House Republicans block $2,000 virus checks despite Trump demand
WASHINGTON — House Republicans shot down a Democratic bid on Thursday to pass President Donald Trump’s longshot, end-of-session demand for $2,000 direct payments to most Americans before signing a long-overdue covid-19 relief bill. The made-for-TV clash came as the Democratic-controlled chamber convened for a pro forma session scheduled in anticipation...
U.K., EU reach post-Brexit trade deal
BRUSSELS — Britain and the European Union have struck a provisional free-trade agreement that should avert New Year’s chaos for cross-border commerce and bring a measure of certainty to businesses after years of Brexit turmoil. The breakthrough came Thursday with just over a week to go until the U.K.’s split...
Santa’s ride has begun: Here’s how to track the jolly elf online
The Ride has begun. It’s officially Christmas Day — somewhere — and Santa has begun making his annual rounds. The jolly old elf can be tracked online, as he has for years now, via NORAD and Google’s Santa Tracker. NORAD’s tracker — aka the North American Aerospace Defense Command —...
‘Historic milestone’: 1 million Americans have received a covid vaccine, CDC saysVideo
More than 1 million Americans have received their first doses of a covid-19 shot across the country since federal officials authorized two vaccines for emergency use, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. CDC Director Robert Redfield called it an “early but important milestone” in a media statement. “With...
A child so sick his parents feared the worst, now they urge changeVideo
MONTPELIER, Idaho — Kale Wuthrich watched doctors surround his son in the emergency room, giving him fluids though IV tubes, running a battery of tests and trying to stabilize him. He was enveloped by the confusion and fear that had been building since his 12-year-old suddenly fell ill weeks after...
Trump pardons former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Roger Stone
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued pardons and sentence commutations for 29 people, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, in the latest burst of clemency in his final weeks at the White House. The actions bring to nearly 50 the...
Winter storm in Dakotas, Minnesota make travel frightfulVideo
FARGO, N.D. — A storm that began with snow, strong winds and bitter cold into the eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota early Wednesday was making travel treacherous and grounded flights on one of the most anticipated air travel days since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Blizzard warnings were posted...
Studies find having covid-19 may protect against reinfection
Two new studies give encouraging evidence that having covid-19 may offer some protection against future infections. Researchers found that people who made antibodies to the coronavirus were much less likely to test positive again for up to six months and maybe longer. The results bode well for vaccines, which provoke...
Erie man wounded in deadly gun range shooting now out of hospital
ERIE — A man shot and wounded by his friend in an apparently unprovoked attack at a western Pennsylvania gun range has been released from a hospital, authorities said. It’s still not known what sparked the shooting, which began around 2 p.m. Tuesday while Robert A. Eppley, 26, of North...
British model, fashion muse Stella Tennant dies at 50
LONDON — Stella Tennant, the aristocratic British model who was a muse to designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace, died suddenly at the age of 50, her family said Wednesday. Tennant, the granddaughter of a duke, rose to fame in the 1990s while walking the runway for Versace,...
Baltimore building explosion injures 23, traps workersVideo
BALTIMORE — An explosion in a high-rise building in Baltimore injured 23 people Wednesday and temporarily trapped a window washing crew on dangling scaffolding. Twenty-one of the victims were brought to area hospitals following the explosion, which caused a partial roof collapse. The city’s fire department tweeted that at least...
Video released in Ohio police shooting of Black man holding phone
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Body camera footage released Wednesday shows Andre Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, emerging from a garage and holding up a cellphone in his left hand seconds before he is fatally shot by a Columbus police officer. About six seconds pass between the time Hill is visible in...
Covid relief bill morphs into a test of GOP loyalty to Trump
Threatening to tank Congress’ massive covid relief and government funding package, President Donald Trump’s demand for bigger aid checks for Americans confronts Republicans traditionally leery of such spending with an uncomfortable test of allegiance. On Thursday, House Democrats who also favor $2,000 checks will all but dare Republicans to break...
Trump vetoes defense bill, setting up possible override voteVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the annual defense policy bill, following through on threats to veto a measure that has broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency. The bill affirms 3% pay raises for U.S. troops and authorizes...
As he seeks to overturn Pa.’s election, Trump invites state’s GOP senators to White House lunch
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 — As he seeks to overturn Pennsylvania’s election results in the courts, President Donald Trump invited Republican members of the...
Trump’s threat plunges covid talks – and GOP – into tumult
The video message that plunged Washington into chaos was filmed in secret. President Donald Trump stood in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room, holiday garland and gleaming ornaments draped on the fireplace behind him, and spoke into the camera not to deliver warm Christmas wishes, but to threaten to detonate...
Federal covid relief bill includes ‘Save Our Stages’ funding for independent music venues, promotersVideo
Independent music venue owners across the U.S. got their first good news in quite some time on Monday with the announcement the
$900 billion federal covid-19 relief bill will include $15 billion as part of the Save Our Stages Act. If it is signed by President Trump — a move...
Woman charged in threats against Michigan election official
DETROIT — A woman angry with a Detroit-area election official sent photos of a dead body and threatened her family, a day after a clamorous meeting at which Republican board members initially refused to certify local results in favor of Joe Biden, authorities said Wednesday. Katelyn Jones, 23, was charged...
‘Mom’s worth it’: U.S. holiday travel surges despite outbreak
TAMPA, Fla. — Some are elderly and figure they don’t have many Christmases left. Others are trying to keep long-distance romance alive. Some just yearn for the human connection that’s been absent for the past nine months. Millions of Americans are traveling ahead of Christmas and New Year’s, despite pleas...
Pennsylvania reports 9,605 new coronavirus cases, 230 deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Wednesday reported 9,605 new coronavirus cases and 230 deaths in the state. The new positive tests bring the state’s total to 581,156 and the newly added deaths raise the state’s total to 14,442. Pennsylvania’s seven-day average of new cases dropped to 8,827 after hitting...
UPS driver in Connecticut dies after assault; police seek co-worker
WATERTOWN, Conn. — A UPS truck driver died after an assault in Connecticut, and authorities were searching Wednesday for a suspect identified as his co-worker. The victim and the suspect apparently were riding in the same vehicle before the assault Tuesday evening but the motive is unknown, Connecticut State Police...
NYC health care worker had ‘significant allergic reaction’ to covid vaccine
NEW YORK — A New York City health care worker experienced a “significant allergic reaction” after receiving a covid-19 vaccine, the city Health Department revealed Wednesday morning. More than 30,000 people in the city have gotten the shot since it was first administered to a Queens ICU nurse last week,...
Violent crash in New York City suburb splits vehicle in half, kills 5 in both carsVideo
YONKERS, N.Y. — A car speeding away from police Tuesday night in suburban New York City barreled into another car, splitting that vehicle in half and killing five people, officials said. The 36-year-old driver of the speeding car and four 18-year-old men, who were ejected from the other vehicle, died...
Trump’s presidential legacy, by the numbers
Words matter. But numbers tell stories, too. Presidential historians and others will plumb them as they assess President Donald Trump’s legacy, Trump’s presidency is reflected in a broad range of numbers representing everything from the U.S. death toll during the coronavirus pandemic to the miles of his “big, beautiful wall”...
Trump EPA overhaul of lead pipe regulations allows toxic plumbing to stay in the ground in Chicago, other cities
Chicago has more lead water pipes than any other American city, yet federal regulations unveiled this week by the Trump administration likely won’t require anything new to prevent homeowners and renters from ingesting the brain-damaging metal. Physicians and scientists say that unless water drawn from household faucets is properly filtered,...
