Trump says John Kerry ‘should be prosecuted’ for talking with IranVideo
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Thursday that former Secretary of State John F. Kerry “should be prosecuted” for speaking privately with Iranian officials and, the president claimed, discouraging them from negotiating with his administration. “He’s talking to Iran and has been, has many meetings and many phone calls and he’s...
Tree of Life synagogue attack inspires new hate crimes bills
HARRISBURG — Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania are introducing a package of hate-crimes bills that are inspired by a mass shooting at a Squirrel Hill synagogue that killed 11 worshippers. Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa said Thursday the October attack at the Tree of Life synagogue showed that Pennsylvania law has...
Pennsylvania’s board of education backs changes to school start, dropout ages
Pennsylvania’s State Board of Education is giving its support to proposals by Gov. Tom Wolf to require students start schooling by age 6 and continue until they’re at least 18. The board voted unanimously Wednesday for the Democratic governor’s proposals that he unveiled in February. The Republican-controlled Legislature still must...
Charges dropped against woman with CBD oil at Disney World
ORLANDO, Fla. — Prosecutors in Florida have dropped a drug charge against a woman who was arrested after a guard found CBD oil while searching her purse at a Walt Disney World security checkpoint. Prosecutors said late last month in a court filing that the case against 69-year-old Hester Burkhalter...
Trump calls on Congress to end ‘surprise medical bills’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday called for an end to “surprise medical bills,” the astonishingly high charges insured patients can face when a member of a medical team that treats them is not in their insurer’s network. “Not a pleasant surprise,” Trump said of bills that arrive in...
New analysis: Trump deficits worse than promised
WASHINGTON — A new nonpartisan analysis says President Donald Trump’s budget plan would produce significantly larger budget deficits than promised when it was released in March, mostly because its estimates of economic growth are too rosy. The Congressional Budget Office estimate says Trump’s budget, if enacted in its entirety, would...
Popular Virginia children’s singer faces child porn charge
RESTON, Va. — A popular children’s performer in northern Virginia has been arrested and charged with possessing child pornography. Fairfax County Police said on Thursday that 58-year-old Steven Rossi of Reston was arrested April 30 on 10 felony counts. Rossi performed under the name M. Knick Knack and has been...
U.S. prosecutors add hate crime charges in California synagogue shooting
SAN DIEGO — Federal officials announced Thursday that they have filed 109 hate crime charges against the 19-year-old man accused of opening fire in a Southern California synagogue. Prosecutors say the gunman, identified as John T. Earnest, killed a woman and wounded an 8-year-old girl, her uncle and Rabbi Yisroel...
Ex-Pennsylvania Special Olympics coach charged with raping player
A former coach for Berks County’s Special Olympics soccer team has been charged with raping a player with intellectual disabilities and will head to trial. The Reading Eagle reports Michael Sheldon was ordered held without bail after Thursday’s preliminary hearing on charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual assault and related...
U.S. seizes North Korean cargo ship for violating sanctions
WASHINGTON — The United States said Thursday that it has seized a North Korean cargo ship that was used to violate international sanctions, a first-of-its kind enforcement action that comes amid a tense moment in relations between the two countries. The “Wise Honest,” North Korea’s second largest cargo ship, was...
U.S. sanctions to hit Iran’s metals industry, a major employer
TEHRAN, Iran — U.S. sanctions have targeted Iran’s government, its paramilitary forces and the oil exports that fund them. Now they are hitting its vital steel, aluminum, copper and iron industries. The new sanctions, imposed as Tehran announced its partial withdrawal from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, seem...
Britain goes first week without coal power since 1882
Britain is moving closer to not using any coal to generate electric power. The country went a week without using the fuel to produce electricity for the first time since it opened a coal-fired plant in 1882, reports The Guardian. I am proud that Britain has gone a record week...
The costliest $29 they’ll ever win: NJ levies $25K gambling fine
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A gambler from Nevada lost $29 on a New Jersey internet gambling site, but the transactions cost a technology company $25,000. New Jersey regulators have fined Gaming Innovation Group for a flaw in its geolocation technology, which is designed to make sure people are within the...
Sister: 9-year-old boy accused of killing mom just ‘snapped’
FAWN RIVER TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The adult sister of a 9-year-old boy who is charged with killing their mother said he has mental health problems and probably just “snapped” on the day of the shooting. “My mom would not want him to be labeled a murderer,” Reagan Martin, 23, told...
Facebook auto-generates videos celebrating extremist images
WASHINGTON — The animated video begins with a photo of the black flags of jihad. Seconds later, it flashes highlights of a year of social media posts: plaques of anti-Semitic verses, talk of retribution and a photo of two men carrying more jihadi flags while they burn the stars and...
Fake German heiress gets up to 12 years in prison
NEW YORK — The German con artist who passed herself off as a wealthy heiress was sentenced Thursday to four 12 years behind bars for swindling New York banks and hotels out of tens of thousands of dollars. Judge Diane Kiesel says she was “stunned by the depth of the...
Berlin park’s drug dealer solution panned by authorities
BERLIN — A creative attempt by a downtown Berlin park manager to keep drug dealers away from families and joggers has been met with an emphatic “nein” from German officials. Cengiz Demirci demarcated certain areas in the popular Goerlitzer Park with pink spray-painted lines for the dealers to stand behind,...
Greensburg woman’s spiritual mission: ‘Kindness and love for everyone’
Joyce McCauley may not have been missionary material at the beginning, but that didn’t deter her from following a calling that would take her life in a radically different direction. The mother, wife and businesswoman decided to enter the foreign mission field with her husband, Don, in the early 1990s....
Chef stopped at Los Angeles airport with 40 frozen piranhas
LOS ANGELES — A famous South American chef says he was stopped as he brought 40 piranhas in a duffel bag through Los Angeles International Airport. Virgilio Martinez, chef-owner of Central restaurant in Peru, tells the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that he hoped to serve the predatory, sharp-toothed fish...
No prison after Bucks County baby dies from drug-laced breast milk
CHALFONT, Pa. — A Pennsylvania mother who prosecutors say killed her 11-week-old son with a lethal mix of drugs in her breast milk is not going to prison. Under terms of a plea agreement, a judge has sentenced 31-year-old Samantha Jones to three years’ probation and 100 hours of community...
Philly woman who threw big prom party spared prison term for fraud
A Philadelphia woman who made headlines for an elaborate prom send-off has been spared a prison term for Social Security fraud. Saudia Shuler was ordered Wednesday to pay back the nearly $37,000 in benefits, do 100 hours of community service and serve three years of probation with six months house...
Notre Dame’s melted roof leaves astronomical lead levels
PARIS — Notre Dame Cathedral’s melted roof has left astronomically high lead levels in the plaza outside and adjacent roads. Paris police say lead levels from the roof were found to be between 10 and 20 grams per kilogram of ground — between 32 and 65 times the recommended limit...
Pennsylvania ranks as 3rd best state to spot Bigfoot
Don’t we all have that one odd relative that insists on having spotted Bigfoot while camping one time? No? Just me? Turns out, for those living in Pennsylvania it’s not such a far-fetched situation. In fact, Pennsylvania seems to be among the best states to see the big, hairy creature...
‘Art of the Deal’ co-author calls for Trump book to be pulled or ‘recategorized’ as fiction
Decorated in eye-catching gold lettering, President Donald Trump’s 1987 memoir - a self-described “common sense guide to personal finance” - is touted as “a firsthand account of the rise of America’s foremost deal-maker.” But following news this week that Trump reported more than $1 billion in financial losses to the...
Australia takes responsibility for typos on 46M bank notes
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s central bank has taken responsibility for typos on 46 million bank notes after a radio station posted an image of the microscopic error on social media. Triple M radio posted on Instagram on Thursday a magnified photograph of a 50 Australian dollar ($35) note showing the...
