With virus aid in sight, Democrats debate filibuster changes
WASHINGTON — With President Joe Biden on the verge of his first big legislative victory, a key moderate Democrat says he’s open to changing Senate rules that could allow for more party-line votes to push through other parts of the White House’s agenda such as voting rights. West Virginia Sen....
Coroner: Pa. worker killed in fall into lead refining furnace
LYONS — Authorities say a Pennsylvania worker died after falling into a lead refining furnace at an eastern Pennsylvania plant over the weekend. The Berks County coroner’s office said Monday that 30-year-old John Evanoff fell into a refining kettle portion of the furnace shortly before 11:30 p.m. Saturday in East...
More than 100,000 have now died of covid-19 in Italy
MILAN — Italy surpassed 100,000 dead in the pandemic, a year after it became the first country in Europe to go on lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of covid-19. The Italian Health Ministry on Monday said 318 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the...
Georgia Senate passes bill to nix no-excuse absentee voting
ATLANTA — Georgia’s state Senate narrowly passed a Republican-backed bill that would end no-excuse absentee voting Monday, the deadline that bills must generally pass out of one chamber to remain alive for the session. Senate Bill 241 would limit absentee voting to people 65 and older, those with a physical...
Trump policy that weakened wild bird protections is revoked
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Biden administration on Monday reversed a policy imposed under former President Donald Trump that drastically weakened the government’s power to enforce a century-old law that protects most U.S. bird species. Trump ended criminal prosecutions against companies responsible for bird deaths that could have been prevented. The...
4 big Pennsylvania counties unhappy over vaccine share
HARRISBURG — Four of Pennsylvania’s seven most-heavily populated counties are airing their unhappiness over the size of their allotment of coronavirus vaccines, saying Monday that a meeting with Gov. Tom Wolf’s top health official did not resolve their concerns. Leaders of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties — home to...
Jury selection on pause for ex-cop charged in George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — The judge overseeing the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer accused in the death of George Floyd on Monday paused jury selection for at least a day while an appeal proceeds over the possible reinstatement of a third-degree murder charge. As hundreds of protesters gathered outside the...
Fully vaccinated people can gather without masks, CDC says
NEW YORK — Fully vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials. The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can come together in the same way with people considered at low-risk for severe disease,...
U.K. royals absorb shock of revealing Harry, Meghan interview
LONDON — Britain and its royal family absorbed the tremors Monday from a sensational television interview by Prince Harry and Meghan, in which the couple said they encountered racist attitudes and a lack of support that drove the duchess to thoughts of suicide. In a two-hour soul-baring interview with Oprah...
Bartos declares candidacy for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Jeff Bartos is formally launching his campaign for Pennsylvania’s wide-open U.S. Senate race, the highest-profile Republican candidate so far to declare for the seat. Bartos, the Republican Party’s nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018, has said he was seriously considering a run and filed paperwork to run last...
Biden order could change how colleges handle sex misconduct
WASHINGTON — In a first step toward reversing a contentious Trump administration policy, President Joe Biden on Monday ordered his administration to review federal rules guiding colleges in their handling of campus sexual assaults. In an executive order, Biden directed the Education Department to examine rules that the Trump administration...
Authorities to seek charges after violent Boulder partyVideo
Authorities promised Sunday to pursue criminal charges after a massive party near the University of Colorado in Boulder devolved into a violent confrontation with police that left three officers injured. Hundreds of people flooded the streets in an area known as the Hill on Saturday night and when told to...
Meghan describes anguish about hurtful discussions about sonVideo
LOS ANGELES — Meghan told Oprah Winfrey that she experienced suicidal thoughts over how she was being treated after marrying Harry, and the anguish she had over discussions about her son that ranged from questions about his skin color to the decision that he would not get a prince title....
Carla Wallenda, member of famed high-wire act, dies at 85
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Carla Wallenda, a member of “The Flying Wallendas” high-wire act and the last surviving child of the famed troupe’s founder, has died at the age of 85. Her son, Rick Wallenda, said on social media she died Saturday in Sarasota, Fla., of natural causes. She was...
3 killed in Lehigh County crash were DeSales students, university says
CENTER VALLEY — A vehicle left the road and slammed into a tree in eastern Pennsylvania, killing three people and injuring one other person, authorities said. The Lehigh County coroner’s office said the crash occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m. Saturday in Upper Saucon Township. The coroner’s office said two males...
At least 20 dead, 600 wounded in Equatorial Guinea blasts
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — A series of explosions at a military barracks in Equatorial Guinea killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 600 others on Sunday, authorities said. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said the explosion at 4 p.m. local time was due to the “negligent handling of dynamite”...
Swiss narrowly back proposal to ban face coverings in publicVideo
Swiss voters narrowly approved on Sunday a proposal to ban face coverings, both the niqabs and burqas worn by a few Muslim women in the country and the ski masks and bandannas used by protesters. The measure will outlaw covering one’s face in public places such as restaurants, sports stadiums,...
GOP pushes bills to allow social media ‘censorship’ lawsuits
Republican state lawmakers are pushing for social media giants to face costly lawsuits for policing content on their websites, taking aim at a federal law that prevents internet companies from being sued for removing posts. GOP politicians in roughly two dozen states have introduced bills that would allow for civil...
Rosedale Tech to host weekly ‘Women in the Trades’ events throughout March
Greensburg native Melody Carranza found herself frustrated after opting for a career in the medical field. “Once I realized that wasn’t for me, I started looking at other options,” Carranza said. Similarly, Raelee Nicholson of Charleroi was “in the process of following a traditional four-year path with offers to multiple...
Vaccine site overrun after false rumors said all could come
FLORIDA CITY, Fla. — A Florida vaccination site had so few eligible takers Saturday that is started inoculating any adult who wanted a shot rather than let the vaccine on hand go to waste. Word spread and on Sunday the Florida City site was overwhelmed, particularly after local state Sen....
Calls grow for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to quit from top New York lawmakers
ALBANY, N.Y. — The two top Democrats in New York’s legislature withdrew their support for Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday amid mounting allegations of sexual harassment and undercounting covid-19 deaths in nursing homes. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins became the first senior Democrat in the state to say the three-term...
George Floyd’s cause of death, ex-cop’s force will be keys at trial
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis police officer was swiftly fired and charged with murder after bystander video showed him pressing his knee into George Floyd’s neck, ignoring the Black man’s cries that he couldn’t breathe. But even with that powerful footage, legal experts say the case isn’t a slam dunk. Jury...
Workers worry about safety, stress as states ease mask rules
JACKSON, Mississippi — Leo Carney worries that bigger crowds and mask-less diners could endanger workers at the Biloxi, Mississippi, seafood restaurant where he manages the kitchen. Maribel Cornejo, who earns $9.85 an hour as a McDonald’s cook in Houston, can’t afford to get sick and frets co-workers will become more...
U.S. states look to step up wolf kills, pushed by Republicans
BILLINGS, Mont. — Payments for dead wolves. Unlimited hunting of the animals. Shooting wolves from the air. Wolf hunting policies in some states are taking an aggressive turn, as Republican lawmakers and conservative hunting groups push to curb their numbers and propose tactics shunned by many wildlife managers. In Montana,...
Where Islamic State once ruled, pope calls on Christians to forgive, rebuild
QARAQOSH, Iraq — Pope Francis urged Iraq’s Christians on Sunday to forgive the injustices committed against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild as he visited the wrecked shells of churches and met ecstatic crowds in the community’s historic heartland, which was nearly erased by the Islamic State group’s horrific...
