Sen. John Fetterman hospitalized after feeling lightheaded, no evidence of a new stroke, spokesman says
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat who suffered a stroke during his campaign last year, was hospitalized Wednesday night after feeling lightheaded while attending a Senate Democratic retreat, his office said. Initial tests at George Washington University Hospital did not show evidence of a new stroke, Fetterman’s communications director,...
More than 200 discarded shotguns found in Oklahoma dumpster
MIDWEST CITY, Okla. — An Oklahoma firearms dealer is under investigation after more than 200 shotguns were found in a dumpster outside a store he owns in suburban Oklahoma City, according to a search warrant by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “A Midwest City sanitation worker found...
Penn State joins dozens of law schools withdrawing from participating in U.S. News rankings
Penn State University’s two law schools are withdrawing from participating in future U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, joining more than 40 peers who say the news organization’s methodology is seriously flawed. Yale and Harvard universities announced they were withdrawing from participating in the rankings in November and...
Biden warns of GOP plans for Medicare, Social Security cuts
WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden suggested that Republicans want to slash Medicare and Social Security, the GOP howls of protest during his State of the Union address showcased a striking apparent turnaround for the party that built a brand for years trying to do just that. Biden is not...
Disney to cut 7,000 jobs in Iger’s company ‘transformation’
LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday it will cut about 7,000 jobs as part of a “significant transformation” announced by CEO Bob Iger. The job cuts amount to about 3% of the entertainment’s global workforce and were announced Wednesday after Disney reported quarterly results that topped Wall...
Residents can return after air deemed safe from Ohio derailment
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Evacuated residents can safely return to the Ohio village where crews burned toxic chemicals after a train derailed five days ago near the Pennsylvania state line, East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said Wednesday. Authorities in East Palestine had warned that burning vinyl chloride that was...
Walmart shooting suspect pleads guilty to federal charges
EL PASO, Texas — A Texas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing him of killing nearly two dozen people in a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart, changing his plea weeks after the U.S. government said it wouldn’t seek the death penalty for the hate crimes and...
Tennessee House speaker mulls rejecting U.S. education money
NASHVILLE — One of Tennessee’s most influential Republican lawmakers says the state should stop accepting the nearly $1.8 billion of federal K-12 education dollars that help provide support for low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities. House Speaker Cameron Sexton told The Associated Press that he has introduced a...
Biden’s fentanyl position sparks criticism from 2 sides
President Joe Biden’s calls in his State of the Union speech for strong criminal penalties in response to soaring deaths linked to the potent opioid fentanyl are being rebuked by harm reduction advocates who say that approach could make the problem worse, even as some in Congress jeered the comments...
West Virginia’s $1 billion surplus sparks pitched tax battle
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s Republican Senate leaders have answered the call to dramatically slash the state income tax by proposing to shave 15% off the rate at a cost of about $600 million, or more than half the state’s budget surplus. GOP senators described the plan as a safer,...
City of Philadelphia joins growing list of school districts delaying opening on Super Bowl Monday
Several school districts in the greater Philadelphia suburbs and southern New Jersey made headlines last week after announcing a two-hour delayed opening on Super Bowl Monday, so students and staff could stay up late to watch the Philadelphia Eagles play in Super Bowl LVII. And, Wednesday, officials from the School...
Florida high school sports officials reconsider menstrual questions
ORLANDO, Fla. — Facing blowback, the director of Florida’s high school sports governing body is backing away from using an eligibility form that requires female athletes to disclose their menstrual history in order to compete. Instead, the executive director of the Florida High School Athletic Association is recommending that most...
AI search engines can now chat with us, but glitches abound
REDMOND, Wash. — Nearly a quarter-century after Google’s search engine began to reshape how we use the internet, big tech companies are racing to revamp a familiar web tool into a gateway to a new form of artificial intelligence. If it seems like this week’s newly announced AI search chatbots...
Another $237M granted to Honda battery plant project in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s privatized economic development office has finalized an agreement with Honda to infuse $237 million into development of a massive battery plant project that the Japanese automaker plans to use to transform the state into its North American electric vehicle hub. JobsOhio posted details of the package...
Trump ex-lawyer Cohen meets again with New York prosecutors
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen said he was meeting yet again Wednesday with New York City prosecutors who have spent years examining the former president’s financial dealings. Cohen stopped briefly to talk with reporters as he entered the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He said it was...
Ex-Twitter execs deny pressure to block Hunter Biden story
WASHINGTON — Former Twitter executives conceded Wednesday they made a mistake by blocking a story about Hunter Biden, the president’s son, from the social media platform in the run-up to the 2020 election, but adamantly denied Republican assertions they were pressured by Democrats and law enforcement to suppress the story....
Zelenskyy tells U.K. ‘freedom will win,’ pushes for warplanes
LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed for fighter jets to ensure his country’s victory over Russia in a dramatic speech before the U.K. Parliament, where he also thanked the British people for their support since “Day One” of Moscow’s invasion. The embattled leader’s surprise visit to Britain in a...
Day care in Canada struck by city bus; 2 children dead
LAVAL, Quebec — A city bus crashed into a day care center Wednesday north of Montreal, killing two children and injuring six, authorities said. The driver was arrested and charged with homicide and careless driving. A neighbor who ran to the center in Laval, Quebec, said she saw children screaming...
Primary care remains hot deal target with CVS $10.6B bid
Big money is pouring into primary care clinics as the nation’s health care giants hunt for ways to cut costs by keeping people healthy. CVS Health said Wednesday that it will spend about $10.6 billion to buy Oak Street Health, which runs clinics that specialize in treating Medicare Advantage patients....
In new role, Bernie Sanders demands answers from Starbucks CEO
WASHINGTON — As Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders settles into his new role as chairman of a committee that oversees health and labor issues, he says some corporations “should be nervous.” And the longtime liberal crusader’s first target is Howard Schultz, the interim CEO of Starbucks who has aggressively fought his...
IOC responds to Paris mayor on Olympic plan for Russians
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The International Olympic Committee pushed back against the mayor of Paris on Wednesday, insisting there were no plans for “a Russian or Belarusian delegation” at the 2024 Games while also acknowledging that some athletes from those countries could be welcomed. The IOC statement came a day after...
U.K. holds ceremony replete with tradition to consider coinsVideo
LONDON — A jury sat solemnly in a gilded hall in central London on Tuesday, presided over by a bewigged representative of the crown in flowing black robes, but there were no criminals in the dock. Britain’s coinage was on trial. In a ceremony that dates back to the 12th...
Danish queen to undergo ‘major back surgery’
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, whose half-century reign makes her Europe’s longest-serving monarch, will undergo “major back surgery” later this month, the royal palace said Wednesday. The 82-year-monarch will be hospitalized afterward and undergo “a longer rehabilitation process,” the royal household said in a statement. “During a long...
United Airlines flight bound for New Jersey turns around after fire in cabin
SAN DIEGO — A fire on board a New Jersey-bound United Airlines plane prompted it to return to San Diego International Airport and four people were taken to a hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation, authorities said. Flight 2664 was heading to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey when...
Hope fading as deaths in Turkey, Syria quake pass 11,000
GAZIANTEP, Turkey — With hope fading to find survivors, stretched rescue teams toiled Wednesday in Turkey and Syria, searching for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by a catastrophic earthquake. The death toll passed 11,000 in the deadliest quake worldwide in more than a decade....
