Group seeks to clear names of all accused, convicted or executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts
BOSTON — In 1648, Margaret Jones, a midwife, became the first person in Massachusetts — the second in New England — to be executed for witchcraft, decades before the infamous Salem witch trials. Nearly four centuries later, the state and region are still working to come to grips with the...
Maine mass shooter’s family reached out to sheriff 5 months before rampage, sheriff’s office says
LEWISTON, Maine — Five months before the deadliest mass shooting in Maine’s history, the gunman’s family alerted the local sheriff that they were becoming concerned about his deteriorating mental health while he had access to firearms, authorities said Monday. After the alert, the Sagadohoc County Sheriff’s Office reached out to...
Police say heavily armed man killed himself rather than carry out attack at Colorado amusement park
DENVER — A heavily armed man killed himself rather than carry out an apparent plan to shoot up a mountaintop amusement park in Colorado, authorities said Monday. The 20-year-old man was found dead in a bathroom at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park by a maintenance crew on Saturday morning before it...
York man takes plea deal in Capitol riots
A York County man charged with being part of the Jan. 6 riots at the United States Capitol Building signed a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Cameron Campanella II, 46, of York, signed the document in which he agreed to plead guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted...
Maine mass shooter had numerous run-ins with authorities, showed warning signs long before shootingVideo
LEWISTON, Maine — Authorities in Maine spent Monday piecing together the events that led to the worst mass shooting in the state’s history — with the gunman’s record of interaction with police and warning signs involving mental illness and violent threats emerging as key threads. Those same authorities are facing...
Ohio woman accused of killing 4 men with fatal fentanyl doses to rob them pleads not guilty
COLUMBUS — An Ohio woman who authorities say killed four men with lethal doses of fentanyl in order to rob them pleaded not guilty to murder charges on Monday. Rebecca Auborn entered her plea in court accompanied by her attorney, Mark Hunt. Authorities said there are likely more victims, and...
Illinois man pleads not guilty to hate crime, murder charges in attack on Muslim mother and son
JOLIET, Ill. — A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American woman and her young son pleaded not guilty Monday following his indictmen t by an Illinois grand jury. Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old...
Online antisemitic threats unnerve Jewish students and spark condemnation at Cornell University
ITHACA, N.Y. — Threatening statements about Jews on an internet discussion board have unnerved students at Cornell University and prompted officials to send police to guard a Jewish center and kosher dining hall. The menacing, anonymous messages, posted over the weekend in an online forum about fraternities and sororities, came...
Point Park University wants to increase enrollment by 30%, house older adults
Point Park University wants to attract artists, single parents and retirees to live on its campus as part of an effort to reinvigorate Downtown Pittsburgh and add 30% to the school’s enrollment by decade’s end. On Monday, leaders of the Downtown university with 3,300 students unveiled a strategic plan outlining...
Some striking UAW members carry family legacies, Black middle-class future along with picket signs
WAYNE, Mich. — As Britney Johnson paced the picket line outside Ford’s Wayne Assembly plant, she wasn’t just carrying a sign demanding higher pay and other changes. She also carried a legacy of car factory jobs and union wages that allowed generations of her family to enjoy middle-class lifestyles and...
General Motors reaches tentative agreement with UAW, potentially ending 6-week strike
DETROIT — Facing the loss of another $200 million this week to a lengthy strike, General Motors CEO Mary Barra wrapped up her weekend by going to the United Auto Workers’ Detroit headquarters intent on getting a new contract. Joined by manufacturing chief Gerald Johnson at the meeting that started...
Man sentenced to jail in Lake Erie fishing tournament scandal facing new charges
HERMITAGE, Pa. — One of two men who admitted stuffing fish with lead weights and fish fillets last year in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in a walleye fishing tournament on Lake Erie in Ohio is facing new charges in Pennsylvania. Chase Cominsky, 36, of Hermitage was charged...
IUP set to open $90 million classroom hall
Hannah Borys and her classmates may feel like time travelers once their Indiana University of Pennsylvania science classes move from a dated 1960s hall into a gleaming venue designed to promote collaboration across disciplines. The $90 million John J. and Char Kopchick Hall at IUP is set to open in...
Biden set to sign executive order to address AI safeguards
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday will sign a sweeping executive order to guide the development of artificial intelligence — requiring industry to develop safety and security standards, introducing new consumer protections and giving federal agencies an extensive to-do list to oversee the rapidly progressing technology. The order reflects...
Raw dog food recalled after it tests positive for salmonella
Blue Ridge Beef of North Carolina is recalling raw dog food that has tested positive for salmonella. Breeders Choice dog food was distributed to retailers in five states including Pennsylvania, according to an announcement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The dog food was distributed in 2-pound logs between...
Israel pushes deeper into Gaza and frees Hamas captive; Netanyahu rejects calls for cease-fire
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into Gaza on Monday, advancing in tanks and other armored vehicles on the territory’s main city and freeing a soldier held captive by Hamas militants. The Israeli prime minister rejected calls for a cease-fire as airstrikes landed near hospitals where...
Lawyers argue whether the Constitution’s ‘insurrection’ clause blocks Trump from the 2024 ballot
DENVER — Lawyers for a group of Colorado voters on Monday focused on the January 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol and former President Donald Trump’s role, opening a trial that could determine whether the Constitution’s insurrection clause bars Trump from running again for the White House. Attorney Eric Olson...
Hundreds storm airport in Russia in antisemitic riot over arrival of plane from Israel
MOSCOW — Hundreds of people stormed into the main airport in Russia’s Dagestan region and rushed onto the landing field, chanting antisemitic slogans and seeking passengers arriving on a flight from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Russian news agencies and social media reported. Russian news reports said the crowd...
5 dead, others missing after scaffolding fell down a shaft at a building site in Germany
BERLIN — At least five construction workers died when scaffolding fell down a shaft at a building site in Hamburg on Monday, German authorities said. Several more people were missing. The fire service in Germany’s second-biggest city said that the building site was evacuated following the accident, German news agency...
Federal judge reimposes limited gag order in Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case
WASHINGTON — The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case in Washington on Sunday reimposed a narrow gag order barring him from making public comments targeting prosecutors, court staff and potential witnesses. The reinstatement of the gag order was revealed in a brief notation on the online case...
Trump says ‘no way’ Iowa votes against him as he flubs city’s name during state campaign stopVideo
DES MOINES, Iowa — Donald Trump predicted Sunday he would win Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses in January, tossing aside what he called advisers’ caution not to overstate expectations, even as he greeted his audience by naming a city in a neighboring state. “I go around saying of course we’re going...
More than 1,000 pay tribute to Maine’s mass shooting victims on day of prayer, reflection on tragedy
LEWISTON, Maine — More than 1,000 people packed a cavernous church Sunday night, and hundreds more spilled outside, to hug, sing, weep and seek comfort in the wake of Maine’s most deadly mass shooting. The crowd gathered for the vigil Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston, where days...
Boys graduate high school at lower rates than girls, with lifelong consequences
BUFFALO, N.Y. — They attend the same classes with access to the same programs, and even come from the same families. But girls consistently are outperforming boys, graduating at higher rates at public high schools around the country. The gap between them is wide, often as wide as the achievement...
Biden will visit a Minnesota family farm this week as top officials kick off stops in rural America
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will visit a family farm in Minnesota on Wednesday as part of two weeks of stops in rural America by top administration officials that are intended to highlight how increases in government spending can help improve peoples’ lives. Biden’s focus on the state comes just...
Mission impossible? Biden says Mideast leaders must consider a two-state solution after the war ends
WASHINGTON — As the 3-week-old Israel-Hamas war enters what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says could be a “long and difficult” new stage, President Joe Biden is calling on Israeli and Arab leaders to think hard about their eventual postwar reality. It’s one, he argues, where finally finding agreement on...
