7-year-old Missouri boy dies after falling off hayride
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — A 7-year-old Missouri boy has died after he fell off a hayride and was struck by the trailer he had been riding in. The Jackson County Sheriff’s office said the accident was reported around 7:45 p.m. Saturday in a rural area outside Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Jackson...
More New York City workers get vaccinated amid mandate; 1 in 6 still refuse
NEW YORK — One in six New York City municipal workers remained unvaccinated after Friday’s deadline to show proof they’ve gotten at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine, the city said Saturday. A last-minute rush of jabs boosted the vaccination rate to 83% among police officers, firefighters, garbage collectors...
New framework bolsters Biden’s hand as climate summit begins
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden heads to a United Nations climate conference Monday energized by a new legislative framework that, if enacted, would be the largest action ever taken by the United States to address climate change. The $555 billion plan for climate spending is the centerpiece of a sweeping...
U.S., European Union say deal on tariffs a sign of rebuilt relationship
ROME — The U.S. and European Union on Sunday celebrated a new agreement to patch up a trans-Atlantic rift over Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs. President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a joint appearance during the Group of 20 summit that the deal resolving...
Poll: Economy, mistrust of government, covid-19 continue to drive voters’ decisions
Lewis McClain vividly remembers the double-digit mortgage rates of the early 1980s, and the 83-year-old Edinboro Democrat is afraid the country is headed in that direction again. “I don’t agree with all this stimulus money giveaway,” McClain said. “All of this is going to be very inflationary. It has been...
Alec Baldwin speaks out on fatal shooting: ‘She was my friend’
Alec Baldwin has spoken publicly for the first time on camera about the cinematographer he fatally shot on the movie set of “Rust,” calling her a friend and saying he is in “constant contact” with her grieving family. “She was my friend,” Baldwin told photographers Saturday on a roadside in...
More NYC workers get jabs amid mandate, but 26K still refuse
NEW YORK — More than 26,000 of New York City’s municipal workers remained unvaccinated after Friday’s deadline to show proof they’ve gotten at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine, the city said Saturday. A last-minute rush of jabs boosted the vaccination rate to 83% among police officers, firefighters, garbage...
Lawsuit: Texas city refused escort to protect Biden bus
SAN MARCOS, Texas — Police officials in a Central Texas city refused to provide an escort for a Joe Biden campaign bus when it was surrounded by supporters of then-President Donald Trump on an interstate, an amended lawsuit filed over the 2020 encounter alleges. The updated lawsuit, filed Friday, included...
Biden receives Communion in Rome amid debate in U.S.
ROME — President Joe Biden received Communion at St. Patrick’s Church during Saturday Vigil Mass, a day after saying Pope Francis told him he should continue to partake in the sacrament, despite the opposition of some conservatives in the U.S. upset with his position on abortion. Biden and his wife,...
Crowds come out for Mt. Lebanon’s Pumpkin Patch Parade
Crowds came out for the annual Mt. Lebanon Pumpkin Patch Parade on Saturday. The parade strolled through the township’s Uptown section on Washington Road from the public safety center to Washington elementary school. The parade featured the police color guard leading the way, several fire trucks, the Mt. Lebanon High...
How ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ became code for insulting Joe Biden
WASHINGTON — When Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon!” it may have seemed cryptic and weird to many who were listening. But the phrase was already growing in right-wing circles, and now the...
Sudan security forces shoot dead 2 protesters, doctors say
CAIRO — Sudanese security forces shot dead two people Saturday during mass protests against the country’s recent military coup, a doctors’ union said. The shootings came despite repeated appeals by the West to Sudan’s new military rulers to show restraint and allow peaceful protests. Thousands of Sudanese have taken to...
Bid considered to clear Alabama court records of King, Parks
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The quest by a civil rights pioneer to have her arrest record wiped clean after nearly 70 years after she protested racial segregation has raised the possibility of similar bids to clear the names of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., whose convictions remain on the...
G-20 opens with call for more vaccines for poor countries
ROME — The leaders of the world’s economic powerhouses on Saturday took part in the first in-person summit since the coronavirus pandemic, with climate change, covid-19 economic recovery and the global minimum corporate tax rate on the agenda. Italian Premier Mario Draghi welcomed the Group of 20 heads of state...
Kilauea still spurting lava, 1 month into latest eruption
HONOLULU — Lava continues to pour out of Kilauea’s summit crater, one month after the latest eruption began at the Hawaii volcano. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said Friday lava was emerging from a single vent inside Halemaumau Crater. The eruption is contained within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and isn’t threatening...
High court adds climate change, immigration cases to docket
WASHINGTON — Over the objections of the Biden administration, the Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider a climate change case that could limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The court also said it would hear a Republican-led immigration challenge. The earliest the cases will be...
Judge denies Chicago workers’ bid to halt vaccine mandate
A federal judge on Friday denied a motion by 130 Chicago firefighters and other city employees to temporarily halt enforcement of the city’s requirement that all its workers report whether they’ve received the covid-19 vaccination or risk being put on no-pay status. During an hourlong hearing, U.S. District Judge John...
A full guide to Pa.’s Supreme Court election and other appellate judicial races
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 — On Tuesday, voters statewide will have the opportunity to choose a new justice for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, as...
Lawyer: Prince Andrew never sexually assaulted American
NEW YORK — Lawyers for Prince Andrew asked a New York judge Friday to throw out a lawsuit accusing the prince of sexually abusing an American when she was 17, saying the prince “never sexually abused or assaulted” the plaintiff. In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, an attorney for...
Michigan governor vetoes stricter voter ID, election bills
LANSING, Mich. — As promised, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday vetoed Republican-sponsored legislation that would toughen in-person voter identification rules and require people to include additional information such as their driver’s license number on absentee ballot applications. The governor said the bills would disproportionately hurt minority voters who are...
Supreme Court declines to block Maine vaccine mandate
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has rejected an emergency appeal from health care workers in Maine to block a vaccine mandate that went into effect Friday. Three conservative justices noted their dissents. The state is not offering a religious exemption to hospital and nursing home workers who risk losing their...
FDA paves way for Pfizer covid-19 vaccinations in young kids
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday paved the way for children ages 5 to 11 to get Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine. The FDA cleared kid-size doses — just one-third of the amount given to teens and adults — for emergency use, and up to 28 million more American...
Biden at Vatican to talk climate, poverty with Pope Francis
VATICAN CITY — Declaring it’s “good to be back,” President Joe Biden on Friday opened a five-day European trip at the Vatican, where he and Pope Francis — the world’s two most prominent Roman Catholics — planned to discuss the covid-19 pandemic, climate change and poverty. A dozen Swiss Guards...
New York City braces for fewer cops, more trash as vaccine deadline looms
NEW YORK — Mounting trash. Closed firehouses. Fewer police and ambulances on the street. That’s the possibility New York City is bracing for come Monday as a covid-19 vaccine mandate looms and thousands of municipal workers remain unwilling to get the shots. Police officers, firefighters, garbage collectors and most other...
Legal experts see strong self-defense claim for Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha shootings
When Kyle Rittenhouse goes on trial Monday for shooting three men during street protests in Wisconsin that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake last summer, he’ll argue that he fired in self-defense. Legal experts say under Wisconsin law he has a strong case. What’s less clear is whether prosecutors...
