Israel widens evacuation orders in southern Gaza after a deadly strike on a school-turned-shelter
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military ordered more evacuations in southern Gaza early Sunday, a day after a deadly airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the north killed at least 80 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. The airstrike was one of the deadliest attacks in the 10-month war....
House explosion in Maryland kills 2, damages nearby homes
BEL AIR, Md. — Two people were killed and 12 families displaced after a Maryland house exploded Sunday amid reports of a possible gas leak, fire officials said. Neighbors described feeling and hearing the early morning blast that damaged a number of surrounding houses in Bel Air, a town about...
Early Harris-Walz rallies feature big crowds, talk of ‘joy’ and unsolicited GOP counterprogramming
LAS VEGAS — Big crowds, go-to applause lines, talk of joy — and some unsolicited Republican counterprogramming. These were common themes during the first big campaign swing for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as the new Democratic ticket barnstormed through five battleground states...
Trump reportedly used a slur against Harris in private conversations
Former President Donald Trump reportedly has used a slur often targeted at women to describe Vice President Kamala Harris during at least two private conversations. His campaign denies it. The New York Times cited two people who, on different occasions, heard Trump call Harris a “b—.” The people were granted...
Vance hails Trump’s Fed idea and pushes back against criticism over past words on American families
ATLANTA — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance used a round of Sunday news show appearances to disparage the Democratic ticket and promote Donald Trump’s record and second-term plans and defend himself from criticism over past remarks that have become a campaign issue. The Ohio senator, in a series of...
‘I don’t want to die,’ Uvalde student told 911 dispatcher during mass shooting
DALLAS — As law enforcement officers hung back outside Khloie Torres’ fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas, she begged for help in a series of 911 calls, whispering into the phone that there were “a lot” of bodies and telling the operator: “Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is...
Will Israeli-Palestinian conflict protests, encampments resurface when college resumes?
Alon Leshem, a rising senior at the University of Pittsburgh, is energized to finish his computer science degree and to take secondary field of study courses involving Israel and Palestine. But, like other Jewish students at Pitt and elsewhere, his enthusiasm is tempered by knowing fall could bring renewed pro-Palestinian...
Ferguson officer critically injured at protest on the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown’s death
FERGUSON, Mo. — A Ferguson, Missouri, police officer was critically injured outside the city’s police station during protests on the 10th anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a pivotal moment in the national Black Lives Matter movement, police said Saturday. Ferguson police chief Troy Doyle said Officer Travis...
Police say prisoner killed cellmate for not saying ‘excuse me’ after bumping him
Why did Shaquille Gibson say he beat, and later stomp, his cellmate’s face so severely it caved his nose inward and he died? It was because “Mister Beattie,” his 57-year-old cellmate who used a wheelchair, bumped into him and didn’t say “excuse me,” a state trooper testified. That’s what Gibson...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 3rd-party candidates face ballot challenges in Pennsylvania
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his running mate, and at least nine third-party candidates are facing challenges that could see them kicked off of...
Travis Scott is released from police custody after arrest over a Paris hotel altercation
PARIS — Travis Scott was released from French police custody without a charge after his arrest at a Paris hotel following an altercation with a security guard, French prosecutors said Saturday. In a statement, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, “the police custody order for Travis Scott has been lifted and...
Debby finally moves out of the U.S., though risk from flooded rivers remains
Debby finally moved out of the U.S. on Saturday after the storm spent the better part of week unleashing tornadoes and flooding, damaging homes and taking lives as it moved up the East Coast after first arriving in Florida as a hurricane. Debby’s last day over the U.S. before blowing...
Torture of 9/11 suspects means even without plea deal, they may never face a verdict
WASHINGTON — A Defense Department disagreement over how to bring to justice the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and two others has thrown the cases into disarray and surfaced tension between the desire of some victims’ families to see a final legal reckoning and the significant obstacles that...
Israeli airstrike on a Gaza school kills at least 80 people, Palestinian health officials say
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza early Saturday, killing at least 80 people and wounding nearly 50 others, Palestinian health authorities said, in one of the deadliest attacks of the 10-month war between Israel and Hamas. A witness said it struck during prayers...
Kamala Harris makes an immigration pitch in Arizona as she fights to gain ground in the Sun Belt
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Vice President Kamala Harris drew on her prosecutorial background to make her first expansive pitch on immigration to border-state voters as she and her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, attracted thousands to a campaign rally during their tour of battleground states. Harris, the former attorney...
Trump campaign projects confidence and looks to young male voters for an edge on Harris
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — As Donald Trump adjusts to the reality of his new race against Kamala Harris, his campaign is counting on younger male voters to give him the edge in November in a presidential contest they insist is his to lose. Trump and his Republican campaign now...
Large geological feature known as the ‘Double Arch’ and the ‘Toilet Bowl’ collapses in southern Utah
PAGE, Ariz. — A large geological feature in southern Utah known as the “Double Arch,” the “Hole in the Roof” and sometimes the “Toilet Bowl” has collapsed, National Park Service officials said Friday. No injuries were reported. The popular arch in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area fell Thursday, and...
Iran is accelerating cyber activity that appears meant to influence the U.S. election, Microsoft says
NEW YORK — Iran is accelerating online activity that appears intended to influence the U.S. election, in one case targeting a presidential campaign with an email phishing attack, Microsoft said Friday. Iranian actors also have spent recent months creating fake news sites and impersonating activists, laying the groundwork to stoke...
Trump headlines Montana rally after plane makes emergency landing
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Donald Trump traveled to Montana for a Friday night rally intended to drum up support for ousting the state’s Democratic senator, but the former president’s plane first had to divert to an airport on the other side of the Rocky Mountains because of a mechanical issue, according...
What Pennsylvania’s $47.6B budget does for the state’s rural communities
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our north-central Pa. newsletter, Talk of the Town, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. BELLEFONTE — Officials in rural Pennsylvania didn’t get everything they wanted in...
Last known intact U.S. slave ship is too ‘broken’ and should stay underwater, a report recommends
MOBILE, Ala. — The last known U.S. slave ship is too “broken” and decayed to be extracted from the murky waters of the Alabama Gulf Coast without being dismembered, a task force of archaeologists, engineers and historians announced following a yearslong investigation. The task force headed by the Alabama Historical...
Harvard rebuffs protests and won’t remove Sackler name from two buildings
BOSTON — Harvard University has decided against removing from campus buildings the name of a family whose company makes the powerful painkiller OxyContin, despite protests from parents whose children fatally overdosed. The decision last month by the Harvard Corporation to retain Arthur M. Sackler’s name on a museum building and...
FDA won’t approve psychedelic MDMA for PTSD, calling for additional study
WASHINGTON — Federal health regulators on Friday declined to approve the psychedelic drug MDMA as a therapy for PTSD, a major setback for groups seeking a breakthrough decision in favor of using mind-altering substances to treat serious mental health conditions. Drugmaker Lykos Therapeutics said the FDA notified the company that...
‘Keeping their memories alive’: Cemetery volunteers to lead workshop on cleaning, resetting fallen headstones
For the past two years, Bill Bray has been on a mission to restore abandoned cemeteries. Bray, 57, of Penn Township, has cleaned headstones covered in years of mold, moss and lichen and reset stones that tipped over or sunk into the earth. The Army veteran has replaced nearly 75...
Covid-19 falls to No. 10 cause of death in U.S.
U.S. death rates fell last year for all age groups compared with 2022, federal health officials said Thursday. Here’s what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed: — Covid-19 fell to the 10th leading cause of death. Early in the pandemic, the coronavirus was the nation’s third leading...
