4 Westmoreland athletes will represent U.S. at junior world kickboxing championship in Hungary
Xander Eddy’s friends at Norwin High School don’tbelieve him when he talks about the eight national and world kickboxing titles he holds. Eddy, 15, a sophomore at Norwin, started kickboxing when he was 4 years old. He dedicates 15 to 20 hours per week to training with his teammates, conditioning...
Pitt-Greensburg math professor wins national award for algebra textbook
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg math professor Kayla Heffernan won a national award for creating a college algebra textbook that uses a teaching method called guided inquiry. But Heffernan, 33, of Hunker, finds more value in the impact her work has had on students. The POGIL Project is a nonprofit...
Biden, Trump win Louisiana’s presidential primary
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won Louisiana’s primary Saturday, collecting more delegates after they already clinched their party nominations. Biden also appeared in Missouri’s Democratic primary, with results not expected to be reported until next week. None of the races were in suspense. Biden and...
Biden views LGBTQ flag restriction as abusive, White House says
WASHINGTON — The White House criticized congressional Republicans for adding a ban on U.S. embassies flying the LGBTQ pride flag to a government funding bill, saying it abused the budget process and that President Joe Biden will work for its repeal. House Speaker Mike Johnson promoted the flag restriction as...
Kamala Harris tours bloodstained building where 2018 Parkland massacre happened
PARKLAND, Fla. — Vice President Kamala Harris toured on Saturday the bloodstained classroom building where the 2018 Parkland high school massacre happened, then announced a program to assist states that have laws allowing police to temporarily seize guns from people judges have found to be dangerous. Harris saw bullet-pocked walls...
Fulton County DA Fani Willis: Despite efforts to slow down Trump case, ‘the train is coming’
ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said Saturday the election interference prosecution against Donald Trump hasn’t been delayed by proceedings over her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she hired for the case. “I don’t feel like we have been slowed down at all,” Willis told CNN in...
Rain helps contain wildfires in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley
RICHMOND, Va. — Crews who have been battling wildfires in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley this week have gotten an assist from rain and from the state government, which has deployed new resources to the area, officials said Saturday. “Without a doubt, the rain is helping” said Cory Swift, a spokesperson for...
Drag story hour at library canceled after suspicious package, threats
LANCASTER — A scheduled “Drag Queen Story Hour” at a Pennsylvania library that had drawn opposition was canceled Saturday after a suspicious package was found in the building and two blocks were evacuated after threats were reported, authorities said. Police evacuated Lancaster Public Library after the package was found. A...
New England battling a mix of wind, rain, sleet and heavy snow
BOSTON — It might officially be spring, but New England is battling a wintry weather combination across the region Saturday with more than a foot of snow expected in ski country, and rain, wind and possible flooding in southern areas and along the coast. In Maine, the National Weather Service...
Wyoming governor vetoes bill to allow concealed carry in public schools and meetings
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming Republican Gov. Mark Gordon has vetoed a bill that would have allowed people to carry concealed guns in public schools and government meetings. In his veto letter Friday night, Gordon said he had concerns the bill would exceed the separation of powers provision in the state...
Heavy rains kill at least 7 in Rio de Janeiro state, 4-year-old rescued after 16 hours under mud
PETROPOLIS, Brazil — Heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro state have killed at least seven people, authorities said Saturday, while a 4-year-old girl was rescued after more than 16 hours under mud. The girl was pulled out alive in the city of Petropolis, 43 miles north of Rio. Rescue teams...
Biden signs $1.2T funding package after Senate’s early morning passage ended shutdown threat
WILMINGTON, Del. — President Joe Biden on Saturday signed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills after Congress had passed the long overdue legislation just hours earlier, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown. “This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said...
2 crew members die during ‘incident’ on Holland America cruise ship
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Two crew members on a Holland America cruise ship died during an “incident” in the ship’s engineering space, the cruise line said. The unidentified crew members died Friday while the Florida-based Nieuw Amsterdam was at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, Holland America said in a...
Arizona expects to be back at the center of election attacks. Its top officials are going on offense
PHOENIX — The room sits behind a chain-link fence, then black iron gates. Guards block the entrance, which requires a security badge to access. The glass surrounding it is shatterproof. What merits all these layers of protection is somewhat surprising: tabulating machines that count votes in Arizona’s Maricopa County. The...
Russia detains 11 in an attack on Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that authorities have detained 11 people in the attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people and left the sprawling venue a smoldering ruin. In an address to the nation, Putin called it “a bloody, barbaric terrorist...
Russian Soyuz rocket with 3 astronauts blasts off to the International Space Station
MOSCOW — A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying three astronauts to the International Space Station blasted off Saturday, two days after its launch was aborted at the last minute. The spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Russian Oleg Novitsky and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus launched smoothly from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch...
With all the recent headlines about panels and tires falling off planes, is flying safe?
DALLAS — It has been 15 years since the last fatal crash of a U.S. airliner, but you would never know that by reading about a torrent of flight problems in the last three months. There was a time when things like cracked windshields and minor engine problems didn’t turn...
Worldwide support pours in for Kate, the Princess of Wales, after shocking cancer reveal
LONDON — Support poured in from around the world Saturday for Kate, the Princess of Wales, after she revealed in a candid video message that she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer following major abdominal surgery. The princess’s poignant video, in which she spoke about the “huge shock” and “incredibly tough...
Slippery Rock University board seeks $98 million for building renovations
Trustees at Slippery Rock University voted Friday to pursue $98 million for renovations to three prominent but aging campus buildings, including the Morrow Field House, built in 1959. They also approved student fee increases totaling about $270 for the 2024-25 academic year. Both actions were among those taken as the...
Disgraced George Santos leaving ’embarrassing’ Republican Party, will run as independent
Disgraced former New York congressman George Santos announced he’s leaving the “embarrassing” Republican Party on the same day Congress passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan spending bill to keep the federal government running, followed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene vowing to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson for working with Democrats. “After...
Casey, McCormick to appear alone on Senate ballots in Pennsylvania after courts boot off challengers
HARRISBURG — Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick will be the only eligible names on ballots for the office in Pennsylvania’s April primary after a ruling Friday by the state’s highest court. The ruling completed the third of three successful court challenges to the paperwork of three...
Pennsylvania lawmakers push to find out causes of death for older adults in abuse or neglect cases
HARRISBURG — Republican state lawmakers are pushing Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration to do more to investigate the deaths of older adults who are the subject of an abuse or neglect complaint after Pennsylvania recorded a steep increase in such deaths starting in 2019. Shapiro’s Department of Aging has balked at...
Pennsylvania Game Commission managing reintroduced bobwhite quail population
In the five years that Alex Busato has been keeping his eyes peeled for local birds, he’s seen perhaps two bobwhite quails. State game commission officials are hoping to change that. Once found in all 67 of Pennsylvania’s counties in the mid-1800s, the little 10-inch-tall bird has been pushed out...
National Guard helicopters help battle West Virginia wildfires in steep terrain
CHARLESTON — The West Virginia National Guard joined in battling wildfires Friday that have scorched more than 4,000 acres in the state and destroyed several homes. Two Blackhawk helicopters dropped water from buckets on the fires in steep, wooded terrain in Hardy County, the National Guard said on social media....
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene files motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson
WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson is at risk of being ousted after hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene filed a “motion to vacate” on Friday in the middle of a House vote on a $1.2 trillion package to keep the government open. It’s the same political dynamic that removed the last Republican...
