Kentucky man who received controversial pardon from Gov. Bevin rearrested
LONDON, Ky. — A Kentucky man who received a controversial pardon from then-Gov. Matt Bevin was rearrested Sunday, The Courier-Journal reported. Patrick Baker was convicted of killing Donald Mills. Mills’ sister told the paper an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives contacted her Monday to...
West Virginia urban deer hunt is lifeline for food programs
A bowhunt for deer in one West Virginia city that began several years ago has become a lifeline for local food pantries and community kitchens. When hunters first proposed an urban deer hunt in Morgantown about a decade ago, the idea was to control the population. Collisions with cars were...
Nevada OKs bill in try for 1st presidential nominating state
CARSON CITY — Nevada lawmakers passed a bill on Monday that aims to make the state the first to weigh in on the 2024 presidential primary contests. The move upends decades of political tradition and is likely to prompt pushback from other early states that want to retain their places...
Meat is latest cyber victim as hackers hit top supplier JBS
JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat supplier, has been targeted in a cybersecurity attack that shut down its North American and Australian computer networks in the latest threat to pandemic-rattled global food supply chains. JBS USA said it was the target of an organized cybersecurity attack on Sunday, affecting some...
Milkweed planted in California to help monarch butterflies
SAN FRANCISCO — A conservation group is planting more than 30,000 milkweed plants in California in the hope of giving Western monarch butterflies new places to breed. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday that the River Partners group has joined with others and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife...
Man accused of plotting Walmart attack arrested in Texas
KERRVILLE, Texas — Authorities in Texas arrested a man accused of plotting to carry out a mass shooting at a Walmart, and a search of the suspect’s home turned up firearms, ammunition and materials officials described as “radical ideology paraphernalia.” Coleman Thomas Blevins, 28, was arrested Friday in Kerrville and...
Iran enriched record uranium stockpile amid Vienna talks
Iran produced a record volume of highly enriched uranium that could quickly be turned into fuel for a nuclear weapon, underscoring the urgency with which diplomats are moving to restore an agreement that would reign in the Persian Gulf nation’s program. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors circulated a confidential assessment...
Johnson & Johnson asks high court to void $2B talc verdict
WASHINGTON — Johnson & Johnson is asking for Supreme Court review of a $2 billion verdict in favor of women who claim they developed ovarian cancer from using the company’s talc products. The case features an array of high-profile attorneys, some in unusual alliances, including former independent counsel Kenneth Starr,...
Pentagon chief slams Ted Cruz for abetting Russia, China with claim that ‘woke’ policies are turning Army into ‘pansies’
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin slammed Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday for accusing the Army of projecting an image of “pansies” because of its inclusive recruiting policies, asserting that the Texas Republican’s rhetoric only emboldens adversaries. China and Russia “would like to capitalize on talking points like that,” the...
Internal PSERS documents show how Pa’s biggest pension fund got key financial calculation wrong
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. After Pennsylvania’s biggest pension plan botched a crucial financial calculation, the FBI launched an investigation, the fund’s board began its own...
Mark Zuckerberg helped some Pa. counties survive 2020 election; GOP lawmakers say that was unfair
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 coronavirus cases rose and Pennsylvania counties were flooded with millions of mail ballot applications last fall, election directors...
Mobile vaccination units hit tiny U.S. towns to boost immunity
FALLON, Nev. — Pick-up truck drivers motor up to a white trailer in a parking lot on Fallon Paiute-Shoshone land in Nevada’s high desert and within a few moments they’re handed forms to sign, jabbed with coronavirus vaccine and sent on their way. The pop-up clinic 60 miles (96 kilometers)...
Study blames climate change for 37% of global heat deaths
More than one-third of the world’s heat deaths each year are due directly to global warming, according to the latest study to calculate the human cost of climate change. But scientists say that’s only a sliver of climate’s overall toll — even more people die from other extreme weather amplified...
Biden commemorates fallen veterans at Arlington Cemetery
ARLINGTON, Va. — President Joe Biden honored America’s war dead at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day by laying a wreath at the hallowed burial ground and extolling the sacrifices of the fallen for the pursuit of democracy. The president was joined on Monday by first lady Jill Biden, Vice...
China easing birth limits further to cope with aging society
BEIJING — China’s ruling Communist Party said Monday it will ease birth limits to allow all couples to have three children instead of two in hopes of slowing the rapid aging of its population, which is adding to strains on the economy and society. The ruling party has enforced birth...
Dems walk, stop Texas GOP’s sweeping voting restrictions
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Democrats pulled off a dramatic, last-ditch walkout in the state House of Representatives on Sunday night to block passage of one of the most restrictive voting bills in the U.S., leaving Republicans with no choice but to abandon a midnight deadline and declare the legislative session...
South Africa returns to stricter lockdown, coronavirus ‘surging’
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday that his country will return to stricter lockdown measures in the face of a sharp rise in covid-19 cases that indicate the virus is “surging again” in Africa’s worst-affected nation. Positive cases in South Africa in the past...
Find covid origin or face another pandemic, U.S. experts warnVideo
WASHINGTON — The world needs the cooperation of the Chinese government to trace the origins of covid-19 and prevent future pandemic threats, two leading U.S. disease experts said Sunday. Information to support the theory that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, has increased, said...
Texas Senate passes elections bill after more than 7 hours of debate
AUSTIN — The Texas Senate advanced a massive elections bill Sunday morning, after an hourslong, overnight debate in which Democrats blasted the GOP majority for releasing just hours earlier a new version of the legislation that expanded its restrictions and penalties. Discussion on the sweeping voting legislation kicked off just...
Netanyahu could lose PM job as rivals attempt to join forcesVideo
JERUSALEM — A former ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he would seek to form a coalition government with the Israeli leader’s opponents, taking a major step toward ending the rule of the longtime premier. The dramatic announcement by Naftali Bennett, leader of the small hardline Yamina...
Tulsa Race Massacre centennial events proceed amid hiccups
TULSA, Okla. — Joi McCondichie is a native of this city, but her life and career in public education kept her away from home for decades. When she returned to Tulsa from Los Angeles with her then-teenage son, she moved into a home just off of the Osage Prairie Trail...
More states ease lingering virus rules as vaccine rates rise
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, more U.S. cities and states are shrugging off lingering covid-19 restrictions as vaccination rates rise and the number of infections falls. Massachusetts lifted a mask requirement Saturday, a day after New Jersey dropped its mandate. In New York City and...
In South Florida, shootings usher in bloody holiday weekend
HIALEAH, Fla. — Violence ushered in the Memorial Day weekend in South Florida, when gunmen indiscriminately sprayed bullets into crowds at two Miami venues. Two people died and at least 20 others were injured early Sunday morning during a shooting outside a banquet hall, about a day after a drive-by...
Small plane crashes into Tennessee lake; 7 believed dead
SMYRNA, Tenn. — A small jet carrying seven people crashed into a Tennessee lake on Saturday, and authorities indicated that no one on board survived. The Cessna C501 crashed into Percy Priest Lake near Smyrna after taking off from a nearby airport about 11 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said...
Chinese cargo spacecraft docks with orbital station
BEIJING — An automated spacecraft docked with China’s new space station Sunday carrying fuel and supplies for its future crew, the Chinese space agency announced. Tianzhou-2 spacecraft reached the Tianhe station eight hours after blasting off from Hainan, an island in the South China Sea, China Manned Space said. It...
