Thousands protest mask ban as Hong Kong leader toughens stance
HONG KONG — Defiant masked protesters rampaged, police fired tear gas, and a teen was wounded by gunfire hours after Hong Kong’s embattled leader banned masks at rallies, invoking rarely used emergency powers to quell four months of anti-government demonstrations. Challenging the ban, which went into effect Saturday, thousands of...
NYPD officer killed by friendly fire is hailed as a hero
MONROE, N.Y. — As bagpipers marched silently to the beat of a somber drum, a New York City police officer killed by friendly fire during a struggle with an armed man was honored at his funeral Friday as a hero and a dedicated, compassionate professional who put his heart into...
North Huntingdon engineer saw the world
Roger Lewis’ love of trains took him from Argentina to Pennsylvania and back again. He was born in Buenos Aires and came to Wilmerding in 1960 as an engineer in training for Westinghouse Air Brake. His career with Westinghouse would take him and his family back to Argentina for two...
Unsupervised accused priests teach, counsel, adopt children
Nearly 1,700 priests and other clergy members that the Roman Catholic Church considers credibly accused of child sexual abuse are living under the radar with little to no oversight from religious authorities or law enforcement, decades after the first wave of the church abuse scandal roiled U.S. dioceses, an Associated...
Fading Spanish town keeps light on native saint
MAYORGA, Spain (AP) — Dressed in his best attire, Jesús María de la Viuda rushed to join neighbors for the patron saint festival in the Spanish town of Mayorga, a 282-year-old annual tradition that older residents religiously keep alive and fear might die off when they do. A two-part procession...
Bodycam footage shows white officer on horseback threaten to drag black man led by ropeVideo
Remember when news came out two months ago that mounted police in Galveston, Texas arrested a homeless black man and transported him to headquarters by rope? The Associated Press has released body cam footage of the incident, and the audio may be more shocking than the imagery. Photos of the...
Despite complaints, Penn State sticks with its traffic, parking plan
As more than 100,000 fans make plans to head to Penn State’s homecoming game in time for the kickoff at noon Saturday, university officials say they’re ready to give their new game-day parking and traffic system another try. Before this year, football fans could use any route through campus to...
Not just Ukraine, Trump now calls for China to investigate BidensVideo
WASHINGTON — Ensnared in an impeachment inquiry over his once-secret appeal for Ukraine to investigate an American political rival, President Trump openly underscored that request Thursday and flung it wider, urging global rival China to probe Democrat Joe Biden and his son. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence said Americans...
Maker of shingles vaccine working to overcome shortfall
Kathie Geary waited 10 months for a shingles vaccine. It was five months longer than her husband, who got the in-demand shot series through the VA. “The last time, you could go right in and they had it,” said Geary, 69, of East Deer. “Right now, it doesn’t seem like...
On National Voter Registration Day, 16,000 Pennsylvanians got on the rolls
Initial estimates show that 16,000 Pennsylvanians registered to vote on National Voter Registration Day, which was Sept. 24. Nationwide, roughly 400,000 people registered, a number touted by organizers as unprecedented for an off year, when there is neither a presidential nor midterm election. More than 800,000 voters were registered nationally...
U.S. vaping illnesses top 1,000, death count is up to 18
NEW YORK — The number of vaping-related illnesses has surpassed 1,000, and there’s no sign the outbreak is fading, U.S. health officials said Thursday. Doctors say the illnesses, which first appeared in March, resemble an inhalation injury. Symptoms include severe, shortness of breath, fatigue, and chest pain. Most who got...
Startled car prowler suspect caught on cameraVideo
A car prowler suspect appears quite surprised to see a camera light up as it began recording his activity. Police in Beaverton, Ore., have a solid lead on who might be responsible for rummaging through cars in an apartment parking lot, reports KOIN 6 News. A woman found her car...
330 coins found in stomach of dead alligator at zoo in Japan
Hundreds of coins may have given this alligator a sinking feeling but probably did not cause the reptile’s death. More than 330 coins were discovered in the stomach of a dead alligator at a zoo in Nagoya, Japan, in May, reports The Japan Times. The metal discs were apparently swallowed...
Twin births in U.S. now going down, at lowest level in decade
Fewer U.S. families are seeing double, according to a government report that finds a drop in new twins. Twin births steadily increased for more than three decades, driven largely by older white moms undergoing fertility treatments. But the rate of twin births apparently peaked in 2014 and has fallen 4%...
KISS to rock for sharks, fans under the seaVideo
Having played nearly every corner of the Earth in a nearly 50-year career, the rock band KISS is taking its show to a new place — under the sea, where they will perform for great white sharks and eight fans separated from them by a small submarine. As part of...
22 hurt in parachute training at Mississippi military base
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — At least 22 soldiers have been injured as hundreds parachuted onto a Mississippi military base during a night training exercise. U.S. Army spokesman John Pennell told WDAM-TV that the paratroopers were among 650 soldiers jumping from C-130 planes Wednesday night. Some were blown off course from their...
Gov. Tom Wolf looks to set price, caps on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf is taking a big step in his effort to fight climate change in the nation’s fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. Wolf, a Democrat, on Thursday ordered his administration to start working on regulations to bring Pennsylvania into a nine-state consortium that sets a price and...
Knife attack by employee at Paris police HQ kills 4 officers
PARIS — An employee armed with a knife attacked officers inside Paris police headquarters Thursday, killing at least four before he was fatally shot, a French police union official said. Police union official Loic Travers told reporters the attack appears to have begun in an office and continued elsewhere in...
Pennsylvania to move forward on power plant emission caps
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration will start working to bring Pennsylvania into a regional consortium that sets a price and caps on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, part of the Democrat’s agenda to fight climate change. Wolf will make a formal announcement Thursday that he is ordering a...
Ex-leader of North Carolina GOP admits to lying to FBI in corruption case
CHARLOTTE — The former chairman of North Carolina’s Republican Party admitted Wednesday that he broke the law by lying to federal agents about his role in an alleged effort to bribe the state’s top insurance regulator to help a major GOP donor. Robin Hayes, 74, pleaded guilty to making a...
Pennsylvania bill would legalize pot, make state the only seller
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...
Woman who climbed in exhibit with lions at Bronx Zoo identifies herself on social mediaVideo
The woman who climbed into the lion’s den at the Bronx Zoo during the weekend has identified herself — kinda — by way of social media. The unbelievably audacious daredevil calls herself Myáh Lareé Israelite, according to her instagram profile where she also posted a video of her climbing into...
U.S. judge: Injection sites don’t violate federal drug laws
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...
Dallas cop Amber Guyger gets 10 years in prison for killing her neighborVideo
DALLAS — The brother of a black man who was shot dead by a white Dallas police officer who said she mistook the victim’s apartment for her own forgave the officer and embraced her Wednesday as she sobbed after being sentenced to a decade in prison. As people outside of...
Pa. senators weigh altering child sex abuse lawsuit time limits
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...
