A lingering question in the college admissions scandal: Why?
LOS ANGELES — A college admissions scandal caught actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, a fashion designer, lawyers, CEOs and other wealthy families in an elaborate scheme to pay top dollar to ensure their kids got into elite universities. William “Rick” Singer, who ran a for-profit college admissions company in...
Gambino crime family boss Frank Cali shot, killed
NEW YORK — Gambino crime family boss Frank (Franky Boy) Cali was gunned down and run over Wednesday night in a gory hit in front of his Staten Island home, police sources said. Cali, 53, was shot six times in the chest, and run over by a blue pickup truck...
Malaysia backtracks on plan to abolish death penalty
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s government backtracked Wednesday on abolishing capital punishment, saying instead that the death penalty would no longer be mandatory for selected offenses. Rights groups slammed the reversal and urged it to reconsider. Deputy Law Minister Hanipa Maidin made the announcement in parliament but didn’t give any...
Lynn Hoak, wife of Steelers coach, devoted life to family
While her husband was on the road as the running backs coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Lynn Hoak dedicated herself to her children. “She was always centered around the house and the family,” said her daughter Kelly Shuster. She would ferry them to dance lessons, skating lessons and other activities,...
Beto O’Rourke says, ‘I’m running,’ heads to Iowa
Beto O’Rourke starts a three-day trip to Iowa on Thursday, taking a first — and very high profile ◊ step into the crowded Democratic field for president, four months after narrowly losing a Texas Senate race that propelled him to national stardom. By Saturday night, the three-term congressman from El...
7 file papers to run for 2 Pennsylvania Superior Court seats
HARRISBURG — Four Democrats and three Republicans have filed petitions to get on primary ballots for a seat on Pennsylvania’s mid-level appellate court that handles civil and criminal appeals from county courts. Filings were due Tuesday for the May 21 primary for two open Superior Court seats. Democrats filing include...
Guard won’t be charged in shooting outside LA synagogue
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles prosecutors say they won’t charge a synagogue security guard accused of shooting a person who was recording video of the building. The Los Angeles Times reports the announcement Thursday came as the woman who was shot filed a civil lawsuit against the guard and his...
Judge won’t let unvaccinated children back in New York school
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A federal judge, citing an “unprecedented measles outbreak” in suburban Rockland County, New York, has denied a request to let 44 unvaccinated children return to school. Parents of students in the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge have sued the county health department. They say...
Streets weren’t so mean to Howard Schultz’s Brooklyn peers
BROOKLYN — When Howard Schultz tells people why he should be president of the United States, the billionaire often tells a story of a poor kid who escaped from the chaos and cacophony of a Brooklyn housing project to become the architect of a global coffee behemoth. The man who...
Democrats claim wins in Pennsylvania House special elections
HARRISBURG — Democrats are claiming victory in special elections to fill two vacant Pennsylvania state House seats. Movita Johnson-Harrell claimed victory Tuesday night in the election to a west Philadelphia seat, while Bridget Malloy Kosierowski claimed victory in a Scranton-area district. Both seats were occupied most recently by Democrats: Lackawanna...
‘Epic’ storm brings blizzards, floods, tornado to mid-U.S.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A window-rattling late winter storm sent blizzards, floods and a tornado across more than 25 states Wednesday, stretching from the northern Rocky Mountains to Texas and beyond. “This is a very epic cyclone,” said Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s...
Do voters long for a policy wonk? Elizabeth Warren hopes so
NEW YORK — More than 1,000 people packed a New York concert venue for an act that wasn’t on guitar and drums. It was Elizabeth Warren, vocalizing hard numbers. The Massachusetts Democratic senator wove data points into a stump speech that riffed on the policy proposals she’s rolled out in...
States weigh bans on shackling jailed mothers during childbirth
SALT LAKE CITY — Michelle Aldana gave birth to her first child chained to a hospital bed. Then serving time at the Utah state prison on a drug charge, she says she labored through the difficult 2001 birth for nearly 30 hours, her ankles bleeding as the shackles on both...
Tennessee high court rules for reporter in defamation suit
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Supreme Court on Wednesday expanded protections for reporters by ruling they can only be held libel for defamation if their reporting is not fair and accurate, regardless of their personal feelings toward a subject. Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk sued investigative reporter Phil Williams for...
Pentagon warns of cyberattacks from Russia, China, N. Korea, Iran
WASHINGTON — Cyberattacks from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran are increasingly sophisticated and, until recently, were done with little concern for the consequences, the top Pentagon cyber leaders told a congressional committee on Wednesday. Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of U.S. Cyber Command, laid out the escalating threats, following...
School rampage in Brazil leaves 9 dead, many wounded
SUZANO, Brazil — Two masked men armed with guns, knives, axes and crossbows descended on a school in southern Brazil on Wednesday, killing five students and two adults before taking their own lives, authorities said. The men, identified as former students at the school in a suburb of Sao Paulo,...
Manafort gets 7 years in prison, then faces fresh N.Y. charges
WASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to a total of seven and a half years in prison on federal charges Wednesday, then was hit almost immediately with fresh state charges in New York that could put him outside the president’s power to pardon. In Washington, U.S....
Dozens trapped in Nigeria school collapse; at least 8 dead
LAGOS, Nigeria — Emergency crews sifted through debris as night fell on frantic efforts to rescue scores of school children and others feared trapped inside a three-story building that collapsed Wednesday in Nigeria’s densely populated commercial capital, Lagos. At least eight people were confirmed dead and 37 others were rescued...
As Brexit day nears, British lawmakers to vote on requesting delay from EU
LONDON — British lawmakers have gone on record saying they don’t want the U.K. to leave the European Union without a divorce agreement in place, increasing the odds that Brexit won’t take place as planned at the end of the month. With an approaching deadline intensifying fears that economic and...
‘Full House’ actress Lori Loughlin out on bond in bribery case
LOS ANGELES — Colleges and companies moved swiftly to distance themselves from employees swept up in a nationwide college admissions scheme, many of them coaches accused of taking bribes and others prominent parents accused of angling to get their children into top schools by portraying them as recruited athletes. That...
State Department says Khashoggi’s killing was human rights abuse
WASHINGTON — The State Department on Wednesday characterized the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by government agents as a human rights abuse but avoided implicating Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA concluded was likely to have ordered it. In its annual human rights report of abuses in...
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful removes 7.2 million pounds of trash
Talk about taking out the trash. The Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful program resulted in 7.2 million pounds of trash being disposed of in 2018, thanks to the work of nearly 130,000 volunteers, according to a spokeswoman for the organization. In addition, 2.3 million pounds of electronics waste and over 43,000 tires...
Texas report: Pennsylvania 2nd only to us in natural gas production
Texas may be the biggest natural gas producer in the country, but Pennsylvania isn’t far behind — and it’s gaining. A Texas oil and gas trade association acknowledged as much in its recently-released 2019 State of Energy Report. The report by the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association, or...
Arkansas lawmakers send governor 18-week abortion ban
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas lawmakers have sent the governor legislation banning most abortions 18 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy, a prohibition that could be the strictest in the country. The House on Wednesday gave final approval by an 86-1 vote to the bill, which Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has...
Trump: U.S. grounding Boeing 737 Max 8, 9 after Ethiopia crash
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says the U.S. is issuing an emergency order grounding all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft in the wake of a crash of an Ethiopian Airliner that killed 157 people. Many nations in the world had already barred the Boeing 737 Max 8...
