Jan. 6 panel votes to hold former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark in contemptVideo
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection voted Wednesday to pursue contempt charges against Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who refused to answer the committee’s questions — but the panel agreed to let him come back for another try. The committee voted 9-0...
GOP risks government shutdown to fight Biden vaccine mandate
WASHINGTON — The federal government could be heading for temporary shutdown, with Republicans poised to stall a must-pass funding bill in their effort to force a debate in Congress on rolling back the Biden administration’s covid-19 vaccine mandates for some workers. Conservative Republicans in the House and Senate who are...
Man who threatened Congress by phone sentenced to 33 months
CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire man who pleaded guilty to making threatening phone calls to members of Congress if they didn’t support former President Donald Trump has been sentenced to over two years in prison. Ryder Winegar, 34, of Amherst, was accused of leaving phone messages on Dec. 16,...
Science report: U.S. should make less plastic to save oceans
America needs to rethink and reduce the way it generates plastics because so much of the material is littering the oceans and other waters, the National Academy of Sciences says in a new report. The United States, the world’s top plastics waste producer, generates more than 46 million tons a...
Sheriff: Hunter accidentally kills his 11-year-old daughter in Texas
HALLSVILLE, Texas — A hunter accidentally shot and killed his 11-year-old daughter while they were hunting near their East Texas hometown, investigators said this week. In a statement, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office in Marshall, Texas, said it received multiple reports shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday of a hunting accident...
Pennsylvania wine and liquor sales set another record, annual report shows
If you’re headed to a holiday party this month, chances are good that either Tito’s Handmade Vodka or Fireball Cinnamon Whisky will be on the bar. Unflavored vodka remained Pennsylvanians’ drink of choice during the 2020-21 fiscal year, bringing in $307.6 million and topping the sales list in 53 of...
Mark Meadows: Trump tested positive for covid before 1st presidential debate with BidenVideo
Former President Donald Trump reportedly tested positive for covid-19 and was suffering symptoms of the disease before his chaotic first debate with then-candidate Joe Biden. Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, says in his forthcoming memoir that Trump tested positive for the deadly virus the weekend before...
Daystar CEO Marcus Lamb dies after covid diagnosis
DALLAS — Marcus Lamb, CEO and founder of the conservative Christian Daystar Television Network who was outspoken against covid-19 vaccines, has died at age 64 after contracting the virus. Daystar confirmed his death Tuesday. “It’s with a heavy heart we announce that Marcus Lamb, president and founder of Daystar Television...
U.S. reports 1st case of omicron variant in returning traveler
SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of the omicron variant Wednesday — in a vaccinated traveler who returned to California after a trip to South Africa — as scientists around the world race to establish whether the new, mutant version of the coronavirus is more dangerous...
New dinosaur species from Chile had a unique slashing tail
Fossils found in Chile are from a strange-looking dog-sized dinosaur species that had a unique slashing tail weapon, scientists reported Wednesday. Some dinosaurs had spiked tails they could use as stabbing weapons and others had tails with clubs. The new species, described in a study in the journal Nature, has...
Volcanic lava threatens church, more homes on La Palma
LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Canary Islands — A fresh river of lava from the volcano on Spain’s La Palma island threatened Wednesday to engulf a parish church that has so far survived the eruption that shows no signs of relenting after 10 weeks. The nearest lava flow to the Los...
Putin demands NATO guarantees not to expand eastward
President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow would seek Western guarantees precluding any further NATO expansion and deployment of its weapons near his country’s borders, a stern demand that comes amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian and Western officials have worried about a Russian troop buildup near...
Justices signal they’ll OK new abortion limits, may toss Roe
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Wednesday signaled it would uphold Mississippi’s 15-week ban on abortion and may go much further to overturn the nationwide right to abortion that has existed for nearly 50 years. The fate of the court’s historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion...
Conservatives eagerly await Supreme Court abortion arguments
It’s the moment conservatives have been waiting for. Oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday represent the best opportunity leaders on the right have had in decades to gut the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which codified a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion before a fetus can...
Brazil and Japan report 1st cases of the omicron variant
Brazil and Japan joined the rapidly widening circle of countries to report cases of the omicron variant Tuesday, while new findings indicate the mutant coronavirus was already in Europe close to a week before South Africa sounded the alarm. The Netherlands’ RIVM health institute disclosed that patient samples dating from...
Arizona officer fired after shooting of shoplifting suspect
TUCSON, Ariz. — A Tucson police officer has been fired after he was accused of shooting a shoplifting suspect in a wheelchair nine times, killing him, after the man brandished a knife, authorities said Tuesday. Police announced at a news conference that Officer Ryan Remington was being terminated for excessive...
Wife of drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ gets 3 years on U.S. chargesVideo
The wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison after pleading guilty to helping her husband run his multibillion-dollar criminal empire. Emma Coronel Aispuro also helped her husband plan a dramatic escape through a tunnel dug underneath a prison in Mexico...
CNN suspends Chris Cuomo for helping brother in scandal
NEW YORK — CNN said Tuesday it was suspending anchor Chris Cuomo indefinitely after details emerged about how he helped his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as he faced charges of sexual harassment. The network said that documents released by New York’s attorney general Monday indicated a greater...
Appeals court orders release of some Mueller report passages
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Tuesday directed the Justice Department to disclose certain redacted passages from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation report that relate to individuals who were investigated by prosecutors but not ultimately charged. The ruling came in a public records complaint from the news organization...
Dr. Oz calls Keystone State home as he ponders U.S. Senate bid
Dr. Mehmet Oz’s claim to residency in Pennsylvania may be both recent and tenuous, but that won’t keep him off the crowded GOP ballot of contenders seeking to replace U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. The Associated Press reported that Oz, 61, a longtime New Jersey resident, is planning to announce his...
FDA panel narrowly backs covid-19 pill from Merck
WASHINGTON — A panel of U.S. health advisers on Tuesday narrowly backed a closely watched covid-19 pill from Merck, setting the stage for a likely authorization of the first drug that Americans could take at home to treat the coronavirus. A Food and Drug Administration panel voted 13-10 that the...
Lawsuit claims abuse, threats at Pennsylvania church farm
HARRISBURG — A federal lawsuit filed this month claims boys and young men at a church-related farm business in Pennsylvania were subjected to forced labor and punishment that included dragging chains and breaking up rocks with a hammer. The lawsuit by two former residents of Liberty Ridge, an 80-acre farm...
Gov. Tom Wolf will use computer-drawn maps and other tools to help spot Pa. gerrymandering
PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania’s new congressional map will help shape political power for a decade — and Gov. Tom Wolf is laying down some rules as it gets drawn. Wolf plays a key role in the decennial redistricting: The Republican-controlled state Legislature will draw a map, but Wolf, a Democrat, can...
Attorney: Ex-officer Kim Potter to testify at trial in Daunte Wright deathVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — The suburban Minneapolis police officer who shot Daunte Wright will testify at her trial, her attorney said Tuesday as jury selection began with potential panelists being questioned closely about their attitudes on policing, protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. One of Kim Potter’s attorneys, Paul Engh, told...
Teen shot 18 times while waiting for bus in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — A 14-year-old Philadelphia boy waiting for a bus to take him home from school was shot 18 times and killed Monday afternoon, police said. Samir Jefferson was waiting at a bus stop shortly before 3:30 p.m. Monday in a North Philadelphia neighborhood when two unknown shooters fired at...
