Minnesota’s election safeguards stopped a voter fraud scheme in its tracks, secretary of state says
MINNEAPOLIS — Two people have been charged with conspiracy to commit voter registration fraud in a case that shows Minnesota’s election safeguards work and prevented anyone from voting illegally, Secretary of State Steve Simon said Friday. The charges announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office allege Ronnie Williams and Lorraine Lee...
Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to human smuggling charges
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, pleaded not guilty Friday to human smuggling charges in a federal court in Tennessee. The hearing was the first chance the Maryland construction worker has had in a U.S. courtroom to...
Judge blocks State Department from firing workers while injunction is in effect
A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday stopped Secretary of State Marco Rubio from proceeding with plans to downsize the State Department, saying it is prohibited behavior under an injunction she issued last month. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston barred the Republican administration from carrying out much of its...
Israel strikes Iran’s nuclear sites and kills its top generals. Iran retaliates with missile barrage
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists — a barrage it said was necessary before its adversary got any...
Immigration raids are threatening businesses that supply America’s food, farm bureaus say
VENTURA, Calif. — Large-scale immigration raids at packinghouses and fields in California are threatening businesses that supply much of the country’s food, farm bureaus say. Dozens of farmworkers have been arrested recently after uniformed federal agents fanned out on farms northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County, which is known...
Texas measles outbreak sees slight increase in cases, hospitalizations
DALLAS — After hitting last week’s milestone of no new cases, the Texas measles outbreak has increased again. The Texas Department of State Health Services on Tuesday reported there have been 744 cases since the outbreak began in late January, an increase of two cases since the department’s previous update...
Low-income Pennsylvanians could lose access to weight-loss drugs as Harrisburg searches for savings
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Low-income Pennsylvanians could lose access to medical coverage for popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy as state lawmakers search for savings in...
2 Chinese scientists will stay in jail while accused of bringing biological material to U.S.
DETROIT — Two Chinese scientists accused of smuggling or shipping biological material into the United States for use at the University of Michigan will remain in custody after waiving their right to a hearing Friday in federal court. Yunqing Jian and Chengxuan Han said in separate court appearances in Detroit...
U.S. shifts military resources in Mideast in response to Israel strikes and possible Iran attack
WASHINGTON — The United States is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to Israel’s strikes on Iran and a possible retaliatory attack by Tehran, U.S. officials said Friday. The Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles,...
4 detainees have escaped from an immigration detention center in Newark, DHS says
NEWARK, N.J. — Four detainees have escaped from a federal immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, amid reports of disorder breaking out there, according to the Department of Homeland Security. More “law enforcement partners” have been brought in to find the detainees missing from Delaney Hall, according to an...
Trump says Iran has ‘second chance’ to come to nuclear deal after Israeli strikes devastate Tehran
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday urged Iran to quickly reach an agreement on curbing its nuclear program as Israel vowed to continue its bombardment of the country. Trumped framed the volatile moment in the Middle East as a possible “second chance” for Iran’s leadership to avoid further destruction...
Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, briefly shows up to support Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs at trial
NEW YORK — Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, briefly showed up to the New York sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday to support the hip-hop mogul, a longtime friend. Ye, dressed in white, arrived at Manhattan federal court before noon while the trial was...
Military commander says 200 Marines moved into L.A. to protect federal property and personnel
LOS ANGELES — About 200 Marines have moved into Los Angeles and will protect federal property and personnel, a military commander said Friday. Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51 who is overseeing the 4,700 troops deployed, said Friday that the Marines have finished training on civil disturbance....
Judge blocks Trump’s election executive order, siding with Democrats who called it overreach
ATLANTA — A federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to overhaul elections in the U.S., siding with a group of Democratic state attorneys general who challenged the effort as unconstitutional. Trump’s March 25 executive order sought to compel officials to require documentary proof of citizenship for everyone...
The stars and stripes fly, in photos, as Flag Day approaches
More than 75 years after Flag Day became U.S. law, the stars and stripes grab our gaze these days in constant portraits of how Americans see their country’s promise — sometimes dotted along historic graves of military veterans, draped upside down over a protester, or painted on a barn. Flag...
Air India’s sole crash survivor narrates his escape
NEW DELHI — The lone passenger who survived the Air India crash that killed 241 people onboard couldn’t believe he was alive when he opened his eyes, surrounded by flames, debris and charred bodies. The British national of Indian origin, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, was headed to London when the flight crashed...
What to know about Israel’s major attack on Iran
JERUSALEM — Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Friday, drawing their long-running shadow war into the open conflict in a way that could spiral into a wider, more dangerous regional war. The strikes set off explosions in the capital of Tehran as Israel said it was targeting Iranian...
Republican enthusiasm for Musk cools after his feud with Trump, a new AP-NORC poll finds
WASHINGTON — Tech billionaire Elon Musk has lost some of his luster with Republicans since his messy public falling-out with President Donald Trump last week, a new survey finds. Fewer Republicans view Trump’s onetime government efficiency bulldog “very favorably” compared with April, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC...
Hempfield brings back annual summer concert series with CCR tribute
The 1960s and ’70s hits of American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival will echo throughout the amphitheater in Hempfield Park on Sunday, as the township’s annual summer concert series returns. The “Amp Up Your Summer” concert series was launched in 2019 to expand on the township’s annual Community Days, a...
Truck driver convicted in the fatal shooting of an Amish woman in her Crawford County home
MEADVILLE — A jury convicted a 53-year-old truck driver Thursday of shooting to death a pregnant Amish woman inside her rural Pennsylvania home early last year. Shawn Christopher Cranston was charged a few weeks after Rebekah Byler, 23, was found dead in the living room of her rural Spartansburg home....
Appeals court temporarily blocks judge’s ruling to return control of National Guard to CaliforniaVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that directed President Donald Trump to return control of National Guard troops to California after he deployed them there following protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids. The court said it would...
Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear and missile sites, prompting Iranian drone-strike retaliation
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel attacked Iran early Friday in strikes that took out top military officers and hit nuclear and missile sites, raising the potential for an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since...
Ex-congressman Billy Long confirmed as commissioner of the IRS, an agency he once sought to abolish
WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Rep. Billy Long of Missouri was confirmed on Thursday to lead the Internal Revenue Service, giving the beleaguered agency he once sought to abolish a permanent commissioner after months of acting leaders and massive staffing cuts that have threatened to derail next year’s tax filing season....
Officers sue to compel Congress to install a Jan. 6 riot memorial at Capitol
WASHINGTON — Two of the police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from a mob of Trump supporters filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to compel Congress to follow one of its own laws and install a memorial to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The officers claim the failure to...
U.S. House votes to pull $1.1B in funding for NPR, PBS
The U.S. House voted Thursday afternoon to slash nearly $1.1 billion in federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports local NPR and PBS stations such as Pittsburgh’s WESA-FM radio and WQED-TV. The Rescissions Act, which also would cancel $8.3 billion in foreign aid spending, passed the Republican-led...
