Penn State targets under-enrolled programs, duplication as it eyes cuts at branch campuses
Efforts in the coming months to pare spending on Penn State University branch campuses will include reviewing duplicative or underenrolled academic programs and potentially sharing administrative services between campuses. The university has offered an update on a closely watched process to cut $54 million, or 14.1%, from commonwealth campus operations...
Philadelphia’s population declined for 3rd straight year, census data shows
PHILADELPHIA — Federal estimates released Thursday showed that more than 16,000 residents left Philadelphia last year, marking the third straight year the city’s population has declined. The U.S. Census Bureau data indicates Philadelphia’s population now stands at about 1.6 million residents, meaning a 1% drop occurred between July 2022 and...
Judge rejects bid by Donald Trump to throw out classified documents case on constitutional grounds
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid by Donald Trump to throw out out his classified documents criminal case, and appeared skeptical during hours of arguments of a separate effort to scuttle the prosecution ahead of trial. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon issued a two-page...
Prosecutors say they’re open to delaying start of Donald Trump’s March 25 hush-money trial
NEW YORK — New York prosecutors said Thursday they are open to delaying the start of Donald Trump’s New York hush-money criminal trial by up to a month to give the former president’s lawyers time to review evidence that was only recently turned over. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said...
U.S. opens 1st large offshore wind farm, with more to come
America’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm is officially open, a long-awaited moment that helps pave the way for a succession of large wind farms. Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource built a 12-turbine wind farm called South Fork Wind 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York....
Ohio Senate race, Chicago homeless tax and other races to watch in next Tuesday’s primary elections
The presidential primary contests may be over, but there are plenty of consequential down-ballot elections still to come. Voters across the country will vote next Tuesday night on combatting homelessness in Illinois, choosing candidates who could determine which party controls Congress next year and replacing ousted Speaker of the House...
Nigerian leader rules out ransoms for abducted students as observers urge dialogue
ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s leader has ruled out the payment of ransoms for nearly 300 schoolchildren abducted from their school in the conflict-hit north a week ago, raising questions from analysts on Thursday about how best to rescue the children without hurting them. Meanwhile, at least two people with extensive...
North Korea’s Kim test drives a new tank and orders troops to prepare for war
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined troops training on a new model of tank and drove one himself, state media reported Thursday, as his rivals South Korea and the U.S. wrapped up their annual military exercises. It’s the third time Kim was reported to have...
Report claims Yemen’s Houthis have a hypersonic missile, possibly raising stakes in Red Sea crisis
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their ongoing attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war on Hamas in the...
Biden opposes plan to sell US Steel to a Japanese firm, citing the need for ‘American steel workers’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden came out in opposition to the planned sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan, saying Thursday the U.S. needs to “maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers.” In a statement, Biden added: “U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel...
What’s Pi Day all about? Math, science, pies and more
Math enthusiasts around the world, from college kids to rocket scientists, celebrate Pi Day on Thursday, which is March 14 or 3/14 — the first three digits of an infinite number with many practical uses. Around the world many people will mark the day with a slice of pie —...
Evangelical Christians are fierce Israel supporters. Now they are visiting as war-time volunteers
TEL AVIV, Israel — When Shawn Landis, an evangelical Christian from Pennsylvania, heard about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, he knew he would come to Israel to volunteer as soon as it was safe. Five months later, he was chopping vegetables in a Tel Aviv kitchen, preparing...
Which conspiracy theorist will RFK Jr. pick as running mate, Aaron Rodgers or Jesse Ventura?
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has developed a reputation as a conspiracy theorist. He could be conspiring to get another such person on the ticket with him. And a famous one at that. Kennedy’s campaign told the Los Angeles Times that the 70-year-old is considering New York Jets...
Georgia governor signs law reviving prosecutor sanctions panel. Democrats fear it’s aimed at Fani Willis
ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law Wednesday that lets a state commission begin operating with powers to discipline and remove prosecutors, potentially disrupting Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ prosecution of former President Donald Trump. “This legislation will help us ensure rogue and incompetent prosecutors are held...
Death of nonbinary teen Nex Benedict after school fight is ruled a suicide, medical examiner says
OKLAHOMA CITY — The death of a nonbinary high school student the day after a fight inside an Oklahoma high school restroom has been ruled a suicide, the state medical examiner’s office said Wednesday. “From the beginning of this investigation, Owasso Police observed many indications that this death was the...
Rats are high on marijuana evidence at an infested police building, New Orleans chief says
NEW ORLEANS — Rats have gotten into confiscated pot at New Orleans’ aging police headquarters, munching the evidence as the building is taken over by mold and cockroaches, said the city’s police chief. “The rats eating our marijuana, they’re all high,” Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told New Orleans City Council...
3 men charged with federal firearms counts after Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade shooting
Three Missouri men have been charged with federal firearms counts after a shooting at last month’s Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade and rally left one person dead and roughly two dozen others injured, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The charges were filed Monday and unsealed Wednesday, after the men were...
A Massachusetts town spent $600k on shore protection. A winter storm washed it away days laterVideo
BOSTON — A Massachusetts beach community is scrambling after a weekend storm washed away $600,000 in sand that was trucked in to protect homes, roads and other infrastructure. The project, which brought 14,000 tons of sand into Salisbury over several weeks, was completed just three days before Sunday’s storm clobbered...
Last suspect sought in deadly bus shooting in Philadelphia, police say
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a 17-year-old youth who they say is the last of four suspects sought in the shooting that wounded eight Philadelphia high school students at a bus stop last week. The U.S. Marshals Service, while offering details Tuesday night on the arrest...
Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra performs 3rd installment of free Academy Concert series
The Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra will perform the third installment of its inaugural Academy Concert series Thursday. The performance, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center, is titled “Dances and Madrigals.” It is free to the public, but donations will be accepted. The Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra was...
Texas man who used an iron long for decades after contracting polio as a child dies at 78Video
DALLAS — A Texas man who spent most of his 78 years using an iron lung chamber and built a large following on social media, recounting his life from contracting polio in the 1940s to earning a law degree, has died. Paul Alexander died Monday at a Dallas hospital, said...
What to know about the bill that could ban TikTok
WASHINGTON — TikTok once again finds itself in a precarious position as lawmakers in Washington move forward with a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban on the platform. The House on Wednesday passed legislation that would ban TikTok if its China-based owner ByteDance doesn’t sell its stakes in...
Robert Morris University to host prom for seniors who missed out during pandemic
Like so many of her peers, Addy Hildebrand saw the most cherished parts of her senior year slip away when covid-19 shuttered her high school and others exactly four years ago. Hildebrand, 22, of Derry, now a Robert Morris University senior, made her very first trip to a prom store...
Author Mitch Albom, 9 others evacuated by helicopter from violence-torn Port-au-Prince
DETROIT — Author and Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom and nine others have been rescued by helicopter from Haiti after becoming stranded in the poverty-stricken and violence-torn Caribbean nation while visiting an orphanage. The group was forced to shelter inside the Have Faith Haiti Mission & Orphanage in Port-au-Prince,...
Massachusetts governor to pardon those convicted of cannabis possession
BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday said she would issue pardons for tens of thousands of people convicted of misdemeanor marijuana charges going back decades in the latest example of a state ambitiously seeking to forgive low-level drug offenders. If approved, the pardons will apply to all adult...
