Virginia Commonwealth to remove Confederate names, symbols
RICHMOND, Va. — A university in the former capital of the Confederacy will remove building names, plaques and other symbols that honor several Confederate supporters. The board of visitors at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond voted unanimously on Friday to remove 16 different references on campus. While the decision marks...
Arizona Senate race could play crucial role in confirmationVideo
PHOENIX — If Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly wins a seat in the U.S. Senate, he could take office as early as Nov. 30, shrinking the GOP’s Senate majority at a crucial moment and complicating the path to confirmation for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. Kelly has maintained a consistent...
Evangelicals in Trump’s base hope for Pennsylvania repeat
HARRISBURG — President Trump’s homestretch push to repeat his razor thin victory in Pennsylvania four years ago won’t happen without white evangelicals, and there are signs that critical component of his coalition hasn’t lost the faith. It’s a group that has often made the difference for Republicans on the Pennsylvania...
What’s next with the Supreme Court vacancy?Video
WASHINGTON — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is putting the Senate in unchartered political terrain. There’s no recent precedent for a confirmation vote so close to a presidential election. President Donald Trump on Saturday urged the Republican-run Senate to consider “without delay” his upcoming nomination, even...
AP source: Envelope addressed to White House contained ricin
WASHINGTON — Federal officials intercepted an envelope addressed to the White House that contained the poison ricin, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press on Saturday. The letter was intercepted at a government facility that screens mail addressed to the White House and President Donald Trump, the official said....
Tropical Storm Beta spurs hurricane worries for TexasVideo
MIAMI — An exceptionally busy Atlantic hurricane season was churning along Saturday as the Texas coast prepared for a tropical storm that’s forecast to strengthen into a hurricane before breaching its shores in the week ahead. Both the city of Galveston and Galveston County on Saturday issued voluntary evacuation orders...
Ginsburg’s death draws big surge of donations to DemocratsVideo
WASHINGTON — Democrats raised more than $50 million in the hours after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, demonstrating how the liberal icon’s passing and the contentious nomination fight that lies ahead have already galvanized the party’s base. The jaw-dropping sum was raised by 4 p.m. Saturday after news...
Pennsylvania reports 1,162 new coronavirus cases, 22 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 1,162 new coronavirus cases — a whopping 402-case jump from yesterday’s 760. The state Department of Health reported 22 new deaths attributed to the coronavirus after posting 21 on Friday. Wednesday’s total of 28 deaths was the highest of the week. Of the 22 deaths reported...
Maine blueberry industry reels from drought, frost, virus
PORTLAND, Maine — A late spring frost, a devastating drought and labor troubles wrought by the coronavirus pandemic conspired to make 2020 a difficult year for the wild blueberry producers who harvest the fruit in the nation’s northeastern corner. America’s producers of wild blueberries are largely located in Maine, where...
After Ginsburg: McConnell pledges quick vote on successor
WASHINGTON — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just over six weeks before the election cast an immediate spotlight on the high court vacancy, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly vowing to bring to a vote whoever President Donald Trump nominates. McConnell, in a statement just...
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a diminutive yet towering women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, died Friday at her home in Washington. She was 87. Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said. Her death just over six weeks before...
Democrats set to unveil stopgap bill to prevent shutdown
WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Friday prepared a temporary spending bill that is needed to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month — and that would allow lawmakers to leave Washington to campaign. It’s a lowest-common-denominator, bare-minimum measure that befits a deeply polarized Congress. Even so, it...
Running out of storm names, Atlantic season goes Greek
The Atlantic’s record-breaking “crazy” hurricane season got a bizarre European remake Friday as forecasters ran out of traditional names and trotted out the Greek alphabet for subtropical storm Alpha. And the geographically misplaced storm promptly sloshed ashore in Portugal. But wait there’s more. The busy Atlantic is beta testing the...
Captain says he knowingly risked career with virus warning
SAN FRANCISCO — The dismissed captain of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier knew he was jeopardizing his military career when he broke protocol and sent a now-famous email warning of possible sailor deaths due to a coronavirus breakout on board, But Brett Crozier says in a witness statement obtained by...
Presidential town hall a deciding factor of some undecided voters
Currying favor with Pennsylvania voters such as Laura Galvas, Alexandra Stehman and Flora Cruceta could prove crucial in the battle to claim Pennsylvania’s 20 Electoral College votes this fall. Like the other participants in ABC’s Philadelphia Town Hall — where they had an opportunity to question President Trump last week...
Justices stop Philadelphia from broadcasting trials on YouTube
Pennsylvania’s highest court has put a stop to a local policy that allowed streaming of Philadelphia criminal trials over the internet. The state Supreme Court in an order dated Thursday halted the pandemic-prompted policy. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner asked the justices earlier this week to put an end to...
NYC tries $50 fines to get scofflaws to don masks on subway
The young man slouched against the inside of the subway doors as the No. 3 train headed south along Broadway. Across the aisle, another young man lay asleep, sprawled across three seats. In ordinary times, it would be the snoozing seat hog who got angry glares. But in the age...
Firefighter dies battling wildfire sparked by gender reveal
A firefighter died battling a wildfire in California that officials said was sparked by a device used to reveal a baby’s gender. The death happened Thursday in the San Bernardino National Forest as crews battled the El Dorado Fire, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement. The fire erupted...
Philadelphia puts ban on police chokeholds into law
The Philadelphia City Council formally banned police from using certain modes of restraint on crime suspects Thursday, including kneeling on a suspect’s neck, and voted to open contract negotiations with the police union to the public. The contract bill passed by the council requires a public hearing to be held...
Pennsylvania sees big drop in jobless rate in August
Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate took a steep drop in August as the labor force shrank and payrolls shot up again in a continuing rebound from shutdowns and the worst economic effects of the pandemic, according to state figures released Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 10.3% in August, down 2.2 percentage points...
Wilkes-Barre hospital accused of altering records wants case sealed
A Pennsylvania hospital wants a judge to seal all records and issue a gag order in a long-running wrongful death suit that alleges hospital officials altered the medical records of a 44-year-old man who died after going to the emergency room with chest pain and breathing difficulties. In an unusual...
CDC drops controversial testing advice that caused backlashVideo
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials on Friday dropped a controversial piece of coronavirus guidance and is now advising anyone who has been in close contact with an infected person get tested. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention essentially returned to its previous testing guidance, getting rid of language...
Trump gives award to Kuwait’s ruling emir
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has bestowed a top U.S. honor on Kuwait’s ruling emir, who has played a central role in resolving a yearslong four-nation boycott of Qatar and is now ill and receiving treatment in the U.S., the White House said Friday. Trump awarded the Legion of Merit...
Flooding affects more than 1 million across East AfricaVideo
JOHANNESBURG — Flooding has affected well over a million people across East Africa, another calamity threatening food security on top of a historic locust outbreak and the coronavirus pandemic. The Nile River has hit its highest levels in a half-century under heavy seasonal rainfall, and large parts of Sudan, Ethiopia...
Pennsylvania reports 760 new coronavirus cases, 21 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Friday reported 760 new coronavirus cases to raise the state’s total to 148,683 since March. There were 11,530 new negative cases reported, making the daily positivity rate 6.18%. The state’s seven-day average of new cases is 828. There were 172,682 tests administered in the past seven days with...
