible. Germany made the first big...
Ukraine crisis: Putin gets OK to use force outside Russia
MOSCOW — Russian lawmakers on Tuesday authorized President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside the country — a move that could presage a broader attack on Ukraine after the U.S. said an invasion was already underway there. Several European leaders said Russian troops rolled into rebel-held areas in eastern...
Libya’s embattled PM says replacing him could trigger war
CAIRO — Libya’s embattled prime minister is warning that the appointment of a new interim government could set off war and chaos in a Mediterranean country mired for a decade in turmoil. Addressing Libyans late Monday, Prime Minister Abdul Hamdi Dbeibah reiterated his insistence that he will hand over power...
Prosecutor: Fentanyl likely killed 5 in Colorado apartmentVideo
DENVER — Preliminary evidence suggests that five people found dead in an apartment in suburban Denver overdosed on fentanyl while taking what they believed to be cocaine, the district attorney said Monday. Drug tests done at the apartment in Commerce City, about 7 miles northeast of Denver, found an “overwhelming...
What to do with 500-pound bear ‘Hank the Tank’ raiding California homes
Wildlife authorities are trying to trap a 500-pound black bear — known as Hank the Tank — that has broken into dozens of homes in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Residents, the state’s wildlife service and the nonprofit BEAR League are deciding what to do with the enormous bear that has...
University of Alabama VP resigns, accused of soliciting prostitution
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A University of Alabama official has resigned after being arrested on a charge of soliciting prostitution. Tuscaloosa police said Former Vice President of Student Life Myron Pope, 50, is free on $1,000 bond after his arrest Thursday on the misdemeanor charge, news outlets reported. “I have difficult...
Was Ahmaud Arbery killing a hate crime? Jury begins deliberations
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery on a residential street acted out of “pent-up racial anger” and should be convicted of hate crimes, a federal prosecutor told a jury Monday. Defense attorneys argued that the Black man was fatally shot in self-defense and had...
2 firefighters injured in explosion at illegal pot operation
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Two firefighters were injured in an explosion during a fire at an illegal marijuana extract operation hidden at a commercial building in Southern California, authorities said. The blast occurred while fire crews were battling the blaze Sunday at the single-story structure in Anaheim, fire officials said. One...
Like in Arizona, botched baptisms roiled Michigan church
DETROIT — One word caught the ear of a young priest a few years ago when his father shared a video of his 1990 baptism at a suburban Detroit church. “Wait,” the Rev. Matthew Hood recalled thinking. “Something doesn’t seem right here.” Indeed, an error by a deacon who said...
Trump’s social media app launches year after Twitter ban
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s social media app that he hopes will rival Twitter launched Monday as he seeks a new digital stage to rally his supporters and fight Big Tech limits on speech, a year after he was banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. His Truth Social...
Some Pa. cannabis companies use misleading statements to promote marijuana for addiction treatment
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Some Pennsylvania cannabis companies are using incomplete or misleading claims to promote marijuana as a treatment for opioid addiction,...
3rd officer testifies in federal trial in Floyd’s killing
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The third former Minneapolis police officer charged with federal civil rights violations in George Floyd’s killing has taken the stand at their trial. Thomas Lane is testifying Monday. He, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng are charged with violating Floyd’s constitutional rights when Officer Derek Chauvin...
Mount Etna roars again, sends up towering volcanic ash cloud
ROME — Mount Etna has roared back to spectacular action after a few months of relative quiet, sending up a 7.5-mile high volcanic ash cloud over eastern Sicily. The lava flow from Etna, one of Europe’s most active volcanoes, was centered around the crater on the mountain’s southeast slope, Italy’s...
Boris Johnson scraps remaining covid restrictions in England
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that he is scrapping of the last domestic coronavirus restrictions in England, including the requirement for people with covid-19 to self-isolate. Johnson said the country was “moving from government restrictions to personal responsibility” as part of a plan for treating covid-19...
U.S. Navy plans launch of Mideast drone force alongside allies
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet announced Monday the launch of a new joint fleet of unmanned drones with allied nations to patrol vast swaths of the region’s volatile waters as tensions simmer with Iran. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the 5th Fleet,...
Russia orders troops into eastern Ukraine, fear of war growsVideo
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the specter of war on Monday by ordering troops into separatist areas of eastern Ukraine in his most dangerous provocation yet with Washington over the fate of a nation that could redraw the map of Eastern Europe and upset the decadeslong security architecture...
Israel successfully tests naval air defense system
JERUSALEM — Israel on Monday said it successfully tested a new naval air defense system, intercepting a series of threats in what officials called a key layer of protection against Iran and its proxies in the region. The “C-Dome” system is a naval version of the Iron Dome, which has...
What’s the true covid death toll in Pa.? New analysis sheds light
For many reasons, it’s hard to know the full impact of the covid-19 pandemic. Some deaths may have gone uncounted for reasons such as the person died at home and was never tested. A person may have died from an existing disease exacerbated by covid-19. Or a person may have...
Biden-Putin meeting discussed as Ukraine war fears loom
MOSCOW — The U.S. and Russian presidents have tentatively agreed to meet in a last-ditch diplomatic effort to stave off Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as heavy shelling continued Monday in a conflict in eastern Ukraine that is feared will spark the Russian offensive. French President Emmanuel Macron sought to broker...
New River Gorge had record visitation in 2021
GLEN JEAN, W.Va. — A record number of people visited the newly designated New River Gorge National Park and Preserve last year, officials said. The park recorded nearly 1.7 million visitors in 2021, which was an increase of 600,000 from a year earlier, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported. New River...
1 police officer dead, 1 hurt in offshore helicopter crash
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Authorities were investigating Sunday the cause of a police helicopter crash along the Southern California coast that killed one officer and sent another to the hospital with critical injuries. The Huntington Beach officers were responding to a disturbance in the neighboring city of Newport Beach around...
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack: Some price increases are the result of businesses ‘taking advantage’
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said some recent price increases were the result of businesses “taking advantage” of the coronavirus pandemic and supply chain disruptions to push up food costs. Food prices have soared globally in the past year as economies recover from the pandemic and amid a jump in...
Penn State Thon raises more than $13 million in its 50th yearVideo
STATE COLLEGE — Thon 2022 raised $13,756,374.50, the organizers of the 46-hour dance marathon announced on Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center. Thon, which was celebrating its 50th year at Penn State this weekend, has now raised more than $200 million for childhood cancer research and expenses for families...
Rents reach ‘insane’ levels across U.S. with no end in sight
Krystal Guerra’s Miami apartment has a tiny kitchen, cracked tiles, warped cabinets, no dishwasher and hardly any storage space. But Guerra was fine with the apartment’s shortcomings. It was all part of being a 32-year-old graduate student in South Florida, she reasoned, and she was happy to live there for...
