Midwest sees surge in calls to poison control centers amid bumper crop of wild mushrooms
MINNEAPOLIS — The warm, soggy summer across much of the Midwest has produced a bumper crop of wild mushrooms — and a surge in calls to poison control centers. At the Minnesota Regional Poison Center, calls from April through July were up 150% over the same period last year, said...
Harris raised $200 million in 1st week of White House campaign and signed up 170,000 volunteers
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has raised $200 million since she emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee last week, an eyepopping haul in her race against former President Donald Trump. The campaign, which announced its latest fundraising total Sunday, said the bulk of the donations — 66%...
Trump and Harris enter 99-day sprint to decide an election that has suddenly transformed
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Barely a week ago, a sense of inevitability hung over the U.S. presidential election. Donald Trump’s allies gleefully predicted a landslide victory during a Republican National Convention that felt more like a coronation for a nominee who had just survived an assassination attempt and was promising...
Biden decries ‘extremism’ on Supreme Court, details plan for term limits, ethics code for justicesVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — President Joe Biden said Monday that “extremism” on the U.S. Supreme Court is undermining public confidence in the institution and called on Congress to quickly establish term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the court’s nine justices. He also called on lawmakers to ratify a constitutional...
Entrenched incumbent Maduro is declared winner of Venezuela’s disputed presidential election
CARACAS — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was formally declared the winner of his country’s disputed presidential election Monday, a day after the political opposition and the entrenched incumbent both claimed victory in the contest. The National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Maduro’s ruling party, announced his victory, handing him...
A manipulated video shared by Musk mimics Harris’ voice, raising concerns about AI in politics
NEW YORK — A manipulated video that mimics the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris saying things she did not say is raising concerns about the power of artificial intelligence to mislead with Election Day about three months away. The video gained attention after tech billionaire Elon Musk shared it...
Israel weighs response to Hezbollah after a rocket from Lebanon kills 12 youths on a soccer field
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Middle East braced for a potential flare-up in violence on Sunday after Israeli authorities said a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teens in what the military called the deadliest attack on civilians since Oct....
Thousands in Ukraine honor soldiers killed in blast and urge government to get prisoners freed
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainians urged their government to do more to get Russia to release prisoners of war, voicing their anger on Sunday at a ceremony commemorating the second anniversary of an explosion that killed more than 50. Several thousand soldiers and civilians gathered at Kyiv’s Independence Square Sunday to...
Minnesota prepares for influx of patients from Iowa as abortion ban takes effect
BLOOMINGTON, Minn — Minnesota medical providers and public officials are preparing to welcome patients traveling from Iowa, where a ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy goes into effect Monday. On Thursday, Minnesota’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan toured the Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota, a nonprofit...
Fires in the West are becoming ever bigger, consuming. Why and what can be done?
Decades of snuffing out fires at the first sign of smoke combined with climate change have laid the groundwork for a massive wildfire in northern California and scores of smaller ones across the western U.S. and Canada, experts say. These fires are moving faster and are harder to fight than...
Harris raised $200 million in 1st week of White House campaign and signed up 170,000 volunteers
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has raised $200 million since she emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee last week, an eyepopping haul in her race against the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump. The campaign, which announced its latest fundraising total on Sunday, said the bulk of...
Strike on Israeli Golan Heights kills 11, threatens to spark wider war
TEL AVIV, Israel — A rocket strike Saturday at a soccer field killed at least 11 children and teens, Israeli authorities said, in the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country’s northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. It raised fears...
An Israeli airstrike hits a school sheltering people in Gaza, killing at least 30 including children
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes hit a school used by displaced Palestinians in central Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 30 people including several children, as the country’s negotiators prepared to meet international mediators about a proposed cease-fire. Seven children and seven women were among the dead taken...
Harris holds her first fundraiser as the likely Democratic nominee as donors open their wallets
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Vice President Kamala Harris used her first fundraiser since becoming the Democrats’ likely White House nominee to excoriate Republican nominee Donald Trump as determined to roll back Americans’ freedoms. Harris traveled to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday where she was expected to raise more than $1.4 million, her...
Bill adds free-speech protection against frivolous ‘SLAPP’ lawsuits
A new state law provides some additional free-speech protection to Pennsylvania citizens and groups who find themselves in court after criticizing powerful interests, such as real estate developers or political figures. House Bill 1466 was signed into law July 17 by Gov. Josh Shapiro, protecting free speech on public-sector issues...
Justice Department says TikTok collected U.S. user views on issues like abortion and gun control
WASHINGTON — In a fresh broadside against one of the world’s most popular technology companies, the Justice Department is accusing TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users based on views on divisive social issues like gun control, abortion and religion. Government lawyers wrote in documents filed...
Court tells governor’s office to reveal more details about why it hired private law firms
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 — A three-judge Commonwealth Court panel has directed the governor’s office to reveal key details about why it spent tens of thousands in public...
Harris freshens up her message on the economy as Trump and Republicans go after her on inflation
WASHINGTON — All of the sudden it’s Kamala Harris ’ economy — a major opportunity as well as a possible risk for the likely Democratic presidential nominee. Shortly after President Joe Biden left the race a week ago, Harris began to craft her own narrative around the economy by putting...
Trump is returning to Minnesota with Midwesterner Vance to try to swing Democrat-leaning state
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Donald Trump is taking his campaign back to Minnesota, a state that has favored Democrats but that the former president thinks could be in his reach this year. Trump is set to hold a rally Saturday night in St. Cloud, Minnesota, this time bringing along his...
Wreckage of schooner that sank in 1893 found in Lake Michigan
ALGOMA, Wis. — Marine archaeologists have discovered the wreckage of a schooner that sank in Lake Michigan in the late 1800s. The Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association announced this month that its searchers found the Margaret A. Muir in 50 feet (15.2 meters) of water off Algoma, Wisconsin, on May 12....
California’s largest wildfire explodes in size as fires rage across U.S. West
California’s largest active fire exploded in size on Friday evening, growing rapidly amid bone-dry fuel and threatening thousands of homes as firefighters scrambled to meet the danger. The Park Fire’s intensity and dramatic spread led fire officials to make unwelcome comparisons to the monstrous Camp Fire, which burned out of...
Life and death in the heat. What it feels like when Earth’s temperatures soar to record highs
BENI MELLAL, Morocco — In the unrelenting heat of Morocco’s Middle Atlas, people were sleeping on rooftops. Hanna Ouhbour needed refuge too, but she was outside a hospital waiting for her diabetic cousin who was in a room without air conditioning. On Wednesday, there were 21 heat-related deaths at Beni...
‘Gen Z feels the Kamalove’: Youth-led progressive groups hope Harris will energize young voters
CHICAGO — ” Brats for Harris.” ” We need a Kamalanomenon. ” ” Gen Z feels the Kamalove.” In the days since President Joe Biden exited the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Gen Z voters jumped to social media to share coconut tree and “brat summer” memes...
Franklin Regional grad takes over Independence concussion management programVideo
When Alex Fleming was helping the Franklin Regional Panthers football team win the PIAA’s 2005 AAA championship, he wasn’t thinking much about concussion protocol. But as the 2007 Franklin Regional graduate moved on to Davidson College — where he played football while pursuing a biology degree before earning his medical...
Inside Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s support for private school vouchers
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 — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is being eyed as a potential Democratic vice presidential nominee, but with that attention has come intense scrutiny of...
