Pennsylvania blasts Texas’ bid in Supreme Court to overturn Biden’s election
HARRISBURG — Lawyers for Pennsylvania responded in the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to Texas’ effort to overturn the election result in four states for President-elect Joe Biden, calling it a “seditious abuse” of the courts that rests on conspiracy theories and falsehoods. Texas lacks standing to bring the challenge,...
FDA panel endorses widespread use of Pfizer covid-19 vaccine
WASHINGTON — A government advisory panel endorsed widespread use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine Thursday, putting the country just one step away from launching an epic vaccination campaign against the outbreak that has killed close to 300,000 Americans. Shots could begin within days, depending on how quickly the Food and Drug...
5 bicyclists killed, 3 injured in crash on Nevada highway
BOULDER CITY, Nev. — Five bicyclists were killed and three others injured in a crash Thursday involving a box truck on U.S. Highway 95 north of Searchlight, Nevada Highway Patrol officials said. Authorities said the truck driver remained on the scene and commercial units were called to inspect the vehicle’s...
U.S. B-52H bombers fly to Middle East in mission to deter IranVideo
WASHINGTON — In a new show of military might, two American bomber aircraft flew from the United States to the Middle East on Thursday, in a round-trip mission that U.S. officials said covered a wide swath of the region and was a direct message of deterrence to Iran. The flight...
Federal judge casts doubt on Trump’s Wisconsin lawsuitVideo
MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge Thursday cast doubt on President Donald Trump’s lawsuit that seeks to overturn Joe Biden’s win in Wisconsin, saying siding with Trump would be “the most remarkable ruling in the history of this court or the federal judiciary.” Trump is pursuing extraordinary attempts to overturn...
Watchdog faults VA Secretary Robert Wilkie over handling of sex assault report
WASHINGTON — Confronted with a sexual assault allegation at a veterans hospital, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie repeatedly sought to discredit the congressional aide who made the complaint and his staff worked to spread negative information about her while ignoring known problems of harassment at the facility, according to an...
CDC official says she was ordered to destroy emails to alter scientific reportVideo
WASHINGTON — A senior manager with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told congressional investigators she was ordered to delete an email suggesting attempted political interference by the Trump administration in coronavirus reports to the public, according to a transcript released Thursday. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., who released the...
Watch: Wolf, Levine outline new coronavirus mitigation steps in Pa.
Gov. Tom Wolf and state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine are addressing the current status of the covid-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania during a 4 p.m. news conference. Watch the livestream of the news conference here. On Wednesday, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said he expected new covid-related restrictions from the...
Fauci, Kamala among famous names on mispronounced words list
Fauci, Kamala….da Vinci? America’s preeminent infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, and its incoming vice president, Kamala Harris, join the Renaissance master himself, Leonardo da Vinci, atop this year’s list of most mispronounced words, as compiled by the U.S. Captioning Company, which captions and subtitles real-time events on TV and in...
Some local Pa. judges enjoy light workloads as taxpayers pay millions for salaries, benefits
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 newsletters. Greg Johnson has a pretty good job — and even better benefits. The Dauphin County magisterial district judge and his colleagues...
Northern lights a ‘big miss,’ U.S. space forecaster says
PORTLAND, Maine — An initially promising U.S. forecast for the northern lights has gone bust. Stargazers in the continental 48 states have essentially zero chance of seeing the astronomical phenomenon this week, the head of operations at the U.S. government’s space weather prediction center said Thursday. Curtains of color paint...
1-day U.S. deaths top 3,000, more than D-Day or 9/11
MISSION, Kan. — Just when the U.S. appears on the verge of rolling out a covid-19 vaccine, the numbers have become gloomier than ever: Over 3,000 American deaths in a single day, more than on D-Day or 9/11. One million new cases in the span of five days. More than...
Pa. First Lady Frances Wolf negative for covid after Gov. Wolf tests positive
Pennsylvania First Lady Frances Wolf has tested negative for covid-19 a day after her husband, Gov. Tom Wolf, announced he had contracted the virus. Per guidance from state and federal health agencies, she will continue to quarantine at home. She said in a statement that she and the governor are...
Gun restrictions face uphill battle even under Biden
The gun debate in America will soon enter a new chapter with a Democrat in the White House after four years under President Donald Trump in which gun control advocates developed a long wish list for reform amid a spate of large-scale mass killings in places like Las Vegas, El...
Baby elephant dies suddenly, just before 2nd birthday
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A baby elephant at a Syracuse zoo died from a virus just before his second birthday . The Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse announced the death of Ajay, an Asian elephant calf, on Wednesday. He died from Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus, which poses a high risk to...
Pennsylvania reports 2nd-highest daily covid case count
Pennsylvania on Thursday reported 11,972 additional cases of coronavirus, the second-highest single-day increase. The previous record was 12,884 cases reported on Dec. 5. The state’s seven-day new case average hit its highest level at 10,065, joined by the seven-day total of 70,452 new cases. Of Thursday’s additional cases, 11,066 are...
Trump announces Israel-Morocco to normalize relations
WASHINGTON — Israel and Morocco have agreed to normalize relations, President Donald Trump said Thursday, marking the fourth Arab-Israeli agreement in four months. As part of the deal announced near the end of Trump’s term, the United States will recognize Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara region. Trump said...
Some Pa. Dems want maskless House GOP lawmakers sworn in last
HARRISBURG — A group of Democrats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives wants their adamantly maskless Republican colleagues to be sworn in next month after everyone else, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. As a safety measure, the 203 state representatives will take the oath of office on Jan....
FDA panel endorses widespread use of Pfizer covid-19 vaccine
WASHINGTON — A government advisory panel endorsed widespread use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine Thursday, putting the country just one step away from launching an epic vaccination campaign against the outbreak that has killed close to 300,000 Americans. Shots could begin within days, depending on how quickly the Food and Drug...
U.S. jobless claims jump to 853,000 amid resurgence of virus
WASHINGTON — The number of people applying for unemployment aid jumped last week to 853,000, the most since September, evidence that companies are cutting more jobs as new virus cases spiral higher. The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of applications increased from 716,000 the previous week. Before the...
Tensions rise over masks as virus grips smaller U.S. cities
MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Arguments over mask requirements and other restrictions have turned ugly in recent days as the deadly coronavirus surge across the U.S. engulfs small and medium-size cities that once seemed safely removed from the outbreak. In Boise, Idaho, public health officials about to vote on a four-county...
Despite Trump’s venting and threats, Biden’s win is sealed
WASHINGTON — There’s plenty of noise but no cause for confusion as President Donald Trump vents about how the election turned out and vows to subvert it even still. This truth is self-evident: Joe Biden is on track to become president Jan. 20. The machinery of government and democracy is...
U.S. surpasses grim milestone of more than 3,000 covid deaths in a day, a new record
For the first time during the coronavirus pandemic, the United States surpassed 3,000 deaths in one day, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project. The project, which tallies state-level coronavirus data, reported 3,054 covid-19 related deaths on Wednesday night— a significant jump from the previous single-day record of...
U.S. ranks behind EU, Australia and U.K. in vaccine buys but says it will meet goalVideo
Thirty-one countries around the globe have reserved more covid-19 vaccine per capita than the United States, according to a Bloomberg analysis of country vaccine agreements. The U.S. Operation Warp Speed program is credited with shaving years off the typical development timeline for vaccines that are now on the brink of...
California man charged with decapitating son, daughterVideo
LANCASTER, Calif. — A Southern California father of four has been charged with decapitating his teenage son and 12-year-old daughter and abusing his two other boys, prosecutors said. Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 34, faces two felony counts each of murder and child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause...
