Greensburg-area dentist convicted of killing wife on African safari given life sentence and over $15M penalty
DENVER — As a wealthy dentist convicted of killing his wife at the end of an African safari listened in court, her brother vowed on Monday to move her remains to a place that Larry Rudolph would never discover. Shortly before a judge sentenced Rudolph to life in prison in...
Protests rock government-held areas in southern Syria as economy crumbles
BEIRUT — Protests spread Monday in two government-held provinces in southern Syria amid widespread anger over increasing prices, the crash of the Syrian pound and the dwindling purchasing power of many people in the war-torn country, opposition activists said. The rare protests are still limited to southern Syria and are...
14 people were shot, 1 fatally, in the same Milwaukee neighborhood, police say
MILWAUKEE — Thirteen people were injured and one was killed in three separate shootings, just blocks from each other, over the weekend, Milwaukee police said. Four people were taken to the hospital with serious injuries following a shooting Sunday near 13th and Mitchell streets around 8:30 p.m., WISN-TV Milwaukee reported....
Funeral arrangements set for Keegan and Casey Clontz
A father and son devoted to one another in life will be mourned together this week as Plum residents grapple with the loss from a devastating house explosion nine days ago. Funeral arrangements have been released for Keegan William Clontz, 12, and for his father, Casey Thomas Clontz, 38. They...
Trump claims he will skip GOP presidential primary debates
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday that he will be skipping the first Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday — and others as well. “The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “I WILL THEREFORE...
Starbucks told to pay $2.7 million in lost wages to manager fired after arrest of 2 Black men
CAMDEN, N.J. — A judge has ordered Starbucks to pay an additional $2.7 million in lost wages and tax damages to a former regional manager who was earlier awarded more than $25 million after alleging she and other white employees were unfairly punished following the high-profile arrests of two Black...
Store owner killed over a Pride flag she flew in front of her California businessVideo
CEDAR GLEN, Calif. — A dispute over an LGBTQ+ pride flag at a California clothing store spiraled into deadly violence this weekend when a man shot and killed the 66-year-old business owner right in front of her shop, authorities said. The man ran away from the store after the shooting...
Court documents suggests reason for police raid of Kansas newspaper
The police chief who led the raid of a Kansas newspaper alleged in previously unreleased in court documents that a reporter either impersonated someone else or lied about her intentions when she obtained the driving records of a local business owner. But reporter Phyllis Zorn, Marion County Record Editor and...
Sweltering temperatures bring misery to large portion of central U.S., setting heat records
OKLAHOMA CITY — Sweltering temperatures lingered Sunday in a large swath of the central U.S., causing misery from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. Record high temperatures were recorded in Texas and other states. People were told to chug extra water while mowing lawns or exercising outdoors, and...
As world warms, Sweden sees opportunity to grow its young wine industry
NYHAMNSLÄGE, Sweden — It’s mid-afternoon in late summer and a fresh North Sea breeze blows through the vines at Kullabergs Vingård, a vineyard and winery at the vanguard of producers seeking to redefine what Swedish wine can be. Scandinavia isn’t exactly what connoisseurs would define as prime wine country and...
Are forced-reset triggers illegal machine guns? ATF and gun rights advocates at odds in court fights
The internet videos are alarming to some, thrilling to others: Gun enthusiasts spraying bullets from AR-15-style rifles equipped with an after-market trigger allowing them to shoot seemingly as fast as fully automatic weapons. The forced-reset triggers so concerned the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that it ordered...
Hope is hard to let go after Maui fire, as odds wane over reuniting with still-missing loved ones
LAHAINA, Hawaii — The days of waiting have become harder and harder as the odds grow longer and longer, but Kevin Baclig remains undeterred in his search for his wife and her parents, missing since Aug. 8 when a wildfire engulfed and flattened the Hawaiian town of Lahaina. He has...
Deluge from Tropical Storm Hilary hits California after making landfall along Mexico’s Baja coastVideo
ENSENADA, Mexico — Deadly floodwaters inundated streets across Mexico’s arid Baja California on Sunday as Tropical Storm Hilary moved ashore carrying torrential rain into Southern California, and concerns mounted that flash floods could strike in places as far north as Idaho that rarely get such heavy rain. Forecasters said Hilary...
Hundreds ride through the A-K Valley on scholarship benefit ride honoring New Kensington police officer Brian Shaw
Six years after he was killed in a traffic stop gone horribly wrong, the memory of fallen New Kensington police officer Brian Shaw is still alive. That fact was driven home — loudly — by the rumble of more than 700 motorcycles passing through the Alle-Kiski Valley on Saturday in...
Trump looms large over Iowa State Fair, but many GOP voters still mulling their caucus choices
DES MOINES, Iowa — The loop Donald Trump’s private jet made above the Iowa State Fair before his visit last weekend was more than just a gesture to the hundreds of supporters — and a few rival candidates — on the ground. It was a reminder that the four-time indicted...
Canadian firefighters wage epic battle to save communities after mass evacuations
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Firefighters battling wildfires in Canada on Saturday sought to stop flames that swept through the West Kelowna suburbs in British Columbia, forced the evacuation of a university campus and fouled the air with thick smoke. The entire province was under a state of emergency as firefighters...
Hurricane Hilary threatens ‘catastrophic and life-threatening’ flooding in Mexico and California
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Hurricane Hilary headed for Mexico’s Baja California on Saturday as the U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” for the peninsula and for the southwestern United States, where it was forecast to cross the border as a tropical storm on Sunday. Officials as...
A raid on a Kansas newspaper likely broke the law, experts say. But which one?
TOPEKA, Kan. — A central Kansas police chief was not only on legally shaky ground when he ordered the raid of a weekly newspaper, experts said, but it may have been a criminal violation of civil rights, a former federal prosecutor added, saying: “I’d probably have the FBI starting to...
Russian missile attack kills 7 in northern Ukrainian city as Zelenskyy visits NATO candidate Sweden
CHERNIHIV, Ukraine — A Russian missile attack in the center of a northern Ukrainian city on Saturday killed seven people and wounded over a hundred others, including children, Ukrainian officials said. The attack in Chernihiv happened as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Sweden on his first foreign trip since...
Why some of Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s cabinet picks still have ‘acting’ next to their title
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Seven months into his first term as Pennsylvania’s governor, two of Democrat Josh Shapiro’s picks for top cabinet posts...
Pennsylvania’s July unemployment rate at record low 3.5%
WILKES-BARRE — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate declined three-tenths of a percentage point over the month to 3.5% in July — the lowest rate on record going back to January 1976. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry released its preliminary employment situation report for July. The U.S. unemployment rate...
Trump’s 2024 GOP rivals converge on Atlanta just days after his latest indictment
ATLANTA — Several Republican White House hopefuls are set to greet a conservative conference with hopes of making up ground against Donald Trump. But the former president’s shadow may be especially difficult to escape in the city where he was most recently indicted. Trump will not speak at The Gathering,...
Neonatal nurse in British hospital found guilty of killing 7 babies
LONDON — A neonatal nurse in a British hospital was found guilty Friday of killing seven babies and trying to kill six others. Lucy Letby, 33, was charged with murder in the deaths of five baby boys and two girls, and the attempted murder of five boys and five girls,...
Hurricane Hilary grows off Mexico and could reach California as a very rare tropical storm
MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Hilary grew rapidly to Category 4 strength off Mexico’s Pacific coast on Friday and could reach Southern California as the first tropical storm there in 84 years, causing “significant and rare impacts” including extensive flooding. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hilary had sustained winds near...
Firefighters are trying to put out a peatland fire threatening homes on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island
PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Firefighters on Friday were trying to put out a peatland fire on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island that was growing in size near a dense residential area. The effort is made difficult by the limited firefighting equipment and distant water source, a one-hour trip to the fire’s location in...
