Spending on Pa. Supreme Court race broke records, set precedent for outside influence
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 — The candidates for Pennsylvania Supreme Court and their allies spent at least $22 million to influence the race’s outcome, with much of that...
Nikki Haley walks back her demand that social media ban anonymous posters after facing GOP backlash
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Nikki Haley on Wednesday partially walked back her proposed requirement that social media companies ban people from posting anonymously online for national security reasons, a stance for which she drew backlash across conservative social media and some of her GOP presidential rivals. The former United Nations ambassador’s...
New Hampshire defies national Democrats’ calendar revamp with Jan. 23, 2024, presidential primaries
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire’s secretary of state on Wednesday scheduled the state’s presidential primaries for Jan. 23, 2024, extending its century-old streak of going first despite national Democrats’ efforts to overhaul the nominating calendar. State law requires New Hampshire’s Republican and Democratic primaries to be held at least seven...
Ohio commission approves fracking in state parks and wildlife areas despite fraud investigation
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Some state parks can be fracked in Ohio, a decision made by a government commission Wednesday despite an ongoing investigation into oil and gas companies claiming possible fraudulent support. During a raucous meeting attended by many fracking opponents, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission OK’d...
Moms for Liberty removes 2 Kentucky chapter leaders who posed with far-right Proud Boys
NEW YORK — Moms for Liberty says it has removed two Kentucky chapter chairs from leadership positions after the women posed in photos with members of the far-right group the Proud Boys, one of several controversies that the conservative “parental rights” nonprofit has fended off in its rise to national...
Hunter Biden wants Trump documents subpoenaed to investigate any political pressure on criminal case
WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden asked a judge on Wednesday to approve subpoenas for documents from Donald Trump and former Justice Department officials related to whether political pressure wrongly influenced the criminal case against him. Biden’s attorneys allege there were “certain instances that appear to suggest incessant, improper, and partisan pressure...
Terry Taylor, trailblazing Associated Press sports editor, dies at age 71
NEW YORK — Terry R. Taylor, who in two trailblazing decades as the first female sports editor of The Associated Press transformed the news agency’s emphasis into multilayered coverage of rigorous reporting, entertaining enterprise and edgy analysis, has died. She was 71. Taylor died Tuesday at her home in Paoli,...
UK top court says a plan to send migrants to Rwanda is illegal. The government still wants to do it
LONDON — The British government said Wednesday it will still try to send some migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda, despite the U.K. Supreme Court ruling that the contentious plan is unlawful because asylum-seekers would not be safe in the African country. In a major blow to one of...
Mother of 6-year-old boy who shot teacher faces sentencing for marijuana use while owning a gun
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday and could face prison time for using marijuana while owning a firearm, which is illegal under U.S. law. Deja Taylor’s son took her handgun to school and shot...
Vote on tentative contract with General Motors too close to call as more tallies are reported
DETROIT — Voting on a tentative contract agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers union that ended a six-week strike against the company appears too close to call after the latest tallies at several GM factories were announced Wednesday. The union hasn’t posted final vote totals yet, but...
NTSB at scene of deadly Ohio interstate crash involving busload of high school studentsVideo
ETNA, Ohio — A National Transportation Safety Board team was planning to start work Wednesday at the scene of a deadly highway crash in Ohio involving a charter bus filled with high school students that left six people dead and 18 injured. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the team would...
Barring ‘thin blue line’ flag on Pennsylvania township property is unconstitutional, U.S. court rules
A federal court has ruled that a Pennsylvania community’s resolution prohibiting the display of an American flag with a thin blue line on all township property is unconstitutional. The ruling about the flag that’s also used as part of the police union’s logo came down Monday. The dispute in Springfield...
Israel searches for traces of Hamas in raid of key Gaza hospital packed with patients
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops on Wednesday stormed into Gaza’s largest hospital, searching for traces of Hamas inside and beneath the facility, where newborns and hundreds of other patients have suffered for days without electricity and other basic necessities as fighting raged outside. Details from the daylong raid...
Bus accident leaves at least 37 dead, 18 injured on Himalayan road in Indian-controlled Kashmir
SRINAGAR, India — A passenger bus slid off a Himalayan highway killing at least 37 people and injuring 18 others after rolling down a steep slope onto another road in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday, officials said. The 42-seater bus was on the way to southern Jammu city from Kishtwar town...
Greta Thunberg denies public order offense after she was arrested at London protest
LONDON — Climate activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday denied a public order offense after she was arrested last month at a demonstration against a major oil and gas industry conference in London. The 20-year-old Swedish environmental campaigner was among more than two dozen people charged after protesters sought to block...
Conservative Muslims in Indonesia protest Coldplay concert over the band’s LGBTQ+ support
JAKARTA, Indonesia — More than 200 conservative Muslims marched in Indonesia’s capital on Wednesday, calling for the cancellation of a Coldplay concert that night over the British band’s support for the LGBTQ+ community. The protesters, marching about half a mile away from the concert venue in Jakarta where the band...
Pennsylvania House OKs $1.8 billion pension boost for government and public school retirees
HARRISBURG — Democrats who control the state House of Representatives on Tuesday advanced an estimated $1.8 billion boost to the pensions of Pennsylvania state government and public school retirees, while some Republicans said taxpayers will unfairly shoulder the financial burden. The legislation passed 140-63, with every Democrat supporting it. It...
Pa. Senate committee has ‘no plans’ to move House-approved gun safety measures
A Democratic-led state House committee on Tuesday advanced two more firearms safety bills despite fresh indications that gun reform remains largely intractable along partisan lines. The measures — requiring secure gun storage around children and imposing parental liability — are the latest pitched in the Democratic-majority House this session. Two...
U.S. Catholic bishops meet; leaders call for unity, peace amid internal strife and global conflictVideo
BALTIMORE — Catholic leaders called for peace in a war-torn world and unity amid strife within their own clerical ranks on Tuesday, as U.S. bishops gathered in Baltimore for their annual fall meeting. The meeting came soon after two actions by Pope Francis that illustrated the divisive challenges facing the...
The Georgia district attorney who charged Trump expects his trial to be underway over Election Day
ATLANTA — The Georgia district attorney who charged former President Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election said Tuesday that she expects his trial will be underway through Election Day next year and could possibly stretch past the inauguration in 2025. Fulton County District Attorney Fani...
Mother of Sorrows principal will take administrative reins at Greensburg Central Catholic
Theresa Szmed is going to have to get used to seeing older students in the hallways of her workplace. Szmed, who has served as principal at Mother of Sorrows School in Murrysville since 2016, will become the new principal at Greensburg Central Catholic Junior-Senior High School starting in January, diocese...
GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin challenges Teamsters leader to a fight in a fiery exchange at hearingVideo
WASHINGTON — A congressional hearing devolved into an angry confrontation between a senator and a witness on Tuesday after Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma challenged Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to “stand your butt up” and settle longstanding differences right there in the room....
Ex-fundraiser for George Santos pleads guilty to posing as congressional aide to raise campaign cash
A former fundraiser for U.S. Rep. George Santos pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal wire fraud charge, admitting he impersonated a high-ranking congressional aide while raising campaign cash for the embattled New York Republican. Sam Miele was caught soliciting donations in late 2021 under the alias Dan Meyer, who was...
Kevin McCarthy foe accuses former speaker of ‘sucker punch’ elbow in Capitol hallwayVideo
WASHINGTON — Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., accused former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., whom he helped oust from the post last month, of elbowing him in a Capitol Hill hallway on Tuesday. “You just don’t expect a guy who was at one time three steps away from the White House to...
Tens of thousands of supporters of Israel rally in Washington, crying ‘never again’
WASHINGTON — Supporters of Israel rallied by the tens of thousands on the National Mall under heavy security Tuesday, voicing solidarity in the fight against Hamas and crying “never again.” The “March for Israel” offered a resounding and bipartisan endorsement of one of America’s closest allies as criticism has intensified...
