Mourners in heavily Palestinian Chicago suburb remember Muslim boy killed as kind, energeticVideo
CHICAGO — Crowds of mourners in a heavily Palestinian Chicago suburb paid respects Monday to a 6-year-old Muslim boy killed in an alleged hate crime, hours after authorities revealed new details about the evidence used to charge the family’s landlord with stabbing the child and his mother. Wadea Al-Fayoume, who...
Trump has narrow gag order imposed on him by federal judge overseeing 2020 election subversion case
WASHINGTON — The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump in Washington imposed a narrow gag order on him on Monday, barring the Republican former president from making statements targeting prosecutors, possible witnesses and court staff. The order from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan marks a...
New Jersey man arrested in airport parking garage shooting that killed 1 Philadelphia officer, wounded 2nd
PHILADELPHIA — One man has been arrested and at least two other people are being sought in an airport parking garage shooting that killed a Philadelphia police officer and injured another last week, authorities said. Yobranny Martinez Fernandez, 18, of Camden County, New Jersey, was arrested before dawn Monday in...
FBI report: Violent crime decreases to pre-pandemic levels, but property crime is on the rise
ST. LOUIS — Violent crime across the U.S. decreased last year — dropping to about the same level as before the onset of the covid-19 pandemic — but property crimes rose substantially, according to data in the FBI’s annual crime report released Monday. The report comes with an asterisk: Some...
Israel-Hamas war has roiled U.S. campuses. Students on each side say colleges aren’t doing enough
America’s colleges aspire to be places where ideas meet and common ground emerges. As the death toll rises in the Israel-Hamas war, they have become seats of anguish. Many Jewish students and their allies, some with family and friends in Israel, have demanded bold reckonings and strong condemnation after the...
Hezbollah destroys Israeli surveillance cameras along the Lebanese border as tension soars
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said Monday it has started destroying surveillance cameras on several Israeli army posts along the border as tension rose following the Israel-Hamas war that began Oct.7. Hezbollah’s military media arm released a video showing snipers shooting at and destroying surveillance cameras placed on five...
Bushy Run adapts annual hayride to haunted museum play, citing state hayride policy update
Bushy Run is adapting its annual haunted hayride event to a night of scary stories in the museum in light of state policy changes for hayride attractions. The Penn Township historical site had hosted a hayride each October, wheeling visitors along the trail as 18th-century reenactors tell the story of...
Jim Jordan’s rapid rise has been cheered by Trump and the far right. Could it soon make him speaker?
WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Jordan has such a reputation as a political brawler that former House Speaker John Boehner once said he’d never met someone “who spent more time tearing things apart.” Now, nearly a decade after Boehner stepped down in the face of a conservative revolt, it is Jordan...
Humanitarian aid stuck at Gaza-Egypt border as Israeli siege strains hospitals, water supply
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Truckloads of aid idled at Egypt’s border with Gaza as residents and humanitarian groups pleaded Monday for water, food and fuel for dying generators, saying the tiny Palestinian territory sealed off by Israel after last week’s rampage by Hamas was near total collapse. U.S. President Joe...
Few Republicans have confidence in elections. It’s a long road for one group trying to change that
SUAMICO, Wis. — Kim Pytleski could barely sleep the night before. She replayed the PowerPoint slides in her head, packed her notebook and took a deep breath. The clerk from a rural Wisconsin county north of Green Bay was preparing for a public meeting to explain the election process to...
Rite Aid seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it deals with lawsuits and losses
PHILADELPHIA — Rite Aid has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to sell part of its business as it attempts to restructure while dealing with losses and opioid-related lawsuits. The company said Rite Aid stores will continue to fill prescriptions, and customers will still be able to visit its locations...
House bill takes aim at Pennsylvania’s ‘ghost poles’
For a borough of fewer than 900 people, Export has a lot of utility poles. And quite a few of them are right next to each another. Known as ghost poles, the side-by-side poles number in the thousands across Southwestern Pennsylvania. In areas where the poles are a problem, the...
Muslim boy killed and woman wounded in Illinois hate crime motivated by Israeli-Hamas war
CHICAGO — An Illinois landlord accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy and seriously wounding his mother was charged with a hate crime after police and relatives said he singled out the victims because of their faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas. In...
Biden considering trip to Israel in the coming days, but travel isn’t final
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is considering a trip to Israel in the coming days but no travel has been finalized, a senior administration official said Sunday. Biden has staunchly proclaimed his support for Israel, and a trip there would be the firmest signal yet but would come amid heightening...
‘Informal’ House speaker talks underway with GOP, Hakeem Jeffries saysVideo
House Democrats are having informal talks with their Republican colleagues about a potential bipartisan solution to finding a speaker, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday. In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Jeffries said that Democrats are “ready, willing and able” to find a solution. “There are informal conversations...
DeSantis says U.S. shouldn’t take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza because they’re ‘all antisemitic’Video
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said the United States should not take in any Palestinian refugees if they flee the Gaza Strip because they “are all antisemitic” and he dismissed international entreaties for Israel to provide clean running water and utilities to the 2.3 million civilians in the...
Drug used in diabetes treatment Mounjaro helped dieters shed 60 pounds, study finds
The medicine in the diabetes drug Mounjaro helped people with obesity or who are overweight lose at least a quarter of their body weight, or about 60 pounds on average, when combined with intensive diet and exercise, a new study shows. By comparison, a group of people who also dieted...
Biden and Democrats report raising $71 million-plus for his 2024 race from July through September
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $71 million for his reelection in the three months ending Sept. 30, a strong indication that party donors remain united behind him going into a 2024 race that may feature a rematch with Donald Trump. Sunday’s announcement...
Supreme Court dispute over a $15,000 IRS bill may be aimed at a never-enacted tax on billionaires
WASHINGTON — Charles and Kathleen Moore are about to have their day in the Supreme Court over a $15,000 tax bill they contend is unconstitutional. The couple from Redmond, Washington, claim they had to pay the money because of their investment in an Indian company from which, as Charles Moore,...
War between Israel and Hamas is testing Republican Party’s isolationist shift
ROCHESTER, N.H. — Nikki Haley vowed to stand with Israel “every step of the way.” She promised to “decimate” the Iranian economy. And she called for continued funding for Ukraine as it fights to repel the Russian invasion. “It’s a dangerous world right now,” Haley told Republican primary voters gathered...
Top U.S. envoy will return to Israel after stops in Arab nations aimed at avoiding a broader conflict
CAIRO — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to Israel this week after completing a frantic six-country rush through Arab nations aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas war from igniting a broader regional conflict. The U.S. State Department announced Blinken’s plan to travel Monday to Israel — his second...
Packed Gaza hospitals warn that thousands could die as supplies run low and ground offensive looms
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Medics in Gaza warned Sunday that thousands could die as hospitals packed with wounded people ran desperately low on fuel and basic supplies. Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave struggled to find food, water and safety ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive in the...
Piper Laurie, 3-time Oscar nominee with film credits such as ‘The Hustler,’ ‘Carrie,’ dies at 91
Piper Laurie, the strong-willed, Oscar-nominated actor who performed in acclaimed roles despite at one point abandoning acting altogether in search of a “more meaningful” life, died early Saturday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 91. Laurie died of old age, her manager, Marion Rosenberg, wrote via email, saying...
Calif. to follow other states in granting community college tuition break to Mexico residents
LOS ANGELES — Agustin Guzman spends hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic and crosses an international border just to get to his college classes. But it’s worth it. Though he’s a resident of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, he pays the same tuition as a student 4 miles away from Laredo, Texas, thanks to...
Gang violence traps more than 100 schoolchildren in Haiti for 2nd day
More than 100 Haiti students, some as young as 6, are trapped inside their Catholic school in downtown Port-au-Prince as a fresh round of violence continued to erupt between armed groups. Late Saturday, the students were looking at spending a second night at school. The students are among 400 children...