Suspect claims prophet caricatures prompted Paris stabbingsVideo
PARIS — The chief suspect in a double stabbing in Paris told investigators he acted out of anger over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad recently republished by the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, France’s counterterrorism prosecutor said Tuesday. Two people were seriously wounded in last week’s attack, which took place...
Ammo inside burning home shoots out and injures fire chief
HINESBURG, Vt. — A fire chief suffered a minor injury when ammunition inside a burning home shot out and hit him, officials said. Firefighters responded to the fire in Hinesburg, Vt., shortly after 3:30 p.m. Saturday. No one was home at the time, WCAX-TV reported. The ammunition that caught fire...
Some in NYC get absentee ballots with wrong return address
NEW YORK — Mail-in voting has gotten off to a rocky start in New York City, where election officials sent out a large number of absentee ballots with the wrong names and addresses on the return envelopes. The faulty ballots were sent to an unknown number of voters in Brooklyn...
U.K., Canada impose sanctions on Belarus president, 7 others
LONDON — Britain has imposed sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, his son and six other senior government officials following the disputed presidential election and a crackdown on protesters in Belarus. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Tuesday that the sanctions were introduced as part of a coordinated approach with...
Woman expected in court over driving into California rally
LOS ANGELES — A woman who drove into counter-protesters after organizing a Southern California rally against racism had asked police for help from a hostile crowd but was ignored, her lawyer said Monday. Tatiana Turner was fearing for her life and never intended to harm anyone when she drove through...
Safety Council study: Pennsylvania among 39 states ‘lagging’ in covid response
A study by the National Safety Council has found that only a dozen states are “on track” with their response to the global covid-19 pandemic. Pennsylvania is not one of them. A new National Safety Council report reveals 39 states did not go far enough to protect residents from the...
Child poverty likely to increase in EU amid virus pandemic
BRUSSELS — Child poverty has reached an “unacceptable” level across the European Union, the world’s largest trading bloc, a situation likely to worsen during the coronavirus pandemic, the EU’s external auditor said Tuesday. According to EU data, almost 23 million people under 18 — about one in four children —...
Michael Cohen says Trump’s scared he’ll go ‘straight to prison’ amid tax return scandal
NEW YORK — Donald Trump is likely terrified he could become the first American president to end up behind bars once he’s out of office, his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, said Monday on the heels of a bombshell report about the commander in chief’s finances. Cohen, who was himself...
Ethics experts see national security concern in Trump’s debtVideo
WASHINGTON — Revelations that President Donald Trump is personally liable for more than $400 million in debt are casting a shadow over his presidency that ethics experts say raises national security concerns he could be manipulated to sway U.S. policy by organizations or individuals he’s indebted to. New scrutiny of...
Worldwide death toll from coronavirus eclipses 1 millionVideo
NEW DELHI — The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed 1 million on Tuesday, nine months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, tested world leaders’ resolve, pitted science against politics and forced multitudes to change the way they live, learn and work. “It’s not just a...
Purging Texas water system of brain-eating microbe to take 60 days
LAKE JACKSON, Texas — A Houston-area official said Monday it will take 60 days to ensure a city drinking water system is purged of a deadly, microscopic parasite that doctors believed killed a boy and that led to warnings for others not to drink tap water. Lake Jackson City Manager...
U.S. official: 2020 census to end Oct. 5 despite court orderVideo
ORLANDO — Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross says the 2020 census will end Oct. 5, despite a federal judge’s ruling last week allowing the head count of every U.S. resident to continue through the end of October, according to a tweet posted on the Census Bureau’s website Monday. The tweet...
Mother, daughter get life terms in slayings of 5 relatives
DOYLESTOWN — A mother and her adult daughter were sentenced Monday to life in prison in the slayings of five close relatives, including three children, outside Philadelphia last year. Shana Decree, 47, and Dominique Decree, 21, were sentenced in Bucks County Court after entering guilty but mentally ill pleas to...
Feds to ship millions of tests in bid to reopen K-12 schoolsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Monday that the federal government will begin distributing millions of rapid coronavirus tests to states this week and urged governors to use them to reopen schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The move to vastly expand U.S. testing comes as confirmed new...
Pandemic delays revamp of Pennsylvania’s unemployment benefits claim system
Pennsylvania’s unemployed eventually will submit compensation claims on a weekly basis instead of every other week. But that planned shift, and arrival of online dashboard access to unemployment compensation account information, are on hold while the state Department of Labor & Industry catches up with a backlog of pandemic-related claims...
Trump’s choice of Amy Coney Barrett may not sway female voters he lacksVideo
President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett would give the Supreme Court its most conservative female justice in history but is unlikely to accomplish one thing that could help seal his reelection — a surge in support from women, a segment of the electorate he’s struggled to attract. The...
Federal judge orders stop to Postal Service cuts, echoing other edicts
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Philadelphia joined others Monday in ordering a halt to recent Postal Service cuts that critics say are causing mail delays and threatening the integrity of the presidential election. Six states and the District of Columbia presented “compelling evidence” from the U.S. Postal Service itself...
Cindy McCain joins Biden’s transition advisory board
PHOENIX — Cindy McCain, the widow of Republican Sen. John McCain, will advise Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential transition team as it prepares for him to take office if he wins in November, the team announced Monday. McCain is the second Republican on the 16-member transition advisory board, joining Bob McDonald,...
Ex-Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale knocked to the ground to end standoff, body camera footage showsVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Brad Parscale, former campaign manager to President Donald Trump, was in the middle of a standoff with police at his Fort Lauderdale home when unexpected help arrived: Officer Christopher Wilson, a personal friend. The officer persuaded Parscale to step outside his home, allowing officers to knock...
Louisville officer charged in Breonna Taylor case pleads not guilty
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The lone Kentucky detective charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor pleaded not guilty Monday. Brett Hankison’s plea comes five days after a grand jury indicted him on three counts of wanton endangerment for firing into the home of Taylor’s neighbors. The grand jury...
Could the Pa. GOP bypass the popular vote regardless of who wins? Here’s what we know.
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 weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — It is the nightmare scenario Pennsylvania election officials have fretted over for months: a knock-down, drag-out fight over...
Grand jury indicts Texas sheriff on evidence-tampering count
AUSTIN, Texas — A grand jury on Monday indicted a Texas sheriff on an evidence-tampering charge amid investigations into the death of a Black man in police custody. Williamson County records show Sheriff Robert Chody is facing the third-degree felony charge that is punishable by up to 10 years in...
Romanian villagers re-elect mayor despite his covid-19 death
BUCHAREST, Romania — After handing Ion Aliman victory in the election for their local mayor, residents of a small village in southern Romania went to his grave to light candles for him. Aliman was reelected in a landslide for an unprecedented third term as mayor of the village of Deveselu...
As suicides rise, Army brass reassessing outreach
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — If there were any signs that Staff Sgt. Jason Lowe was struggling, the soldiers he served alongside didn’t see them. The 27-year-old paratrooper was a top performer. He was on the Commandant’s List and had just finished second in his class in the Army’s Advanced Leader...
$20M settlement reached in police killing of handcuffed man
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A Maryland county has agreed to a $20 million settlement with the family of a man who was handcuffed in a patrol car when a police officer shot and killed him, a county official said Monday. The Prince George’s County police officer who killed William Green...
