Trump appeals ruling rejecting immunity claim as window narrows to derail federal election case
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump is appealing a ruling that found he is not immune from criminal prosecution as he runs out of opportunities to delay or even derail an upcoming trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Lawyers for the 2024...
Texas judge grants pregnant woman permission to get an abortion despite state’s ban
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas judge on Thursday gave a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis permission to get an abortion in an unprecedented challenge over bans that more than a dozen states have enacted since Roe v. Wade was overturned. The lawsuit by Kate Cox, a 31-year-old...
Son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer crashes during police chase, killing North Dakota sheriff’s deputy
BISMARCK, N.D. — The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer crashed into a North Dakota sheriff’s vehicle during a police chase, pushing it into a deputy and killing him, according to authorities and the Republican senator’s family. Ian Cramer of Bismarck was arrested and jailed following Wednesday’s crash, and...
No UNLV students killed in shooting; victims were faculty members, university says
LAS VEGAS — A gunman who killed three faculty members at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, before dying in a shootout with police, did not appear to be targeting students, according to two law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the investigation. Terrified students and professors cowered in classrooms...
Centenarian survivors of Pearl Harbor attack are returning to honor those who perished 82 years agoVideo
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — Ira “Ike” Schab had just showered, put on a clean sailor’s uniform and closed his locker aboard the USS Dobbin when he heard a call for a fire rescue party. He went topside to see the USS Utah capsizing and Japanese planes in the air. He...
The White House is threatening the patents of high-priced drugs developed with taxpayer dollars
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is putting pharmaceutical companies on notice, warning them that if the price of certain drugs is too high, the government might cancel their patent protection and allow rivals to make their own versions. Under a plan announced Thursday, the government would consider overriding the patent...
UPenn president says calling for Jewish genocide allowed ‘in context,’ then issues correction
Embattled University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill is under fire yet again for her problematic response to antisemitic speech on campus, telling a congressional hearing that calling for Jewish genocide is allowed depending on its “context.” Then, after 24 hours of backlash, Magill released a video refuting her previous statement....
U.K. says Russia’s intelligence service behind sustained attempts to meddle in British democracy
LONDON — Russia’s intelligence services targeted high-profile British politicians, civil servants and journalists with cyberespionage and “malicious cyberactivity” as part of sustained attempts to interfere in U.K. political processes, Britain’s government said Thursday. The Foreign Office said Russia’s FSB agency was responsible for a range of cyberespionage operations in the...
Putin moves a step closer to a 5th term as president after Russia sets 2024 election date
Lawmakers in Russia set the country’s 2024 presidential election for March 17, moving Vladimir Putin a step closer to a fifth term in office. Members of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, voted unanimously to approve a decree setting the date. “In essence, this decision marks the start...
Trump is back at New York fraud trial again as testimony nears an end
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump returned to his civil business fraud trial as a spectator Thursday, after a month of assailing the proceedings from afar. With testimony winding down after more than two months, the Republican 2024 presidential front-runner showed up to watch an accounting professor testify about...
Desperation grows among Palestinians trapped with little aid as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Desperation grew Thursday among Palestinians largely cut off from supplies of food and water as Israeli forces engaged in fierce urban battles with Hamas militants. Strikes in the southern Gaza town of Rafah sowed fear in one of the last places where civilians could seek refuge....
Russian schoolgirl shoots several classmates, leaving 1 dead, before killing herself
MOSCOW — A Russian schoolgirl shot several of her classmates with a gun on Thursday, killing one person and injuring five others, before killing herself, state news agencies and authorities said. The shooting happened at a school in Bryansk, in a region that borders Ukraine, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. Children...
White House delays menthol cigarette ban, alarming anti-smoking advocates
WASHINGTON — White House officials will take more time to review a sweeping plan from U.S. health regulators to ban menthol cigarettes, an unexpected delay that anti-tobacco groups fear could scuttle the long-awaited rule. Administration officials indicated Wednesday the process will continue into next year, targeting March to implement the...
Nikki Haley targeted in the 4th Republican debate by her rivals. They all trail TrumpVideo
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nikki Haley was targeted Wednesday from the opening moments of the fourth debate for Republican presidential hopefuls as time runs out for the shrinking field to shake up a race dominated by former President Donald Trump. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused Haley of backing down from media...
U.S. military grounds entire fleet of Osprey aircraft following a deadly crash off the coast of Japan
WASHINGTON — The military announced late Wednesday it was grounding all of its Osprey V-22 helicopters, one week after eight Air Force Special Operations Command service members died in a crash off the coast of Japan. The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps took the extraordinary step of grounding hundreds...
Trump campaign staffer wanted rioting to obstruct Detroit vote counting, prosecutors say
DETROIT — Federal prosecutors alleged in a court filing Tuesday that a campaign employee of former President Donald Trump “encouraged rioting” to obstruct the counting of votes in Detroit after the November 2020 election. The revelation drew a direct connection between the frenzy that took place at Detroit’s riverfront convention...
Late Homer City astronaut and IUP graduate receives space mission name
Dr. Patricia Hilliard Robertson, a 1985 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, devoted her life not only to medicine but to the advancement of human spaceflight. She never made it into space herself, dying months shy of a mission. On Wednesday, the space industry became the latest to honor the...
Nevada grand jury indicts 6 fake Donald Trump electors
RENO, Nev. — A Nevada grand jury on Wednesday indicted six Republicans who submitted certificates to Congress falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election in their state, making Nevada the third to seek charges against so-called “fake electors.” “We cannot allow attacks on democracy to go...
Las Vegas shooting suspect was a professor who recently applied for a job at UNLV
LAS VEGAS — The man suspected of fatally shooting three people and wounding another at a Las Vegas university Wednesday was a professor who unsuccessfully sought a job at the school, a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. The gunman was killed in...
How to watch the fourth Republican presidential debate and what to look for
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The number of candidates on stage is shrinking, but the fundamentals of Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate may be familiar to anyone who has watched the previous three meetings. No one has yet emerged as the clear Republican alternative to former President Donald Trump, whose lead is so...
Trump tells supporters, ‘Guard the vote.’ Here’s the phrase’s backstory and why it’s raising concern
Former President Donald Trump is urging supporters to “guard the vote” during next year’s election, a phrase that has set off alarm bells among pro-democracy advocates who say it signals permission to take extreme measures that could intimidate voters and threaten election workers. The phrase is a relatively novel one...
‘At the right place, at the right time’: Go Laurel Highlands recognizes 9 photo contest winners
For Connie Weyant, the photograph that placed her in the top nine of Go Laurel Highlands’ annual photo contest took years of patient waiting. Weyant, of Somerset, has been observing Somerset Lake for about eight years in search of a bald eagle. She’s received countless calls from friends, pointing her...
Ohio Republicans propose nixing home grow, increasing taxes in sweeping changes to legal marijuana
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Banning marijuana growing at home, increasing the substance’s tax rate and altering how those taxes get distributed are among vast changes Ohio Senate Republicans proposed Monday to a marijuana legalization measure approved by voters last month. The changes emerged suddenly in committee just days before the new...
Russia’s Putin is visiting the UAE and Saudi Arabia, seeking to bolster Moscow’s Mideast clout
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday in a lightning tour intended to raise Moscow’s profile as a Middle East power broker, even as his war in Ukraine grinds on. Putin landed in Abu Dhabi, the capital of...
FDA is inspecting plant in Ecuador that made lead-tainted fruit pouches
U.S. health officials have launched an inspection of a plant in Ecuador that made the cinnamon applesauce pouches linked to dozens of cases of acute lead poisoning in U.S. children. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that contaminated cinnamon is the likely source of the lead. An FDA...
