Democratic mayors criticize drop-offs of migrants from Texas, seek help
CHICAGO — The mayors of Chicago, New York City and Denver renewed pleas Wednesday for more federal help and coordination with Texas over the growing number of asylum-seekers arriving in their cities by bus and plane. The mayors’ requests come as U.S. cities have struggled to manage the increasing number...
Pro-Palestinian protesters block airport access roads in New York, Los Angeles
NEW YORK — Pro-Palestinian protesters briefly blocked entrance roads Wednesday to airports in New York and Los Angeles, forcing some travelers to set off on foot to bypass the jammed roadway. As U.S. airlines contended with a rush of holiday travel, the demonstrations snarled traffic on the outskirts of New...
Automatic pay raises boost Pa. lawmakers’ base salary to over $106K
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 lawmakers’ base salary recently rose to more than $106,000, prompting a fresh round of criticism about the annual automatic pay bump. Here’s...
Seton Hill offers free online genocide, Holocaust education certificate program to local teachers
Seton Hill will waive tuition costs for 15 local teachers to complete an online genocide and Holocaust education certificate program starting in March. The nine-credit program features three courses that will give secondary education teachers the strategies to address topics like genocide in the classroom, said James Paharik, director of...
Social media companies made $11 billion in U.S. ad revenue from minors, Harvard study finds
Social media companies collectively made over $11 billion in U.S. advertising revenue from minors last year, according to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health published on Wednesday. The researchers say the findings show a need for government regulation of social media since the companies that...
More cold-case sexual assault charges for man accused of 2003 Philadelphia rape and slaying
PHILADELPHIA — A man accused of slashing people with a large knife in recent weeks while riding a bicycle on a trail in Philadelphia and then charged in the cold-case rape and slaying of a medical student has now been charged in several other high-profile unsolved sexual assaults. Elias Diaz,...
Trump says he didn’t know his immigration rhetoric echoes Hitler
NEW YORK — Donald Trump has centered his unlikely rise from reality television star to onetime — and potentially future — president on the idea that he’s wiser than Washington’s bumbling political class, once going so far as to label himself a “very stable genius.” But when it comes to...
Argument over Christmas gifts turns deadly as 14-year-old kills his older sister, Florida deputies sayVideo
LARGO, Fla. — A Florida woman holding her 11-month-old son in a baby carrier was fatally shot by her 14-year-old brother while trying to defuse an argument over Christmas gifts he was having with a 15-year-old brother who also was armed, authorities said. The 15-year-old brother then shot his 14-year-old...
Man trapped for 6 days in wrecked truck in Indiana rescued after being spotted by passersby
PORTAGE, Ind. — A 27-year-old man survived for six days on only rainwater while pinned tightly inside his crashed pickup truck beneath a highway bridge in northwest Indiana, police said. His ordeal ended when two men scouting for fishing spots on Tuesday afternoon noticed the badly damaged vehicle, its white...
Russian presidential hopeful loses appeal against authorities’ refusal to register her for the race
MOSCOW — A Russian politician calling for peace in Ukraine on Wednesday lost her appeal against election officials’ refusal to accept her nomination for the country’s presidential race that President Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win. Former regional legislator Yekaterina Duntsova has promoted her vision of a “humane”...
Heat exhaustion killed Taylor Swift fan attending Rio concert, forensics report says
RIO DE JANEIRO — Heat exhaustion is the cause of death of a Brazilian fan who attended a concert of singer Taylor Swift in November, a forensics report obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday shows. Ana Clara Benevides, 23, passed out during Swift’s second song in the Nov. 17...
Michigan Supreme Court will keep Trump on 2024 ballot
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s Supreme Court is keeping former President Donald Trump on the state’s primary election ballot. The court said Wednesday it will not hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling from groups seeking to keep Trump from appearing on the ballot. The state’s high court said in...
Poll: Americans sour on the primary election process and major political parties
WASHINGTON — With the GOP primary process just about to start, many Republicans aren’t certain that votes will be counted correctly in their presidential primary contest, amid widespread pessimism about the future of both the Democratic and Republican parties, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for...
Pa. dog license fee hike takes a nip out of owners’ wallets to pay for more wardens
The new year could bring the return of more frequent canvassing of neighborhoods by state dog wardens, checking to make sure dogs have current licenses and rabies vaccinations. That is only one change the new year will usher in as an updated dog law, intended to keep pets and the...
Israel launches heavy strikes across central, southern Gaza after widening its offensive
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israel launched heavy strikes across central and southern Gaza overnight and into Wednesday after broadening its offensive against Hamas to more areas where the military had told Palestinians to seek shelter earlier in the war. Residents reported heavy bombing in the built-up Bureij refugee camp in...
After recalls and infections, experts say safer eyedrops will require new FDA powers
WASHINGTON — When you buy eyedrops at a U.S. store, you might assume you’re getting a product made in a clean, well-maintained factory that’s passed muster with health regulators. But repeated recalls involving over-the-counter drops are drawing new attention to just how little U.S. officials know about the conditions at...
Gettysburg College director killed in crash after hitting a tractor-trailer, coroner says
A woman who was killed when her car struck a tractor-trailer Friday afternoon on Route 15 was a Gettysburg College administrator, according to the school’s student newspaper. The Adams County coroner on Tuesday also provided additional details about the collision in Latimore Township, which killed Sara Gifford, 35. The crash...
Inside the Pa. court case pitting a genealogist against Ancestry.com
This story first appeared in The Investigator, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring the best investigative and accountability journalism from across Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here. What began in 2022 as a one-paragraph public records request has morphed into a full-blown court fight over who owns digital copies...
Police investigating incidents involving Colorado justices after Trump removed from state’s ballot
DENVER — Police said Tuesday they are investigating incidents directed at Colorado Supreme Court justices and providing extra patrols around their homes in Denver following the court’s decision to remove former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot. The Denver Police Department declined in an email to provide...
Court reverses former Nebraska U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s conviction of lying to federal authorities
LOS ANGELES — An appellate court on Tuesday reversed a 2022 federal conviction against former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska, ruling that he should not have been tried in Los Angeles. Fortenberry was convicted in March 2022 on charges that he lied to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 contribution...
Teen tourist sisters stabbed in random attack at Grand Central Station
Two teen sisters visiting New York from South America were stabbed in a random attack at Manhattan’s Grand Central Station on Christmas morning, police said Tuesday. The two girls, ages 14 and 16, were eating with their family at Tartinery Cafe in the station’s dining concourse when workers asked Steve...
Ice storms, blizzards pummel central U.S. on the day after ChristmasVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — From an ice storm in North Dakota that sealed windows shut to blizzard conditions in Colorado causing hundreds of airport delays and cancellations, a winter storm pummeled much of the central United States on Tuesday, the day after Christmas. “The heavy snow conditions in the Plains should be...
The rapper Ye, who has a long history of making antisemitic comments, issues an apology in Hebrew
The rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has a long history of making antisemitic comments, apologized to the Jewish community in an Instagram post written in Hebrew on Tuesday. “I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any unintended outburst caused by my words or actions,” Ye wrote. “It...
Guesthouse blaze in Romania leaves 6 dead, several others missing
BUCHAREST, Romania — A massive fire at a guesthouse on Tuesday morning in Romania left six people dead, including at least one child, authorities said. Emergency intervention teams were deployed to the blaze in the village of Tohani in Prahova county, where 26 people were staying at the guesthouse, according...
Pennsylvanians ‘should brace for a costly winter,’ warns report
While winter forecasts predict mild weather mixed in with snow, cold temperatures at night will prompt many a household to turn up their thermostats. While how much one pays for heat depends on the type of energy one uses, a recent report has found how Pennsylvania is among the states...
