Russia ready for quick extension of last arms pact with U.S.
MOSCOW — Moscow is ready for a quick deal with the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to extend the last remaining arms control pact, which expires in just over two weeks, Russia’s top diplomat said Monday. Months of talks between Russia and President Donald Trump’s administration on the...
Navalny’s arrest adds to tension between Russia and the West
MOSCOW — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s arrest as he arrived in Moscow after recovering from his poisoning with a nerve agent drew criticism from Western nations and calls for his release, with Germany’s foreign minister on Monday calling it “incomprehensible.” Navalny was detained at passport control at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo...
Winter weather hits parts of Europe, from Poland to Turkey
WARSAW, Poland — Extreme cold has hit large parts of Europe, with freezing temperatures cracking railroad tracks in Poland, snow blanketing the Turkish city of Istanbul and smog spiking as coal was being burned to generate heat. Temperatures dropped to minus minus 18 Fahrenheit in some Polish areas overnight, the...
Dog and goat serving as mayor raise money for a playground
FAIR HAVEN, Vt. — A goat and a dog who were each elected mayor have helped raise money to renovate a Vermont community playground. The oddball idea of pet mayor elections to raise money to rehabilitate the playground and to help get local kids civically involved came from a local...
FBI vetting Guard troops in D.C. amid fears of insider attack
WASHINGTON — U.S. defense officials say they are worried about an insider attack or other threat from service members involved in securing President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, prompting the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming into Washington for the event. The massive undertaking reflects the extraordinary...
Twitter suspends Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over election fraud claims
Twitter on Sunday temporarily suspended the account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia who has expressed racist views and support for QAnon conspiracy theories online. Greene’s account was suspended “without explanation,” she said in a statement, while also condemning big tech companies for “silencing” conservative...
Cowboys for Trump leader arrested over U.S. Capitol riotVideo
SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico county official and founder of the group Cowboys for Trump who had vowed to return to Washington after last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol to place a flag on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk has been arrested Sunday by the FBI. Otero...
Another Tennessee man charged with breaching U.S. Capitol
NASHVILLE — A Tennessee man was charged Sunday with participating in the raid at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, federal authorities said. Blake Austin Reed, 35, of Nashville, was arrested by FBI agents in Nashville, said David W. Boling, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Middle...
Trump must be cut off from intelligence briefings, Rep. Adam Schiff saysVideo
Regardless of the outcome of his impeachment trial, President Donald Trump should immediately be cut off from intelligence briefings, said the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. “There’s no circumstance in which this president should get another intelligence briefing,” Rep. Adam Schiff said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”...
Protests start small at newly fortified U.S. statehousesVideo
Small groups of right-wing protesters — some of them carrying rifles — gathered outside newly fortified statehouses around the country Sunday as National Guard troops and police kept watch to prevent a repeat of the violence that erupted at the U.S. Capitol. There were no immediate reports of any clashes....
‘Little old West Virginia’ sets pace on vaccine rolloutVideo
KENOVA, W.Va. — Griffith & Feil Drug has been in business since 1892, a family-owned, small-town pharmacy. This isn’t their first pandemic. More than a century after helping West Virginians confront the Spanish flu in 1918, the drugstore in Kenova, a community of about 3,000 people, is helping the state...
Records: Trump allies behind rally that ignited Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — Members of President Donald Trump’s failed presidential campaign played key roles in orchestrating the Washington rally that spawned a deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol, according to an Associated Press review of records, undercutting claims the event was the brainchild of the president’s grassroots supporters. A pro-Trump nonprofit...
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny detained after landing in Moscow
MOSCOW — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested Sunday at a Moscow airport as he tried to enter the country from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from nerve agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Navalny’s detention at passport control in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport was...
Pa. State Police resume tracking racial data during traffic stops in response to Spotlight PA report
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 — The Pennsylvania State Police announced Tuesday that it had resumed collecting racial data during traffic stops, nine years after...
Redistricting will be definitive political fight of 2021 in Pennsylvania
This article is part of a year-long reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It’s made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members, including TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — With partisanship in the Pennsylvania legislature at peak...
Pa. state Sen. Dave Arnold dies from brain cancer at age 49
Pennsylvania Sen. Dave Arnold died Sunday at home with his wife and daughter by his side, ending a 15-month battle with brain cancer. Arnold was 49 years old. He took the oath of office last January to represent the 48th senatorial district, which covers all of Lebanon County and parts...
Protests start small, peacefully at fortified U.S. statehouses
Police and National Guard troops stood sentry at newly fortified statehouses Sunday ahead of demonstrations planned for the leadup to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, as authorities worked to deter a repeat of the recent riot that overran the U.S. Capitol. A few protesters were starting to gather in some cities,...
Powerball jackpot grows to $730M; Mega Millions to be $850M
DES MOINES, Iowa — Lottery players have another chance to win big next week since there were no winners of the top prize for both the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots in their most recent drawings. The Powerball jackpot grew to an estimated $730 million after no one matched all...
More backlash for GOP’s Josh Hawley as Loews Hotel cancels event
ORLANDO, Fla. — Loews Hotels said Saturday it has canceled an upcoming fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, the latest fallout for the Republican lawmaker after the U.S. Capitol uprising. The Republican senator from Missouri helped staged an Electoral College challenge the day President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S....
Biden outlines ‘Day One’ agenda of executive actions
WASHINGTON — In his first hours as president, Joe Biden plans to take executive action to roll back some of the most controversial decisions of his predecessor and to address the raging coronavirus pandemic, his incoming chief of staff said Saturday. The opening salvo would herald a 10-day blitz of...
Man arrested with handgun, ammo at Washington checkpoint
Police have arrested a man with a handgun and 500 rounds of ammunition at a checkpoint in Washington set up ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Wesley Allen Beeler of Front Royal, Virginia, was charged with carrying a pistol without a license after being stopped at the checkpoint near the...
National Guard troops pour into Washington as states answer the call
WASHINGTON — By the busload and planeload, National Guard troops were pouring into the nation’s capital on Saturday, as governors answered the urgent pleas of U.S. defense officials for more troops to help safeguard Washington even as they keep anxious eyes on possible violent protests in their own states. Military...
Trump trial pending, McConnell calls it ‘vote of conscience’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is likely to start after Joe Biden’s inauguration, and the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, is telling senators their decision on whether to convict the outgoing president over the Capitol riot will be a “vote of conscience.” The timing for the trial, the first...
Biden: Science will be at `forefront’ of his administration
President-elect Joe Biden says “science will always be at the forefront of my administration,” and he is elevating the post of science adviser to Cabinet level, a White House first. Biden, who introduced his team Saturday, said the scientists “will ensure everything we do is grounded in science, facts and...
Pennsylvania reports 7,166 coronavirus cases, 231 deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 7,166 new coronavirus cases, as hospitalizations and case counts are trending down in the Keystone State. The new data bring the total cases to 761,777. That’s a jump of nearly 48,500 cases from this time last week. The week before, the weekly increase was 56,000. Officials...
