Heavy metal guitarist photographed at Capitol riot charged
INDIANAPOLIS — A heavy metal guitarist who was photographed with the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol and is accused of spraying police officers with a pepper-based bear spray irritant has been arrested, the FBI said. Jon Ryan Schaffer turned himself in Sunday after he was featured on an FBI...
Poll: Virus, economy swamp other priorities for U.S.
WASHINGTON — Containing the coronavirus outbreak and repairing the economic damage it has inflicted are the top priorities for Americans as Joe Biden prepares to become the 46th president of the United States, according to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Overall, 53% of...
Panel: China, WHO should have acted quicker to stop pandemic
GENEVA — A panel of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization has criticized China and other countries for not moving to stem the initial outbreak of the coronavirus earlier and questioned whether the U.N. health agency should have labeled it a pandemic sooner. In a report issued to the...
Meghan seeks court ruling over ‘serious breach’ of privacy
LONDON — Lawyers for the Duchess of Sussex asked a British judge on Tuesday to settle her lawsuit against a newspaper before it goes to trial by ruling that its publication of a “deeply personal” letter to her estranged father was “a plain and a serious breach of her rights...
Biden picks Pa.’s Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant health secretaryVideo
President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, as his administration’s assistant secretary of health. The move is being championed by civil rights organizations as it would make her the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Biden, in announcing the...
At least 4 hurt in string of shootings in Poconos area; shelter order issuedVideo
MOUNT POCONO — At least four people were injured Monday in a string of shootings that prompted a shelter-in-place order for some residents north of Mount Pocono, authorities said. Mount Pocono Borough Mayor Michael Penn posted on Facebook that there were four or five crime scenes Monday night and “multiple...
Biden won’t end pandemic travel restrictions
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming White House press secretary says his administration does not intend to lift coronavirus travel restrictions for Europe, the U.K., Ireland and Brazil. The message from Jen Psaki came Monday evening after the White House said President Donald Trump had lifted the restrictions for those...
Trump reportedly set to pardon more than 100 people in his final hours as presidentVideo
With just hours left in office, President Donald Trump is expected to dish out pardons and sentence commutations to a varied group of more than 100 criminals, pardons that could include himself and his family members, according to several reports Monday. Trump, whose term ends at noon Wednesday, spent his...
Texas man threatened to shoot family if they reported him going in U.S. Capitol, FBI saysVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas man arrested over the weekend for going inside of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 told his family he went there “to protect the country” and threatened to shoot his children if they turned him in, authorities say. Guy Reffitt took his gun with...
Sister had respect of peers as she guided Catholic schools in Greensburg diocese
Sister Marguerite Moya Coyne, who served as the superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg from 1998 to 2003, was known for her love of children and education, her friends and co-workers said. “She was a stellar woman and one of the best persons I’ve ever worked with,”...
Proposed National Garden of American Heroes would include Clemente, Carnegie, more
President Donald Trump on Monday issued an amended executive order that added more than 200 people to be honored with statues in the National Garden of American Heroes. And there just might be enough for a Western Pennsylvania section: • 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks, who later served...
Carl Icahn nixes charity bid to blow up ex-Trump casino
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — An auction house trying to raise money for a youth charity by soliciting bids to blow up a former casino once owned by President Donald Trump called off the effort Monday after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from conservative billionaire Carl Icahn. Icahn told The Associated Press...
Chinese city reports coronavirus found on ice cream
BEIJING — The coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in eastern China, prompting a recall of cartons from the same batch, according to the government. The Daqiaodao Food Co., Ltd. in Tianjin, adjacent to Beijing, was sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus, a city government...
Feds: West Virginia woman said U.S. Capitol raid ‘was cool’
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia woman took a “Members Only” sign near the Senate chambers as she accompanied supporters of President Donald Trump in illegally storming the U.S. Capitol, according to federal court documents. Gracyn Dawn Courtright, 23, was charged in a criminal complaint with theft of government property...
Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham to resign amid criticism over data
Facing criticism over efforts to produce citizenship data to comply with an order from President Donald Trump, U.S. Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham said Monday that he planned to resign with the change in presidential administrations. Dillingham said in a statement that he would resign on Wednesday, the day Trump...
Pelosi demands halt to naming GOP operative as NSA top lawyer
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanded that the Defense Department halt plans to install a Republican operative as the top lawyer at the National Security Agency in the closing hours of President Donald Trump’s administration. The appointment of Michael Ellis as NSA general counsel is “highly suspect,” Pelosi told...
Trump leaves the White House as he came in: Isolated and unpredictableVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump exits the White House after four years of tumult much as he arrived, with only a handful of loyalists and family members at his side. In his final days in office, Trump found friends and political allies in short supply following the deadly Jan. 6...
Trump baby protest blimp enters Museum of London collection
The Trump Baby Blimp will live on long after its namesake has left the White House. The Museum of London said Monday that it had added the giant balloon, which depicts Donald Trump as a screaming orange baby, to its collection as an illustration of the protests that greeted the...
Garth Brooks joins lineup of entertainers at Biden inaugural
Add Garth Brooks to the lineup of entertainers at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. “This is a great day in our household,” the country music superstar said during a virtual press conference Monday, two days before Biden is to be sworn in. “This is not a political statement. This...
‘Rooting hard for you’: Will departure notes end with Trump?
Presidential traditions are usually known for their solemnity and carry the weight of future historical significance. This one began with cartoon turkeys and a reference to lunch. As he was preparing to leave the White House in January 1989, President Ronald Reagan wanted to leave a note for his successor,...
Biden, Harris take break from inaugural prep to mark MLK day
Two days from the inauguration, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris pitched in on Martin Luther King Jr. Day service projects as a militarized and jittery Washington prepared for a swearing-in that will play out under extraordinary security. Biden and his wife, Jill, joined an assembly line in...
New covid-19 cases in Pennsylvania continue to slow
New cases of coronavirus appear to be on a downward trajectory in Pennsylvania, with hospitalization numbers following suit. Over the past two days, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Monday, the state saw 10,068 new cases of the virus. When comparing it to last week’s numbers (12,844), that’s a 21.6%...
Coronavirus deaths rising in 30 U.S. states amid winter surge
Coronavirus deaths are rising in nearly two-thirds of American states as a winter surge pushes the overall toll toward 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold. As Americans observed a national holiday Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pleaded with federal authorities to curtail travel...
Guatemala troops, police break up caravan of weary migrantsVideo
VADO HONDO, Guatemala — Guatemalan police and soldiers on Monday broke up a group of hundreds of migrants who had spent two nights stuck at a roadblock on a rural highway. Some migrants threw rocks while authorities launched tear gas and pushed the migrants with their riot shields back down...
Here are 5 things to know about Inauguration Day
Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday in an inauguration ceremony that, amid violent threats and a deadly pandemic, will look unlike any other. What’s the schedule of events? The ceremony begins at 11:30 a.m. with the playing of the national...
