French leader Macron slapped in face on visit to small town
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped Tuesday in the face by a man during a visit to a small town in southeastern France, an incident that prompted a wide show of support for the head of state from politicians across from the ideological spectrum. The French president was...
Biden’s Justice Dept. to defend Trump in defamation lawsuit
NEW YORK — Donald Trump cannot be held personally liable for “crude and disrespectful” remarks he made about a woman who accused him of rape because he made the comments while he was president, U.S. Justice Department lawyers told an appeals court late Monday. Responding to misconduct allegations is part...
With $10B to spend, advocates press Wolf, Pa. lawmakers to prioritize poor people
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 — As Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-led legislature begin the final month of budget negotiations, a coalition of groups...
Pennsylvania man accused of fatally stabbing woman, gambling with her money
Police had little to go on at first as they investigated the stabbing death of a Lackawanna County woman in March, but they announced on Monday that an arrest has been made. The Pennsylvania State Police say Jerry Koezeno of Mayfield has been charged in connection with the killing of...
Senate report details sweeping failures around Jan. 6 attack
WASHINGTON — A Senate investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has uncovered broad government, military and law enforcement missteps surrounding the violent attack, including a breakdown within multiple intelligence agencies and a lack of training and preparation for Capitol Police officers who were quickly overwhelmed by...
Biden to get warm welcome from relieved but wary allies
LONDON — When U.S. President Joe Biden flies to Europe this week, he will find his hosts welcoming but wary. His predecessor Donald Trump may be gone, but he leaves a long shadow. Biden’s first foreign trip as president starts Wednesday and includes a gathering of the Group of Seven...
China’s wandering elephants becoming international stars
BEIJING — Already famous at home, China’s wandering elephants are now becoming international stars. Major global media are chronicling the herd’s more than yearlong, 300-mile trek from their home in a wildlife reserve in mountainous southwest Yunnan province to the outskirts of the provincial capital of Kunming. Twitter and YouTube...
Swaths of internet go down after cloud outage
LONDON — Multiple websites went offline briefly across the globe Tuesday after an apparent outage at the cloud service company Fastly, revealing how critical a handful of companies running the internet’s plumbing have become. Dozens of sites including the New York Times, CNN, some Amazon sites, Twitch, Reddit, the Guardian,...
Washington state OKs free pot as vaccine incentive
SEATTLE — Washington state says licensed marijuana stores can offer free joints to promote coronavirus vaccine clinics. The “Joints for Jabs” program announced by state officials Monday will permit pot retail shops to give away a single pre-rolled joint to anyone over 21 who gets a shot at an on-site...
‘A lot of anxiety’ for Democrats as Biden agenda stalls
WASHINGTON — Hopes for a big infrastructure investment are teetering. An ambitious elections and voting bill is all but dead. Legislation on police brutality, gun control and immigration has stalled out. After six months of Democratic control in Washington, the party’s progressive wing is growing increasingly restless as campaign promises...
Ex-college athlete sentenced for burning Minneapolis police station
MINNEAPOLIS — A U.S. District Court judge sentenced the last of the four men who have pleaded guilty to burning a Minneapolis police station last summer to two years and five months in federal prison and to help pay $12 million in restitution for the damage. In court Monday morning,...
Capitol riot suspect blames ‘pack of lies,’ seeks release
DES MOINES, Iowa — A Des Moines, Iowa, man pictured prominently with a QAnon shirt ahead of a crowd of insurgents inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack asked a judge on Monday to release him from jail, saying “he feels deceived, recognizing that he bought into a...
Oregon lawmaker faces expulsion for assault on state Capitol
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek wants to expel a Republican lawmaker who allowed violent protesters into the state Capitol in December. Fellow Republicans said Monday they want him out too. Video that emerged late Friday in local news reports that apparently showed Rep. Mike Nearman choreographing how...
Oil pipeline foes protest Enbridge’s Line 3 in Minnesota
SOLWAY, Minn. — Hundreds of protesters vowing do whatever it takes to stop a Canadian-based company’s push to replace an aging pipeline blockaded a pump station in northern Minnesota on Monday, and some chained themselves to construction equipment. Environmental and tribal groups say Enbridge Energy’s plan to rebuild Line 3,...
Drought-stricken Nevada enacts ban on ‘non-functional’ grass
CARSON CITY, Nev. — In Sin City, one thing that will soon become unforgivable is useless grass. A new Nevada law will outlaw about 40% of the grass in the Las Vegas area in an effort to conserve water amid a drought that’s drying up the region’s primary water source:...
Automakers face a threat to electric vehicle sales: Slow charging times
DETROIT — If the auto industry is to succeed in its bet that electric vehicles will soon dominate the roads, it will need to overcome a big reason why many people are still avoiding them: Fear of running out of juice between Point A and Point B. Automakers have sought...
Philadelphia to give away nearly $400,000 in vaccine prizes
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney announced Monday that the city will be giving away cash prizes as part of a multiweek lottery to entice residents to get vaccinated for covid-19. The sweepstakes will include three drawings with chances to win up to $50,000 and is a partnership between the...
Medical marijuana law changes get through Pennsylvania House
HARRISBURG — The state House on Monday approved a set of revisions to Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana law, seeking to make permanent some of the changes put in place temporarily because of the coronavirus pandemic. Representatives voted 164 to 38 for the bill, which would permit dispensing a three-month supply at...
Baby dies after driver strikes mother, stroller crossing street in Central Pa.: police
A 15-week-old baby has died after police said the baby’s mother and stroller were hit by a car in Lebanon on Monday morning. Lebanon City police said the crash occurred just before 11 a.m. at the intersection of North 10th and Lehman streets. Police said a vehicle, driven by a...
Supreme Court won’t review men-only draft registration law
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Monday that for now it’ll be up to Congress, not the court, to decide whether to change the requirement that only men must register for the draft. It’s one of the few areas of federal law where men and women are still treated differently....
U.S. has recovered ransom payment made after Colonial Pipeline hack
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has recovered the majority of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment to hackers after a cyberattack that caused the operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline to halt its operations last month, officials said Monday. The operation to recover the cryptocurrency from the Russia-based hacker group is...
Carbon dioxide levels hit 50% higher than preindustrial time
The annual peak of global heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air has reached another dangerous milestone: 50% higher than when the industrial age began. And the average rate of increase is faster than ever, scientists reported Monday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average carbon dioxide level for...
Gun rights supporters rally outside Pennsylvania Capitol
HARRISBURG — A couple hundred gun rights enthusiasts attended an annual pro-gun rally on the Pennsylvania Capitol steps Monday, with many pushing for a proposal to let anyone who can legally possess firearms to conceal them without a license or permit when carrying them in public. The organizer of the...
Louisiana lawmakers vote to end jail time for marijuana use
BATON ROUGE, La. — In a demonstration of the changing opinions about marijuana use, Louisiana lawmakers have agreed that people caught with small amounts of pot for recreational use should not go to jail, voting Monday to send the bill lessening the penalties to the governor’s desk. The Senate’s 20-17...
Harris says leaders need to restore hope in Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY — Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday emphasized the need to restore hope for residents of struggling Central American nations to help address the increase in migration from the region as she faced the first major test of her diplomatic skills on a three-day foreign trip. Her comments...
