What do new flu vaccine standards mean?
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s newly appointed Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) upheld recommendations for the fall flu vaccination to be administered to anyone 6 months and older, as long as the shots are completely mercury-free. While some Western Pennsylvania doctors say the new recommendations won’t change...
Supreme Court upholds Texas law aimed at blocking kids from seeing pornography online
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law aimed at blocking children under 18 from seeing online pornography. Nearly half of all states have passed similar age verification laws as smartphones and other devices make it easier to access online porn, including hardcore obscene material. The ruling...
Supreme Court says Maryland parents can pull their kids from public school lessons using LGBTQ books
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Maryland parents who have religious objections can pull their children from public school lessons using LGBTQ storybooks. The justices reversed lower-court rulings in favor of the Montgomery County school system in suburban Washington. The high court ruled that the schools likely...
Supreme Court OKs fee that subsidizes phone, internet services in schools, libraries and rural areas
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the fee that is added to phone bills to provide billions of dollars a year in subsidized phone and internet services in schools, libraries and rural areas. The justices, by a 6-3 vote, reversed an appeals court ruling that had struck down...
Supreme Court preserves key part of Obamacare coverage requirements
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court preserved a key part of the Affordable Care Act’s preventive health care coverage requirements on Friday, rejecting a challenge from Christian employers to the provision that affects some 150 million Americans. The 6-3 ruling comes in a lawsuit over how the government decides which health...
Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions, but fate of Trump birthright citizenship order unclear
WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court on Friday ruled that individual judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions, but the decision left unclear the fate of President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship. The outcome was a victory for the Republican president, who has complained about individual judges throwing...
Civil War book wins Gettysburg roundtable award for Penn Township author
Penn Township author Ron Kirkwood spent 17 days in 2022 at the National Archives in Washington, DC, scouring hundreds of pension files for the stories of Civil War soldiers and their families. Kirkwood, 70, a Michigan native, worked more than four decades as a newspaper and magazine editor — for...
Family sues over U.S. detention in what may be 1st challenge to courthouse arrests involving kids
A mother and her two young kids are fighting for their release from a Texas immigration detention center in what is believed to be the first lawsuit involving children challenging the Trump administration’s policy on immigrant arrests at courthouses. The lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that the family’s arrests after fleeing...
Supreme Court meets Friday to decide 6 remaining cases, including birthright citizenship
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is meeting Friday to decide the final six cases of its term, including President Donald Trump’s bid to enforce his executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally. The justices take the bench at 10 a.m. for...
Trump says U.S. has signed a deal with China on trade; no details yet
BANGKOK — The U.S. and China have signed an agreement on trade, President Donald Trump said, adding he expects to soon have a deal with India. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg TV that the deal was signed earlier this week. Neither Lutnick nor Trump provided any details about the...
Oslo police announce rape and sexual assault charges against son of Norwegian crown princess
OSLO, Norway — Oslo police on Friday announced charges against Marius Borg Høiby, the eldest son of Norway’s crown princess, on multiple counts including rape, sexual assault and bodily harm after a months-long investigation of a case that involved a “double-digit” number of alleged victims. Høiby, the son of Crown...
Flash floods in Pakistan kill 8 after deluge sweeps away dozens
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Flash floods triggered by pre-monsoon rains swept away dozens of tourists in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least eight people. The nationwide death toll from rain-related incidents rose to 18 over the past 24 hours, officials said. Nearly 100 rescuers in various groups rescued a total...
Justice Department says Kilmar Abrego Garcia will face US trial before any move to deport him again
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Thursday that it intends to try Kilmar Abrego Garcia on federal smuggling charges in Tennessee before it moves to deport him, addressing fears that he could be expelled again from the U.S. within days. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville, Tennessee, recently ruled...
Shark attacks at Hilton Head Island leave 2 injured in a week
Two shark attacks were reported within a week in a popular Pittsburgher vacation spot — Hilton Head Island, S.C. The latest incident happened on Sunday around noon at Coligny Beach Park, People reported. The attack happened near a lifeguard and in front of the beach path. WRDW reported that the...
Israeli strike kills 18 Palestinians in central Gaza as turmoil mounts over food distribution
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike hit a street in central Gaza on Thursday where witnesses said a crowd of people was getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys. Hospital officials said 18 people were killed....
Greensburg Salem passes 2.5-mill tax hike after contested vote, executive session
The Greensburg Salem School Board approved a $53 million budget Wednesday with a 2.5-mill tax hike for the 2025-26 school year. The average property owner with a median assessed value of $17,200 would see a $38 annual increase in their tax bills with a 2.5-mill tax jump — bringing the...
Vatican unveils last of restored Raphael Rooms after 10-year cleaning that yielded new discoveries
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican Museums on Thursday unveiled the last and most important of the restored Raphael Rooms, the spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace that in some ways rival the Sistine Chapel as the peak of high Renaissance artistry. A decade-long project to clean and restore...
States can cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court rules
WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court allowed states to cut off Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood in a ruling handed down Thursday amid a wider Republican-backed push to defund the country’s biggest abortion provider. The 6-3 opinion comes in a case that wasn’t directly about abortion. It’s instead about Medicaid...
Gallery: Photos from June 26, 2025
Embark on a visual journey around the Western Pennsylvania region with TribLive’s latest collection of captivating images for Thursday, June 26, 2025. From the rustic landscapes of Western Pa. to diverse corners of the globe, experience the shared moments of humanity....
Trump’s latest rejection of intelligence assessments reflects a long distrust of spy agencies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s fights with the intelligence community were a running theme of his first term as he raged against an investigation into his campaign’s alleged links to Russia. Now, a sequel is playing out as Trump battles to shape the public’s understanding of his foreign policy gamble...
Key Medicaid provision in Trump’s bill found to violate Senate rules. The GOP is scrambling
WASHINGTON — The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a Medicaid provider tax overhaul central to President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending bill does not adhere to the chamber’s procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow as Republicans rush to finish the package this week. Guidance from the parliamentarian is rarely...
Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remain low
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, a sign that companies aren’t cutting many jobs. Jobless claims dropped 10,000 to 236,000, a historically-low level. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, dipped 750 to 245,000. Applications...
North Korea will open its biggest tour site next week, though it still largely blocks foreigners
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea next week will open a signature coastal tourist site that it says will usher in a new era in its tourism industry, though there is no word on when the country will fully reopen to foreign visitors. The Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone has hotels...
A driver has hit children with a car near an elementary school in Beijing
BEIJING — A driver hit an unknown number of children with their car near an elementary school in an outlying district of Beijing, police and media reports said Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was another case of a driver intentionally running into people in China. A short statement...
International Space Station welcomes its 1st astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first astronauts in more than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, ferried there by SpaceX on a private flight. The crew of four will spend two weeks at the orbiting lab, performing dozens of experiments. They...
