Biden vetoes effort to block student loan forgiveness
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden vetoed legislation on Wednesday to block his attempt to grant student debt relief through executive action. The measure, which the Senate cleared last week, will now go back to Capitol Hill for a possible override attempt, which would be unsuccessful based on the support it...
Owner of funeral homes accused of spraying insecticide at cops, assaulting media at Jan. 6 riot
An owner of several funeral homes on Long Island was arrested Wednesday on charges that he sprayed wasp killer at police officers and attacked journalists — including an Associated Press photographer — during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, authorities said. Peter G. Moloney, 58, of Bayport,...
Colleges and universities moving away from standardized tests in admissions decisions
More than eight out of every 10 colleges and universities that award bachelor’s degrees no longer require or do not consider standardized tests in admissions decisions, according to a national survey released Wednesday. The latest tally from FairTest, an Arlington, Mass., group that has long been critical of the SAT...
Pennsylvania looking to charge electric vehicle owners a $290 annual fee
Pennsylvanians who own electric vehicles may soon be required to pay an annual fee to help pay for road and bridge improvements. The Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday approved a bipartisan-backed bill by a 13-1 vote that would charge owners of non-commercial passenger electric vehicles a $290 fee annually —...
Pennsylvania House OKs $100 million for adult mental health services
HARRISBURG — A proposal to allocate $100 million in federal funds to pay for adult mental health programs easily passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Wednesday, a plan built on the recommendations of a state commission charged with issuing suggestions for coordinated care. The bill passed 173-30 and was...
American Red Cross: Shortfall of blood donations last month
American Red Cross officials said they experienced a “concerning shortfall” in blood donations last month, collecting 26,000 fewer donations than needed to meet patient needs in May. World Blood Donor Day is June 14, and Red Cross officials are offering a $10 gift card for donors through the end of...
Head of Carnegie Mellon’s music school leaving for job at Northwestern
Jonathan Bailey Holland, the head of Carnegie Mellon University’s school of music for less than a year, is leaving to accept the music deanship at Northwestern University. He begins his new job Sept. 1. Holland’s appointment to the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music was announced on Northwestern’s website....
Conservative group says Pitt violated free speech rights of organizers of transgender debate
A conservative group representing organizers of an April transgender rights debate at the University of Pittsburgh claims that Pitt violated the organizers’ free speech rights by charging an $18,734 security fee to quell raucous student protests outside. The Alliance Defending Freedom made the accusation in a letter to the university...
Pittsburgh synagogue gunman described as ‘nice and cordial’ after the attack
As he was being treated at Allegheny General Hospital for gunshot wounds suffered in a firefight with Pittsburgh police at the Tree of Life synagogue, Robert Bowers was described as being “very polite, very cooperative.” “He kind of was very nice and cordial with everybody,” Pittsburgh police Detective Robert Shaw...
Ukraine rushes drinking water to flooded areas as environmental damage mounts from dam break
KHERSON, Ukraine — Authorities rushed drinking water to areas flooded by a collapsed dam in southern Ukraine on Wednesday as they managed a growing humanitarian and ecological disaster along a river that forms part of the front line in the 15-month war. The collapse of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and...
Photos: Northeastern cities experiencing smoky skies because of Canadian wildfiresVideo
Canadian wildfires are blanketing the northeastern U.S. in a haze, turning the air acrid, the sky yellowish gray and prompting warnings for vulnerable populations to stay inside. The effects of hundreds of wildfires burning across the western provinces to Quebec could be felt as far away as New York City...
Police arrest white Florida woman accused of fatally shooting Black neighbor
OCALA, Fla. — A Florida woman accused of fatally shooting her neighbor last week in the violent culmination of what the sheriff described as a 2½-year feud was arrested Tuesday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said. Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, who is white, was arrested on charges of manslaughter with...
As conservatives target schools, LGBTQ+ kids and students of color feel less safe
NOLENSVILLE, Tenn.— The first encounter with racism that Harmony Kennedy can remember came in elementary school. On a playground, a girl picked up a leaf and said she wanted to “clean the dirt” from Harmony’s skin. In sixth grade, a boy dropped trash on the floor and told her to...
Ex-Trump aide appears at Miami court to testify before federal grand jury
WASHINGTON — A former top aide to Donald Trump appeared Wednesday in federal court in Miami for testimony to a grand jury investigating potential classified-document mishandling and obstruction at the ex-president’s Palm Beach property, according to a person familiar with the matter. Taylor Budowich, who had served as a spokesman...
LBJ’s daughter Luci watched him sign voting rights bill, then cried when Supreme Court weakened it
AUSTIN, Texas — Luci Baines Johnson was a somewhat impatient 18-year-old on Aug. 6, 1965, when she happened to be on what she called “daddy duty,” meaning “I was supposed to accompany him to important occasions.” The occasion that day was President Lyndon Johnson’s scheduled signing of the Voting Rights...
Voting rights marcher recalls being clubbed, hearing fatal gunshot during pivotal day of protests
MARION, Ala. — Della Simpson Maynor was just 14 when she marched for voting rights in her hometown of Marion, Alabama. Her most distinct memory of that evening is of the police attacking the demonstrators. She recalls one officer, on horseback, swinging at her head with a club. “I remember...
Activist’s fight against segregation evolved into political action to push for voting rights
NEW YORK — Norman Hill was at the AFL-CIO office in Washington, D.C., in August 1965, and recalls cheering when he learned the Voting Rights Act had passed Congress. He then took a moment to remember the people “who were killed, literally, struggling to try to get Blacks registered to...
Voting activist killed during Freedom Summer in Mississippi believed country should be integrated
NEW YORK — Stephen Schwerner doesn’t remember how he learned that his younger brother Michael, nicknamed Mickey, was missing in Mississippi along with colleagues Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. What he remembers is that as soon as the family heard the news, they were certain of the young men’s fate....
Andrew Young was at Martin Luther King’s side throughout often violent struggle for civil rights
ATLANTA — Andrew Young’s first thought when he heard the Voting Rights Act had been signed into law was not celebratory. It was strategic. “Where are we going to get the money to get the country mobilized to register these voters?” he recalled thinking at that momentous time nearly 60...
CNN head Chris Licht is out at the global news network after a brief, tumultuous tenureVideo
NEW YORK — The chief executive CNN pushed out of a job on Wednesday faced mounting problems in his first year leading the struggling network: viewership and profits were declining, programming blunders were growing and the network’s journalists were losing confidence by the day. Chris Licht’s very bad year culminated...
For many Southern Baptists, the only campaign question is which Republican candidate to support
Southern Baptists form a core part of the white evangelical Christian bloc that has reliably and overwhelmingly voted Republican in recent elections, and is expected to again in 2024. But Southern Baptists are weighing their options in the GOP presidential primary field — some already lining up behind Donald Trump,...
Young lawyer who helped write voting rights bill ‘star-struck’ as he witnessed 1965 signing into law
WASHINGTON — Joel Finkelstein is an accidental witness to one of the seminal events of the civil rights movement, the signing in 1965 of the Voting Rights Act. He was a year out of law school at Cornell when he received the call to head to the Capitol for the...
Voices from the violent civil rights era see attacks on voting rights as part of ongoing struggle
They are part of a small, vanishing group who lived at the epicenter of the struggle for voting rights six decades ago, an era driven by segregation, violence and the yearning for equality that eventually led to laws bringing the U.S. closer to its promise of democracy for all its...
Japan supports Sweden’s NATO membership as defense ministers strengthen ties
TOKYO — Japan’s defense minister expressed his country’s support for Sweden’s NATO membership during talks Wednesday with his Swedish counterpart, as the two sides called for stronger military ties amid shared concern over threats from Russia and China. Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson said that Sweden sees the need for...
N.D. Gov. Doug Burgum launches bid for 2024 GOP presidential nomination
FARGO, N.D. — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, adding his name to the long list of contenders hoping to dent former President Donald Trump’s early lead in the race. Burgum, 66, made the announcement in the The Wall Street Journal...
