Work starts on bullet train rail line from Las Vegas to Los Angeles
LAS VEGAS — A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction, officials said Monday, amid predictions that millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028. “People have been dreaming of high-speed rail in America for decades,” U.S. Transportation Secretary...
European nations with Patriot missiles hesitate to give air defense systems to Ukraine
BRUSSELS — European Union countries possessing Patriot air defense systems gave no clear signal on Monday whether they might be willing to supply them to Ukraine, which is desperately seeking at least seven of the missile batteries to help fend off Russian air attacks. Russia’s air force is vastly more...
Russia convicts the spokesperson for Facebook owner Meta in a swift trial in absentia
A court in Russia on Monday convicted the spokesperson of U.S. technology company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, of justifying terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison in a swift trial in absentia, Russia’s independent news site Mediazona reported. According to the outlet, the charges against Meta...
With homelessness on the rise, the Supreme Court will weigh bans on sleeping outdoors
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court wrestled with major questions about the growing issue of homelessness on Monday as it considered whether cities can ban people from sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking. The case is considered the most significant to come before the high court in decades on the...
Toxic: How the search for the origins of covid-19 turned politically poisonous
BEIJING — The hunt for the origins of covid-19 has gone dark in China, the victim of political infighting after a series of stalled and thwarted attempts to find the source of the virus that killed millions and paralyzed the world for months. The Chinese government froze meaningful domestic and...
Security forces kill 11 militants in northwest region bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani military says
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani security forces killed eleven militants in two raids Monday targeting their hideouts in the volatile northwest region bordering Afghanistan, the military aid in a statement. Ten militants were killed in the first raid in Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This came a day...
Trump tried to ‘corrupt’ the 2016 election, prosecutor alleges as hush money trial gets underwayVideo
NEW YORK — Donald Trump tried to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election by preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public, a prosecutor told jurors Monday at the start of the former president’s historic hush money trial. “This was a planned, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016...
Vice President Harris announces final rules mandating minimum standards for nursing home staffing
The federal government is for the first time requiring nursing homes to have minimum staffing levels after the covid-19 pandemic exposed grim realities in poorly staffed facilities for older and disabled Americans. Vice President Kamala Harris announced the final rules on Monday before a trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where...
Israeli military intelligence chief resigns over his role in failing to prevent Oct. 7 attack
TEL AVIV, Israel — The head of Israeli military intelligence resigned on Monday because of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, becoming the first senior figure to step down over his role in the stunning failure to anticipate or quickly respond to the deadliest assault in Israel’s history. Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva’s...
‘It’s life-changing’: Collegiate, high school esports programs on the rise
Brayden Seech has been playing video games since he was in elementary school. He started with Nintendo’s Wii and DS devices, shifting into Xbox and PC games as he got older. Now, as a 17-year-old senior at Penn-Trafford High School, Seech has earned a college scholarship to continue his hobby...
Biden marks Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal solar power grants
TRIANGLE, Virginia — President Joe Biden marked Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities — while criticizing Republicans who want to gut his policies to address climate change. The Democrat seeking reelection this year took aim...
‘It means everything to me’: Penn-Trafford track athlete raises money for elementary school playground
After breaking Penn-Trafford’s discus record and placing third in the state last year, Matthew Sarnowski returns to the throwing circle this track and field season with lofty goals. But that is not Sarnwoski’s only reason for throwing well this spring. The Penn-Trafford senior’s performance is driving a fundraiser for his...
Terry Anderson, AP reporter abducted in Lebanon and held captive for years, dies at 76
LOS ANGELES — Terry Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, has died at 76. Anderson, who chronicled his abduction and torturous imprisonment by Islamic militants...
Republicans’ defense of the ‘Biden 16’ House districts starts with Pennsylvania’s primary election
NEW HOPE — Mark Houck makes a potent appeal to conservative Republicans in this corner of eastern Pennsylvania when he describes his arrest and subsequent acquittal on federal charges that he pushed a Planned Parenthood volunteer outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic. The account has become a staple of Houck’s first-time...
Young brother, sister dead, several hurt when vehicle crashes into Michigan birthday partyVideo
BERLIN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A young brother and sister died and several people were injured, some of them seriously, when a vehicle driven by a suspected drunken driver crashed into a young child’s birthday party Saturday at a boat club, a Michigan sheriff said. An 8-year-old girl and her 5-year-old...
Earth Day: How a grocery shopper takes steps to avoid ‘pointless plastic’
ALBANY, N.Y. — Nature wraps bananas and oranges in peels. But in some modern supermarkets, they’re bagged or wrapped in plastic too. For Judith Enck, that’s the epitome of pointless plastic. The baby food aisle is similarly distressing for her, with its rows and rows of blended fruits, vegetables and...
As Columbia protests continue, university rabbi warns Jewish students to stay home
As pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University continue their protest against the war in Gaza, the school’s Orthodox Jewish rabbi sent a message to hundreds of Jewish students urging them to stay home to ensure their own safety. “The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it...
Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial shifts to opening statements Monday, followed by the start of witness testimony. A jury of seven men and five women, plus six alternates, was picked last week. The trial centers on allegations the former president falsified his company’s internal records to...
Woman, 18, dies after being shot at Delaware State University; campus closed
DOVER, Del. — An 18-year-old woman died Sunday after she was shot on the campus of Delaware State University, authorities said. Dover police said officers responded at about 1:40 a.m. to a report of shots on the campus. Police said an 18-year-old Wilmington woman who was not a registered student...
Israeli strikes on southern Gaza city of Rafah kill 22, mostly children, as U.S. advances aid packageVideo
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 22 people, including 18 children, health officials said Sunday, as the United States was on track to approve billions of dollars of additional military aid to Israel, its close ally. Israel has carried out near-daily...
Biden sees a $35 price cap for insulin as a pivotal campaign issue. It’s not that clear-cut
WASHINGTON — Rarely a day goes without President Joe Biden mentioning insulin prices. He promotes a $35 price cap for the medication for Americans on Medicare — in White House speeches, campaign stops and even at non-health care events around the country. His reelection team has flooded swing-state airwaves with...
When it comes to government planes and political trips, who pays for a president’s campaign travel?
WASHINGTON — It’s no simple matter to move the commander in chief from point A to B, and it’s even more complicated when the president is seeking a second term. President Joe Biden recently spent three days in Pennsylvania, a pivotal state in the 2024 campaign, and he plans to...
Crush of lawsuits over voting in multiple states creates a shadow war for the 2024 election
CHICAGO — As President Joe Biden and Donald Trump step up their campaigning in swing states, a quieter battle is taking place in the shadows of their White House rematch. The Republican National Committee, newly reconstituted under Trump, has filed election-related lawsuits in nearly half the states. Recent lawsuits over...
Melania Trump set to make return to her husband’s campaign with rare political appearance
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former first lady Melania Trump is making a return to her husband’s presidential campaign with a rare political appearance after months of being absent from Donald Trump’s latest run for the White House. She planned to attend a fundraiser Saturday for the Log Cabin Republicans,...
War, hostages, antisemitism: A somber backdrop to this year’s Passover observances
Passover is a major Jewish holiday, celebrated over seven or eight days each year, commemorating the exodus of ancient Israelites from slavery in Egypt, as recounted in the Bible. To many Jews, it symbolizes freedom and the birth of a Jewish nation. This year, for many Jews, the holiday’s mood...
