Tropical Storm Bret spins toward eastern Caribbean as forecasters warn of heavy rainfall
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Bret chugged toward the eastern Caribbean on Tuesday as the region prepared itself for an unusually early storm and the torrential rains that are forecast. Bret had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and was moving across the Atlantic Ocean at 18 mph,...
DA, ethics panel back judge in Donald Trump hush-money case, finding no evidence of bias
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s tempestuous views aside, Manhattan prosecutors say neither the former president nor his lawyers have shown any evidence to support their claims that the judge in his hush-money criminal case has an anti-Trump bias. They urged him to reject defense demands that he step aside from...
Judge strikes down Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors
LITTLE ROCK — A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children as unconstitutional Tuesday, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions. U.S. District Judge Jay Moody issued a permanent injunction against the Arkansas law,...
Pennsylvania House passes tax credit for new police officers, teachers and nurses
HARRISBURG — A proposed tax credit to recruit new teachers, nurses and police officers passed through the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with bipartisan support on Tuesday, but leaders of the Republican-controlled Senate have suggested it lacks support in the caucus. The bill passed 137-66, with every Democrat and about one-third...
Probe blames Pennsylvania county’s November ballot paper shortage on inexperience, poor training
HARRISBURG — A prosecutor’s review of voting problems in a Pennsylvania swing county where ballot paper ran out last year found no evidence of criminal activity or purposeful efforts to prevent voting, according to a new report that blamed inexperienced supervisors. Luzerne District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce’s 24-page review said only...
I-95 will open this weekend in Philadelphia, Shapiro says
About two weeks after a section of Interstate 95 collapsed in Philadelphia, the heavily trafficked freeway should reopen to traffic. Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a news conference Tuesday that three lanes in each direction will reopen this weekend, about a week ahead of the originally projected timeline, and well...
Blood-red crickets invade Nevada town, residents fight backVideo
ELKO, Nev. — Dana Dolan was driving through her small Nevada hometown when she thought she had come upon a gory crash. The ground surrounding Elko’s stretch of Interstate 80 looked as if it had been covered in blood. As the red color shifted and moved, she realized instead it...
What to know about Hunter Biden’s plea deal in federal tax and gun case
The announcement that federal prosecutors have reached a plea deal with President Joe Biden’s son Hunter over tax and gun charges marks the likely end of a five-year Justice Department investigation that has dogged the Biden family. It doesn’t, however, mean that congressional Republicans are done with their own wide-ranging...
Why haven’t China and the U.S. agreed to restore military contacts?
TAIPEI, Taiwan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up a closely watched visit to Beijing during which he and President Xi Jinping pledged to stabilize plunging U.S-China ties. But China refused the biggest U.S. request: restoring military-to-military contacts. Blinken said he raised the issue of military communications...
Supreme Court turns away veterans who seek disability benefits over 1966 hydrogen bomb accident
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal on behalf of some U.S. veterans who want disability benefits because they were exposed to radiation while responding to a Cold War-era hydrogen bomb accident in Spain. The justices did not comment in turning away an appeal from Victor Skaar,...
Hunter Biden will plead guilty in a deal that likely averts time behind bars in a tax and gun case
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter will plead guilty to federal tax offenses but avoid a full prosecution on a separate gun charge in a deal with the Justice Department that likely spares him time behind bars. Hunter Biden, 53, will plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as...
Trump adviser faces possible disbarment over his efforts to overturn 2020 election
LOS ANGELES — Attorney John Eastman, the architect of a legal strategy aimed at keeping former President Donald Trump in power, concocted a baseless theory and made false claims of fraud in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, a prosecutor said Tuesday in arguing that Eastman be disbarred. Eastman’s...
Who gets a break? Clashing ideas on tax relief are teed up for the 2024 campaign
WASHINGTON — Just six days after the bipartisan deal on the debt limit became law, House Republicans proposed a slew of tax cuts, leading to charges of hypocrisy by Democrats in a squabble that shows two clashing visions for the U.S. economy. GOP lawmakers are pushing deep tax cuts for...
The U.S. Coast Guard says debris field has been found near the Titanic during search for submersible
The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday that an underwater vessel has located a debris field near the Titanic in the search for a missing submersible with five people aboard, a potential breakthrough in an increasingly urgent around-the-clock effort. The Coast Guard’s post on Twitter gave no details, such as whether...
Inside the deepening rivalry between Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom says there’s no chance “on God’s green earth” he’s running for president in 2024, but he wants to make clear that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running, is “weak” and “undisciplined” and “will be crushed by Donald Trump.” DeSantis, meanwhile, likes to...
Himalayan glaciers could lose 80% of their volume if global warming not controlled, study finds
BENGALURU, India — Glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges and could lose up to 80% of their current volume this century if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t sharply reduced, according to a new report. The report Tuesday from Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain...
Trump gives reason for hoarding Mar-a-Lago classified documents: ‘Didn’t want to hand them over’Video
Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he didn’t “want to hand over” boxes of classified government documents despite getting a subpoena because he hoped to keep personal items that he believed belong to him. Doubling down on his “my boxes” defense, Trump admitted in an interview with Fox News’...
U.N. members adopt first-ever treaty to protect marine life in the high seas
UNITED NATIONS — Members of the United Nations adopted the first-ever treaty to protect marine life in the high seas on Monday, with the U.N.’s chief hailing the historic agreement as giving the ocean “a fighting chance.” Delegates from the 193 member nations burst into applause and then stood up...
Tropical Storm Bret forms in Atlantic, with possible hurricane threat to Caribbean islands
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Bret formed in the central Atlantic Ocean on Monday, with forecasters saying it could pose a hurricane threat to the eastern Caribbean by Thursday and the Dominican Republic and Haiti by the weekend. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Bret had maximum...
2 killed in Cambria County plane crash
Two people were killed when a small plane crashed Sunday in Cambria County, about 150 miles northwest of Harrisburg. The twin-engine Piper A-30 went down in a wooded area near the Ebensburg Airport shortly before 4 p.m. The unidentified victims were pronounced dead at the scene, according to local news...
More than 1 million people are dropped from Medicaid as states start a post-pandemic purge of rolls
More than 1 million people have been dropped from Medicaid in the past couple months as some states moved swiftly to halt health care coverage following the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Most got dropped for not filling out paperwork. Though the eligibility review is required by the federal government,...
Trump faces questions about whether he’ll drag down the Republican Party after his indictments
Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican faithful was evident from the moment he left the federal courthouse in Miami last week. Fresh off becoming the first former president to face criminal charges levied by the government he once oversaw, Trump’s motorcade moved through a crowd of hundreds of mostly adoring...
1 dead, nearly 2 dozen injured after multiple tornadoes sweep through MississippiVideo
LOUIN, Miss. — Multiple tornadoes swept through Mississippi overnight, killing one and injuring nearly two dozen, officials said Monday. State emergency workers were still working with counties to assess the damage from storms in which high temperatures and hail in some areas accompanied tornadoes. The death and injuries were reported...
Pa. lawmakers ask for investigations after gaming regulators met privately with casino lobbyists
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 — Two Pennsylvania lawmakers have requested investigations into the state Gaming Control Board following a Spotlight PA story that detailed...
Father admits to fatally shooting 3 young sons at Ohio home, prosecutors say
MONROE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — An Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his three young sons admitted to planning the killings and lined them up before executing them with a rifle, prosecutors said Friday. Chad Doerman, 32, who is also accused of wounding the boys’ mother at the family’s home, has...
