Kansas City shooting elicits social media reactions, calls to action
During the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration and parade on Valentine’s Day, gunfire erupted — leaving one dead and over 20 injured, including children, according to the Associated Press. The AP reported the shooting occurred despite the presence of more than 800 police officers in the building and nearby....
Pennsylvania man charged with beheading father carried photos of federal buildings, bomb plans, DA says
The suburban Philadelphia man charged with decapitating his father and posting a video online in which he held up the severed head had a device with photos of federal buildings and apparent instructions for making explosives when he was arrested, authorities said Thursday. Justin Mohn, 32, faces a dozen new...
Cleveland-Cliffs to shutter West Virginia tin plant, lay off 900 after tariff ruling
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Cleveland-Cliffs announced Thursday that it is shutting down a northern West Virginia tin production facility indefinitely and plans to lay off 900 workers after the International Trade Commission voted against imposing tariffs on tin imports. The trade commission ruled earlier this year that no anti-dumping and countervailing...
‘A celebration of what we bring to the community’: Westmoreland Cultural Trust hosts annual fundraising gala at Palace Theatre
Suits, ties and evening gowns will grace the stage of the Palace Theatre in Greensburg for the Westmoreland Cultural Trust’s “Party at the Palace” fundraising gala. The theme is “shaken, not stirred,” inspired by the way James Bond takes his martini cocktails. The trust has held the gala for 18...
On the USS Eisenhower, 4 months of combat at sea facing Houthi missiles and new sea threat
ABOARD THE USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER — Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its accompanying warships have spent four months straight at sea defending against ballistic missiles and flying attack drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthis, and are now more regularly also defending against a new threat...
Study: More people die after smoking drugs than injecting them
NEW YORK — Smoking has surpassed injecting as the most common way of taking drugs in U.S. overdose deaths, a new government study suggests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called its study published Thursday the largest to look at how Americans took the drugs that killed them. CDC...
Lyme disease case counts in U.S. rose by almost 70% in 2022 due to change in how it’s reported
NEW YORK — Lyme disease cases in the U.S. jumped nearly 70% in 2022, which health officials say is not due to a major increase of new infections but instead a change in reporting requirements. Reported cases surpassed 62,000 in 2022, after averaging about 37,000 a year from 2017 through...
Venezuela orders UN office on human rights to close and its staff to leave in 3 days
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s government on Thursday ordered the local U.N. office on human rights to suspend operations and gave its staff 72 hours to leave, accusing the office of promoting opposition to the South American country. Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil announced the decision at a news conference in...
Ready to dance without pause for 46 hours? Here’s your guide to Penn State’s Thon 2024
Perhaps the biggest event of Penn State’s spring semester is just around the corner, but it’s not too late to learn how to follow along, get involved or lend a hand. Penn State’s IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, better known simply as “Thon,” will get underway at 6 p.m. Friday before concluding...
Trump’s New York hush-money case will start March 25 — the 1st of his criminal trials
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s hush-money trial will go ahead as scheduled with jury selection starting March 25, a New York judge ruled Thursday, turning aside demands for delay from the former president’s defense lawyers, who argued it would interfere with his campaign to retake the White House. The decision...
Red flags, missed clues: How accused U.S. diplomat-turned-Cuban spy avoided scrutiny for decades
MIAMI — Manuel Rocha was well known in Miami’s elite circles for an aristocratic, almost regal, bearing that seemed fitting for an Ivy League-educated career U.S. diplomat who held top posts in Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba and the White House. “Ambassador Rocha,” as he preferred to be called, demanded and got...
Group of Penn State trustees pushes to name football field after Joe Paterno in private meetings
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. STATE COLLEGE — Penn State trustees and high-ranking university representatives met privately twice in January to discuss whether to name the football field at Beaver...
Police: Shooting after Chiefs Super Bowl parade seemed to stem from dispute among several people
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The mass shooting that unfolded amid throngs of people at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration appeared to stem from a dispute between several people, authorities said Thursday. Police Chief Stacey Graves said that the 22 people injured in the shooting ranged between the ages...
Israeli forces storm the main hospital in southern Gaza, saying hostages were likely held there
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces stormed the main hospital in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours after Israeli fire killed a patient and wounded six others inside the complex. The Israeli army said it was a limited operation seeking the remains of hostages taken by Hamas. The raid came a...
Democrats embrace tougher border enforcement, seeing Trump’s demolition of deal as a ‘gift’
WASHINGTON — The Senate’s border proposal was one of the toughest bipartisan bills to emerge on the issue in decades. Yet it quickly collapsed when Republicans — galvanized by Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee — rejected the compromise as insufficient. Now Democrats see an opening. Senate Majority Leader...
U.S. company’s lunar lander rockets toward the moon for a touchdown attempt next week
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Another private U.S. company took a shot at the moon Thursday, launching a month after a rival’s lunar lander missed its mark and came crashing back. NASA, the main sponsor with experiments on board, is hoping for a successful moon landing next week as it seeks...
North Carolina tells nature-based therapy program to stop admissions during probe of boy’s death
LAKE TOXAWAY, N.C. — North Carolina health officials have told a nature-based therapy program to stop admissions and take other steps to ensure children’s safety during the investigation of a 12-year-old boy’s death earlier this month. Department of Health and Human Services officials said in a letter to Trails Carolina...
College and university endowments rebound from historically bad year; Pitt remains largest in Western Pa.
College and university endowments in 2023 reversed a historically poor showing from the previous year by posting investment returns approaching 8% that favored institutions with less wealth over peers with billions of dollars in holdings. The findings are from a study of nearly 700 institutions nationally that was released Thursday...
Trump on pace to drain legal funds by July, with only $27 million left
Donald Trump will likely drain his war chest for legal fees this summer, leaving the GOP front-runner crunched for cash just as his presidential campaign ramps up spending for an expected rematch with President Joe Biden. Trump spent $51.2 million in 2023 on legal expenses, and can tap another $26.6...
Special counsel asks Supreme Court to let Trump’s 2020 election case proceed to trial without delay
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to let former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case proceed to trial without further delay. Prosecutors were responding to a Trump team request from earlier in the week asking for a continued pause in the case...
Charlotte, a stingray with no male companion, is pregnant in her mountain aquariumVideo
Charlotte, a rust-colored stingray the size of a serving platter, has spent much of her life gliding around the confines of a storefront aquarium in North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains. She’s 2,300 miles from her natural habitat under the waves off southern California. And she hasn’t shared a tank of water...
Florida officer mistakes acorn for gunshot, unloads on car with cuffed man insideVideo
A Florida police officer confused a falling acorn for a gunshot and responded by unleashing a hail of bullets on his own patrol car while a man sat handcuffed inside. Jesse Hernandez of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office shot up his vehicle once the acorn struck the hood during the...
West Virginia bill defining gender is transphobic and ‘political rubbish,’ Democrats say
CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s Republican-supermajority House of Delegates overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday to narrow the definitions of gender that Democrats label as a dystopian bill that would give women no additional rights and is a way for the GOP to suppress transgender people. The bill passed on an 87-12 vote...
Massive landslide on coastal bluff leaves Southern California mansion on the edge of a cliffVideo
DANA POINT, Calif. — A massive landslide on a coastal bluff has left a Southern California mansion on the edge of a cliff, but authorities have determined that the ocean-view home and neighboring residences are not in immediate danger. The slide occurred last week in the city of Dana Point...
House Intelligence Committee chair warns of a serious national security threatVideo
WASHINGTON — The Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee urged the Biden administration on Wednesday to declassify information about what he called a serious national security threat. A senior congressional aide speaking to The Associated Press pointed to concerns about Russian anti-satellite weapons. Rep. Mike Turner gave no details...
