Tracking Josh Shapiro’s 11 biggest campaign promises through his 1st year
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 — During his run for governor, Josh Shapiro was boosted by his reputation as a deal-making coalition-builder. That standing ran into a different reality...
After a fatal attack near the Eiffel Tower, French investigators look into suspect’s mental health
PARIS — French investigations into a fatal weekend attack near the Eiffel Tower were looking Monday into the mental health of the suspected assailant, who swore allegiance to the Islamic State group before stabbing a German-Filipino tourist to death and injuring two other people with a hammer. The French national...
U.S. is running out of money for Ukraine and that could hinder fight against Russia, White House warns
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday sent Congress an urgent warning about the need to approve tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, saying Kyiv’s war effort to defend itself from Russia’s invasion may grind to a halt without it. In a letter to...
The next Republican debate is in Alabama, the state that gave the GOP a road map to Donald Trump
ATLANTA — Republican presidential candidates will debate Wednesday within walking distance of where George Wallace staged his “stand in the schoolhouse door” to oppose the enrollment of Black students at the University of Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement. The state that propelled Wallace, a Democrat and four-term governor, into...
California faculty at largest U.S. university system launch strike for better pay
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Faculty at California State University, the largest public university system in the U.S., will hold a series of one-day strikes starting Monday across four campuses to demand higher pay and more parental leave for thousands of professors, librarians, coaches and other workers. The strikes at California State...
Barbie doll honoring Cherokee Nation leader is met with mixed emotions
OKLAHOMA CITY — An iconic chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller, inspired countless Native American children as a powerful but humble leader who expanded early education and rural healthcare. Her reach is now broadening with a quintessential American honor: a Barbie doll in the late Mankiller’s likeness as part...
What to know about Hanukkah and how it’s celebrated around the world
Hanukkah — also spelled Chanukah or other transliterations from Hebrew — is Judaism’s “festival of lights.” On eight consecutive nightfalls, Jews gather with family and friends to light one additional candle in the menorah — a multibranched candelabra. In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication,” and the holiday marks the rededication of...
Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims
HAILEY, Idaho — Paul Rytting listened as a woman, voice quavering, told him her story. When she was a child, her father, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused, she said. It was March...
Supreme Court wrestles with OxyContin maker’s bankruptcy deal, with billions of dollars at stake
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would shield members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids. The justices seemed by turns reluctant to break up an exhaustively negotiated agreement,...
Biden’s allies in Senate demand that Israel limit civilian deaths in Gaza as Congress debates U.S. aid
WASHINGTON — As a cease-fire ticked down last week and Israel prepared to resume its round-the-clock airstrikes, Sen. Bernie Sanders and a robust group of Democratic senators had a message for their president: They were done “asking nicely” for Israel to do more to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza. Lawmakers...
Israel orders evacuations as it widens offensive but Palestinians are running out of places to go
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli warplanes heavily bombarded an area around Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Monday as the military ordered mass evacuations from the town in the face of a widening ground offensive that is pushing Palestinians into a progressively shrinking portion of the besieged territory. The...
Florida Republican chairman won’t resign over rape allegation, saying he is innocent
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The chair of Florida’s Republican Party says he will not resign over a woman’s allegation that he raped her, saying in an email to supporters that he is innocent. He did not address any specifics of the accusation that has roiled the state’s conservative politics. Christian...
Ships face Houthi-claimed attack in Red Sea as officials say a U.S. warship also fires in self-defense
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Commercial ships came under attack Sunday by drones and missiles in the Red Sea and a U.S. warship there opened fire in self-defense as part of an hourslong assault claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said. The attack potentially marked a major escalation in a...
Earth is running a fever. And UN climate talks are focusing on the contagious effect on human health
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — With Planet Earth running a fever, U.N. climate talks focused Sunday on the contagious effects on human health. Under a brown haze over Dubai, the COP28 summit moved past two days of lofty rhetoric and calls for unity from top leaders to concerns about health...
DeSantis hits Iowa campaign milestone but is still far behind Trump, who again mocked his campaign
NEWTON, Iowa — Ron DeSantis completed his campaign promise to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties, crossing a symbolic but also tactical threshold by telling his audience in a central Iowa town “this should show you that I consider myself a servant, not a ruler.” Former President Donald Trump, who...
3 officials have left a pro-DeSantis super PAC in the group’s latest shake-up, AP sources say
DES MOINES, Iowa — Three senior members of a super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis left the group on Saturday, the latest sign of instability within the 2024 hopeful’s political operation just six weeks before the Iowa Republican caucuses. Kristin Davison parted ways with Never Back Down just after...
Israel expands Gaza ground offensive, vows to hit the south with ‘no less strength’ than the north
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel’s ground offensive expanded to every part of the Gaza Strip, its military said Sunday, as it ordered more evacuations and vowed to hit south Gaza with “no less strength” than the fight that has reduced large parts of north Gaza to a moonscape. Heavy...
Las Vegas police search for suspect after 5 homeless people are shot, killing 1
LAS VEGAS — Five homeless people were shot in Las Vegas on Friday, one of them fatally, and police were searching for a lone suspect, authorities said. The shooting occurred around 5:30 p.m. near a freeway overpass in the northeastern part of the city, according to Las Vegas police. A...
Sheriff says Alabama family’s pet ‘wolf-hybrid’ killed their 3-month-old boy
CHELSEA, Ala. — A 3-month-old boy was killed as his parents tried to rescue the baby from the family pet, a hybrid animal that was part dog, part wolf, authorities said. The boy had been bitten but was alive when first responders arrived shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday at the...
Gun factory in upstate New York with roots in 19th century set to close
ILION, N.Y. — A gun factory in upstate New York with a history stretching back to the 19th century is scheduled to close in March, according to a letter from the company to union officials. RemArms, the current version of Remington Arms, will close its facility in the Mohawk Valley...
Israeli offensive shifts to crowded southern Gaza, driving up death toll despite evacuation orders
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered more neighborhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians a...
7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern Philippines and a tsunami warning is issued
MANILA, Philippines — A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck Saturday off the southern Philippine coast, prompting many villagers to flee their homes in panic around midnight after Philippine authorities issued a tsunami warning. The quake struck at 10:37 p.m. at a depth of 20 miles, according...
U.S. targets oil and natural gas industry’s role in global warming with new rule on methane emissions
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Saturday issued a final rule aimed at reducing methane emissions, targeting the U.S. oil and natural gas industry for its role in global warming as President Joe Biden seeks to advance his climate legacy. The Environmental Protection Agency said the rule will sharply reduce...
Pentagon forges high-tech agreement with Australia, United Kingdom, aimed at countering China
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — From underwater drones to electronic warfare, the U.S. is expanding its high-tech military cooperation with Australia and the United Kingdom as part of a broader effort to counter China’s rapidly growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with defense chiefs from Australia and...
Trump denied immunity against U.S. election subversion charges
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is not entitled to absolute presidential immunity against criminal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday rejected Trump’s early efforts to get the federal indictment in Washington tossed out, including his contention...
