Troubles shadow lingers as Northern Ireland marks 25 years of peace
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Peter Olphert was 14 when Irish Republican Army gunmen killed his father. Forty years later, he says it’s time to set aside the past. Mark Thompson lost his brother to British Army bullets, another victim of “the Troubles” that wracked Northern Ireland for three decades. He...
FDA forces unproven premature birth drug Makena off market
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday ordered the immediate market withdrawal of a drug intended to prevent premature births, which has remained available for years despite data showing it doesn’t help pregnant women. The decision follows repeated efforts by Swiss drugmaker Covis Pharma to keep Makena on...
Panel affirms fines against coal mines owned by W.Va. governor
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal appeals panel has affirmed $2.5 million in penalties against Appalachian coal mines owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice over claims they violated a settlement meant to prevent pollution. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, made the...
Tennessee’s House expels 2 of 3 Democrats over gun protestVideo
NASHVILLE — In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest that called for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. The banishment of Reps. Justin Jones and...
Poll shows Gov. Josh Shapiro with 54% approval rating 3 months into term
Gov. Josh Shapiro has been in office for three months and so far, more than half of Pennsylvanians approve of the job he is doing although a majority believe overall the state is heading in the wrong direction, according to a statewide poll released on Thursday. The “Common Ground in...
China vows ‘forceful’ measures after U.S.-Taiwan meeting
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China vowed reprisals against Taiwan after a meeting between the United States House speaker and the island’s president, saying Thursday that the U.S. was on a “wrong and dangerous road.” Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday in a show of U.S. support for...
China’s Xi calls for Ukraine peace talks to resume
BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping called Thursday for peace talks over Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to him to “bring Russia to its senses,” but Xi gave no indication Beijing would use its leverage as Vladimir Putin’s diplomatic partner to press for a settlement. Xi gave no...
Japanese army helicopter carrying 10 crew members missing
TOKYO — Japan’s coast guard says it is searching for an army helicopter carrying 10 crew members that went missing off a southern Japanese island. The coast guard said it received information that a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60JA Black Hawk helicopter disappeared from radar on a mission Thursday evening in...
Snake on a plane! South African pilot finds cobra under seat
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A pilot in South Africa made a hasty emergency landing after discovering a highly venomous cobra hiding under his seat. Rudolf Erasmus had four passengers on board the light aircraft during Monday’s flight when he felt “something cold” slide across his lower back. He glanced...
Idaho becomes 1st state to restrict interstate travel for abortions
BOISE — Helping a minor travel to another state for an abortion, without parental consent, will be a felony in Idaho next month, barring a successful court challenge. Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Wednesday signed House Bill 242. It prohibits traveling with a minor to another state for an...
Anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. challenging Biden in 2024
NEW YORK — Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and scion of one of the country’s most famous political families, is running for president. Kennedy filed a statement of candidacy Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission. The 69-year-old’s campaign to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden for the Democratic...
Jury in defamation suit against Fox won’t hear about Jan. 6
DOVER, Del. — The upcoming trial in a voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News for airing false allegations of vote fraud in the 2020 presidential election will not include testimony about the Jan. 6 uprising at the U.S. Capitol, a judge ruled Wednesday. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems claims...
For winners, Pennsylvania’s liquor lottery is worth the time, money
Back in 2018, David Falcheck of Scranton got the notification he was waiting for — he was among a small group of winners chosen from thousands of lottery entries for the chance to buy a 12-year-old bottle of Van Winkle Special Reserve Straight Bourbon. “It was excellent,” Falcheck said of...
Kansas bans transgender athletes from women’s, girls’ sports
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports from kindergarten through college, the first of several possible new laws restricting the rights of transgender people pushed through by Republican legislators over the wishes of the Democratic governor. The Legislature on Wednesday overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s...
University of Pittsburgh doctor, professor sues school; alleges retaliation over his affirmative action views
A University of Pittsburgh cardiologist has filed a new civil complaint in federal court alleging retaliation and discrimination against him over affirmative action views expressed in a paper published and later retracted by the Journal of the American Heart Association. Norman C. Wang is on the faculty of Pitt’s School...
Man stole school bus in Adams County to transport dead deer, police say
A Pennsylvania man stole a school bus in an effort to transport a dead deer to his home, he told police. In the process, he led cops on a chase in and out of York and Cumberland counties. Tony Jay Saunders Jr., 24, was charged with multiple felonies following the...
Mike Pence won’t appeal order compelling grand jury testimonyVideo
WASHINGTON — A spokesman for Mike Pence said Wednesday that the former vice president will not appeal a judge’s order compelling him to testify in the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The decision sets up a...
Maryland AG releases report on Catholic Church sex abuse
BALTIMORE — More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused more than 600 children over the past 80 years, according to a state report released Wednesday that accused church officials of decades of cover-ups. The report, issued by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office,...
TikTok’s parent has a new app: What to know about Lemon8
NEW YORK — As lawmakers debate whether to ban TikTok nationwide, its Chinese parent company has introduced a new app that’s already getting some traction. The app, called Lemon8, is likely to face some of the same scrutiny as TikTok, which has been dogged by claims the Chinese government could...
Trump’s bravado tested as legal woes overlap with campaign
NEW YORK — When Donald Trump stepped into a Manhattan courthouse Tuesday afternoon, his usual bravado was replaced with palpable anger and notable silence as the former president was reduced to a criminal defendant in custody. By the time he returned to his Mar-a-Lago club hours later, he was ready...
Man kills 4 children with hatchet at daycare center in BrazilVideo
RIO DE JANEIRO — A man with a hatchet jumped over a wall and invaded a daycare center Wednesday in Brazil, killing four children and wounding at least five others, authorities said. The assailant turned himself in at a police station and did not appear to have any connection with...
DOJ tentatively settles over Texas church shooting for $144M
AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department announced Wednesday a tentative $144 million settlement with families and victims of a 2017 mass shooting at a Texas church that was carried out by a former U.S. airman who was able to purchase firearms despite a criminal history. More than two dozen people...
Patrol: Missouri tornado kills at least 4, sows destruction
ST. LOUIS — A large tornado tore through southeastern Missouri before dawn on Wednesday, causing widespread destruction and killing at least four people as a broad swath of the Midwest and South braced for further storm s that could spawn additional twisters and hail. A twister in Illinois also caused...
Blinken says Wall Street Journal reporter ‘wrongfully detained’ by Russia
BRUSSELS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday he has “no doubt” that Russia has wrongfully detained an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was arrested last week on spying allegations. However, Blinken said a formal determination of Evan Gershkovich’s wrongful detention has not yet been...
Violence at Jerusalem holy site raises fears of escalation
JERUSALEM — Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City early Wednesday, firing stun grenades at Palestinians who hurled stones and firecrackers in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday season. Palestinian militants in Gaza responded with rocket fire on southern Israel, prompting repeated Israeli airstrikes. The...
