Former FBI translator gets probation for doctored transcript
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A former FBI translator was sentenced to probation Friday after he admitted doctoring transcripts when his own voice came up on intercepts of phone calls placed by a terrorism suspect. Abdirizak Wehelie of Burke, Virginia, also received a $1,000 fine at his sentencing hearing in U.S. District...
Senate may push final Trump trial vote to next week
WASHINGTON — The Senate is considering pushing off final acquittal in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial until next week under a proposal being negotiated Friday by party leaders. The situation remained fluid, but senators have indicated they want more time to publicly debate the charges and air their positions on...
Johnson hails U.K.’s ‘new beginning’ as Brexit day arrives
LONDON — Britain begins the day as a member of the European Union. Its status at the end of the day — as a proud nation that has reclaimed its sovereignty, or a diminished presence in Europe and the world — will still be up for debate. Britain officially departs...
U.S. advises no travel to China, where virus deaths top 200
BEIJING — The U.S. advised against all travel to China as the number of cases of a worrying new virus spiked more than tenfold in a week, including the highest death toll in a 24-hour period reported Friday. The virus has infected almost 10,000 people globally in just two months,...
John Delaney, longest-running Democratic candidate, ends 2020 bid
WASHINGTON — John Delaney, the longest-running Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential race, is ending his campaign after pouring millions of his own money into an effort that failed to resonate with voters. The announcement, made Friday morning, further winnowed down a primary field that had once stood at more...
Meet P-80, a mountain lion captured and collared in California
LOS ANGELES — She’s a good-sized cat with greenish eyes that, based on her head shot, reveal the intensity of a predator who does not like to be detained, even for a moment. She has a name — P-80 — and she is the latest mountain lion to join the...
Sen. Pat Toomey to vote ‘no’ on impeachment witnesses
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey will not support calling witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, a blow to Democrats’ chances of securing the four Republican votes needed to call further testimony. In a Fox News interview Thursday, Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, said the House impeachment managers have been...
U.S. finds ally in Mexico as asylum policy marks first year
TIJUANA, Mexico — The Perla family of El Salvador has slipped into a daily rhythm in Mexico while they wait for the U.S. to decide whether to grant them asylum. A modest home has replaced the tent they lived in at a migrant shelter. Their 7- and 5-year-old boys are...
Estranged husband accused of killing Jennifer Dulos diesVideo
HARTFORD, Conn. — A man charged with murdering his wife who went missing amid a contentious divorce case died Thursday, his lawyer said. Fotis Dulos, 52, had been hospitalized since Tuesday when he was found at his home in Farmington, Conn., following an apparent suicide attempt. “It’s been a truly...
Wind topples U.S. border wall being built; it falls in MexicoVideo
CALEXICO, Calif. — A portion of border wall being built in California toppled in strong wind, falling on a busy street on the Mexican side, authorities said Thursday. No one was injured. Concrete had not yet dried on several panels of steel poles topped with metal plates, which fell Wednesday...
Lead, asbestos contamination shuts down Pennsylvania schools
Students at three Pennsylvania schools were told to stay home Thursday amid concerns over lead and asbestos contamination, as Pennsylvania State Police investigate what former district officials did to address problems with tainted water. One day after Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled a $1.1 billion plan to help Pennsylvania’s public schools...
Trump plan would reshape Medicaid with block grants
WASHINGTON — Blocked on Capitol Hill from cutting and restructuring federal money for Medicaid, the Trump administration launched a new effort Thursday to develop ways to change how the half-century-old safety net program is funded. The move, strongly condemned by advocates for the poor, will likely affect relatively few Americans...
U.N. agency declares global emergency over virus from China
BEIJING — The World Health Organization declared the outbreak sparked by a new virus in China that has been exported to more than a dozen countries as a global emergency Thursday after the number of cases spiked tenfold in a week. The U.N. health agency defines an international emergency as...
Sheetz Christmas campaign collects $700K for children’s charity
Sheetz For the Kidz, a charity affiliated with the Altoona-based Sheetz convenience store chain, raised a record amount in its Christmas 2019 fundraiser for children in need, the company announced on Thursday. The $704,658 raised from in-store customer donations provided toys, clothes and other necessities for more than 9,600 children...
Pentagon seeking Iraqi permission to deploy missile defenses
WASHINGTON — The United States has asked Iraq for permission to put Patriot missile systems at bases hosting U.S. troops to improve defenses against attacks like the Jan. 8 Iranian missile strike that caused brain injuries to more than 50 U.S. troops, Pentagon officials said Thursday. “That is one of...
U.S. reports 1st case of person-to-person spread of new virus
NEW YORK — Health officials Thursday reported the first U.S. case of person-to-person spread of the new virus from China. The man is married to the Chicago woman who got sick from the virus after she returned from a trip to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. There have...
Citing Bolton revelations, Sen. Casey reiterates call for witnesses in impeachment trial
Pennsylvania senior U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, reiterated a call for the inclusion of “relevant” witnesses and documents Thursday morning as he prepared to attend the second day of questioning at the impeachment trial of President Trump. Casey’s comments during a press call Thursday morning came as Republicans continued to...
Trump trial could end soon; Lamar Alexander says no to witnesses
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee declared late Thursday he will oppose calling more witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, all but dashing Democratic efforts to hear more testimony and boosting chances the Senate will vote quickly to acquit the president. The retiring senator announced his decision...
For 1st time in 4 years, U.S. life expectancy rises — a little
NEW YORK — Life expectancy in the United States is up for the first time in four years. The increase is small — just a month — but marks at least a temporary halt to a downward trend. The rise is due to lower death rates for cancer and drug...
Trump support edges up in Pennsylvania poll as impeachment continues
President Trump has grown stronger with Pennsylvania voters despite ongoing impeachment proceedings, a poll finds. A majority of the 628 registered Pennsylvania voters who responded to a Jan. 20-26 Franklin & Marshall Poll said it is time for a change in the White House. Still, 38% of them said President...
GOP optimism grows on blocking witnesses as Democrats focus questions on what John Bolton might knowVideo
WASHINGTON — Former national security adviser John Bolton loomed large in Democratic senators’ inquiries during the question-and-answer phase of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Wednesday, but Republicans are increasingly confident that by the end of the week they will have the votes to rebuff calls to subpoena him and other...
Parent resistance thwarts school desegregation efforts
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — As they try to address stubborn school segregation, many of the nation’s school districts confront a familiar obstacle: resistance from affluent, well-organized and mostly white parents to changes affecting their children’s classrooms. From New York City to Richmond, Va., sweeping proposals to ease inequities have been...
NASA chooses company for first habitable commercial space on space station
The International Space Station may soon become a duplex. NASA announced Houston-based Axiom Space has won the contract to begin to build what could become a commercial space station that connects to to the ISS. The first step is letting Axiom Space hook up to the ISS with an initial...
Humpback whales’ food chain snarled by climate change
LOS ANGELES — Karin Forney still remembers when an unusual number of humpback whales started showing up in Monterey Bay a few winters ago. She could see them out her window — so close to the surf that kayakers could literally paddle up to them. But with this delightful arrival...
3rd-degree murder charge filed in death of 91-year-old grandfatherVideo
WILKES-BARRE — Authorities allege that a man charged in the death of his 91-year-old grandfather last week ingested LSD and exhibited “violent and erratic behavior” that prompted his friends to leave the northeastern Pennsylvania home hours before the victim’s body was found. Nineteen-year-old Joshua Bacon is charged in Luzerne County...
