Natalee Holloway’s confessed killer returns to Peru to serve out sentence in another murder
LIMA, Peru — A Dutchman who recently confessed to killing American high school student Natalee Holloway in 2005 in Aruba was returned to Peru on Tuesday to serve the remainder of his prison sentence for murdering a Peruvian woman. Joran van der Sloot arrived in Lima in the custody of...
Bills to combat hate crimes gain Pennsylvania House approval
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Three bills seeking to expand and strengthen Pennsylvania’s anti-hate crime statutes were passed Tuesday by the state House of Representatives. All members of the chamber’s Democratic majority supported the proposals along with a handful of Republicans, voting amid national concerns about a spike in hate crimes during...
Maryland man who received 2nd pig heart transplant dies, hospital says
WASHINGTON — The second person to receive a transplanted heart from a pig has died, nearly six weeks after the highly experimental surgery, his Maryland doctors announced Tuesday. Lawrence Faucette, 58, was dying from heart failure and ineligible for a traditional heart transplant when he received the genetically modified pig...
A new Democratic group and one libertarian billionaire are flooding the Pa. Supreme Court race with cash
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. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Political spending has kicked into high gear in the final stretch of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court race. After...
U.S. military and diplomatic leaders urge a divided Congress to send aid to both Israel and Ukraine
WASHINGTON — The nation’s top military and diplomatic leaders urged an increasingly divided Congress on Tuesday to send major immediate aid to Israel and Ukraine, arguing at a Senate hearing that broad support for the assistance would signal U.S. strength to adversaries worldwide. The testimony from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin...
Meet the podcaster, author, and hairstylist bringing Pa.’s haunted history to life
This story first appeared in PA Local, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA taking a fresh, positive look at the incredible people, beautiful places, and delicious food of Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here. Marlin Bressi has an affinity for stories of the strange-but-true variety, and he’ll tell you there’s...
UN report urges Russia to investigate attack on Ukrainian village that killed 59 civilians
KYIV, Ukraine — U.N investigators on Tuesday urged Russia to acknowledge responsibility for a missile strike on a Ukrainian village that killed 59 civilians, conduct a transparent investigation into what happened, provide reparations for victims and hold those responsible to account. The strike on a cafe in the village of...
Pennsylvania’s voting law is filled with obsolete provisions, troublesome conflicts
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. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Election Code was written nearly 100 years ago, and some of its provisions are even older...
Pa. Election 2023: When to expect results, how officials are preparing, voting guides
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. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Officials and experts in Pennsylvania are confident that new technology and growing familiarity with mail ballots among...
U.S. consumers feeling slightly less confident in October for 3rd straight month
WASHINGTON — American consumers are feeling increasingly less confident these days as fears of an oncoming recession remain elevated. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 102.6 from 104.3 in September. The index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions...
Record 6.9 million people have been displaced in Congo’s growing conflict, UN says
GOMA, Congo — A record 6.9 million people have been displaced by conflict across Congo, the United Nations migration agency said, making it one of the world’s largest displacement and humanitarian crises. The decadeslong conflict has been the primary reason for displacement, the International Organization for Migration said Monday in...
Paris police open fire on woman who allegedly made death threats
PARIS — Paris police opened fire Tuesday on a woman who threatened to blow herself up after allegedly making death threats and speaking in support of terrorism on a train heading into the French capital. It was the latest security incident in France, which has been on heightened anti-terror alert...
Americans are still putting way too much food into landfills. Local officials seek EPA’s help
CHICAGO — More than one-third of the food produced in the U.S. is never eaten. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it generates tons of methane that hastens climate change. That’s why more than 50 local officials signed onto a letter Tuesday calling on the Environmental Protection Agency...
Israeli forces battle Hamas around Gaza City, as military says 800,000 have fled south
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops battled Hamas militants and attacked underground compounds Tuesday with a focus on northern Gaza, from which an estimated 800,000 Palestinians have fled south despite continued Israeli bombardment across the besieged enclave. Buoyed by the first successful rescue of a captive held by Hamas,...
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...
