U.S. gay rights group issues Florida travel advisory for anti-LGBTQ+ laws
ORLANDO, Fla. — The largest LGBTQ+ rights organization in the U.S. joined other civil rights organizations Tuesday in issuing a travel advisory for Florida, warning that newly passed laws and policies may pose risks to minorities, immigrants and gay travelers. The Human Rights Campaign joined the NAACP, the League of...
Do not call: States sue telecom company over billions of robocalls
PHOENIX — Attorneys general across the U.S. joined in a lawsuit against a telecommunications company accused of making more than 7.5 billion robocalls to people on the national Do Not Call Registry. The 141-page lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix against Avid Telecom, its owner Michael...
Germany cracks down on climate activists after Scholz calls protest group ‘nutty’
BERLIN — German police raided 15 properties linked to the Last Generation climate activist group Wednesday, seizing assets as part of an investigation into its finances in a sign of growing impatience with disruptive protest tactics also seen in other European countries. Members of the group have repeatedly blocked roads...
Pa. karate teacher threatened to toss teen out of class if she didn’t send him nude photos, police say
A central Pennsylvania man has been arrested on accusations he sexually abused several teenage students at the martial arts studio where he worked. Devin Hogue, 23, of the 500 block of Ridge Road, New Cumberland, had several inappropriate interactions with four teenage girls that, in some instances, escalated to sexual...
Debt ceiling talks stuck on classic problem: Republicans demand spending cuts and Democrats resist
WASHINGTON — Debt ceiling negotiations are locked on a classic problem that has vexed, divided and disrupted Washington before: Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy want to roll back federal government spending, while President Joe Biden and other Democrats do not. Time is short to strike a deal before...
Just in case: Anxious retirees, social service groups among those making default contingency plans
WASHINGTON — Phoenix retiree Saundra Cole has been watching the news about the debt limit negotiations in Washington with dismay — and limiting her air conditioning use to save money just in case her monthly Social Security check is delayed due to a default. For her, air conditioning is no...
Super Typhoon Mawar passing over Guam as Category 4 storm with strong winds, rain
HONOLULU — Typhoon Mawar rumbled through Guam as a powerful Category 4 storm on Thursday, relentlessly lashing the U.S. Pacific island territory with heavy rain, powerful winds, and a dangerous storm surge and knocking out power to many communities where frightened residents hunkered down for the night in homes and...
Pa. is sitting on billions in unclaimed property, but a bill would get some back to its owners
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 — Pennsylvania’s treasurer wants the state to start sending unclaimed money directly to the people it belongs to, a proactive...
Trump lawyers seek meeting with Garland as Mar-a-Lago investigation shows signs of winding downVideo
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Donald Trump on Tuesday asked for a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland as a Justice Department investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents shows signs of winding down. In the letter, which Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, attorneys John Rowley and...
Texas governor sent bill abolishing position of Harris County elections chief
AUSTIN — Shaking up elections in Texas’ largest county, the GOP-controlled Legislature on Tuesday approved abolishing a position in Harris County that oversees more than 2 million voters around Houston months before the city chooses a new mayor. At the same time, Republicans advanced a separate plan that would also...
Former Kansas police officer sentenced for sexual assaults, window peeping
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A former Kansas police officer has been sentenced to 23 1/2 years in prison for a series of sexual assaults committed while he was an officer. Todd W. Allen, 52, pleaded guilty in April to 12 felony sex crime charges and five breach of privacy charges. Prosecutors...
Pennsylvania man convicted of torture at Iraqi military compound
A Pennsylvania resident directed Kurdish soldiers to kidnap a man in Iraq and “beat, tase, choke, and otherwise physically and mentally abuse” him for 39 days in 2015, federal prosecutors said. After the victim was kidnapped and taken to an Iraqi military compound, Ross Roggio, 54, of Stroudsburg, suffocated him...
Pa. House committee passes expansion of property tax and rent rebates
A bill that would fulfill one of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s major budget requests passed out of the Pennsylvania House Finance Committee on Tuesday on a unanimous vote, albeit after Republicans unsuccessfully tried to strip the bill of the one of its core components. House Bill 1100 expands the state’s Property...
Catholic clergy sexually abused Illinois kids far more often than church acknowledged, state findsVideo
CHICAGO — More than 450 Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950, the state’s attorney general found in an investigation released Tuesday, revealing that the problem was far worse than the church had let on. Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a news conference that investigators...
‘A sign of his compassion’: Man killed while helping ducklings safely cross busy California street
ROCKLIN, Calif. — His family says it’s no surprise that Casey Rivara’s final act was one of compassion. When he spotted a mama duck trying to guide her ducklings across a busy California intersection, Rivara stopped his car at a red light and got out to help them make it...
Guam residents shelter, military sends away ships as Super Typhoon Mawar closes inVideo
HONOLULU — President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration as an intensifying Super Typhoon Mawar approached Guam, where anyone not living in a concrete house was urged to seek safety elsewhere and emergency shelters began to fill ahead of what could be the most powerful storm to hit the U.S....
Energy Dept. cancels $200M grant to battery maker after GOP criticism over alleged ties to China
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has canceled plans to award a $200 million grant to a U.S. battery manufacturer amid criticism from Republican lawmakers over the company’s alleged ties to China. Texas-based Microvast was one of 20 companies to win preliminary grants totaling $2.8 billion to boost domestic manufacturing of...
‘Mother Nature has no mercy’: Man gets stuck waist-deep in Alaska mud flats, drowns as tide comes in
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A man who was walking on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaska estuary got stuck up to his waist in the quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could extract him, authorities said. Zachary Porter, 20, of Lake Bluff, Illinois,...
AP: DeSantis to announce 2024 presidential bid Wednesday on Twitter with Elon Musk
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce his 2024 presidential campaign in a Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk on Wednesday, according to two people with knowledge of his plans. DeSantis, who has long been seen as Donald Trump’s leading rival for the Republican nomination, will reveal his plans in an...
Recent shark attacks are worrying beach-goers, yet experts say they’re very rare
PORTLAND, Maine — Recent shark bites in Florida and Hawaii and a suspected case in New Jersey have piqued interest in an age-old summer question for beachgoers — is it safe to go in the water? Scientists and researchers who study sharks said the overwhelming answer to that question is...
A lifetime of racism makes Alzheimer’s more prevalent in Black Americans
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Constance Guthrie is not yet dead, but her daughter has begun to plan her funeral. It will be, Jessica Guthrie says, in a Black-owned funeral home, with the songs of her ancestors. She envisions a celebration of her mother’s life, not a tragic recitation of her long...
Guyana girls dorm fire that killed 19 was deliberately set by student, official says
GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Investigators in Guyana believe a fire that killed 19 mostly girls trapped in a school dormitory was deliberately set by a student who was upset that her mobile phone was confiscated, a top official said Tuesday. The suspect in the fire late Sunday, who is among several...
Russia extends detention of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich by 3 months
MOSCOW — A Russian court has extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday. Gershkovich, an American citizen, was ordered held until Aug. 30. He had been arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He,...
UPS strike looms in a world grown reliant on everything delivered everywhere all the time
WASHINGTON — Living in New York City, working full time and without a car, Jessica Ray and her husband have come to rely on deliveries of food and just about everything else for their home. It has meant more free time on weekends with their young son, rather than standing...
Fans need to pre-register for free tickets to Paris’ 2024 Olympic opening ceremony
PARIS — To pull off the most audacious opening ceremony in Olympic history, French organizers are now — literally — on the same page. France’s government, the organizing committee president for the 2024 Paris Games and the French capital’s mayor signed an 11-page security protocol Tuesday that for the first...
