$1B worth of knockoffs taken by authorities in New York in largest U.S. counterfeit goods seizure
NEW YORK — Federal authorities in New York City have announced the largest U.S. seizure of counterfeit goods, consisting of handbags, shoes and other luxury merchandise valued at more than $1 billion. Two people were charged with trafficking the knockoffs from a New York City storage unit and other locations...
Progress in childhood cancer has stalled for Blacks and Hispanics, report says
Advances in childhood cancer are a success story in modern medicine. But in the past decade, those strides have stalled for Black and Hispanic youth, opening a gap in death rates, according to a new report published Thursday. Childhood cancers are rare and treatments have improved drastically in recent decades,...
Averting government shutdown, Congress approves temporary funding through the holidays
WASHINGTON — Ending the threat of a government shutdown until after the holidays, Congress gave final approval Wednesday night to a temporary government funding package that pushes a confrontation over the federal budget into the new year. The Senate met into the night to pass the bill with an overwhelming...
Israel signals wider offensive in Gaza’s south, where hundreds of thousands have fled
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee parts of southern Gaza, residents said Thursday, signaling a possible expansion of their offensive to areas where hundreds of thousands of people who heeded earlier evacuation orders are crowded into U.N.-run shelters and family homes. Meanwhile, soldiers...
Ban on pelvic, rectal exams on unconscious, unknowing patients passes in Pa.
A ban on pelvic, prostate and similar exams on unconscious patients who haven’t given permission needs only the signature of Gov. Josh Shapiro to become law. The state House and Senate unanimously approved the law, according to a news release from state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, D-Philadelphia, the author of one...
Police, protesters clash outside Democratic HQ during demonstration over the Israel-Hamas warVideo
WASHINGTON — Police and protesters clashed outside Democratic National Committee headquarters Wednesday night during a demonstration for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas, the latest reflection of boiling tensions over the bloody conflict. Scores of Democratic representatives and candidates, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, were inside...
Biden and Xi strike deals on military communications, fentanyl, AI
President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed on joint efforts to combat fentanyl, restore high-level military communications and hold a dialogue about artificial intelligence at a high-stakes summit that saw the two leaders seek to repair a bilateral relationship under intense strains. The discussion also included a extended...
Pennsylvania House passes ‘shield law’ to protect providers, out-of-staters seeking abortions
HARRISBURG — A bill seeking to protect those who travel to Pennsylvania to get abortions by barring public officials from cooperating with authorities in other states that criminalize the practice advanced Wednesday through the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. The legislation passed 117-86. It now goes to the GOP-controlled state Senate,...
Pennsylvania’s Senate approves millions for universities and schools, but rejects House priorities
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Legislature on Wednesday approved hundreds of millions of dollars for universities after a fight that has dragged on five months into the fiscal year, although the politically divided body continued to feud over elements of school funding. Legislation to send just over $600 million to several higher...
House heads home after defeat of rule for Iran, spending bills
WASHINGTON — House lawmakers left town Wednesday for Thanksgiving after a GOP revolt that led to defeat of the rule for floor debate on the final two pieces of legislation the chamber was scheduled to consider. Nineteen Republicans voted against the rule for the fiscal 2024 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill and...
Trump’s lawyers want a mistrial in his New York civil fraud case. They claim the judge is biased
NEW YORK — Lawyers for Donald Trump asked for a mistrial Wednesday in the New York civil fraud case that threatens the former president’s real estate empire. They accuse the judge of tainting the proceedings with “tangible and overwhelming” bias. Trump’s lawyers urged Judge Arthur Engoron to stop the case...
Sen. Joe Manchin says Donald Trump would destroy U.S. democracy if he wins 2nd term as presidentVideo
WASHINGTON — West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, days removed from announcing he won’t seek reelection, said Wednesday that if the nation’s voters give former President Donald Trump another term in the White House, “he will destroy democracy in America.” Manchin, whose home state voters overwhelmingly backed Trump in the last...
Senate looks to speed ahead on temporary funding to avert government shutdown through the holidays
WASHINGTON — The Senate was pushing toward a swift vote Wednesday on a temporary government funding package as lawmakers sought to keep the holiday season free from any suspense over a government shutdown. Senators were trying to speed forward on the funding package one day after it passed the House...
Lawyer for former elections supervisor says he released videos in Georgia election caseVideo
ATLANTA — A lawyer for a former elections director charged alongside former President Donald Trump and others over efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election said Wednesday that he released videos of prosecutors’ interviews with some of their codefendants because he thought they helped his client and the public had the...
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...
