Florida fight over baby boxes part of bigger culture war
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Safe Haven Baby Boxes and A Safe Haven for Newborns are two charities with similar names and the same goal: providing distressed mothers with a safe place to surrender their unwanted newborns instead of dumping them in trash cans or along roadsides. But a fight between...
Dalai Lama apologizes after video shows him kissing boy
DHARAMSALA, India — Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama apologized Monday after a video showing him kissing a child on the lips triggered criticism. A statement posted on his official website said the 87-year-old leader regretted the incident and wished to “apologize to the boy and his family, as well...
Some U.S. states stock abortion medications after court ruling
BOSTON — A growing number of states led by Democratic governors are stockpiling doses of drugs used in medication abortions, amid fears that a court ruling could restrict access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. Massachusetts has purchased enough doses of the drug mifepristone —...
Biden ends covid national emergency after Congress acts
WASHINGTON — The U.S. national emergency to respond to the covid-19 pandemic ended Monday as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to bring it to a close after three years — weeks before it was set to expire alongside a separate public health emergency. The national emergency allowed...
Will your next car be electric? New poll has mixed results
WASHINGTON — Many Americans aren’t yet sold on going electric for their next cars, a new poll shows, with high prices and too few charging stations the main deterrents. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to switch, but the history-making shift from the country’s century-plus...
Pa. Democrats aim to appeal to working-class voters with policy, symbolism, and some anger
Pennsylvania Democrats are trying to show they can be populists, too. When Gov. Josh Shapiro took office in January, he sent a symbolic message by using his first executive order to end the four-year college degree requirement for most state government jobs. Sen. John Fetterman campaigned as a Democrat who...
Senate Democrats ask chief justice to probe Clarence Thomas’ luxury trips
WASHINGTON — All Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have called on Chief Justice John Roberts to investigate undisclosed luxury trips that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted from a wealthy Republican donor. The panel, the Democrats said in a Monday letter, would soon hold a hearing on the court’s...
Trump due back in New York for questioning in AG’s fraud lawsuit
NEW YORK — Donald Trump is scheduled Thursday to return to New York for a deposition in a business fraud lawsuit filed against him and his company by the state’s attorney general, according to a person familiar with the matter. It will be the former president’s first trip to New...
University of Pittsburgh Chancellor-elect Joan Gabel talks top priorities
University of Pittsburgh Chancellor-elect Joan Gabel said in a wide-ranging interview Monday that her top priorities after taking office figure to include identifying the school’s next provost, initiating a capital campaign and dealing with tuition and labor issues. But Gabel said her first 100 days and beyond “will also include...
Justice Department appeals Texas abortion pill order
AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department on Monday appealed a Texas court ruling that would halt approval of a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the U.S., calling the decision “extraordinary and unprecedented.” If allowed to stand, the order issued last week by U.S. District Judge...
Black lawmaker who was expelled to return to Tennessee House
NASHVILLE — One of the two Black Democrats who were expelled last week from the GOP-led Tennessee House was reinstated Monday after Nashville’s governing council voted to send him straight back to the Legislature. The unanimous vote by the Nashville Metropolitan Council took only a few minutes to restore Rep....
1 dead, 1 wounded in shooting outside Louisville college
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A man was fatally shot and a woman wounded outside a community college in downtown Louisville on Monday, just a few hours after a mass shooting at a bank blocks away, police said. The two shootings were not related, Louisville Metro Police said in a statement. The...
Pa. launches abortion access website in wake of Texas ruling against abortion medication
After a federal judge’s ruling in Texas last week halted the approval of a drug used in medication abortions, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro launched a website informing state residents about their rights to accessing to abortion services. Shapiro said Monday that Pennsylvanians’ reproductive rights have not changed because of the...
A list of recent high-profile shootings in the U.S.
The latest high-profile shooting in the United States happened Monday in Louisville, Ky., when at least four people were killed at a downtown bank. The shooting in downtown Louisville is the 15th mass killing of the year in the U.S. in which four or more people were killed other than...
Trump appeals ruling that Mike Pence has to testify to Jan. 6 grand juryVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is appealing a court decision that would require former Vice President Mike Pence to appear before a federal grand jury investigating efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election, according to a person familiar with the matter. A federal judge in Washington in late March rejected the...
Fox News settles 2020 election-related defamation suit with Venezuelan businessman
It’s not the settlement the media industry has been anticipating, but Fox News has reached an agreement with a Venezuelan businessman whose name was linked to false allegations about voting machines used in the 2020 election. Attorneys for Fox News and Majed Khalil, the plaintiff in the suit, filed a...
Grand jury charges mother of Virginia 6-year-old who shot teacher
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Newport News grand jury on Monday indicted the mother of the 6-year-old boy who shot his first grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School three months ago. Deja Nicole Taylor, 25, of Newport News — whose son shot 25-year-old teacher Abby Zwerner during class on Jan....
Netanyahu reverses firing of defense minister amid tension
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday reversed his decision to fire his defense minister over criticism of the government’s contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary. In a televised speech, Netanyahu said that Yoav Gallant is staying at his post. “I decided to put the differences we had...
Pa. Supreme Court candidates with party backing show fundraising advantage
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 — The candidates running for an open seat on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court are getting campaign money from wealthy donors, their...
British PM urges Northern Ireland politicians to go back to work
LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the bravery of political leaders who struck the Good Friday peace accord 25 years ago Monday, as he urged Northern Ireland’s current politicians to return to work. While the peace deal largely brought an end to 30 years of hostilities, the Northern...
DeSantis to make 1st public appearance in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to make his first public appearance in South Carolina, a state where votes will be critical if he launches an expected 2024 presidential bid. State Sen. Josh Kimbrell told The Associated Press that he would host DeSantis for an event on...
Leaked documents a ‘very serious’ risk to security: Pentagon
WASHINGTON — The online leaks of scores of highly classified documents about the Ukraine war present a “very serious” risk to national security, and senior leaders are quickly taking steps to mitigate the damage, a top Pentagon spokesman said Monday. Chris Meagher, assistant to the secretary of defense for public...
Illustrated Anne Frank book removed by Florida school
ORLANDO, Fla. — A high school along Florida’s Atlantic Coast has removed a graphic novel based on the diary of Anne Frank after a leader of a conservative advocacy group challenged it, claiming it minimized the Holocaust. “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” was removed from a library at Vero...
California storms hit beekeepers, but honey outlook’s sweet
During California’s prolonged, wet winter, beekeeper Gene Brandi said he had to spend twice as much money on a sugary syrup to feed his honeybees and keep them alive. That’s because the bees sent to pollinate blooming almond orchards took longer than usual to emerge from their hives due to...
Biden kicks off Easter egg roll with talk of reelection bid
WASHINGTON — Not even the annual White House Easter Egg Roll is safe from presidential politics. President Joe Biden, the host of Monday’s festivities on the South Lawn, said he plans to participate in “at least three or four more Easter egg rolls, maybe five.” Biden was alluding to his...
