Tyre Nichols’ family sues Memphis police over beating, death
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the officers and the city of Memphis on Wednesday, blaming them for his death and accusing officials of allowing a special unit’s aggressive tactics to go unchecked despite warning signs....
Sen. John Fetterman posts video trolling body-double conspiracy ‘fringy fringies’Video
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman is back on Capitol Hill and back on social media, trolling conspiracy theorists who claimed last month that he had a body double. Tuesday evening on his non-official Senate Twitter account, Fetterman posted a short video referring to the “fringy fringies” and their conspiracy theory targeting...
Sudanese flee their homes as truce fails, fighting rages
KHARTOUM, Sudan — Terrified Sudanese who have been trapped for days in their homes by fighting in the capital of Khartoum fled on Wednesday, hauling out whatever belongings they could carry and trying to get out of the city, after an internationally brokered truce failed. Explosions shook the city as...
U.S.-made Patriot guided missile systems arrive in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure. The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles...
Alabama teens charged with murder in Sweet 16 party shootingVideo
DADEVILLE, Ala. — Two teenagers have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with a shooting that killed four young people at a Sweet Sixteen birthday party, Alabama investigators announced Wednesday. Tallapoosa County District Attorney Mike Segrest said the pair — Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16,...
Court hearing delayed for airman accused in documents leak
BOSTON — A hearing to decide whether a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking highly classified military documents should remain jailed while awaiting trial has been delayed to give the defense more time to prepare. Jack Teixeira, 21, was supposed to appear in Boston federal court on Wednesday for...
Pa. primary election 2023: Everything you need to know about requesting, filling out, and returning your mail ballot
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 — Voters in Pennsylvania’s May 16 primary election will choose their parties’ statewide candidates for the Commonwealth, Superior, and Supreme...
Iraq’s years of carnage still engrained in Baghdad streets
BAGHDAD — There are places around Baghdad where I’ll sometimes say a silent prayer for the dead when I pass — on certain residential streets, at a particular restaurant, in a square where minibuses gather. Today, people go about their daily business in these places, perhaps no longer thinking of...
Torch-carrying marchers indicted in Charlottesville rally
RICHMOND, Va. — Nearly six years after a large gathering of white nationalists in Charlottesville erupted in violent clashes with counterprotesters, a grand jury in Virginia has indicted multiple people on felony charges for carrying flaming torches with the intent to intimidate. The Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said in...
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising commemorated on 80th anniversary
WARSAW, Poland — Presidents and Holocaust survivors and their descendants commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on Wednesday with a poignant sense that the responsibility for carrying on the memory of the Holocaust is passing from the witnesses to younger generations. Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the...
Charges put focus on Jehovah’s Witnesses’ handling of abuseVideo
YORK HAVEN — A Pennsylvania grand jury in recent months accused nine men with connections to the Jehovah’s Witnesses of child sexual abuse in what some consider the nation’s most comprehensive investigation yet into abuse within the faith. The sets of charges filed in October and February have fueled speculation...
Supreme Court temporarily extends access to abortion pill
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has temporarily extended women’s access to an abortion pill until Friday while the justices consider whether to allow restrictions on mifepristone to take effect as a legal challenge to the medication’s Food and Drug Administration approval continues. In an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito...
Uvalde families plead for languishing Texas gun bills
AUSTIN, Texas — Parents whose children were killed in the Robb Elementary School massacre made sobbing pleads for stricter gun laws before legislators early Wednesday on languishing proposals that appeared headed to stall in the face of a Republican majority. The emotional late-night hearing — which started Tuesday morning and...
Tennessee moves to shield gun firms after school shooting
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the wake of a deadly school shooting last month, Republican lawmakers in Tennessee awarded final passage Tuesday to a proposal that would further protect gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits. The Senate’s 19-9 vote sends the bill to Republican Gov. Bill Lee, despite...
Colorado gun control bills progress; semi-auto ban unlikely
DENVER — Months after the state’s latest mass shooting, Colorado’s Democratic-controlled Legislature has passed a package of gun control measures that are expected to be signed by the state’s governor and more closely align it with the liberal strongholds of California and New York. The proposals include strengthening red flag...
In memoir, former Cuomo aide says ‘nothing goes unaddressed’
ALBANY, N.Y. — A memoir from the top aide to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during the deadliest days of the covid-19 pandemic, and an investigation that concluded he sexually harassed 11 women, will come out in the fall. Union Square & Co. will release “What’s Left Unsaid: My...
DeSantis appointees begin reshaping Disney World’s district
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointees on Wednesday began trying to reshape Disney World’s governing body with proposals to eliminate a planning board and prohibit mask mandates and covid-19 vaccine requirements in an evolving showdown between the Republican governor and the world’s best-known entertainment company. The...
Neighbor: Man in wrong-turn shooting disliked trespassersVideo
When Kaylin Gillis and her friends took a wrong turn into an upstate New York driveway last weekend, they couldn’t have known the property was owned by a man who, according to a neighbor, had grown increasingly bitter over the years at people driving onto his land by mistake. This...
Hospital sues Missouri’s top prosecutor over trans care data
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City hospital is suing Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey over what it calls his “burdensome” requests for records on gender-affirming care. In a lawsuit filed last week in Jackson County, attorneys for Children’s Mercy Hospital asked a judge to deny Bailey’s 54 investigative demands...
4 killed in Maine home; 3 wounded in linked highway shooting
BOWDOIN, Maine — Four people were fatally shot Tuesday at a house in Maine shortly before gunfire wounded three others on a busy highway, in a pair of crimes that are linked, authorities said. One person was in custody. Police closed a portion of the interstate highway and residents and...
Parking garage partially collapses in Manhattan, killing 1, injuring 5
NEW YORK — A parking garage collapsed Tuesday in lower Manhattan’s Financial District, killing one worker, injuring five and crushing cars as concrete floors fell on top of each other like a stack of pancakes, officials said. Vehicles tumbled into what looked like a frozen stream of sedans and SUVs....
Iowa’s Senate advances bill to loosen child labor laws
DES MOINES — Lawmakers in Iowa’s Senate passed a controversial bill Tuesday that would allow minors to work longer hours and work in currently banned roles, such as serving alcohol at restaurants, the Des Moines Register reported. Supporters of the bill — mainly Republicans — said it would give children...
FDA clears extra covid booster for some high-risk Americans
WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators on Tuesday cleared another booster dose of the Pfizer or Moderna covid-19 vaccines for older Americans and people with weak immune systems. The Food and Drug Administration also took steps to make coronavirus vaccinations simpler for everyone, saying that anyone getting a Pfizer or Moderna dose...
Expecting more than $1B in opioid settlement money, Pa. grapples with policing versus treatment
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 — A historic settlement to resolve claims against opioid companies is expected to bring Pennsylvania more than $1 billion, but...
Ralph Yarl shedding ‘buckets of tears;’ shooter in custodyVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As 16-year-old Ralph Yarl struggled to come to grips with being shot for going to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers, the white Kansas City, Missouri, homeowner who shot the Black teenager turned himself in on Tuesday. Andrew Lester, 84, surrendered at the...
