U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to leave health care law in place
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to leave in place the bulk of the Affordable Care Act, including key protections for pre-existing health conditions and subsidized insurance premiums that affect tens of millions of Americans. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, among the conservative justices, appeared...
U.S.: WHO not sharing enough info about China virus probe
GENEVA — A senior U.S. government official complained Tuesday that the World Health Organization has not shared enough information about its planned mission to China to investigate the animal origins of the coronavirus. On Tuesday, Garrett Grisby of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services griped that the criteria...
Oklahoma state senator charged with manslaughter in crash
CHANDLER, Okla. — An Oklahoma state senator from Tulsa was charged with first-degree manslaughter after authorities say she was speeding and driving recklessly when her vehicle skidded off a rain-slickened road and crashed into a man’s disabled vehicle, killing him. Democratic Sen. Alison Ikley-Freeman, 29, who was seriously injured in...
Man accused in Toronto van attack pleads not guilty
TORONTO — A man who allegedly used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto pleaded not guilty guilty Tuesday and his lawyer said he will argue he is not criminally responsible because of his state of mind at the time. Alek Minassian faces 10 counts of first-degree murder and...
Pennsylvania breaks record again for most new covid-19 cases
Pennsylvania broke a record again for most new reported covid-19 cases Tuesday with 4,361 cases. The new case record was previously 4,035 cases set by Saturday’s figures. Prior to November, daily case numbers in the state had never reached 3,000 new cases. So far this month, there have been two...
Allegheny College will require all employees to take a 2-week furlough
MEADVILLE — Allegheny College employees will be furloughed for two weeks to help ease the financial strains of the covid-19 pandemic. The college, like colleges and universities nationwide, has had revenues drop and expenses rise during the pandemic. Schools have compressed academic semesters, reduced housing costs for students living on...
EU to buy up to 300 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
BRUSSELS — The European Commission will sign a deal to secure up to 300 million doses of the experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU’s executive arm, said the commission will authorize the deal on Wednesday after “working tirelessly to...
Trump’s name spotted in Johnson’s Biden congratulations
LONDON — Keen-eyed political observers on Tuesday noticed an unusual feature in a tweet from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulating U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory: the ghost of an alternative message congratulating Donald Trump. The words “Trump” and “second term” could be seen faintly in the...
GOP unveils $1.4T spending bill amid post-election turmoil
WASHINGTON — Republicans controlling the Senate unveiled a government-wide, $1.4 trillion spending bill Tuesday, a mostly bipartisan measure that faces uncertain odds during this period of post-election tumult in Washington. The GOP-drafted measure contains funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall and other provisions opposed by Democrats, but top leaders...
Hawaii island group aims to reduce feral rabbit population
HILO, Hawaii — A Hawaii island group has launched an effort to reduce the number of feral rabbits, which the campaigners say are wreaking havoc on yards and burrowing under homes. The Big Island Invasive Species Committee has asked for reports from residents who have seen the wild bunnies, The...
Pa. woman charged in hit-and-run crash with Amish buggy
TITUSVILLE — A Spartansburg woman has been charged for a Sparta Township hit-and-run crash with a horse-drawn Amish buggy that seriously injured a young couple and their two children. Lindsay Nicole Raines, 35, was arraigned Monday morning before Magisterial District Judge Amy Nicols in Titusville on multiple counts including four...
Sheetz offers free meal, car wash on Veterans Day
In honor of those who have served and are currently serving our country, Sheetz wants to pay its respect. On Wednesday — Veterans Day — all Sheetz locations will offer a free meal and car wash to veterans and active duty military personnel. “Sheetz, a family owned and operated restaurant...
Female banded mongooses lead battle for chance to find mates
When families of banded mongooses prepare to fight, they form battle lines. Each clan of about 20 animals stands nose to nose, their ears flattened back, as they stare down the enemy. A patch of scrubby savannah separates them, until the first animals run forward. “Then they bunch up into...
Cat at Northeast’s highest peak dies after 12 years on duty
NORTH CONWAY, N.H. — A cat who patrolled the highest peak in the northeast U.S. for a dozen years as its weather observatory’s mascot has died. Marty, a black Maine coon cat, succumbed to “an unforeseen illness,” Mount Washington Summit Operations Manager Rebecca Scholand said in a news release Monday....
EU files antitrust charges against Amazon over use of data
LONDON — European Union regulators filed antitrust charges Tuesday against Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of using its access to data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants using its platform. The EU’s executive Commission, the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, issued the charges after it started looking into the company...
Halted Brazil trials of Chinese-made vaccine cause surprise
SAO PAULO — Brazil’s health regulator has halted clinical trials of the potential coronavirus vaccine CoronaVac, citing an “adverse, serious event.” The decision posted on Anvisa’s website Monday night elicited immediate surprise from parties involved in producing the vaccine. The potential vaccine is being developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac...
Vatican faults many for McCarrick’s rise but spares pope
ROME — A Vatican investigation into ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has found that a series of bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed or dismissed reports that he slept with seminarians, and determined that Pope Francis merely continued his predecessors’ naive handling of the predator until a former altar boy alleged abuse. The...
GOP backs Trump as he fights election results, transition
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration threw the presidential transition into tumult, with President Donald Trump blocking government officials from cooperating with President-elect Joe Biden’s team and Attorney General William Barr authorizing the Justice Department to probe unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud. Some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, rallied...
Biden’s new coronavirus advisers debate mandating masks across the countryVideo
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s first act as president-elect was to urge all Americans to wear masks, announcing Monday the formation of a new coronavirus advisory board that will consider a national mask mandate amid rising cases and deaths. “It doesn’t matter your party, your point of view,” Biden said after...
Agriculture secretary: Pa. industry will need 75,000 skilled jobs in the next decade
Someday, Logan McCabe would like to manage and, eventually, own a farm. The Delaware native was able to get a jump on that goal through an agricultural apprenticeship at Fullers Overlook Farm in northeast Pennsylvania, where he spent two farming seasons training for an industry that state officials say will...
U.S. allows 1st emergency use of a covid-19 antibody drugVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials have allowed emergency use of the first antibody drug to help the immune system fight covid-19, an experimental approach against the virus that has killed more than 238,000 Americans. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday cleared the experimental drug from Eli Lilly for people...
AG William Barr OKs election probes despite little evidence of fraud
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr has authorized federal prosecutors across the U.S. to pursue “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities, if they exist, before the 2020 presidential election is certified, despite no evidence of widespread fraud. Barr’s action comes days after Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump and raises...
Lawsuits’ threat looms as Pennsylvania vote count grinds on
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump’s campaign launched a lawsuit to stop the certification of the election results in Pennsylvania, suing Monday as counties continued to sort through provisional ballots and late-arriving mail-in ballots nearly a week after the election. The Associated Press on Saturday called the presidential contest for former...
Do Trump’s legal challenges have any hope of changing Pa.’s election results? A look at the lawsuits
PHILADELPHIA — Even before Election Day, President Donald Trump had been vowing to swarm Pennsylvania, and its largest city, with lawyers to contest the results in a state that has proven decisive to the outcome of the election. Those threats have only been amplified in the days since the president’s...
Reports: Trump adviser named to oversee campaign legal challenges gets coronavirus
An adviser to President Donald Trump who was named to oversee the campaign’s legal challenges contesting the outcome of last week’s election has tested positive for coronovirus, multiple outlets have reported. Bloomberg News first reported the diagnosis of David Bossie, 55, followed by NBC News and CNN. Bossie, president of...
