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...
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...
