Trump transformed the Supreme Court. Now the justices could decide his political and legal future
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump touts his transformation of the U.S. Supreme Court as one of his presidency’s greatest accomplishments. Now his legal and political future may lie in the hands of the court he pushed to the right. With three Trump-appointed justices leading a conservative majority, the court is being...
Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy days after being ordered to pay $148 million in defamation case
NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy, days after being ordered to pay $148 million in a defamation lawsuit brought by two former election workers in Georgia who said his targeting of them led to death threats that made them fear for their lives. In his filing Thursday,...
UN report says more than 570,000 people in Gaza now ‘starving’ due to fallout from war
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — More than half a million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving due to “woefully insufficient” quantities of food entering the territory ever since Israel’s military responded to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, according to a report released Thursday by the U.N....
A lone gunman opens fire in a Prague university, killing 14 people and injuring 25
PRAGUE — A lone gunman opened fire Thursday in a university building in downtown Prague, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 20 in the Czech Republic’s worst mass shooting, police and the city’s rescue service said. The bloodshed took place in the philosophy department building of Charles...
Taliban official says Afghan girls of all ages permitted to study in religious schools
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan girls of all ages are permitted to study in religious schools, which are traditionally boys-only, a Taliban official said Thursday. A day earlier, U.N. special envoy Roza Otunbayeva told the Security Council and reporters that the United Nations was receiving “more and more anecdotal evidence” that...
U.S. unemployment claims rise slightly, remain at low levels despite higher interest rates
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week but still remained at historically low levels despite high interest rates intended to slow hiring and cool the economy. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims were up by 2,000 to 205,000 the week that...
Ready, set, travel: The holiday rush to the airports and highways is underway
It’s beginning to look a lot like a hectic holiday travel season, but it might go relatively smoothly if the weather cooperates. Travel over Christmas and New Year’s tends to spread out over many days, so the peaks in the U.S. are likely to be lower than they were during...
Parents of children sickened by lead linked to tainted fruit pouches fear for kids’ future
When Cora Dibert went for a routine blood test in October, the toddler brought along her favorite new snack: a squeeze pouch of WanaBana cinnamon-flavored apple puree. “She sucked them dry,” recalls her 26-year-old mother, Morgan Shurtleff, of Elgin, Oklahoma. Within a week, the family got an alarming call. The...
Health officials push to get schoolchildren vaccinated as more U.S. parents opt out
When Idaho had a rare measles outbreak a few months ago, health officials scrambled to keep it from spreading. In the end, 10 people, all in one family, were infected, all unvaccinated. This time, the state was lucky, said the region’s medical director Dr. Perry Jansen. The family quickly quarantined...
Federal judge blocks California law that would have banned carrying firearms in most public places
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a California law that would have banned carrying firearms in most public places, ruling that it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and deprives people of their ability to defend themselves and their loved ones. The law signed...
Christmas is in jeopardy for some New Englanders after storms and flooding knocked out power
PORTLAND, Maine — Megan Michaud and her family of five lost power for three days after a powerful storm throttled her home state of Maine, and a new challenge is creeping up on her: It’s almost time for Christmas. “This morning, my second grader told me, ‘It’s five days until...
Motorists to save as Pa.’s gas tax to drop more than 5% in 2024
Motorists will begin to see a little relief at the gas pump, starting on Jan. 1. Pennsylvania’s gas tax rate is going down from this year’s 61.1 cents per gallon to 57.6 cents a gallon, according to the state Department of Revenue. Diesel tax rates too are dropping next year...
U.S., Venezuela swap prisoners: Maduro ally for 10 Americans, plus fugitive contractor ‘Fat Leonard’
MIAMI — The United States freed a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the return of a fugitive defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who is at the center of a massive Pentagon bribery...
Some state abortion bans stir confusion, and it’s uncertain if lawmakers will clarify them
Ever since the nation’s highest court ended abortion rights more than a year ago, vaguely worded bans enacted in some Republican-controlled states have caused bewilderment over how exceptions should be applied. Supporters have touted these exemptions, tucked inside statutes restricting abortion, as sufficient enough to protect the life of the...
President Biden denounces Trump as ‘doubling down’ on support for insurrection
MILWAUKEE — President Joe Biden said it’s “self-evident” that Donald Trump is an insurrectionist for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss but stopped short of commenting on a Colorado legal case that would bar him from the state’s ballot. The Democratic president made the comments about his likely Republican...
Trump’s lawyers ask Supreme Court to stay out of dispute on whether he is immune from prosecution
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to stand down from a dispute over whether he can be prosecuted on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team last week urged the nation’s high court to...
The Constitution’s insurrection clause threatens Trump’s campaign. Here is how that is playing out
DENVER — Former President Donald Trump’s bid to win back the White House is now threatened by two sentences added to the U.S. Constitution 155 years ago. The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday barred Trump from the state’s ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who...
Man accused in assaults on trail now charged in 2003 rape, murder of Philadelphia medical student
PHILADELPHA — A man accused of slashing people with a large knife while riding a bicycle on a trail in Philadelphia in recent weeks has been formally charged in the cold-case rape and slaying of a medical student that occurred among a series of high-profile sexual assaults in a large...
Judge orders release of over 150 names of people mentioned in Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit documents
NEW YORK — A federal judge has ordered the public disclosure of the identities of more than 150 people mentioned in a mountain of court documents related to the late-financier Jeffrey Epstein, saying that most of the names were already public and that many had not objected to the release....
U.S. released ally of Venezuela’s president in swap for jailed Americans
MIAMI — The Biden administration has released a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a swap for jailed Americans, the Associated Press has learned. Alex Saab, who was arrested on a U.S. warrant for money laundering in 2020, was released from custody Wednesday. In exchange, Maduro will free...
PennWest interim president approved for return to West Chester University
R. Lorraine “Laurie” Bernotsky will leave the interim presidency of PennWest University in June to become the 16th president of West Chester University in suburban Philadelphia. The State System of Higher Education in Harrisburg approved Bernotsky’s selection Wednesday morning at a special meeting conducted via Zoom. The vote was unanimous....
U.S. flies bombers for joint drills with South Korea, Japan after North’s long-range missile launch
SEOUL, South Korea — The United States flew long-range bombers for joint drills with South Korea and Japan on Wednesday in a show of force against North Korea, days after the North performed its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in five months. The trilateral training off South Korea’s southern island...
Study shows AI image-generators being trained on explicit photos of children
Hidden inside the foundation of popular artificial intelligence image-generators are thousands of images of child sexual abuse, according to a new report that urges companies to take action to address a harmful flaw in the technology they built. Those same images have made it easier for AI systems to produce...
Rep. Scott Perry told to hand over hundreds of texts and emails in 2020 election probe
A federal judge is ordering Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania to turn over more than 1,600 texts and emails to FBI agents investigating efforts to keep President Donald Trump in office after his 2020 election loss and illegally block the transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden. The ruling,...
Judge reverses earlier decision, allows removal of Confederate memorial at Arlington Cemetery
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge on Tuesday allowed the Arlington National Cemetery to remove a century-old Confederate memorial one day after blocking the removal over a report that gravesites were disturbed. At a hearing in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston said he issued the...
