Pennsylvania troopers stop drivers at similar rates no matter their race or ethnicity, study finds
HERSHEY — Pennsylvania drivers were pulled over and cited by state police last year at roughly comparable rates for various races and ethnicities, according to information about 450,000 vehicle stops that was made public on Wednesday. “The findings across multiple analyses demonstrated no substantive racial and ethnic differences in the...
More Pa. voters have registered as Democrats since Kamala Harris entered the presidential race
PHILADELPHIA — Voter registration among Democrats in Pennsylvania has spiked in the three weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race, according to State Department data. The boost in registered Democrats comes amid a flurry of national and swing state polling that reflects increased enthusiasm for a Harris ticket,...
West Virginia senator removed as committee chair after indecent exposure chargesVideo
CHARLESTON — The chair of a key West Virginia state legislative committee was removed from his position by chamber leadership Wednesday after being charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct. Republican Sen. Mike Maroney, who led the state Senate Health and Human Resources Committee, was arrested Tuesday on the two...
President of Columbia University has resigned, effective immediately
NEW YORK — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after a brief, tumultuous tenure that saw the head of the prestigious New York university grapple with protests over the Israel-Hamas war and criticism over how the school handled divisions related to the conflict. The school in upper Manhattan was...
Trump’s campaign called it an economic address. He made big promises but mostly veered off topicVideo
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Donald Trump made little effort to stay on message Wednesday at a rally in North Carolina that his campaign billed as a big economic address, mixing pledges to slash energy prices and “unleash economic abundance” with familiar off-script tangents on Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ laugh, the mechanics...
North Huntingdon karate school owner in critical condition after motorcycle crash
Elizabeth Lindsay is no stranger to pushing physical limits. The owner of C.S. Kim Karate in North Huntingdon, Lindsay has practiced karate since she was 4 years old. The 39-year-old Greensburg resident earned a place in a national Black Belt Hall of Fame in 2019. Her brother, Peter Lindsay, believes...
Disney says man can’t sue for wrongful death because he signed up for Disney+, bought parks tickets
Walt Disney Co. is asking a Florida state court to toss a wrongful death lawsuit because the plaintiff agreed to terms and conditions mandating arbitration when he signed up for Disney+ and when he purchased park tickets. The response comes after plaintiff Jeffrey Piccolo sued Disney in February, alleging that...
Ohio family reaches $7M settlement in fatal police shooting of Casey Goodson Jr.
The family of an Ohio man who was shot and killed by a former sheriff’s deputy will receive $7 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit over the December 2020 shooting. The Franklin County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the settlement late last month. Casey Goodson Jr., 23, was...
Hunter Biden reportedly sought U.S. government help for Ukrainian gas company Burisma
WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden asked the U.S. ambassador to Italy for help regarding an energy project a Ukrainian gas company was pursuing while his father was vice president, according to The New York Times. Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, wrote a letter to the ambassador in 2016 seeking...
Wisconsin voters reject GOP-written ballot measures, U.S. Senate race set with Hovde’s primary win
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin voters on Tuesday rejected Republican-authored ballot questions that would have limited the governor’s power to spend federal money that comes to the state for such things as disaster relief, a big win for Democrats who mobilized against them. In Wisconsin’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, Republican...
Hidden report reveals how workers got sick while cleaning up Ohio derailment site
The creeks around East Palestine, Ohio, were so badly contaminated by last year’s disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment that some workers became sick during the cleanup. Workers who reported headaches and nausea — while shooting compressed air into the creek bed, which releases chemicals from the sediment and water — were...
WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads
LONDON — The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent....
NASA still deciding whether to keep 2 astronauts at space station until next year
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA said Wednesday it’s still deciding whether to keep two astronauts at the International Space Station until early next year and send their troubled Boeing capsule back empty. Rather than flying Boeing’s Starliner back to Earth, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams would catch a ride on...
Harris campaign’s new $90 million in battleground ads in August aims to sharpen contrast with Trump
WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is launching a $90 million advertising effort over the next three weeks to introduce the Democrat to voters and sharpen the contrast with Republican Donald Trump. The media buy marks her campaign’s largest-yet investment in messaging to voters with just 2 1/2 months until...
Presented with rise in border crossings, Kamala Harris chose a long-term approach to the problem
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, watching tens of thousands of migrants from Central America reach the U.S.-Mexico border just a few months into his administration, tapped his second-in-command to help address the influx — a decision that has exposed Vice President Kamala Harris to one of her biggest political liabilities....
Ukraine says it has taken more ground and prisoners during its advance into Russia border region
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces pushed on with their major cross-border advance into Russia’s Kursk region for a second week Wednesday, claiming that they took more ground, captured more Russian prisoners and destroyed a bomber in attacks on military airfields. Assault troops advanced 1 to 2 kilometers (about a mile)...
Judge rejects Donald Trump’s latest demand to step aside from hush money criminal case
NEW YORK — Donald Trump has lost his latest bid for a new judge in his New York hush money criminal case as it heads toward a key ruling and potential sentencing next month. In a decision posted Wednesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan declined to step aside and said Trump’s...
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive ‘Squad,’ wins Democratic primary in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the progressive House members known as the “Squad” and a sharp critic of how Israel has conducted the war in Gaza, has won her primary race in Minnesota. Omar successfully defended her Minneapolis-area 5th District seat against a repeat challenge from...
Longest-held Russian dissident freed in swap says ‘colors get brighter by the day’ in his new life
BERLIN — Andrei Pivovarov knows there are about 1,000 hours in 42 days. Doing the math in his head and quietly marking milestones left in his sentence helped the Russian opposition politician survive more than three years in prison, much of it spent in complete isolation. “You have no one...
Ernesto becomes a hurricane after pummeling northeast Caribbean and knocking out power in the region
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Ernesto strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday as it dropped torrential rain on Puerto Rico and left half of all customers in the U.S. territory without power as it threatened to become a major storm en route to Bermuda. The storm was located about 180 miles...
Americans give Harris an advantage over Trump on honesty and discipline, an AP-NORC poll finds
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris has a perceived advantage over former President Donald Trump on several leadership qualities such as honesty, a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds, although Americans are slightly more likely to trust Trump on the economy and immigration. Nearly half...
Tim Walz leans into labor background at first solo campaign stop in Los AngelesVideo
LOS ANGELES — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz launched his first solo campaign stop as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Tuesday by leaning into his union background and championing workers in a speech to a labor group in Los Angeles. The event comes exactly one week since Harris, the Democratic...
U.S. approves $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel amid threat of wider Middle East war
WASHINGTON — The United States has approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles, the State Department announced Tuesday. Congress was notified of the impending sale, which includes more than 50 F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or AMRAAMs,...
Death Valley’s scorching heat kills 2nd man this summer
LOS ANGELES — California’s Death Valley National Park has claimed another life in its second heat-related death of the summer, park officials said Monday. On Aug. 1, a day where temperatures reached nearly 120 degrees, bystanders saw a man stumble back from the Natural Bridge Trailhead, a one-mile roundtrip trail,...
Tropical Storm Ernesto batters northeast Caribbean, aims at Puerto Rico as it strengthensVideo
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Ernesto battered the northeast Caribbean on Tuesday as it took aim at Puerto Rico, where officials closed schools, opened shelters and moved dozens of the U.S. territory’s endangered parrots into hurricane-proof rooms. Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane overnight Tuesday as the...
