16-year-old girl arrested in plot to attack predominantly black church in Georgia
ATLANTA — A white 16-year-old girl is accused of plotting to attack a mostly black church in a north Georgia city, where police say she planned to kill worshippers because of their race. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church has a predominantly black congregation, Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish said Tuesday...
Pennsylvania lawmaker John Yudichak switches from Democrat to independent
HARRISBURG — A moderate Democrat in Pennsylvania’s state Senate from an area that shifted decisively to support Donald Trump in 2016’s presidential election is switching his registration to become an independent and said Tuesday that he will caucus with the Republican majority. In a news conference in his Capitol office,...
Trump spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham says Obama aides left behind mean notes
WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Tuesday that Obama administration aides left behind taunting notes for incoming Trump officials when they handed over their offices in 2017. Numerous Obama aides denounced the accusation as fiction. “We came into the White House. I’ll tell you something, every office...
Latrobe woman loved travel, history
One year in the late 1990s, Olive Hostovich learned she’d be hosting the extended family for Christmas in Latrobe. “We came from all over the country,” said her daughter Laura Braun, of Glenmoore, Chester County. “California, from Texas; we lived in Philadelphia; my sister lived in Williamsport; aunts, uncles; it...
Amnesty says at least 106 killed in Iran protests
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Days of protests in Iran over rising fuel prices and a subsequent government crackdown have killed at least 106 people across the Islamic Republic, Amnesty International said Tuesday, citing “credible reports.” Iran’s government, which has not made nationwide numbers available for the toll of the...
Pa. bill limiting gifts to public officials moves in Legislature
HARRISBURG — A legislative committee voted Tuesday to advance new limits on gifts to Pennsylvania public officials, including an outright prohibition on taking cash, although the proposal includes numerous exceptions. The House State Government Committee unanimously approved an annual limit on the cash value of gifts and hospitality that public...
Trump call ‘improper,’ ‘unusual,’ White House aides testifyVideo
WASHINGTON — A career Army officer testified Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine was “improper,” as Republicans tried to undercut the national security official with pointed exchanges questioning his loyalty to the U.S. during a remarkable day in the impeachment hearings. Arriving on Capitol Hill in military blue...
Jeffrey Epstein jail guards charged with falsifying records
NEW YORK — Two jail guards responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself were charged Tuesday with falsifying prison records to conceal they were sleeping and browsing the internet during the hours they were supposed to be keeping a close watch on prisoners. Guards Toval Noel and...
New flu antiviral drug may lessen length, symptoms of illness
For those who become ill with the flu, a new antiviral medication may help. “This is really kind of a blockbuster,” says Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group. “We have not had a new influenza antiviral drug in a couple of decades.” “New in this...
Hiatal hernia repair options include laparoscopic, robotic surgery
Dear Mayo Clinic: After a recent CT scan, endoscopy and colonoscopy, I learned that I have a hiatal hernia containing both stomach and colon and extrinsic stenosis at the splenic flexure. My understanding is that this is rare and that I will need surgery. Will I need to find a...
Hospital fall prevention rules can harm patients by keeping them in bed
Dorothy Twigg was living on her own, cooking and walking without help until a dizzy spell landed her in the emergency room. She spent three days confined to a hospital bed, allowed to get up only to use a bedside commode. Twigg, who was in her 80s, was livid about...
South Dakota’s governor defends ‘Meth. We’re on it’ campaignVideo
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — South Dakota sparked online guffaws Monday by rolling out an anti-drug campaign featuring people saying, “Meth, I’m on it,” and the governor said the backlash proves the effort to raise awareness is working. The nearly $1.4 million campaign aimed at tackling the state’s methamphetamine epidemic includes...
Criminal charges expected this week against Jeffrey Epstein’s guards
WASHINGTON — Two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein when he took his own life are expected to face criminal charges this week for falsifying prison records, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The federal charges could come as soon as Tuesday and are the...
Trump backing off banning vaping flavors popular with teensVideo
WASHINGTON — When President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One to fly to a Kentucky campaign rally two weeks ago, a plan was in place for him to give final approval to a plan to ban most flavored e-cigarettes. By the time Trump landed back at Joint Base Andrews outside...
House lawyer says committee investigating whether Trump lied to MuellerVideo
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives’ top lawyer told a federal appeals court Monday that the House is investigating whether President Donald Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller, and the attorney urged the judges to order the release of still-secret material from Mueller’s investigation. Two of the three judges...
Prosecutors: Sean Kratz spared the death penalty in grisly slayings on Pennsylvania farmVideo
PHILADELPHIA — In a surprise move Monday, Bucks County prosecutors decided not to pursue the death penalty against Sean Kratz in the violent murders of three young men on a remote Solebury township farm. Kratz will instead face a mandatory sentence of life in prison for his first-degree murder conviction...
Chief justice orders delay in House fight for Trump records
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts is ordering an indefinite delay in the House of Representatives’ demand for President Donald Trump’s financial records. Roberts’ order Monday contains no hint about how the Supreme Court ultimately will resolve the dispute. It follows a filing by the House earlier Monday in which...
Jury awards $1.4M to man who got vasectomy, not circumcision
DES MOINES, Iowa — A jury in Iowa has awarded $1.4 million to a Burmese immigrant who wanted a circumcision but instead got a vasectomy. The Des Moines Register reports that the jury last week leveled a $2 million judgment against Dr. Kevin Birusingh, who performed the vasectomy. But jurors...
Philadelphia man convicted in deaths of 3 men gets life in prison
DOYLESTOWN — A man convicted in the slayings of three young men found buried at a suburban Philadelphia farm was sentenced to life in prison after authorities dropped their pursuit of the death penalty. A Bucks County judge sentenced 22-year-old Sean Kratz to life in prison without parole Monday, three...
Police chief: 3 killed in shooting in Oklahoma Walmart parking lotVideo
DUNCAN, Okla. — Two men and a woman were fatally shot Monday morning outside a Walmart store in southwestern Oklahoma, and the shooter is among the dead, authorities said. Two victims were shot inside a car and the third was killed in the parking lot just before 10 a.m. outside...
Pennsylvania agrees to upgrade inmates’ death row conditions
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s prison agency agreed to improve death row conditions under a settlement announced Monday of a federal lawsuit that called the inmates’ living standards degrading and inhumane. Lawyers for the inmates who sued said the agreement provides people on death row with at least 42½ hours a week...
AP report: U.S. officials knew of Ukraine’s Trump anxiety
WASHINGTON — Despite his denials, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was feeling pressure from the Trump Administration to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden before his July phone call with President Donald Trump that has led to impeachment hearings. In early May, staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, including then-Ambassador...
Fact check: Trump’s attack on diplomat, impeachment myths
WASHINGTON — Truth was lost in the first round of historic impeachment hearings as President Donald Trump launched a tweet attack on a senior U.S. diplomat that distorted reality and Republicans cried foul, claiming improper stifling of questioning that wasn’t so. Over two days, the hearings by the House Intelligence...
U.S. draws fewer new foreign students for 3rd straight year
The number of foreign students coming to U.S. colleges and universities continued to fall last year, according to a new report, but the Trump administration says the drop should be blamed on high tuition costs and not students’ concerns over the nation’s political atmosphere. An annual report from the Institute...
4 dead, 6 wounded in California football party shooting
FRESNO, Calif. — Four people were killed and six more wounded when “unknown suspects” sneaked into a backyard filled with people at a party in central California and fired into the crowd, police said. The shooting took place about 6 p.m. on the Fresno’s southeast side, where people were gathered...
