Actor Lori Loughlin reports to prison in college scam
BOSTON — “Full House” actor Lori Loughlin has reported to a federal prison in California to begin serving her two-month sentence for her role in the college admissions bribery scandal, authorities said Friday. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston said Loughlin was being processed at the federal lockup in Dublin,...
Zeta’s toll on a Louisiana island: ‘Like a bomb was dropped’
GRAND ISLE, La. — Mark Andolino remembers stinging rain and a howling wind that peeled the roof off part of his Cajun Tide Beach Resort on Grand Isle, the Louisiana barrier island town where residents were among the first to feel the ferocity of Hurricane Zeta. Andolino was salvaging what...
Study: 1 to 2 million tons of U.S. plastic trash going astray in rivers, lakes, oceans or on land
More than a million tons a year of America’s plastic trash isn’t ending up where it should. The equivalent of as many as 1,300 plastic grocery bags per person is landing in places such as oceans and roadways, according to a new study of U.S. plastic trash. In 2016 —...
State leaders facing 2nd wave resist steps to curb virus
DES MOINES, Iowa — Even as a long-feared second wave of coronavirus infections strains hospitals, officials in many hard-hit states are resisting taking stronger action to stop the spread, with public fatigue and political calculations running up against pleas from health experts. Days before a presidential election that has spotlighted...
As Trump faces uncertain future, so do his signature rallies
LITITZ, Pennsylvania — They began to arrive more than 40 hours before President Donald Trump took the stage in this stretch of rural Pennsylvania where horse-drawn buggies remain a common sight. By 10 p.m., a small group had set up an overnight camp on lawn chairs as a cold drizzle...
What you need to know about Trump threatening to withhold aid from Pa.
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. HARRISBURG — In a precarious position in the polls and with his focus fixed on the swing state of Pennsylvania, President...
Pennsylvania posts 2nd highest new covid case count, 22 deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health posted 2,641 new cases of coronavirus Friday, its second highest tally in a single day. The new cases include 2,416 new one-day positive cases and 225 cases from previous days that were reported Friday, according to the state. With the latest batch, the state’s seven-day...
Guard, 11 inmates hurt in Pa. Corrections Department bus crash
CONEWAGO — A Pennsylvania Department of Corrections bus that was carrying 38 inmates was involved in a crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike early Friday, leaving a guard and 11 inmates with minor injuries. The crash in the turnpike’s eastbound lanes in Conewago Township was reported shortly after 9 a.m. A...
As virus surges, Trump rallies keep packing in thousands
WASHINGTON — There are no crowds at Disneyland, still shut down by the coronavirus. Fewer fans attended the World Series this year than at any time in the past century. Big concerts are canceled. But it’s a different story in Trumpland. Thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters regularly cram together...
Time for a change to America, on our clocks and watches
WASHINGTON — It’s time for a change for most of the United States. The clock is running out once more for daylight saving time. Standard time begins at 2 a.m. local time Sunday. Until almost next spring, in states red and blue and in between, it’ll be lighter earlier in...
Illinois judge to rule on Rittenhouse extradition to Kenosha
WAUKEGAN, Ill. — An Illinois judge said he will decide late Friday afternoon whether a 17-year-old accused of killing two demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin, should be extradited across the border to stand trial on homicide charges. Defense lawyers had indicated before the hearing in Waukegan that they would call witnesses,...
As anger rises, thousands of Muslims protest French cartoons
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Thousands of Muslims, from Pakistan to Lebanon to the Palestinian territories, poured out of prayer services to join anti-France protests on Friday, as the French president’s vow to protect the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad continues to roil the Muslim world. Demonstrations in Pakistan’s...
Rhode Island climate change suit remains in state court
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A lawsuit filed by the state of Rhode Island against 21 fossil fuel companies seeking damages for the impacts of climate change will be allowed to proceed in state court, a federal appeals court has ruled. The decision Thursday by two judges of the 1st U.S. Circuit...
2 more ex-eBay employees admit to roles in harassment scheme
BOSTON — Two more former eBay Inc. employees have admitted to their roles in a campaign to terrorize a Massachusetts couple with threatening social media messages and disturbing deliveries of things like live spiders sent to their home. Brian Gilbert, 52, who was senior manager of special operations for eBay’s...
Quake strikes Turkish coast and Greek island, killing 14
ISTANBUL — A strong earthquake struck Friday in the Aegean Sea between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, killing at least 14 people and injuring over 600 amid collapsed buildings and flooding, officials said. A small tsunami struck the Seferihisar district south of Izmir, the city in...
New arrest after France church attack, security tightened
NICE, France — The investigation into a gruesome attack by a Tunisian man who killed three people in a French church had a second suspect in custody Friday, as France heightened its security alert amid religious and geopolitical tensions around cartoons mocking the Muslim prophet. Muslims held more anti-France protests...
Pregnant Florida woman pushes labor aside to cast vote
ORLANDO, Fla. — A pregnant Florida woman didn’t let labor stop her from casting her vote in the presidential election, refusing to go to the hospital until she filled out her ballot. Officials with the Orange County Supervisor of Elections said the woman was already in labor when she arrived...
Poland activists vow largest protest yet over abortion ban
WARSAW, Poland — Women’s rights organizers are preparing for what they say will be the largest protest so far in over a week of mass nationwide street demonstrations in Poland triggered by a court ruling banning abortions of congenitally damaged fetuses. The march is planned for Friday evening in Warsaw,...
Sweden charges 2 over Chechen critic hammer assault
STOCKHOLM — The Swedish domestic security agency said two individuals have been charged with attempted murder and accessory to attempted murder in a February hammer attack on a blogger and critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The agency, known as SAPO, said in a statement issued Thursday that “the attack...
FBI warns ransomware assault threatens U.S. health care system
BOSTON — Federal agencies warned that cybercriminals could unleash a wave of data-scrambling extortion attempts against the U.S. health care system, an effort that, if successful, could paralyze hospital information systems just as nationwide cases of covid-19 are spiking. In a joint alert Wednesday, the FBI and two federal agencies...
Trump doled out billions to drugmakers and hospitals with few strings attached
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has pumped billions of dollars into the health care industry during the covid-19 crisis, padding bottom lines at some of the country’s most profitable businesses even as millions of Americans have been left struggling with mounting medical bills. And although taxpayer money has poured into...
AP Explains: Trump pushes questions about Joe Biden’s son
WASHINGTON — Looking to undermine Democratic rival Joe Biden, President Donald Trump’s campaign is pushing a familiar line of attack: unverified allegations about Biden’s son and his foreign business ties. But reporting in the New York Post, and the emergence of a man who says he worked with Hunter Biden,...
Obamacare’s fate in flux, but open enrollment starts soon
Facing a pandemic, record unemployment and unknown future costs for covid-19 treatments, health insurers selling Affordable Care Act plans to individuals reacted by lowering rates in some areas and, overall, issuing only modest premium increases for 2021. “What’s been fascinating is that carriers in general are not projecting much impact...
2 Ohio political operatives plead guilty in bribery probe
COLUMBUS — Two Ohio political operatives pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that they conspired as part of what another defendant called an “unholy alliance” aimed at bailing out two aging Ohio nuclear power plants, court documents show. Former Republican House Speaker Larry Householder and four others were charged with racketeering...
Philadelphia council votes to limit police protest response
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia could soon join other cities in blocking police from using tear gas, rubber bullets or pepper spray on protesters as the city continues to churn over the fatal police shooting of a Black man days before the heated presidential election. The sharp political battles being drawn nationwide...
