New law makes inmates choose electric chair or firing squad in South CarolinaVideo
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed into law a bill that forces death row inmates for now to choose between the electric chair or a newly formed firing squad in hopes the state can restart executions after an involuntary 10-year pause. South Carolina had been one...
Gaetz associate pleads guilty to sex trafficking charges
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida politician who emerged as a central figure in the Justice Department’s sex trafficking investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz pleaded guilty Monday to six federal charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of a plea deal. Joel Greenberg, a longtime associate of Gaetz, appeared...
3 existing conditions approved for Ohio medical marijuana
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Medical Board of Ohio panel has added three existing conditions for Ohioans to buy medical marijuana. The panel earlier this year determined that arthritis, chronic migraines and complex regional pain syndrome fall into the existing category of chronic or intractable pain. State residents must obtain a...
Begging for air: India’s oxygen crisis imperils its covid-19 response
MEERUT, India — The men stood shoulder to shoulder in the blazing heat, their chests leaning against empty oxygen cylinders lodged in the dirt. They had come from all over to this makeshift oxygen tank-refilling center in a city 40 miles northeast of the Indian capital of New Delhi in...
Supreme Court to weigh rollback of abortion rights
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Monday it would hear a major challenge to the reach of the landmark Roe vs. Wade abortion ruling and decide whether states may bar nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of a pregnancy. The justices said they had voted to hear an appeal from...
Grassroots groups that supported Biden remain active in Westmoreland, Western Pa.
Voice of Westmoreland was among the wave of “pop-up” progressive groups that spread like dandelions in the wake of the election of Donald Trump. Many doubted VOW, as the group has come to call itself, would ever be a force in politics. In a county that leans decidedly red, they’ve...
Covid relief continues: Here’s how parents can get a monthly tax payment this summer
WASHINGTON — Eligible parents can get up to $300 per child from Washington as a monthly tax payment starting July 15, the Treasury Department said Monday. That means the 2020 tax return that’s due to be filed by the end of Monday with the Internal Revenue Service now could determine...
4 incumbents, 3 challengers seek nomination for Mt. Pleasant Area School Board
Seven candidates, including four incumbents, are seeking nomination to four seats on the Mt. Pleasant Area School Board. All cross-filed on the Democratic and Republican tickets in the May 18 primary. Incumbent board members on the ballot this year include Allison A. Brooks, 37; Brad Coppula, 46; Eric Poole, 43;...
Republican Lou Barletta to run for Pennsylvania governor
HARRISBURG — Lou Barletta, the Republican Party’s Donald Trump-endorsed nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018, is running for governor of Pennsylvania. Barletta, 65, becomes the most prominent figure to enter a 2022 governor’s race that Republicans have won every time in the past half-century when there is an outgoing Democratic...
Gun malfunction kills 1 at Pa. shooting range
One man is dead and another man has been injured after a handgun malfunction Saturday at a shooting range in Lackawanna County. Robert Hamm, 61, of Berwick handed his handgun to another man to shoot at the State Game Lands Shooting Range in Archbald, WNEP is reporting. The other man...
South Africa starts vaccination drive for those 60 and older
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has started its mass vaccination drive with the goal of inoculating nearly 5 million citizens aged 60 and above by the end of June. Shots of the Pfizer vaccine were given to South Africans in a few nursing homes and to some people aged 60 and...
Oprah and CNN: AT&T is merging media business with DiscoveryVideo
NEW YORK — The merger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia operations, marrying the likes of HBO and CNN with HGTV and Oprah Winfrey, is another illustration of the head-spinning speed in which streaming has transformed the media world. The companies are essentially placing a $43 billion bet that they’ll still...
Israeli strikes hit Gaza tunnels as diplomats work for truce
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military unleashed a wave of heavy airstrikes on the Gaza Strip early Monday, saying it destroyed 9 miles of militant tunnels and the homes of nine Hamas commanders, as international diplomats worked to end the week of fighting that has killed hundreds of...
Police: 2 arson suspects detained in Los Angeles wildfire
LOS ANGELES — A smoky wildfire churning through a Los Angeles canyon community gained strength Sunday as about a thousand residents remained under evacuation orders while others were warned they should get ready to leave, authorities said. The cause of the fire near Topanga State Park has been deemed “suspicious”...
Second Amendment sanctuaries facing 1st court test in Oregon
SALEM, Ore. — The first court test of whether local governments can ban police from enforcing certain gun laws is playing out in a rural Oregon county, one of a wave of U.S. counties declaring itself a Second Amendment sanctuary. The measure that voters in the logging area of Columbia...
Albuquerque police ID 2 victims in a triple homicide case
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Authorities have released the names of two men who died in a triple homicide case. Albuquerque police say 44-year-old Brandon Torres and 41-year-old James Fisher were identified as two of the victims found Wednesday in a bullet-riddled car outside a city hospital. The name of the third...
Arrest made after boy, 4, found slain on Dallas streetVideo
DALLAS — An 18-year-old man has been arrested after the body of a 4-year-old boy was found lying on a neighborhood street in Dallas, police said Sunday. Police said that Darriynn Brown has been charged with kidnapping and theft. Police say they also anticipate additional charges pending the results of...
AP’s top editor calls for independent investigation into Israeli airstrikeVideo
WASHINGTON — The Associated Press’ top editor on Sunday called for an independent investigation into the Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the AP, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media, saying the public deserves to know the facts. Separately, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders asked the...
Islamic nations slam Israel — and each other’s ties to it
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A league of Muslim nations on Sunday demanded that Israel halt attacks killing Palestinian civilians amid heavy fighting between it and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, even as fissures between countries over their recognition of Israel emerged. A statement by the 57-nation Organization of Islamic...
Virus testing strategies, opinions vary widely in U.S. schools
MISSION, Kan. — Children are having their noses swabbed or saliva sampled at school to test for the coronavirus in cities such as Baltimore, New York and Chicago. In other parts of the U.S., school districts are reluctant to check even students showing signs of illness for covid-19. Education and...
Police probing deaths of man, woman in Central Pennsylvania home
HARRISBURG — Authorities are investigating the deaths of a man and woman whose bodies were found in a Pennsylvania home. Swatara Township police said officers were called to the home just before midnight Friday on “a report of a domestic incident.” Officers who forced their way into the home found...
As GOP restricts voting, Democrats move to expand access
Last year, for the first time in more than a quarter-century, Democrats in Virginia took control of the statehouse and the governor’s mansion. Since then, one priority has become clear: expanding voting rights. Once home to the capital of the Confederacy, Virginia has made Election Day a state holiday, repealed...
CDC’s big mask change went from science to secret to surprise
WASHINGTON — For a nation mired in a pandemic for more than a year, the biggest step toward a return to normal came suddenly, even to President Joe Biden. After warning the country on Monday to stay vigilant amid the threat of coronavirus variants, the president found himself three days...
Republican Arizona election official says Trump ‘unhinged’
PHOENIX — The Republican who now leads the Arizona county elections department targeted by a GOP audit of the 2020 election results is slamming former President Donald Trump and others in his party for their continued falsehoods about how the election was run. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Saturday...
Afghan cease-fire ends amid calls for fresh peace talks
KABUL, Afghanistan — A three-day cease-fire marked by violent attacks — most claimed by the Islamic State group — ended Sunday in Afghanistan amid calls for renewed peace talks between the government and Taliban. Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the negotiating teams of the government and the Islamic Emirate,...
