California man survives 7 days stuck on snowy mountain road
DOWNIEVILLE, Calif. — A California man survived a week stranded in the Sierra Nevada after following his GPS navigation system down a treacherous mountain road and getting hemmed in by deep snow. Harland Earls, 29, was rescued by a helicopter crew on Sunday, hours after emergency dispatchers tracked his cellphone...
New York Times covid-19 star writer is out following reports he used slur
NEW YORK — Donald G. McNeil Jr., The New York Times science reporter whose fame grew during the covid-19 pandemic, is stepping down following allegations that he used the N-word during a company-sponsored student trip to Peru in 2019. “We do not tolerate racist language regardless of intent,” Executive Editor...
Ghislaine Maxwell attacks Justice Department, Epstein’s victims and their lawyers
NEW YORK — Ghislaine Maxwell has unleashed a sprawling attack on her criminal case, slamming the Justice Department, victims, their lawyers and the media. The British socialite filed seven motions late Thursday seeking to dismiss her indictment for grooming victims of Jeffrey Epstein in the mid-1990s and lying under oath....
Republican group pressures GOP senators to convict Trump in impeachment trial
WASHINGTON — A Republican group plans to run ads in the home states of nearly two dozen GOP senators during next week’s impeachment trial, pressuring them to vote to convict former President Donald Trump and bar him from holding office again. The Republican Accountability Project is spending a half-million dollars...
Pa. district attorney charged with sex assault vows to remain in office
TOWANDA — A Pennsylvania district attorney vowed Friday to remain in office while he fights sexual assault charges, maintaining his innocence and complaining that he was handcuffed and “paraded in front of television cameras” by the state attorney general. Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman, who took office a year...
Tiny chameleon a contender for title of smallest reptile
It fits on a human fingertip, but this chameleon could make a big splash. Scientists from Madagascar and Germany say a newly discovered species of chameleon is a contender for the title of world’s smallest reptile. Frank Glaw, who was part of the international team of researchers that classified the...
Gov. Wolf to sign $912M pandemic relief bill
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf will sign legislation approved Friday by lawmakers that carries over $900 million in pandemic-driven aid for hard-hit hospitality businesses, private schools and people struggling to pay rent or utility bills. Both chambers passed the bill unanimously Friday and Wolf’s office said he will sign it....
Pennsylvania covid cases continue slow decline, 138 new deaths reported
While Pennsylvania on Friday reported 4,688 additional cases of the coronavirus — the highest since adding 5,191 on Saturday — the state’s seven-day case average continues to trend downward. Not since mid-November has Pennsylvania’s seven-day average — now at 3,947 — been as low. The current average is 30% lower...
Pa. Republicans mostly support Marjorie Taylor Greene in House committee ouster
Eight out of nine Pennsylvania Republicans in the House of Representatives stood with U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, as Democrats led a successful move to strip committee assignments from the controversial Georgia Republican with a history of supporting conspiracy theories and making racist comments. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a...
Kyle Rittenhouse fires attorney who helped raise his bail
MADISON, Wis. — An 18-year-old from Illinois who’s accused of killing two people and wounding a third during a police brutality protest in Wisconsin last summer fired a California attorney who had been soliciting money for his case. John Pierce, a Los Angeles lawyer, had been at the forefront of...
Jamaica faces marijuana shortage as farmers struggle
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica is running low on ganja. Heavy rains followed by an extended drought, an increase in local consumption and a drop in the number of marijuana farmers have caused a shortage in the island’s famed but largely illegal market that experts say is the worst they’ve seen....
Moscow’s jails overwhelmed with detained Navalny protesters
MOSCOW — The video, shot by a man detained in a Moscow protest, shows a group of people jammed into a police minibus. One of them says on the recording that they had already been held there for nine hours, with some forced to stand because of overcrowding and no...
Pentagon will deploy troops to assist covid-19 vaccine drive
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will deploy troops to assist getting Americans vaccinated against covid-19, the White House said Friday. Coronavirus senior adviser Andy Slavitt announced that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved a request for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It means about 1,000 active duty military personnel...
End of an era: Last 2 Kmart stores in Pa. to close
It appears to be an end of an era. Kmart, the store known for its discount prices and its “blue light specials” is closing its last two stores in Pennsylvania. The last two Kmart stores in the state including the last Kmart in the midstate will be closing in Transformco’s...
‘Pink hat lady’ from Mercer County arrested for alleged involvement in Capitol riot
A Mercer County woman being sought by police for her involvement in the U.S. Capitol riot last month has been taken into custody. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that Rachel Marie Powell, 40, of Sandy Lake, was arrested Thursday night in New Castle. She is charged with obstruction, depredation of...
Biden dogs to make appearance during Puppy BowlVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s dogs will make an appearance during the Puppy Bowl this weekend. The two German Shepherds, Champ and Major, will appear alongside first lady Jill Biden in a public service announcement focused on mask-wearing set to air during Puppy Bowl XVII. The event, which features a...
Virus outbreaks stoke tensions in some state capitols
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — After only their first few weeks of work, tensions already are high among lawmakers meeting in-person at some state capitols — not because of testy debates over taxes, guns or abortion, but because of a disregard for coronavirus precautions. In Georgia, a Republican lawmaker recently was...
Police: 3 officers shot by suspect who is barricaded in home
HIGH POINT, N.C. — Authorities in North Carolina say that three police officers have been shot and wounded by a suspect who is now barricaded in a home in the town of High Point. WGHP reports that the standoff began at 11:15 p.m. Thursday. High Point police Lt. Matt Truitt...
AP-NORC poll: Americans are split on Trump’s impeachment
WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans say former President Donald Trump bears at least some blame for the Capitol insurrection, and about half say the Senate should vote to convict him at the end of his impeachment trial. That’s according to a survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public...
Senate approves budget bill as Harris casts tie-breaker vote
WASHINGTON — The Senate early Friday approved a budget that would allow fast-track passage of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan without support from Republicans. Vice President Kamala Harris was in the chair to cast the tie-breaking vote, her first. Democrats in the chamber applauded after Harris announced...
Homeless woman says she was trapped in van for 5 days by plowed snow
A homeless woman was finally rescued from her van Thursday morning in Newark, N.J., after being trapped inside by snowplows for five days, she told News 12 Jersey. “When I woke up around 11 o’clock or 12 o’clock at night, I saw I was plowed in and snow everywhere,” the...
U.K. to begin hotel quarantine amid criticism of delay
LONDON — Everyone arriving in the U.K. from countries identified as coronavirus hotspots will have to spend 10 days in hotel quarantine starting Feb. 15 in a bid to stop new virus variants reaching the country, the government said Friday. But authorities are facing criticism for delays in implementing the...
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman files statement of candidacy for possible U.S. Senate run
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has taken further steps toward finalizing a possible bid for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat that will be open in the 2022 election. While he has not formally announced his bid for the seat, Fetterman, 51, filed a statement of candidacy this week with the Federal Election...
Resistance to coup grows despite Myanmar’s block of Facebook
YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s new military government blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Monday’s coup surged amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected government and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Facebook is how most people access the internet in Myanmar and the company...
Voting company sues Fox, Giuliani over election fraud claims
MIAMI — A voting technology company is suing Fox News, three of its hosts and two former lawyers for former President Donald Trump — Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — for $2.7 billion, charging that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped “steal” the U.S. presidential...
