Expect to pay more for Christmas trees, experts say
HUNTINGTON, N.Y. — Add Christmas trees to the list of items facing shortages and higher prices this year. Several factors are driving the trend, Newsday reported, including over-the-top sales last year during the first Christmas during the covid-19 pandemic and supply chain issues this year. Experts said tree buyers should...
Biden’s political standing fuels Democratic worry about 2024
COLUMBUS, Ohio — It was supposed to be a moment of triumph for Joe Biden. The Democratic president had just signed into law the most significant infrastructure package in generations. And he had done it by bringing Democrats and Republicans together, just as he promised during last year’s campaign. But...
GOP embraces natural immunity as substitute for vaccines
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republicans fighting President Joe Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandates are wielding a new weapon against the White House rules: natural immunity. They contend that people who have recovered from the virus have enough immunity and antibodies to not need covid-19 vaccines, and the concept has been invoked by...
Rittenhouse acquittal tightens the political vise for Biden
WILMINGTON, Del. — A difficult political atmosphere for President Joe Biden may have become even more treacherous with the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. Biden was already facing sliding poll numbers with an electorate worn down by the coronavirus pandemic and increasing inflation. Now, the president finds himself caught between outraged...
Hundreds protest Rittenhouse acquittal across U.S.
PORTLAND, Ore — Law enforcement in Portland declared a riot Friday night as about 200 demonstrators protested the acquittal of a teen who killed two people and injured another in Wisconsin. The protesters were breaking windows, throwing objects at police and talking about burning down a local government building in...
Penn State enrollment numbers mirror national trends
We are? If the answer to the popular college cheer is “Penn State,” there are fewer voices chiming in these days. Although Penn State’s University Park campus, which turns away hundreds of well-qualified students every year, bounced back to better than 2019 enrollment numbers, increasing from 46,313 students last year...
Conflict over abortion laws won’t abate if Roe v. Wade falls
On both sides of America’s abortion debate, activists are convinced that Roe v. Wade — the 1973 Supreme Court ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion — is imperiled as never before. Yet no matter how the current conservative-dominated court handles pending high-profile abortion cases — perhaps weakening Roe, perhaps...
Protests erupt over virus limits in Austria, Italy, Croatia
VIENNA — Tens of thousands of protesters, many from far-right groups, marched through Vienna on Saturday after the Austrian government announced a nationwide lockdown beginning Monday to contain skyrocketing coronavirus infections. Demonstrations against virus restrictions also took place in Switzerland, Croatia, Italy, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands on Saturday, a...
As tourism brightens, Times Square hopes to regain luster
NEW YORK — David Cohen has been yearning for a return to the days when business boomed at his family’s souvenir shop in Times Square. While tourists have begun returning, foot traffic into Grand Slam souvenirs is still not what it was before the coronavirus pandemic, when hordes of global...
Poll: More American adults say they don’t expect to have a child
A growing share of U.S. adults who aren’t already parents say they probably won’t have children, citing reasons such as apathy, financial instability or the lack of a partner. A new survey from the Pew Research Center found that 44% of non-parents ages 18 to 49 say it’s not too...
Kyle Rittenhouse lawyers’ trial playbook: Don’t ‘crusade,’ defend
Soon after a Wisconsin jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse of all charges against him, defense attorney Mark Richards took a swipe at his predecessors, telling reporters that their tactics — leaning into Rittenhouse’s portrayal as a rallying point for the right to carry weapons and defend oneself — were not his....
2 top executives quit giant Pa. pension fund amid FBI, SEC probes
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 — Following months of controversy and amid an ongoing federal investigation, Pennsylvania’s biggest pension fund on Thursday announced that its...
Penn State student dies after falling 11 stories down trash chute
STATE COLLEGE — A 19-year-old Penn State student who had been reported missing probably died after falling 11 stories down a trash chute in her campus apartment building, authorities said Friday. Justine Gross, a sophomore from New Jersey, was reported missing Nov. 11 after not returning to her room the...
Senate GOP hires firm to review Pennsylvania’s 2020 election
HARRISBURG — Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate said Friday they will pay up to $270,000 over the next six months to have an Iowa consulting firm examine the 2020 election with an eye toward developing changes to state election law. The “forensic investigation” is being launched in response to pressure...
Afghans seeking humanitarian relief anxious over long delays
LOWELL, Mass. — More than 28,000 Afghans have applied for temporary admission into the U.S. for humanitarian reasons since shortly before the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan and sparked a chaotic U.S. withdrawal, but only about 100 of them have been approved, according to federal officials. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has...
Denver suburb to pay $15M to settle Elijah McClain lawsuit
DENVER — The Denver suburb of Aurora has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the parents of Elijah McClain, a Black man who died after suburban Denver police stopped him on the street and put him in a neck hold two years ago, the city...
Mistrial declared in case of man charged in 18 Texas deaths
DALLAS — A Texas judge declared a mistrial Friday in the first murder case against a man charged with killing 18 older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span, but prosecutors vowed to continue to pursue convictions. Judge Raquel Jones issued the ruling when a jury deadlocked after...
Jury finds Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty in Kenosha shootings
KENOSHA, Wis. — Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges Friday after asserting self-defense in the deadly Kenosha shootings that became a flashpoint in the debate over guns, vigilantism and racial injustice in the U.S. Rittenhouse, 18, began to choke up, fell forward toward the defense table and then hugged...
Facing surge, Austria will mandate covid-19 shots, lock down
Austria announced a national lockdown and a plan to mandate vaccinations as coronavirus infections hit a record high Friday, forcing the government to walk back promises that strict shutdowns were a thing of the past. While the scope of the proposed mandate was unclear, a blanket requirement would be a...
FBI investigating old New Jersey landfill for Jimmy Hoffa’s remains
The decades-long odyssey to find the remains of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa apparently has turned to a former New Jersey landfill that sits below an elevated highway. The FBI obtained a search warrant to “conduct a site survey underneath the Pulaski Skyway,” said Mara Schneider, a spokeswoman for the...
What’s inside Biden’s $1.85T social and climate measure
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s $1.85 trillion plan to boost social and education programs as well as protect against global warming has passed the House, pushing it one step closer to law. The 2,135-page bill includes universal preschool, funding to limit child care costs, expanded health care programs and a...
AAA predicts more than 53 million people will travel for Thanksgiving
AAA Travel is predicting that 53.4 million Americans will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, an increase of 13% from 2020. According to AAA Travel’s latest data, the combination of 6.4 million more people traveling for the holiday this year and the reopening of the U.S. borders to fully vaccinated international...
Biden undergoes routine colonoscopy, Harris briefly in power
BETHESDA, Md. — President Joe Biden briefly transferred power to Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday while he underwent a routine colonoscopy, setting up a history-making moment as Harris became the first woman to hold that authority during the short time she stepped in as acting president. Biden transferred power...
Democrats’ sweeping social, climate bill passes divided House
Democrats brushed aside months-long divisions and pushed their expansive social and environment bill through a sharply divided House on Friday, as President Joe Biden and his party moved closer to capitalizing on their control of government by funneling its resources toward their top domestic priorities. The House approved the legislation...
Rare 1st printing of U.S. Constitution sells for record $43M
A rare first printing of the U.S. Constitution sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $43.2 million, a record price for a document or book sold at auction. The anonymous winning bidder at Thursday night’s sale outbid a group of 17,000 cryptocurrency enthusiasts from around the world who crowdfunded to...
