Congress honors Officer Brian Sicknick’s heroic defense of the CapitolVideo
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress, top military brass, President Joe Biden and hundreds of Capitol Police officers paid their respects to officer Brian Sicknick, who suffered fatal injuries when defending the Capitol from the violent insurrection on Jan. 6. A wooden box with Sicknick’s remains was carried up the illuminated...
Bradford County DA accused of sex assaults on clients while he was defense lawyer
A Pennsylvania county prosecutor was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting women who were his clients in criminal and child custody cases when he worked as a defense attorney. Bradford County District Attorney Chad Michael Salsman was charged with three counts of sexual assault, five counts of indecent assault, witness intimidation,...
Study finds AstraZeneca’s covid-19 vaccine may reduce virus transmissionVideo
AstraZeneca’s covid-19 vaccine does more than prevent people from falling seriously ill — it appears to reduce transmission of the virus and offers strong protection for three months on just a single dose, researchers said Wednesday in an encouraging turn in the campaign to suppress the outbreak. The preliminary findings...
Senate leaders reach power-sharing deal in 50-50 chamber
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’s reached a two-year power sharing deal with GOP leader Mitch McConnell formally giving Democrats committee chairmanships and setting other ground rules, allowing the chamber to begin fully functioning after weeks of procedural limbo. The agreement announced Wednesday is based on a...
Canada designates the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity
TORONTO — The Canadian government designated the Proud Boys group as a terrorist entity on Wednesday, noting they played a pivotal role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The Proud Boys have faced increased scrutiny after seizing on the former Trump administration’s policies and was a...
Sewickley centenarian, 1st female township supervisor helped push women’s rights
Sixty years ago, before the push for women’s rights gained widespread support, Mary Belak Zakutney of Herminie sought the same pay for the same job as a man in her rural community. Mrs. Zakutney was secretary-treasurer for Sewickley Township for almost 17 years, from the early 1940s to 1957, working...
Wolf asks for tax increase on Pa.’s top earners amid pandemic; GOP pans proposal as ‘irresponsible’
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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 — In one of his boldest budget proposals since taking office, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is asking the legislature to...
Covid hospitalizations continue to drop in Pennsylvania
Covid hospitalizations in Pennsylvania are on a downward trend, decreasing more than 500 in a week. Data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health shows the number of coronavirus patients dropped 544 from 3,768 a week ago to 3,224 Wednesday. The number also shrunk by 57 from Tuesday’s 3,281. There are...
Supreme Court sides with Germany in Nazi-era art dispute
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday in a multimillion-dollar dispute over a collection of religious artworks will make it harder for some lawsuits to be tried in U.S. courts over claims that property was taken from Jews during the Nazi era. The justices sided with Germany in a dispute...
Justice Department drops its Yale discrimination lawsuit
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Wednesday dropped its discrimination lawsuit against Yale University that had alleged the university was illegally discriminating against Asian American and white applicants. The Justice Department noted in its filing that it was voluntarily dismissing the action, filed in October under the Trump administration. A...
U.S. extends sole remaining nuclear arms treaty with Russia
The United States joined Russia on Wednesday in extending the two countries’ last remaining treaty limiting their stockpiles of nuclear weapons, two days before the pact was set to expire. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the U.S. would use the five years of the New START...
Here’s how Pa. ranks in vaccination rollout nationwide
If it feels like the coronavirus vaccine rollout in Pennsylvania is among the worst in the country, you’re not wrong. According to data compiled by the Associated Press, Pennsylvania is tied for 39th among the 50 states in terms of the percentage of the population that has received at least...
Education nominee vows to tackle problems worsened by virus
President Joe Biden’s nominee for education secretary is promising to help reopen schools but says much of the hardest work will come after that as schools try to address long-standing disparities worsened by the pandemic. “These inequities will endure, and prevent the potential of this great country, unless tackled head-on,”...
Wolf launches a budget fraught with deficits, uncertainty
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf will ask lawmakers Wednesday to raise income taxes on higher earners and give public schools a massive boost in aid, even as he faces a gaping deficit and uncertainty over how much more pandemic relief the federal government will send. Because of the coronavirus pandemic,...
Biden, Treasury Secretary Yellen say GOP virus aid too small
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden panned a Republican alternative to his $1.9 trillion covid rescue plan as insufficient as Senate Democrats pushed ahead, voting to launch a process that could approve his sweeping rescue package on their own, if Republicans refuse to support it. Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen...
Fauci: Don’t let Super Bowl parties become super spreaders
WASHINGTON — The nation’s top infectious disease expert doesn’t want the Super Bowl to turn into a super spreader. Dr. Anthony Fauci, says when it comes to Super Bowl parties during the pandemic, people should “just lay low and cool it.” He said during TV interviews Wednesday that now isn’t...
Man shot while shoveling snow in Philadelphia
A man was shot while shoveling snow from a sidewalk in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. The incident occurred around 6 p.m. outside of a laundromat on the 400 block of West Allegheny Avenue in the city’s West Kensington section, Action News 6 ABC is reporting. According to reports, the 23-year-old...
China not convinced by Canada’s Wu-Tang Clan explanation
BEIJING — A ruckus brought by China over Canadian T-shirts bearing an altered logo of the New York hip-hop group Wu-Tang clan continued Wednesday, with China’s Foreign Ministry saying it didn’t buy Canada’s explanation that the shirts were not an insult linked to the coronavirus. Canada’s Foreign Ministry said this...
Pa. bowling alley roof collapses under heavy snow
A portion of the roof at Hampton Lanes in Northampton Borough collapsed early Tuesday as a winter storm dumped more than two feet of snow in some areas. Jason Lauchnor of Northampton Borough, general manager of the bowling alley in the 300 block of Main Streeet said he was awakened...
Minority Leader McCarthy meets with Marjorie Taylor Greene; House GOP faces decision point
WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy met with hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as Republicans wrestled over how to handle a bipartisan outcry over her endorsement of outlandish conspiracy theories and of violent, racist views. Aides to McCarthy and Greene offered no immediate comment after the two spent around...
Pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood faces allegations of illegal voting
ATLANTA — Georgia election officials opened an investigation Tuesday into whether L. Lin Wood, a prominent attorney who has promoted conspiracy theories about the presidential election, voted illegally in November. The secretary of state’s office confirmed the investigation after WSB-TV first reported that Wood had moved to South Carolina. Wood...
Capitol Police officer who died after riot lies in honorVideo
WASHINGTON — Slain Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick lay in honor Tuesday night in the U.S. Capitol, allowing his colleagues and the lawmakers he protected to pay their respects and to remember the violent attack on Congress that took his life. Sicknick died after defending the Capitol on Jan. 6...
Newsmax anchor bails from interview when MyPillow CEO won’t drop election fraud claimsVideo
A Newsmax anchor walked off the set Tuesday when an interview with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell went off the rails. Lindell, a vocal and financial Donald Trump supporter, refused to answer questions yet continued to spout claims of conspiracy theories and voting fraud from the 2020 election. The far-right channel’s...
DA directs case closed in snow-related murder-suicide
The triple shooting in Plains Township motivated by a dispute about snow removal will be officially ruled a murder-suicide, according to the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office. Authorities said Jeffrey Spaide, 47, shot and killed his neighbors, James Goy, 50, and his wife Lisa Goy, 48, on Monday morning as...
SpaceX’s 2nd Starship test flight ends with another kaboomVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX’s second full test flight of its futuristic, bullet-shaped Starship ended in another fiery crash landing Tuesday. Elon Musk’s company launched its latest Starship prototype from the southeastern tip of Texas, two months after the previous test ended in an equally explosive belly flop. The full-scale...
