News category, Page 680

WASHINGTON — A spokesman for Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman says the Democrat is “on a path to recovery” after checking himself into a hospital for clinical depression earlier this month, and he is still expected to be away from the Senate for several weeks. “We understand the intense interest in...

CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s GOP supermajority House of Delegates passed a bill Monday that would create a test for courts to apply when people challenge government regulations they believe interfere with their constitutional right to religious freedom. The bill passed after several Democrats expressed concern that the proposal could be...

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that gives him control of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district, punishing the company over its opposition to the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law. The bill requires DeSantis, a Republican, to appoint a five-member board to oversee the government services...

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 House Speaker Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, says he will introduce chamber rules this week that would give Republicans...

A long line of quick-moving thunderstorms that produced a swath of damaging wind gusts across northern Texas and Oklahoma late Sunday likely qualified the event as a derecho, although that’s not an official designation, said Nolan Meister, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “Last night we had a prolific...

“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams experienced possibly the biggest repercussion of recent racist comments when a major comics syndicator, which also operates the GoComics website, announced Sunday it would it would no longer work with the cartoonist. Andrews McMeel Universal said in a statement that the syndication company was “severing” their...

WASHINGTON — Bestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson, who brought quirky spiritualism to the 2020 presidential race, has announced she’s running for president again, becoming the first major Democrat to challenge President Joe Biden for his party’s nomination in 2024. Williamson is formally kicking off her campaign with an event in...

MOSCOW — Gleb Pavlovsky, a Soviet-era dissident who served as a Kremlin political consultant helping burnish President Vladimir Putin’s image, has died, his family said Monday. He was 71. Pavlovsky worked as a top adviser for the Kremlin for 15 years and was widely seen as one of the key...

LONDON — Betty Boothroyd, the first — and so far only — female speaker of Britain’s House of Commons, has died, parliamentary authorities said Monday. She was 93. Boothroyd, who presided over the Commons’ often raucous debates with no-nonsense humor between 1992 and 2000, died Sunday at a hospital in...

WASHINGTON — A majority of the nation’s business economists expect a U.S. recession to begin later this year than they had previously forecast, after a series of reports have pointed to a surprisingly resilient economy despite steadily higher interest rates. Fifty-eight percent of 48 economists who responded to a survey...

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said Saturday that it has collected drinking water samples from 13 of the 16 known residential wells within a mile of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment. The DEP announced last week that it would begin systematic collection and testing of water samples in...

WASHINGTON — If you get health care coverage through Medicaid, you might be at risk of losing that coverage over the next year. Roughly 84 million people are covered by the government-sponsored program, which has grown by 20 million people since January 2020, just before the covid-19 pandemic hit. But...

WASHINGTON — A football legend who held a gun to his ex-wife’s head. Rivals who nearly brawled during a televised debate. A venture capitalist who voiced sympathy for the Unabomber. And that’s just to name a few. Republican Senate primaries in several pivotal states last year exuded a carnival-like aura,...

STECCATO DI CUTRO, Italy — The death toll rose to 62 in the migrant tragedy off Italy’s southern coast after rescue crews recovered three more bodies Monday, driving home once again the desperate and dangerous boat crossings of people seeking to reach Europe. Dozens more were believed to be missing....

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It was pharmacist Gwendolyn Herzig’s first time testifying before a legislative committee when she spoke to several Arkansas lawmakers in a packed hearing room this month about a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Herzig, who is transgender, spoke out against the legislation and told the...

MINNEAPOLIS — Tensions that had been smoldering on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota flared up 50 years ago Monday, when activists from the American Indian Movement took over the town of Wounded Knee. In the view of the protesters, Oglala Sioux tribal chairman Dick Wilson was in cahoots...

NEW YORK — Republican presidential contenders typically fight for prime speaking slots at the Conservative Political Action Conference. But as conservative activists gather in suburban Washington this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be courting donors more than a thousand miles away in Texas and California. The apparent CPAC snub...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Last-minute technical trouble has forced SpaceX to call off Monday’s attempt to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission was to be piloted by Dr. Warren “Woody” Hoburg, a 2004 North Allegheny graduate. Hoburg’s role was to be responsible...

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A hardcore Disneyland fan who visited the Anaheim theme park on a daily basis for nearly 3,000 days in a row has set a world record that will likely stand forever. Guinness World Records this week officially recognized Jeff Reitz’s mark for most consecutive visits to Disneyland...

ANKARA, Turkey — A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook southern Turkey on Monday — three weeks after a catastrophic temblor devastated the region — causing some already damaged buildings to collapse, an official said. A father and daughter were reported trapped beneath the rubble of one building. Monday’s earthquake was centered...