Judge rejects Purdue Pharma’s sweeping opioid settlement
A federal judge rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement of thousands of lawsuits over the opioid epidemic Thursday because of a provision that would protect members of the Sackler family from facing litigation of their own. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in New York found that federal bankruptcy law...
Biden, Democrats punt reconciliation and voting rights bills to 2022Video
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders reluctantly acknowledged Thursday that the Senate would soon recess for the year without passing their sprawling $2.2 trillion social safety net and climate spending bill or voting rights legislation. But Senate Democrats vowed not to go home until they reached a bipartisan...
House subpoenas Mark Meadows contact who pushed false fraud claim
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is subpoenaing James P. “Phil” Waldron, a onetime contact of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows who the panel says pushed false claims about fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The Democratic chairman of the committee, Mississippi...
Michigan teen charged after shooting brother; mistook him for deer
SOLON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A teenager who told investigators that he mistook his brother for a deer when he shot him has been charged with a gun crime, authorities in western Michigan said Thursday. The 17-year-old faces a charge of careless discharge of a firearm causing injury, the Kent County...
Florida sees biggest jump in covid cases since September, with 6,381 addedVideo
MIAMI — Florida on Thursday reported 117 more deaths and 6,381 additional covid-19 cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data. This is the largest jump of newly reported cases since September. The CDC backlogs cases and deaths for Florida on...
Pennsylvania redistricting: New proposed maps for state House, Senate districts released
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — A panel of Pennsylvania’s most powerful lawmakers released new proposed...
EPA details push to tighten rules for lead in drinking water
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration took steps Thursday aimed at reducing lead in drinking water, announcing plans to release $2.9 billion in infrastructure bill funds next year for lead pipe removal and impose stricter rules to limit exposure to the health hazard. Vice President Kamala Harris made the case for...
U.S. regulators lift in-person restrictions on abortion pill
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday permanently loosened a key restriction on abortion pills, eliminating a long-standing requirement that the medication be picked up in person. Millions of American women will now be able to get a prescription via an online consultation and receive the pills through...
5 children die in bouncy castle accident in AustraliaVideo
SYDNEY — Five children died and four others were in critical condition on Thursday as a result of falling from a bouncy castle that was lifted 33 feet into the air by a gust of wind at a school on Australia’s island state of Tasmania. The school was holding a...
How brothers in arms plotted theft, sale of U.S. Army weaponry
Packed with rifles and explosives, the SUV hurtled down a Florida interstate beneath bright blue autumn skies, passing other motorists with little notice. It was November 2018, and the driver, Tyler Sumlin, was uncomfortable. Clammy. The husky, bearded former U.S. Army soldier was getting a cold, and understandably tense: He...
With omicron in ‘full force,’ New York City to hand out masks, tests
NEW YORK — Alarmed by a rapid rise in covid-19 cases and the increasing prevalence of the omicron variant, New York City officials will distribute one million masks and 500,000 home tests, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. The mass distributions are part of a broader plan to counter the...
CDC panel recommends Pfizer, Moderna vaccines over J&J shotVideo
Most Americans should be given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of the Johnson & Johnson shot that can cause rare but serious blood clots, U.S. health advisers recommended Thursday. The strange clotting problem has caused nine confirmed deaths after J&J vaccinations — while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines don’t...
Panel gives state House, Senate district maps preliminary OK
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted Thursday in favor of new preliminary district maps over sharp objections from the House’s Republican leader, as a large increase in the state’s minority population helped shape big changes. The maps also reflect general population changes over the past decade, which have...
Army vet, 3-year-old among the dead in widespread twisters
Details about the fathers and mothers, children, friends and siblings who died during a tornado outbreak that ripped through the Midwest and South are still coming into focus nearly a week after the onslaught. At least 89 people have been confirmed dead across multiple states after more than 40 tornadoes...
Court battle over Pa. GOP’s subpoena of sensitive voter data centers on legislative power vs. privacy
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 — An appellate court leveled sharp questions Wednesday in the opening round of a closely watched court case over whether...
Ambridge woman gets 2 life terms in February deaths of 2 children
BEAVER — A western Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without possibility of parole in the deaths of her two children earlier this year. Krisinda Bright, 58, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder charges as part of a plea agreement that spared her a...
Haiti gang releases all 12 Christian missionaries held captive for 2 months
A Haiti gang has released all 12 hostages two months to the day that they were kidnapped in Haiti’s capital, Haiti National Police Spokesman Garry Desrosiers and two U.S. government sources confirmed to the Miami Herald. The hostages were abducted just east of Port-au-Prince by a notorious gang, 400 Mawozo,...
Young Americans motivated to make change: AP-NORC, MTV poll
WASHINGTON — There are plenty of reasons for Sebastian Garcia to feel downbeat about the future. After his family immigrated from Mexico, he was raised on a farm in northwest Texas, where he says there aren’t many racial slurs he hasn’t heard. When the now-24-year-old graduated from college, he decided...
Can your pet get covid-19?
NEW YORK — Can your pet get covid-19? Yes, pets and other animals can get the coronavirus that causes covid-19, but health officials say the risk of them spreading it to people is low. Dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, otters, hyenas and white-tailed deer are among the animals that have tested...
British surge seen as warning on omicron but responses vary
LONDON — Spiraling infections in Britain driven in part by the new omicron variant of the coronavirus sent shockwaves Thursday into the rest of Europe, fueling a familiar dread that tighter restrictions will scuttle holiday plans again this year. Much remains unknown about omicron, but increasingly officials are warning that...
Pennsylvania asks FEMA for help with covid surge
Pennsylvania asked the federal government on Wednesday to send health care workers to hospitals and nursing homes that are increasingly under stress from persistent staffing shortages and the latest covid-19 surge. The Wolf administration requested Federal Emergency Management Agency “strike teams” for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and ambulance companies in...
Where did the lanternflies go? Pa. public reports down 50% in 2021
The last of the lanternflies in Pennsylvania disappeared with the onset of frost a month ago. It was another summer and fall where residents across eastern and central parts of the Commonwealth and several adjacent states saw them flying outside entrances or maybe into their plate or drink if they...
Westmoreland Co. lawmaker offers to help with vaccine exemptions as covid-19 infections surge
A state lawmaker is offering “vaccination exemption assistance,” while local health officials plead with residents to mask up and get vaccinated and Excela Health struggles to deal with covid-19 infections that have pushed its three Westmoreland County hospitals beyond capacity. State Rep. Leslie Rossi, R-Unity, said she offered help to...
U.S. releases new batch of documents about JFK assassination
WASHINGTON — The National Archives on Wednesday made public nearly 1,500 documents related to the U.S. government’s investigation into the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The disclosure of secret cables, internal memos and other documents satisfies a deadline set in October by President Joe Biden and is in...
Senate sends Biden big defense bill, plans new war memorial
WASHINGTON — Congress sent President Joe Biden a $768.2 billion defense bill on Wednesday that makes landmark changes to the way the military handles sexual assaults, keeps women out of the draft and lays the groundwork for a new war memorial on the National Mall. The annual bill, which has...
