News category, Page 1596

Pennsylvania could be getting into the pot business. A bill under consideration in the state House of Representatives would legalize the recreational use of marijuana — and give the state a monopoly on its sale. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board would be responsible for establishing and operating pot shops, similar...

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that supervised injection sites designed to prevent overdoses do not violate federal drug laws, giving advocates in Philadelphia and perhaps elsewhere a boost in their efforts to open them. U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh said there’s no evidence that Congress intended 1980s-era...

HARRISBURG — A legislative tug-of-war over altering rules for child sexual abuse claims that occurred too long ago to file lawsuits resumed Wednesday in Pennsylvania’s Capitol, with victims and their advocates on one side and lawyers for religious organizations and the state’s insurance industry on the other. The Judiciary Committee’s...

SAN FRANCISCO — A U.S. judge said Wednesday that a California tour operator is a flight risk and denied him bail while he awaits trial on charges of carrying national security documents to officials in China. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Corley also ordered Xuehua Edward Peng to hire his own...

BAGHDAD — At least seven people were killed and dozens were wounded in clashes that spread across several Iraqi provinces on Wednesday as security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas for the second day to disperse anti-government protesters demanding jobs, improved services and an end to corruption. The deaths...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A former member of the board that oversees South Carolina highways will spend seven months in prison for trying to hire a prostitute just hours after he received probation for admitting he tried to derail an FBI investigation by destroying evidence. John Hardee, 72, was sentenced Wednesday...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Police in Fort Lauderdale have arrested a man who appears on surveillance video to be cutting the brake line on a pair of electric scooters that people rent to ride around the city, police say. Randall Thomas Williams, 59, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, is seen...

LAS VEGAS — A billionaire California technology firm founder and his friend took no-jail plea deals Wednesday that had them donate $1 million to charities while not admitting guilt in a Las Vegas Strip hotel room drug investigation. Henry Thompson Nicholas III and co-defendant Ashley Christine Fargo stood with their...

JERUSALEM — Prosecutors began a pre-indictment hearing for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, opening a critical stage in a lengthy legal saga that threatens to end the career of the long-serving Israeli leader and has paralyzed the country’s political system. Netanyahu’s lawyers sat down with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit...

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders warned the White House on Wednesday to expect a subpoena demanding documents on President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, accusing the administration of “flagrant disregard” of previous requests and saying that refusal could be considered an impeachable offense. Separately, the Democrats accused Trump of “an incitement...

A week after Lt. Gov. John Fetterman urged Pennsylvanians with low-level, nonviolent marijuana convictions to apply for expedited pardons, Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday cautioned that such pardons will not be automatically approved. Fetterman, who chairs the board of pardons, joined Wolf last week in announcing their support for decriminalizing...

In the wake of national concern over illness linked to vaping, one Pennsylvania medical marijuana company is making sure users, in their catchphrase, “know it before you blow it.” Clinton County-based Terrapin Pennsylvania has disclosed all of the ingredients in its vaporizing products at DemandCleanVapes.com, and called on state lawmakers...

High demand for the shingles vaccine means Pennsylvanians wanting to protect themselves against the painful, blister-causing virus might have to wait. “The demand has been unprecedented,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a Pittsburgh-based infectious disease physician. “We want to...

Renewable sources of energy will provide nearly half of the world’s electricity by 2050, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Currently, 28% of global electricity is generated from renewable energy sources such as hydropower, wind and solar technologies. In its International Energy Outlook 2019, EIA projects that renewables will...

WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders’ campaign said Wednesday that the Democratic presidential candidate had a heart procedure for a blocked artery and was canceling events and appearances “until further notice.” The 78-year-old Sanders experienced chest discomfort during an event Tuesday and sought medical evaluation, according to a campaign statement. It said...

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of San Francisco neighbors say they bought boulders and had them delivered to their sidewalk to stop people from camping and dealing drugs on their street. In Los Angeles this summer, the owner of a cultural center erected massive planters around his building to block...

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Authorities in South Carolina say a girl brought two kitchen knives to her elementary school and threatened to kill a boy who had a crush on another girl. Citing a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report, The Island Packet reports the knives were found in the...

Yes, everyone else was experiencing it, too. Twitter and Tweetdeck experienced global outages Tuesday night, and they remained a problem for many users Wednesday morning. Twitter Support said users might have had issues tweeting, getting notifications or viewing direct messages. Users also reported issues with retweeting and using Twitter’s GIF...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A U.S. judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a California law aimed at forcing President Donald Trump to release his personal income tax returns in order to appear on the 2020 primary ballot. U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. issued a written opinion saying the law likely...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A small lizard found among the dunes straddling New Mexico and West Texas in one of the nation’s richest oil basins is at the center of a legal complaint filed Tuesday. Environmentalists want the U.S. government to add the lizard to the endangered species list as part...

ATLANTA — A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked Georgia’s restrictive new abortion law from taking effect, following the lead of other judges who have blocked similar measures in other states. The law signed in May by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp bans abortions once a “detectable human heartbeat” is present,...