Bill allowing counties to process mail ballots early clears 1st hurdle in Pa. House
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 — After years of advocacy and political deadlock, Pennsylvania counties could be a step closer to getting more time to...
Switch to Pa.’s corporate filing system led to backlog and longer waits for business 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 — Business owners trying to register new companies in Pennsylvania faced unusually long waits this winter, after the state switched...
Trump gets endorsed by Daines, GOP’s Senate campaign chief
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump has gotten his most high-profile endorsement from a Senate Republican yet, winning the backing of Montana’s Steve Daines, chief of the Senate’s GOP fundraising arm. “I’m proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for president of the United States,” Daines, chair of the National...
U.S. consumer confidence falls for 3rd time in 4 months
Consumer confidence dipped again in April as anxiety over a slowing economy and possible recession weighed on American households. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 101.3 in April from 104 in March. It’s the third time in four months that overall U.S. consumer confidence...
Feds: Man tried to firebomb Ohio church to stop drag show
CLEVELAND — An eastern Ohio man told investigators that he tried to burn down an Ohio church because he wanted to prevent a drag show that was scheduled to take place there, federal prosecutors allege in newly unsealed charges. Aimenn Penny, a 20-year-old from Alliance who is a member of...
East Palestine families living in limbo months after fire
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Jeff Drummond spends days and nights alone in a tiny room with fake wood paneling, two small beds and a microwave atop a mini refrigerator that serves as a nightstand — his pickup truck parked just outside the door at the roadside motel where he’s taken...
Trial opens in E. Jean Carroll’s rape lawsuit against Trump
NEW YORK — A nearly 30-year-old rape claim against Donald Trump went to trial Tuesday as jurors in the federal civil case heard a former advice columnist’s allegation of being attacked in a luxury department store dressing room. The former president says nothing happened between them. E. Jean Carroll will...
Why is Biden announcing 2024 bid now, and what will change?
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has formally announced he’s seeking reelection. But he’s also still the president, with roughly 20 months left in his term regardless of whether he wins a second one on Election Day 2024. With Tuesday’s campaign video release, Biden is following through on months of saying...
Coronation gives tourism boost, but U.K. economy still reeling
LONDON — Kelly Curto is taking her first trip outside the U.S., and the die-hard fan of the British royal family is making it the one at the top of her bucket list — heading to London for King Charles III’s coronation. After arriving on May 5, the 44-year-old school...
1 killed, 10 wounded as Russian forces hit Ukrainian museum
KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian missile hit a museum building in a Ukrainian city on Tuesday, killing one of its workers and wounding 10 other people, part of a relentless barrage that comes as Ukraine is readying its forces for an expected spring counteroffensive. Ukrainian officials said the Russian military...
President Joe Biden announces 2024 reelection bid
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish this job” and extend the run of America’s oldest president for another four years. Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a...
Mexico finds 11,520 tequila bottles with liquid meth at port
MEXICO CITY — Mexican Navy inspectors have intercepted 11,520 tequila bottles bound for export that actually contained nearly 10 tons of concentrated liquid meth, the navy said Monday. The discovery was made Sunday at the Pacific coast seaport of Manzanillo, the navy said. It said the bottles contained approximately 19,000...
House committee passes anti-discrimination bill for LGBTQ Pennsylvanians
The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee approved a bill Monday that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s nondiscrimination law, a step forward in what was described as a two-decade effort to codify rights for LGBTQ people in the state. The legislation, House Bill 300, is a fundamental...
DuBois official’s corruption arrest puts consolidation with Sandy Township at risk
This story first appeared in Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA’s State College regional bureau featuring the most important news and happenings in north-central Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here. SANDY TOWNSHIP — The arrest of DuBois City Manager Herm Suplizio in March on corruption charges...
Affordability remains top issue for Pa.’s state-related universities during budget process
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our regional newsletter, Talk of the Town. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities are asking the legislature for a long-awaited budget increase,...
As Pitt imposes ticket limit on graduation ceremony, some worry that family will be left out
The April 19 message sent to University of Pittsburgh students readying for graduation Sunday began routinely enough: “We are very excited that so many graduates will be joining us at the universitywide commencement ceremony on April 30, ” it read. Then came the next sentence, posted in bold: “Due to...
DA Fani Willis to decide on Georgia election probe charges in summerVideo
ATLANTA — The prosecutor in Atlanta investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies illegally meddled in the 2020 election in Georgia said Monday she expects to announce charging decisions in the case this summer and urged “heightened security.” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wrote in a letter to...
1 dead in Oklahoma college shooting, suspect in custody
MIDWEST CITY, Okla. — A man shot and killed another man Monday at Rose State College in Oklahoma, according to police, who reported no other injuries after the campus was briefly put on lockdown. Midwest City Police Chief Sid Porter said the men were “acquainted through a domestic situation,” but...
Pa. House panel advances election reform bill that makes ballot secrecy envelopes optional
Legislation that would give counties a seven-day head start on getting ballots ready for tabulating and require voters be given the chance to correct minor issues to ensure their ballot gets counted won passage by a state House committee on Monday. The bill, sponsored by House State Government Committee Chairman...
Singer R. Kelly moved to North Carolina prison from Chicago
BUTNER, N.C. — Singer R. Kelly was moved from a Chicago correctional center to a medium-security prison in North Carolina last week, according to federal officials. Robert Sylvester Kelly was transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center Chicago to the federal correctional institution in Butner, North Carolina, on April 19, Federal...
Favre remains in Mississippi welfare lawsuit, judge rules
JACKSON, Miss. — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre will remain as a defendant in a civil lawsuit that seeks to recover millions of dollars of misspent welfare money that was supposed to help some of the neediest people in the United States, a Mississippi judge ruled Monday. Circuit Judge Faye...
Migrants walking through Mexico threaten road blockades
TAPACHULA, Mexico — Around 3,000 migrants walking through southern Mexico in a mass protest procession threatened Monday to block roads or harm themselves unless the government agrees to talks or provides them with buses. The migrants set out walking from the city of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, on Sunday...
Severe solar storm creates dazzling auroras farther south
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An intense solar storm has the northern lights gracing the skies farther south than usual. A blast of superhot material from the sun late last week hurled scorching gases known as plasma toward Earth at nearly 2 million mph (3 million kph), the National Oceanic and...
Don Lemon, longtime CNN host, out at cable news network
NEW YORK — Longtime CNN host Don Lemon is out at the cable news network a little over two months after apologizing to viewers for on-air comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, CNN announced Monday “CNN and Don have parted ways,” CNN chair Chris Licht said in a memo...
What’s behind sexual assault lawsuit against Donald Trump?
NEW YORK — As Donald Trump ran for and served as president, over a dozen women publicly accused him of sexual assault and harassment. Most of those claims — all denied by Trump — were never taken to court. None has gone to trial. But that is about to change....
