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...
Earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 131 people and is the deadliest in 9 years
BEIJING — A strong overnight earthquake rattled a mountainous region of northwestern China, authorities said Tuesday, reducing homes to rubble, leaving residents outside in a below-freezing winter night and killing 131 people in the nation’s deadliest quake in nine years. The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday,...
Donald Trump banned from Colorado ballot in historic ruling by state’s Supreme Court
DENVER — A divided Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and removed him from the state’s presidential primary ballot, setting up a likely showdown in the nation’s highest court to decide whether the front-runner for...
Sandra Day O’Connor called a pioneer and ‘iconic jurist’ as she is memorialized by Biden, Roberts
WASHINGTON — Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the Arizona rancher’s daughter who became a voice of moderate conservatism as the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, was memorialized by President Joe Biden on Tuesday as a pioneer in the legal world who inspired generations of women. Biden and Chief Justice...
Pitt top officials to receive 4% raises
Seven senior leaders at the University of Pittsburgh will see pay increases of 4% next year, bringing their base salaries to between $271,000 and nearly $1.1 million. The new pay levels were endorsed Tuesday morning by the Pitt Board of Trustees’ Compensation Committee and then approved by the full Board...
She bought a colorful vase at Goodwill for $3.99. The rare piece sold at auction for $107,000
Jessica Vincent had just started surveying the shelves of a Virginia thrift store when a vase caught her eye. It was shaped like a bottle and had ribbons of color, aqua green and amethyst purple, that spiraled up its glass surface like stripes of paint. The piece looked old amongst...
Former Pennsylvania death row inmate freed after prosecutors drop charges before start of retrial
YORK, Pa. — A man formerly on death row has been released from prison following dismissal of murder charges in a double slaying a quarter-century ago that he blamed on his brother, who died in prison while appealing his own death sentence in the case. Noel Montalvo, who turned 59...
New York will set up a commission to consider reparations for slavery
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state will create a commission tasked with considering reparations to address the persistent, harmful effects of slavery in the state, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday. The bill signing comes at a time when many states and towns throughout...
Lawsuit against former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice dismissed after she turns over records
MADISON, Wis. — An open records lawsuit against former Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack was dismissed Tuesday after Roggensack turned over all records she had related to her work investigating possible impeachment of a sitting justice. None of the records Roggensack produced earlier this month shed any light...
Central Pa. man dies after vehicle submerged during flooding
Authorities say a 73-year-old Lancaster County man died Monday morning after his car was submerged in water in the aftermath of heavy rainfall over the weekend. Allen “Ray” Nolt, of Clay Township, died at WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital after his vehicle encountered high water on Cabin Drive in West Earl...
Gov. Shapiro’s job approval rating slips but remains strong as 1st year comes to a close
Gov. Josh Shapiro continues to enjoy the support of a majority of Pennsylvania voters as he nears the end of his first year in office but his approval rating is beginning to show signs of weakening, according to a statewide poll released on Tuesday. The poll released by the Commonwealth...
Census: Where are people moving to Pennsylvania from the most?
More people moved to Pennsylvania in 2022 than the year prior, and many came from neighboring states, according to new geographic mobility estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The federal agency estimates nearly 263,000 people residing in Pennsylvania in 2022 lived in a different state one year ago. Many came...
Putin hails Russia’s military performance in Ukraine, vows to achieve Moscow’s goals
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Tuesday that the military has seized the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine after repelling Kyiv’s counteroffensive and is well positioned to achieve Moscow’s goals. Putin’s speech at a meeting with top military brass came a day after he presented documents to Russia’s...
Google to pay $700 million to U.S. states, consumers in app store settlement
Google has agreed to pay $700 million and make several other concessions to settle allegations that it had been stifling competition against its Android app store — the same issue that went to trial in another case that could result in even biggthe er changes. Although Google struck the deal...
Illegal crossings surge in remote areas as Congress, White House weigh major asylum limits
LUKEVILLE, Ariz. — Hundreds of dates are written on concrete-filled steel columns erected along the U.S. border with Mexico to memorialize when the Border Patrol has repaired illicit openings in the would-be barriers. Yet no sooner are fixes made than another column is sawed, torched and chiseled for large groups...
Many kids are still skipping kindergarten. Since the pandemic, some parents don’t see the point
CONCORD, Calif. — Aylah Levy had some catching up to do this fall when she started first grade. After spending her kindergarten year at an alternative program that met exclusively outdoors, Aylah, 6, had to adjust to being inside a classroom. She knew only a handful of numbers and was...
Israel strikes south Gaza and raids a hospital in the north as war grinds on with renewed U.S. support
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces raided one of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza’s north and bombarded the south with airstrikes that killed at least 28 Palestinians, pressing ahead with their offensive Tuesday with renewed backing from the United States, despite rising international alarm. The air and ground war,...
Iceland volcano erupts weeks after thousands were evacuated from a town on Reykjanes PeninsulaVideo
STOCKHOLM — A volcanic eruption started Monday night on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, turning the sky orange and prompting the country’s civil defense to be on high alert. The eruption appears to have occurred about 2.5 miles from the town of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. Grainy webcam video showed...
Judge criticizes Trump’s expert witness as he again refuses to toss fraud lawsuit
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump has lost his latest bid to end the business fraud lawsuit he faces in New York as he campaigns to reclaim the White House. Judge Arthur Engoron issued a written ruling Monday denying the Republican’s latest request for a verdict in his favor...
