Pa. high school teacher admits exposing himself, photographing female students in class
A Pennsylvania math teacher accused of using his high school classroom to act out his sexual obsessions is pleading guilty to criminal charges. As WFMZ 69 News reports, Francis James Reppert Jr., 27, of Quakertown pleaded guilty Tuesday to indecent exposure and invasion of privacy after he was caught last...
2 guilty of supporting deadly 2013 Westgate mall attack in Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya — A Kenyan court on Wednesday found two men guilty for supporting the 2013 attack on Nairobi’s upscale Westgate Mall that left 67 people dead. Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi acquitted a third suspect. The attack by four gunmen with the Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab was the first large-scale...
Stolen Mao calligraphy worth millions found cut in half
HONG KONG — A calligraphy scroll by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong estimated to be worth millions of dollars was cut in half after it was stolen last month in a high-profile burglary in Hong Kong, police said. The scroll was found damaged when police arrested a 49-year-old man in...
Voter beware: U.S. tells public how to avoid election mischief
WASHINGTON — The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency have issued a series of advisories in recent weeks aimed at warning voters about problems that could surface in the election — as well as steps Americans can take to counter the foreign interference threat. The issues identified...
Spain unveils huge economic recovery plan amid pandemic
LISBON, Portugal — Spain’s prime minister unveiled a major plan Wednesday to boost his country out of recession by spending $162 billion of European Union aid to reshape the economy, with the aim of creating 800,000 jobs over the next three years. The program is a response to the sharp...
2 scientists win Nobel chemistry prize for ‘gene scissors’
STOCKHOLM — Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for developing a method of genome editing likened to “molecular scissors” that offer the promise of one day curing inherited diseases and even cancer. Working on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A. Doudna...
Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden endorses Joe Biden for presidentVideo
Retired Gen. Michael Hayden needed to get some things off his chest about the current presidential campaign. Hayden, the Pittsburgh native who served as director of the CIA under former President George W. Bush and director of the National Security Agency, released a video late Tuesday which boiled down to,...
Biden in Gettysburg: ‘Once again, we are a house divided’Video
GETTYSBURG — Joe Biden on Tuesday made an impassioned plea for national unity and bipartisan cooperation in a speech casting the 2020 election as a “battle for the soul of the nation,” with the Civil War’s most famous battlefield as his backdrop. “There’s no more fitting place than here today...
Rendell and Toomey join in congressional term limits proposalVideo
If past is prologue, a proposal from U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell seeking 34 states to force a Constitutional Convention to consider congressional term limits may be as unlikely as the partners who put out the call for it Tuesday. Just one day...
Report: White House senior advisor Stephen Miller tests positive for covid-19Video
Stephen Miller, a top aide and speechwriter to President Trump, tested positive for covid-19 on Tuesday, according to NBC News correspondent Hallie Jackson. “Over the last 5 days I have been working remotely and self-isolating, testing negative every day through yesterday. Today, I tested positive for covid-19 and am in...
Prosecutors: Retired steelworker from Pittsburgh, 80, shoved over mask request at N.Y. bar, dies
WEST SENECA, N.Y. — An 80-year-old man, a retired steelworker from Pittsburgh, who authorities say confronted another patron at a bar for not wearing a mask and was shoved to the ground has died. Rocco E. Sapienza, who was also a retired Marine, confronted another patron at a bar in...
White House staff, Secret Service eye virus with fear, angerVideo
WASHINGTON — The West Wing is a ghost town. Staff members are scared of exposure. And the White House is now a treatment ward for not one — but two — covid-19 patients, including a president who has long taken the threat of the virus lightly. President Donald Trump’s decision...
John Hagee, prominent megachurch pastor, ill with covid-19
SAN ANTONIO — Prominent megachurch pastor and conservative activist John Hagee has been diagnosed with covid-19, his son announced during services at the Texas church his father founded. The 80-year-old pastor received the diagnosis Friday and was recovering after the illness was detected early, Matt Hagee said during Sunday morning...
St. Louis couple indicted for waving guns at protesters
ST. LOUIS — A grand jury on Tuesday indicted the St. Louis couple who displayed guns while hundreds of racial injustice protesters marched on their private street. Al Watkins, an attorney for the couple, confirmed to The Associated Press the indictments against Mark McCloskey, 63, and his wife, Patricia McCloskey,...
FDA releases high coronavirus vaccine standards despite White House resistance
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration issued long-awaited guidance Tuesday on the data it expects from drug companies seeking emergency authorization of covid-19 vaccines, rejecting White House pressure for lower standards intended to push out vaccines quickly. The 18-page guidance was released a day after reports suggested the White...
Trump halts covid-19 relief talks until after electionVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday called an abrupt end to negotiations with Democrats over additional covid-19 relief, delaying action until after the election despite ominous warnings from his own Federal Reserve chairman about the deteriorating conditions in the economy. Trump tweeted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was “not...
Texas officer charged with murder in fatal store shootingVideo
A white police officer has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a Black man following a reported disturbance at a convenience store in a small East Texas town, authorities said. Jonathan Price was walking away from Wolfe City Police Officer Shaun Lucas on Saturday night when Lucas...
Supporters mirror Trump’s rosy projection of virus infection
CANTON, Ohio — As an infected President Donald Trump urged Americans not to fear the virus that has killed more than 1 million people worldwide, many of his supporters were already in sync with that message. In interviews with Republican voters at Trump events and campaign offices, very few saw...
Schools closed in virus hot spots as NYC battles flare-ups
NEW YORK — Hundreds of New York City public and private schools were closed Tuesday in neighborhoods with flare-ups of coronavirus cases as city and state officials continued discussing the possibility of shuttering many businesses in those areas. Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the closing of schools in nine Brooklyn and...
Auditor General: Pennsylvania’s pandemic business waiver program is subjective
During the statewide covid-19 shutdown and business closures this year, there was no consistency in granting waivers to those wishing to stay open, an ongoing investigation by the auditor general has found. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale gave an update Tuesday on an audit started in May. The investigation so far...
Military leaders quarantined after official tests positiveVideo
WASHINGTON — The nation’s top military leaders were under self-quarantine Tuesday after a senior Coast Guard official tested positive for the coronavirus, the Pentagon said. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, and the vice chairman, Gen. John Hyten, were among those affected, U.S. officials said....
FDA discloses vaccine guidelines blocked by White House
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration laid out updated safety standards Tuesday for makers of COVID-19 vaccines after the White House blocked their formal release, the latest political tug-of-war between the Trump administration and the government’s public health scientists. In briefing documents posted on its website, the FDA said...
2 justices slam court’s 2015 decision in gay marriage case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, already poised to take a significant turn to the right, opened its new term Monday with a jolt from two conservative justices who raised new criticism of the court’s embrace of same-sex marriage. The justices returned from their summer break on a somber note, following...
Fed Chairman Powell: Lack of further stimulus imperils recovery
WASHINGTON — Strong financial support from the government and the Federal Reserve have spurred a solid recovery from the pandemic recession, but the rebound may falter without further aid, Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned Tuesday. Powell said that government support — including expanded unemployment insurance payments, direct payments to most...
Pennsylvania reports 1,036 new covid-19 cases
Pennsylvania reported 1,036 new covid-19 cases Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. There were 17 new coronavirus-related deaths, as well. Of those, one is from May, 11 from September and five from October. The new figures bring total cases to 165,243 and total deaths to 8,244 in Pennsylvania....
