New database tracks how tens of millions in opioid settlement dollars are being spent
HARRISBURG — A first-of-its-kind database from Spotlight PA will make it easier for the public to track how Pennsylvania counties decided to spend tens of millions of dollars from their first rounds of opioid settlement payments — and whether a powerful state oversight board ultimately approved those decisions. Pennsylvania expects...
4 formerly undecided Pennsylvanians explain how they voted
HARRISBURG — The 2024 presidential election is over. And after months at the center of the political universe, Pennsylvania voters have shown the nation how they feel politically: Most picked Donald Trump. Trump beat Kamala Harris in the commonwealth by a little less than 2 percentage points. It was a...
Biden becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Amazon rainforest
MANAUS, Brazil — Joe Biden toured the drought-shrunken waters of the Amazon River’s greatest tributary Sunday as the first sitting American president to set foot in the legendary rainforest, while the incoming Trump administration seems poised to scale back the U.S. commitment to combating climate change. The massive Amazon region,...
A rare Israeli strike on central Beirut kills Hezbollah’s spokesman, official says
BEIRUT — A rare Israeli airstrike on central Beirut killed Hezbollah’s chief spokesman on Sunday, an official with the militant group said. Earlier, officials said Israeli strikes killed at least 12 people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with the Palestinian Hamas for over a year....
8 killed, 17 injured after knife attack at vocational school in China
BEIJING — Eight people were killed and 17 others injured after a stabbing attack at a vocational school in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi on Saturday night, local police said. The attack occurred at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing county at around 18:30 local...
Investigation reveals Russian factory’s plan to mix decoys with a new deadly weapon in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — A high-tech factory in central Russia has created a new, deadly force to attack Ukraine: a small number of highly destructive thermobaric drones surrounded by huge swarms of cheap foam decoys. The plan, which Russia dubbed Operation False Target, is intended to force Ukraine to expend scarce...
Israeli troops reach deepest point in Lebanon since Oct. 1 invasion, Lebanese media say
BEIRUT — Israeli ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon since they invaded six weeks ago before pulling back Saturday after battles with Hezbollah militants, Lebanese state media reported. The clashes and further Israeli bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, came as Lebanese and Hezbollah officials study...
Fire engulfs hospital ward in northern India, killing 10 newborn babies
LUCKNOW, India — A fire tore through a neonatal intensive care unit in a hospital in northern India, killing 10 newborn babies and injuring 16 others, authorities said. The fire occurred late Friday at a hospital in Jhansi city in India’s Uttar Pradesh state. Officials said the blaze spread quickly...
Pakistani province declares health emergency due to smog and locks down 2 cities
LAHORE, Pakistan — A Pakistani province declared a health emergency Friday due to smog and imposed a shutdown in two major cities. Smog has choked Punjab for weeks, sickening nearly 2 million people and shrouding vast swathes of the province in a toxic haze. A senior provincial minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb,...
Lebanon’s prime minister asks Iran to help secure a cease-fire in Israel-Hezbollah war
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister on Friday asked Iran to help secure a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah and appeared to urge it to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border. As a...
United Nations faces uncertainty as Trump returns to U.S. presidency
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations and other international organizations are bracing for four more years of Donald Trump, who famously tweeted before becoming president the first time that the 193-member U.N. was “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” In his first...
Trump’s pick to lead Defense Department was accused of sexual assault in 2017
WASHINGTON — Pete Hegseth, a popular Fox News host who is Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense, was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a speaking appearance at a Republican women’s event in Monterey, California, according to a statement released by the city. No charges were...
Rudy Giuliani has turned over his luxury watches in defamation case, rep says
NEW YORK — A representative for Rudy Giuliani says the former New York City mayor is relinquishing his cherished watches ahead of a Friday deadline to turn over his assets to two former Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgment against him. A judge last week ordered...
Daughters of Malcolm X sue the CIA, FBI and NYPD over the civil rights leader’s assassination
NEW YORK — Three daughters of Malcolm X have accused the CIA, FBI, the New York Police Department and others in a $100 million lawsuit Friday of playing roles in the 1965 assassination of the civil rights leader In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, the daughters — along...
Trial begins for the man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley
ATHENS, Ga. — A Venezuelan man “went hunting for females on the University of Georgia’s campus” earlier this year and ended up killing nursing student Laken Riley after a struggle, a prosecutor said Friday. A defense attorney said the evidence is circumstantial and doesn’t prove his client is guilty. Jose...
Texas Supreme Court rules against lawmakers who stopped execution with last-minute subpoena
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that a legislative subpoena cannot be used to stop an execution after Republican and Democratic lawmakers used the novel maneuver to pause Robert Roberson’s lethal injection at the last minute. The ruling addressed a subpoena issued for Roberson by the Texas House Criminal...
Maryland looks to preserve over 1,100 acres to protect against development and solar farms
BALTIMORE — Harford County is moving to preserve 1,110 acres of agricultural land to meet its goal of preserving 75,000 acres by 2040 as solar farms pose mounting pressure for land use across the state. The 1,110 acres for preservation are outlined in 19 resolutions introduced to the Harford County...
Belize issues warnings as Tropical Storm Sara scrapes along Honduran coast, bringing heavy rain
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — Belize issued tropical storm warnings for the Central American country’s coast on Friday as Tropical Storm Sara moved through the Caribbean, dousing Honduras’ northern coast with heavy rain. Sustained rain fell overnight in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, but there were no signs...
Judge sets April trial for 3 former officers charged with murder in Tyre Nichols’ beating
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Three former Memphis police officers charged with murder in the beating of Tyre Nichols will go on trial in April, a judge decided Friday. Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith have pleaded not guilty to state charges of second-degree murder in the death of Nichols, who...
Gallery: Photos from Nov. 15, 2024
Photos from around the Western Pennsylvania region for Friday, Nov. 15, 2024....
Insurers say bear that damaged luxury cars was actually a person in a costume
LOS ANGELES — California has seen its share of bears breaking into cars. But bears caught on camera entering luxury cars tipped off insurers that something wasn’t quite right. In what’s dubbed “Operation Bear Claw,” the California Insurance Department said four Los Angeles residents were arrested Wednesday, accused of defrauding...
As he fills his new administration, Trump values loyalty above all else
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump spent much of his first term feeling stung and betrayed by those he’d placed in power. This time, he’s not taking chances. As he works to fill his administration a second time, Trump has turned to a head-spinning mix of candidates. Many of those he’s chosen...
Trump wants to end ‘wokeness’ in education. He has vowed to use federal money as leverage
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s vision for education revolves around a single goal: to rid America’s schools of perceived ” wokeness ” and “left-wing indoctrination.” The president-elect wants to keep transgender athletes out of girls’ sports. He wants to forbid classroom lessons on gender identity and structural racism. He wants to...
Trump is already testing Congress and daring Republicans to oppose him
WASHINGTON — After a resounding election victory, delivering what President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans call a “mandate” to govern, an uneasy political question is emerging: Will there be any room for dissent in the U.S. Congress? Trump is laying down a gauntlet even before taking office challenging the Senate, in...
The last actions the Biden administration will take before Trump takes over the White House
WASHINGTON — Biden administration officials are working against the clock doling out billions in grants and taking other steps to try to preserve at least some of the outgoing president’s legacy before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. “Let’s make every day count,” President Joe Biden said in an...
