Bill to ensure access to contraception advances in Pennsylvania, aided by dozens of GOP House votes
HARRISBURG — A proposal to ensure access to contraceptives cleared the Democratic majority Pennsylvania House on Tuesday, drawing dozens of Republican votes but facing an uncertain future in the GOP-controlled state Senate. The bill was approved 133-69, with 14 women among the 32 Republicans voting yes. A spokeswoman for the...
Avoiding AI not an option for teachers, education experts say at Pittsburgh conference
As discussions of artificial intelligence technology make their way into classrooms across the country, education experts speaking at a national conference in Pittsburgh Tuesday urged teachers to take part in the conversation. Mike Searson summarized it simply: educators cannot handle AI the same way they addressed the rise of social...
Pennsylvania man charged with threatening state Sen. Mastriano
Federal agents arrested a Central Pennsylvania man on charges of threatening to kill state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Franklin Republican, in a series of violent posts to Facebook earlier this month, authorities said Tuesday. Among the threatening messages from Richard Little was a post Friday in which he tagged the...
Karen Read’s jurors must now decide: Was it deadly romance or police corruption?Video
DEDHAM, Mass. — The fate of Karen Read was handed Tuesday to jurors who must decide whether she ended a rocky romance by angrily striking her boyfriend with her SUV and leaving him mortally injured in the snow, or is a victim of police corruption, framed to cover up a...
Jill Biden to Philadelphia donors: ‘Let’s talk about age’
PHILADELPHIA — First lady Jill Biden told a room of Philadelphia donors she knew what they were thinking. “I know what’s on your mind, so let’s talk about age this election,” Biden said to about 100 guests at a private fundraiser in Chestnut Hill on Monday night. “This election’s not...
Suspect kills himself after 5 people fatally shot, teen injured in shootings near Las Vegas, police say
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A man who fatally shot five people and critically injured a 13-year-old girl at apartments near Las Vegas has killed himself, authorities said Tuesday. The North Las Vegas Police Department said the suspected shooter, 47-year-old Eric Adams, killed himself Tuesday morning as he was confronted...
West Virginia University to increase tuition about 5% and cut some programs
CHARLESTON — West Virginia University is increasing tuition by just under 5% a semester and cutting several majors from its divisional campuses in an ongoing effort to offset enrollment drops and a budget deficit. The state flagship university’s board of governors voted to discontinue bachelor’s degree programs in chemistry, math...
Health officials tell U.S. doctors to be alert for dengue
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials Tuesday warned doctors to be alert for dengue cases as the tropical disease breaks international records. The virus, which is spread by mosquitoes, has been surging worldwide, helped by climate change. In barely six months, countries in the Americas have already broken calendar-year records...
Judge alters Trump’s gag order, letting him talk about witnesses, jury after hush money conviction
NEW YORK — A judge on Tuesday modified Donald Trump’s gag order, freeing the former president to comment publicly about witnesses and jurors in the hush money criminal trial that led to his felony conviction, but keeping others connected to the former president’s case off limits at least until he...
Judge allows disabled voters in Wisconsin to electronically vote from home
MADISON, Wis. — Local election officials in battleground state Wisconsin will be allowed to send absentee ballots to disabled voters electronically in November’s presidential election, a judge ruled Tuesday. Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell issued a temporary injunction that allows voters who self-certify that they can’t read or mark...
Boebert faces first election Tuesday since switching districts and the vaping scandal
DENVER — U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert was facing Republican primary voters Tuesday after fleeing a tough reelection race to run in a more GOP-leaning district, harried by accusations of carpetbagging and still bruised by an embarrassing video. Boebert, who planted her MAGA flag in the House of Representatives in 2020,...
Laugh (or cringe) at these history-making moments from presidential debates
WASHINGTON — It could be a well-rehearsed zinger or an offhand, too-loud sigh. Notable moments from past presidential debates demonstrate how the candidates’ words and body language can make them look especially relatable or hopelessly out-of-touch. They also can showcase candidates at the top of their policy game or suggest...
Oklahoma Supreme Court rules publicly funded religious charter school is unconstitutional
OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma board’s approval of what would be the nation’s first publicly funded religious school is unconstitutional and must be rescinded, the state Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. The high court determined the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board’s 3-2 vote last year to approve the application by...
NTSB chair says Norfolk Southern interfered with derailment probe after botching vent-and-burn call
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that Norfolk Southern repeatedly tried to interfere with the agency’s investigation into the East Palestine derailment and shape its conclusions about the flawed decision to blow open five tank cars and burn the vinyl chloride inside....
Getting rid of poison ivy is a serious matter — what you should and shouldn’t do
For all the time I spend digging, planting, pulling and weeding, one would think I’d have some poison ivy horror stories to tell, but I do not. I can’t say for sure whether I’m immune to the rash that tortures so many of my fellow gardeners or if I’ve just...
On heartland roads, and a riverboat, devout Catholics press on with 2-month nationwide pilgrimage
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — “Bye bye, Jesus!” a child called out as the riverboat chugged away from shore into the Ohio River, a solemn bell tolling amid the thrumming of an old-fashioned sternwheel. Two Catholic bishops on board, representing dioceses on each side of the river, took turns holding aloft the...
Missouri, Kansas judges temporarily halt much of President Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan
TOPEKA, Kan. — Federal judges in Kansas and Missouri on Monday together blocked much of a Biden administration student loan repayment plan that provides a faster path to cancellation and lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers. The judges’ rulings prevent the U.S. Department of Education from helping many of...
Ukraine realizes a dream as it launches EU membership talks, but joining is likely to take years
BRUSSELS — The European Union launched membership talks with Ukraine on Tuesday, a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula to deter the country from moving closer to the West, part of a chain of events that set the two neighbors on the path to war. Ukraine’s accession negotiations...
More than 500 people have been charged with federal crimes under the gun safety law Biden signed
WASHINGTON — More than 500 people — some linked to transnational cartels and organized crime rings — have been charged with gun trafficking and other crimes under the landmark gun safety legislation President Joe Biden signed two years ago Tuesday. A White House report obtained by The Associated Press on...
Benefits are important, ‘meaningful work’ even more so for Gen Z workers
The growing numbers of Gen Z workers have mystified both employers and their older colleagues. Remote work, quiet quitting and other buzzwords have filled headlines as CEOs melt down over changing office cultures. But the youthful nuances show no signs of slowing down as the youngest generation continues to enter...
Kenya’s parliament burns as protesters object to new taxes; clashes spread, bodies counted
NAIROBI, Kenya — Part of Kenya’s parliament building was burned Tuesday as thousands of protesters against a new finance bill entered and legislators fled, in the most direct assault on the government in decades. Journalists saw at least three bodies outside the complex where police had opened fire, and medical...
With another setback for cease-fire talks, worries of full-scale war for Israel and Lebanon escalate
BEIRUT — The prospect of a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group terrifies people on both sides of the border, but some see it as an inevitable fallout from Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, particularly as cease-fire negotiations have faltered. Such a war could be...
Former Georgia officials say they’re teaming up to defend the legitimacy of elections
ATLANTA — Four prominent former officials in Georgia, which has been a major front in disinformation over the democratic process, are joining a group that says it will try to counteract efforts to make people distrust elections. Those joining the Democracy Defense Project, whose launch was announced Tuesday, include two...
U.S. surgeon general declares gun violence a public health emergency
WASHINGTON — The U.S. surgeon general on Tuesday declared gun violence a public health crisis, driven by the fast-growing number of injuries and deaths involving firearms in the country. The advisory issued by Dr. Vivek Murthy, the nation’s top doctor, came as the U.S. grappled with another summer weekend marked...
Trump lawyers in classified docs case ask judge to suppress evidence seized during Mar-a-Lago searchVideo
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Lawyers for Donald Trump on Tuesday asked the judge presiding over his classified documents case to prevent prosecutors from using as evidence boxes of records seized during an FBI search of his Florida estate. The arguments marked the conclusion of a three-day hearing in which prosecutors...
