Biden signs immigration orders as Congress awaits moreVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a second spate of orders to undo his predecessor’s immigration policies, demonstrating the powers of the White House and its limitations without support from Congress. His orders on family separation, border security and legal immigration bring to nine the number of executive...
West Virginia sees 16% bump in vaccine doses from federal government
CHARLESTON — West Virginia officials said President Joe Biden is making good on his pledge to increase vaccine supplies, with a 16% bump in first doses received by the Mountain State this week. The state leads the nation in the percentage of people vaccinated so far, and has clamored for...
Another path to justice for survivors of clergy sex abuse faces uphill battle in Pa. legislature
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 — When Republican state Rep. Jim Gregory learned Monday from Gov. Tom Wolf that an administrative error will delay a...
Biden, Yellen say GOP covid relief too small, Democrats push onVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden panned a Republican alternative to his $1.9 trillion covid rescue plan as insufficient Tuesday 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...
Pentagon chief purges defense boards; Trump loyalists out
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered hundreds of Pentagon advisory board members to resign this month as part of a broad review of the panels, essentially purging several dozen last-minute appointments under the Trump administration. During the last two months of his tenure, former acting Defense Secretary Christopher...
Vaccinations resume as not-quite-historic snowstorm fadesVideo
BOSTON — Coronavirus vaccination sites across the Northeast ramped back up Tuesday after a two-day snowstorm that also shut down public transport, closed schools and stranded travelers with canceled flights. Some officials said that since vaccine supplies were thin to begin with, they didn’t anticipate having big problems getting caught...
Alejandro Mayorkas becomes first Latino, immigrant to lead Department of Homeland Security
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday as President Joe Biden’s homeland security secretary, the first Latino to fill a post that will have a central role in the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, a sweeping Russia-linked cyber hack and domestic extremism. Mayorkas was confirmed by a...
Boy, 11, told cops who killed his mom, sister before he died
MINNEAPOLIS — An 11-year-old Minnesota boy who had been shot five times was able to tell officers before he died that his mother’s boyfriend shot him and killed his mother and sister, according to criminal charges filed Tuesday. Tekeith Jones, 26, was charged with three counts of second-degree intentional murder...
National Alliance on Mental Illness will host youth-focused virtual conference Friday
As Christine Michaels, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Keystone Pennsylvania chapter, prepares for the group’s first virtual conference on Friday, she can’t help but think of her own family. This year’s conference, “Closing the Gap: Prioritizing the Needs of Traumatized Youth,” will focus on the impact that...
Gov. Wolf seeks income tax hike to pay for big increase in school funding
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf will propose a sweeping new plan to dramatically boost funding for public schools, to be supported by an increase in the state’s personal income tax rate that also expands exemptions for lower-wage earners, administration officials said Tuesday. Wolf’s administration began releasing details of the plan...
Pa. covid hospitalizations increase slightly for 1st time in 2 weeks
After about two weeks of decreasing covid hospitalizations in the state, the streak ended with Tuesday’s numbers. Albeit slight, covid hospitalizations increased to 3,821 on Tuesday in Pennsylvania, after dropping for 12 consecutive days. Prior to this stretch, covid hospitalizations last increased on Jan. 20 when the total went up...
Biden moves to provide covid vaccine to pharmacies
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will begin providing covid-19 vaccines to U.S. pharmacies, part of its plan to ramp up vaccinations as new and potentially more serious virus strains are starting to appear. A White House announcement was expected Tuesday, a person familiar with the plan told The Associated Press....
Oklahoma man jailed for shooting deaths of 5 kids, brotherVideo
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A 25-year-old Oklahoma man remained in custody Wednesday on first-degree murder complaints for the killings of his brother and five young children, police said. Police in Muskogee said they don’t yet know why Jarron Deajon Pridgeon fatally shot Javarion Lee, 24, or the children, the oldest of...
Study: Russia’s Sputnik V virus vaccine appears safe
MOSCOW — Russian scientists say the Sputnik V vaccine appears safe and effective against the coronavirus. That’s according to early results of an advanced study published in The Lancet medical journal. The news is a boost for the shot that is increasingly being purchased by countries around the world who...
Pennsylvania declares emergency for snow removal
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has declared a disaster emergency as that state’s residents begin digging out from the storm. Wolf’s proclamation frees up millions of dollars for snow removal and other expenses associated with the massive, slow-moving storm, which dumped feet of snow on swaths of eastern Pennsylvania....
2 FBI agents fatally shot, 3 wounded while serving warrant in FloridaVideo
SUNRISE, Fla. — Two agents were shot and killed and three wounded while serving a warrant at a Sunrise home Tuesday morning, the FBI confirmed. After barricading himself in the home for several hours, the suspected gunman is believed to have shot and killed himself, one law-enforcement source said. Sunrise...
House Dems make case for conviction; Trump denies charges
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump endangered the lives of all members of Congress when he aimed a mob of supporters “like a loaded cannon” at the U.S. Capitol, House Democrats said Tuesday in making their most detailed case yet for why the former president should be convicted and permanently barred from...
Explainer: Why did the military stage a coup in Myanmar?Video
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A coup in Myanmar has left the military in control under a one-year state of emergency, while the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior politicians have been detained. Here’s a look at what could be behind the military’s actions. Why now? Monday...
Police: 6 killed at Oklahoma home, person taken into custody
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Six people were killed early Tuesday in Oklahoma, including five children, and a person with a gun was taken into custody, police said. Officers responded about 1:30 a.m. to a call of multiple people shot at a home in Muskogee, about 45 miles southeast of Tulsa, police...
Iran: Sailors from seized South Korean tanker to be released
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s foreign ministry said Tuesday the sailors from a South Korean tanker seized in the Persian Gulf by Iranian troops last month are free to leave the country, state TV reported. Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said a legal investigation into the tanker and its captain would continue....
Moscow court orders Kremlin foe Navalny to prison
MOSCOW — A Moscow court on Tuesday ordered Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to prison on charges that he violated the terms of his probation while he was recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning. Navalny, who is the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, had earlier denounced the proceedings...
Johnstown Rotarian will hike the Appalachian Trail to help fight polioVideo
When Owen Standley set out to lose a little weight, walking 2,200 miles along the Appalachian Trail was not the plan. But when Standley, 34, of Ferndale, Cambria County, joined his wife in a diet and exercise plan, it included a journaling assignment to list something he thought he could...
Punxsutawney Phil says there will be 6 more weeks of winterVideo
PUNXSUTAWNEY — There will be six more weeks of winter, Punxsutawney Phil predicted as he emerged from his burrow on a snowy Tuesday morning to perform his Groundhog Day duties. Members of Phil’s “inner circle” woke up the furry critter at 7:25 a.m. at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to...
Rochester suspends officers who pepper-sprayed 9-year-old girlVideo
The city of Rochester has suspended police officers seen in body-camera videos spraying a chemical “irritant” in the face of a distraught and handcuffed 9-year-old girl, officials announced Monday. The city did not specify how many officers were suspended. The suspensions will last at least until an internal police investigation...
GOP’s McConnell blasts ‘loony lies’ by Ga. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
WASHINGTON — Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell denounced newly elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday, calling the far-right Georgia Republican’s embrace of conspiracy theories and “loony lies” a “cancer for the Republican Party.” “Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings...
