Pa. House speakers get reprieve from criminal history plaques
HARRISBURG — The portraits of three former Pennsylvania House speakers who went to prison on corruption-related charges have received a reprieve of sorts. In one of his last acts in office, Mike Turzai, who in June resigned from his post as House speaker and his House seat, quietly ordered the...
Outrage builds after NYPD hustles protester into unmarked vanVideo
NEW YORK — The New York Police Department’s use of plainclothes officers and an unmarked minivan to haul away a vandalism suspect during a protest Tuesday created confusion and drew outrage from people who compared it to covert tactics used recently by federal agents in Portland, Ore. Bystander video of...
Trump says he never raised Taliban bounties in talks with PutinVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he hasn’t discussed reports that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite having numerous phone calls as recently as last week. “I have never discussed it with him,” Trump told Axios in a...
MacKenzie Scott begins giving away her Amazon wealth: Here’s where nearly $1.68B is goingVideo
SEATTLE — MacKenzie Scott sees the $59.3 billion she’s accumulated through her ownership of about 4% of Amazon stock as “the product of a collective effort, and of social structures which present opportunities to some people, and obstacles to countless others.” On Tuesday, a day before her ex-husband, Amazon founder...
Pelosi orders masks for voting after Rep. Louie Gohmert tests positive for coronavirusVideo
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will require that masks be worn on the House floor after a Republican member of Congress tested positive for the coronavirus. The member, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, often shunned wearing masks and was known to vote without one. Pelosi announced on the House floor...
Western Pa. residents among those receiving ‘mystery seed’ packets
Shawn O’Mahony of Penn Hills ordered a bunch of seeds online to jump-start his 2020 garden. So, when a couple of packets he didn’t recognize showed up in the spring, it didn’t seem like a big deal. “I received two of them a couple months ago,” O’Mahony said. “They were...
U.S. energy use hit 30-year low during pandemic shutdowns
BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. energy consumption plummeted to its lowest level in more than 30 years this spring as the nation’s economy largely shut down because of the coronavirus, federal officials reported Wednesday. The drop was driven by less demand for coal that is burned for electricity and oil that’s...
Arizona train derails on bridge that collapses, catches fire
PHOENIX — A freight train traveling on a bridge that spans a lake in a Phoenix suburb derailed Wednesday, setting the bridge ablaze and partially collapsing the structure, officials said. Video images showed huge flames and thick black smoke rising into the air and three train cars in a park...
Prosecutors: Agents will probe crimes, not bust protests
MADISON, Wis. — Federal prosecutors worked Wednesday to dispel concerns that federal agents headed to a number of U.S. cities will be used to break up protests, insisting that the agents will work side-by-side with local and state investigators to solve violent crimes. President Donald Trump recently sent federal agents...
Pa. commissions denounce Trump memo excluding those in U.S. illegally from census
Several Pennsylvania commissions are denouncing an executive memorandum signed by President Donald Trump last week that seeks to bar people who are in the United States illegally from filling out the census, the once-a-decade survey that determines federal funding and congressional seats. Trump, who signed the memorandum July 21, said...
Pennsylvania coronavirus case total breaks 110,000
Pennsylvania surpassed 110,000 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, according to a report from the state’s Department of Health. A total of 834 new positive results brought the state’s total to 110,218. The state also reported 16 additional deaths to bring the total to 7,162 attributed to covid-19 since the state’s outbreak...
Oregon governor says U.S. agents will start leaving Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. — Federal agents who have clashed with protesters in Portland, Oregon, will begin a “phased withdrawal” from Oregon’s largest city, Gov. Kate Brown said Wednesday. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement the plan negotiated with Brown over the last 24 hours includes a “robust...
Online courses offer mental health resources for firefighters, EMS personnel
Pennsylvania’s State Fire Commissioner on Wednesday announced online mental health resources for firefighters and emergency services personnel in a move to help dismantle the stigma surrounding seeking mental health services. “More and more of our first responders are affected by the invisible wounds of traumatic experiences they have been through...
U.S. to bring 6,400 troops home from Germany, move others elsewhere in Europe
WASHINGTON — Spurred on by President Donald Trump’s demand to pull troops out of Germany, the U.S. will bring about 6,400 forces home and shift about 5,600 to other countries in Europe, U.S. defense leaders said Wednesday, detailing a Pentagon plan that will cost billions of dollars and take years...
Passage of Turkey’s social media law raises censorship worries
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s parliament approved a law early Wednesday that gives authorities greater power to regulate social media despite concerns of growing censorship in a country where critical voices are already muted. The law requires social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter to maintain representatives in Turkey to deal...
Georgia inmates hailed as heroes for saving injured deputy
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia sheriff’s office is thanking a group of inmates credited with rescuing a deputy who collapsed and suffered a head injury while supervising a jail housing unit. The Gwinnett County deputy was patrolling the unit when the inmates noticed he did not appear to be feeling...
As crime surges on his watch, Trump warns of Biden’s America
President Donald Trump is painting a dystopian portrait of what Joe Biden’s America might look like, asserting crime and chaos would ravage communities should the former vice president win the White House in November. Left unsaid: A recent surge in violent crime in several American cities has happened on his...
Trump on his own again as he skips farewell to Lewis
WASHINGTON — One by one, they passed through the grand Capitol Rotunda to pay respects to the civil rights icon. It was a solemn display of unity as congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle offered praise for longtime Georgia Rep. John Lewis. There was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,...
U.S. officials: Russia behind spread of virus disinformation
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials say Russian intelligence officers are spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic through English-language websites, trying to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain before the presidential election in November. Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow’s military intelligence service known as the...
Professional strippers stage clothing-optional strike at Pa. parkVideo
Community members are angry after getting an eyeful during a stripper protest at Philadelphia’s Malcolm X Park earlier this week. As 6ABC in Philly reports, the irate community members and the group Stilettos Inc. don’t see eye-to-eye on the worth of the flesh-exposing labor strike, aimed at covid-19 restrictions and...
UK judge holds hearing in Meghan’s lawsuit against newspaper
LONDON — A judge in London is hearing the latest stage on Wednesday of the Duchess of Sussex’s privacy-infringement lawsuit against a British newspaper, as Meghan tries to keep the names of five of her friends out of the public eye. The former Meghan Markle is suing the publisher of...
Source: U.S., Oregon in talks about pulling agents in PortlandVideo
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Trump administration has started talks with the Oregon governor’s office and indicated that it would begin to draw down the presence of federal agents sent to quell two months of chaotic protests in Portland if the state stepped up its own enforcement, a senior White House...
California withholds coronavirus money from 2 defiant cities
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom is using new powers to withhold money from two cities in California’s Central Valley that are defying his health orders by allowing all businesses to open during the pandemic. Newsom blocked nearly $65,000 from Atwater in Merced County and more than $35,000 from Coalinga in...
Scientists get closer to blood test for Alzheimer’s disease
An experimental blood test was highly accurate at distinguishing people with Alzheimer’s disease from those without it in several studies, boosting hopes that there soon may be a simple way to help diagnose this most common form of dementia. Developing such a test has been a long-sought goal, and scientists...
Prosecutors: ‘Alarming’ that Ghislaine Maxwell may publicize victims
NEW YORK — Some witnesses in the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend may face harassment and intimidation and could be reluctant to cooperate with the government if defense attorneys are allowed to discuss them publicly, prosecutors said Tuesday. Prosecutors asked a Manhattan federal court judge to block lawyers...
