FBI searches Virginia Senate leader’s office as part of corruption probe
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The FBI searched the Virginia state Senate leader’s hometown office and her neighboring cannabis shop Wednesday, bringing into public view what was described as a yearslong corruption investigation. The searches at Democratic Sen. L. Louise Lucas’ office and cannabis business are part of what two people familiar...
Judge releases note that cellmate says he found after Jeffrey Epstein’s suspected suicide try
NEW YORK — A note Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate claimed he found after the millionaire sex offender’s first suspected jail suicide attempt was made public Wednesday, years after being sealed and locked in a courthouse vault as part of an unrelated legal dispute. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White...
Trump, hoping for an eventual Supreme Court victory, seeks to halt $83M payment in sexual abuse case
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s lawyer, hoping for an eventual Supreme Court victory, has asked a federal appeals court in New York to temporarily block a longtime columnist from collecting an $83 million defamation award. The lawyer, Justin D. Smith, told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in...
Pennsylvania health officials report 11 measles cases in Lebanon County
Eleven people have been diagnosed with measles in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania health officials said Wednesday. After three people with measles were hospitalized in the central Pennsylvania county, state Department of Health staff conducted contact tracing in the area, located east of Harrisburg and north of Lancaster. They identified several more...
Israel strikes Beirut suburbs for 1st time since ceasefire was announced
WASHINGTON — Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs Wednesday for the first time since a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group was announced on April 17. Fighting has continued since then in southern Lebanon. The last attacks in Beirut were before that, on April 8, when a series of...
CNN founder Ted Turner, a brash and outspoken television pioneer, has died at age 87
NEW YORK — Ted Turner, the brash and outspoken television pioneer who created a media empire and transformed the news business by creating CNN and introducing the 24-hour cable news cycle, died Wednesday. He was 87. He died surrounded by his family, according to Turner Enterprises, the company that oversees...
Russia snubs Ukraine’s unilateral ceasefire, firing dozens of drones
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia fired dozens of drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, disregarding a unilateral ceasefire announced by Kyiv that began at midnight. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine hadn’t abided by its own ceasefire, saying that air defenses shot down 53 Ukrainian drones...
Cruise ship with hantavirus outbreak heads to Canary Islands after 3 are evacuated
PRAIA, Cape Verde — Two patients with hantavirus and one suspected of infection were evacuated Wednesday from a cruise ship at the center of a deadly outbreak, the U.N. health agency said. The ship then departed Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board — isolated in their cabins —...
Cosmetic interventions are booming. Many say ethical conversations are lagging
LOS ANGELES — Shula Jassell is insecure about the size of her chin and has periodically considered getting filler to make it bigger. But when the 25-year-old from Southern California gives serious thought to the idea of repeatedly having to get the cosmetic procedure — it only lasts about a...
Trump again assails Pope Leo, potentially complicating Rubio’s visit to the Vatican this week
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of Pope Leo XIV, potentially complicating a fence-mending visit that Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to make this week to the Vatican. In an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, Trump said the first American-born pontiff is helping Iran and...
For many Americans, Trump’s immigration crackdown is personal, new poll shows
WASHINGTON — Most U.S. adults say the United States is no longer a great place for immigrants, according to a new AP-NORC poll, as about one-third of Americans report knowing someone impacted by the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement. A new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs...
U.S. fires on Iranian oil tanker as Trump pressures Tehran for deal to end war
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military fired on an Iranian oil tanker Wednesday as President Donald Trump sought to pressure Tehran into reaching a deal to end the war. The Islamic Republic said it was reviewing the latest American proposals. A fighter jet shot out the rudder of the tanker in...
Michigan Democrats keep control of state Senate in election win that offers clues about midterms
SAGINAW, Mich. — Democrat Chedrick Greene won a special election in Michigan on Tuesday, securing his party’s control of the state Senate through the remainder of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s term. Greene, a firefighter and Marine veteran, defeated Republican Jason Tunney, a former prosecutor, in the race for Michigan’s 35th Senate...
Shapiro denies asking union to back GOP candidate over fellow Democrat Erin McClelland
HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro is facing questions about whether he tried to help elect a Republican candidate over a member of his own party who had publicly criticized him, after an audio recording of a top labor leader leaked this week alleging that the first-term Democratic governor pushed his...
Pa. ban on phone use while driving to be enforced soon. Here’s when, what penalties to expect
Enforcement of Pennsylvania law banning handheld cell phone use behind the wheel will begin June 6. Dubbed Paul Miller’s Law, the ban has been in effect for the past year, though police could only issue warnings. Starting next month, drivers convicted of distracted driving will be subject to a $50...
Trump-backed candidates win majority of GOP primary races for Indiana Senate
COLUMBUS, Ind. — A majority of Republican state senators whose opponents were endorsed by President Donald Trump lost on Tuesday, dealing the president wins in a deep red state just four months after lawmakers rejected his redistricting plan. Of the seven challengers endorsed by Trump, at least four won. Twenty-one...
Senate GOP seeks $1 billion for Secret Service, Trump ballroom
A top Senate Republican has proposed spending as much as $1 billion for U.S. Secret Service security adjustments and upgrades, including for President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom. The funding would come in legislation authored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who on Monday released language for his panel’s...
Ohio set for marquee races in the fall. U.S. Senate contest seen as crucial for control of the chamber
COLUMBUS — Tuesday’s primary in Ohio set up what is expected to be one of the most expensive races for U.S. Senate this year as Republicans try to hold on to the chamber during a difficult midterm year, while biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy will face a challenge from the state’s...
Trump administration sues Denver over its 1989 assault weapons ban
The Trump administration sued Denver and its police department on Tuesday seeking to strike down an assault weapons ban that’s been in place for Colorado’s largest city since 1989. The lawsuit came a day after city officials publicly rejected calls by the Department of Justice to repeal the longstanding local...
Education Department opens probe into Smith College for admitting trans women
The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into Smith College, an all-women’s institution in Massachusetts, for admitting transgender women. The probe by the department’s Office of Civil Rights will look at whether the college violated Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding discrimination based on sex in education. The move...
Former FedEx driver sentenced to death for killing 7-year-old girl after delivery at her Texas home
DALLAS — A former FedEx driver was sentenced to death on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to killing a 7-year-old girl he took from her Texas home while delivering a Christmas gift. Jurors in a Fort Worth courtroom decided on Tanner Horner’s punishment after hearing about a month of testimony...
Republican Stacy Garrity would veto recreational marijuana bill if elected Pennsylvania governor
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a Republican running for Pennsylvania governor, said she would veto any bill favoring the legalization of recreational marijuana if she wins the election in November. “I don’t support legalizing recreational marijuana,” Garrity told NBC10 last week, placing her at odds with incumbent Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro,...
2 killed, 3 injured in shootings at shopping center north of Dallas, police say
CARROLLTON, Texas — A man shot five people in Texas on Tuesday, killing two of them, after meeting at a shopping center north of Dallas, police said. It was not a random act of violence and the attacker knew the victims, Carrollton Police Chief Roberto Arredondo said. “It was a...
Report: White House East Wing debris dumped at nearby golf course has toxic metals
WASHINGTON — Debris from the demolition of the White House East Wing that was dumped at a nearby public golf course has tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals, the National Park Service said. An interim report by a Virginia engineering firm says the toxic metals, along with...
Health Department issues consumer alert for Carbonara’s Ristorante in Castle Shannon
Carbonara’s Ristorante in Castle Shannon has been issued a consumer alert by the Allegheny County Health Department. An inspection of the Italian restaurant on April 30 found 16 health code violations, according to the inspection report. Four violations were listed as high-risk, meaning hazards that can directly cause food-borne illness,...
