Biden and Kishida discuss Japan stepping up security
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were holding wide-ranging talks at the White House on Friday as Japan looks to build security cooperation with allies in a time of provocative Chinese and North Korean military action. The two administrations were also ready to seal an...
Biden special counsel deepens Justice Dept. in politics fray
WASHINGTON — In naming a special counsel to investigate the presence of classified documents at President Joe Biden’s Delaware home and former Washington office, Attorney General Merrick Garland described the appointment as underscoring the Justice Department’s commitment to independence and accountability in particularly sensitive investigations. If those words sounded familiar,...
Trump Organization fined $1.6 million for tax fraud
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s company was fined $1.6 million Friday for a scheme in which the former president’s top executives dodged personal income taxes on lavish job perks — a symbolic, hardly crippling blow for an enterprise boasting billions of dollars in assets. A fine was the only penalty...
Whale entangled in fishing gear off Outer Banks fights for its life, NOAA says
A struggling right whale is “heavily entangled” in fishing gear off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and likely won’t survive, according to NOAA Fisheries biologists. The whale’s predicament was discovered Jan. 8, as an aerial team from Florida’s Clearwater Marine Aquarium flew 20 miles off Rodanthe, according to a NOAA Fisheries...
Sociologist sees ‘haunting’ similarities between 20th, 21st century pandemic responses in U.S.
The last time Tom Soltis spoke to the American Association of University Women’s Murrysville chapter, it was during the emergence of the omicron variant of the covid-19 virus. Soltis recently retired after a career teaching sociology and anthropology at Westmoreland County Community College. He also is the author of “An...
Biden’s Delaware home is now a player in document drama
WASHINGTON — It’s President Joe Biden’s refuge from Washington — a place that’s part home office, part Sunday family dinner venue, a safe place for his treasured 1967 Corvette and a makeshift campaign studio during the covid-19 pandemic. Now, Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, is coming under fresh scrutiny as...
Rifts in Russian military command seen amid Ukraine fighting
As Russian troops wage a ferocious house-to-house fight for control of strongholds in eastern Ukraine, a parallel battle is unfolding in the top echelons of military power in Moscow, with President Vladimir Putin reshuffling his top generals while rival camps try to win his favor. The fighting for the salt...
MLK weekend to feature tributes, commitments to race equity
Annual tributes and commemorations of the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which begin nationwide on Friday, typically include a mix of politics, faith and community service. For this year’s celebration, the 37th since its federal recognition in 1986, a descendant of King hopes to spur...
State employees’ off for Shapiro inauguration
Some 1,200 state government employees who report to the Capitol Complex to work have an extra long weekend ahead of them. Not only do they have Martin Luther King Day off on Monday, these non-essential employees have Tuesday off to reduce traffic and free up parking for Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro...
Tornado hits Selma, Alabama; 7 deaths reported across South
SELMA, Ala. — Rescuers raced Friday to find survivors in the aftermath of a tornado-spawning storm system that barreled across parts of Georgia and Alabama, killing at least nine people, and inflicted heavy damage on Selma, a flashpoint of the civil rights movement. A better picture of the damage was...
Pa. Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro talks about his, and his family’s, next chapter
The Josh Shapiro Era is upon us and in a lot of very visceral ways it figures to be a lot different from the Tom Wolf Age. First is generational change, and all that entails. Wolf, who became governor at age 66, saw his first run for political office as...
Key dates in discovery of classified records tied to Biden
WASHINGTON — Key dates related to the discovery of classified documents tied to President Joe Biden, based on statements from the White House, the president and Attorney General Merrick Garland: — Jan. 20, 2017: Biden’s two terms as vice president to President Barack Obama end. — Mid-2017-2019: Biden periodically uses...
Storms, tornadoes slam South, killing at least 7 peopleVideo
SELMA, Ala. — A giant, swirling storm system billowing across the South on Thursday killed at least six people in central Alabama, where a tornado ripped roofs off homes and uprooted trees in historic Selma, while another person was killed in Georgia, where severe winds knocked out power to tens...
Pa. Commonwealth Court releases opinion calling impeachment articles against DA Larry Krasner legally insufficient
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court said Thursday that the state House’s decision to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner appeared largely based on disagreements about how he was running his office and said that was “not enough to create a constitutionally sound basis for impeaching and removing” the city’s top prosecutor. In...
New ‘kraken’ mutation of the covid-19 virus is most contagious subvariant yet
Medical experts say the new covid-19 mutation dubbed “kraken” is the most contagious subvariant of the virus to emerge since the pandemic began — and it’s becoming the dominant strain in the United States. As cases of this latest subvariant, known as XBB.1.5, surge across the northeastern section of the...
Here’s what outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf will be remembered for
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 — Gov. Tom Wolf began and ended his eight years in the state’s top job with the same mantra: He...
Carnegie Mellon administrator Rick Siger nominated by Gov.-elect Shapiro for cabinet post
A Carnegie Mellon University administrator and former Obama administration official is Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro’s pick to serve as secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Rick Siger, chief of staff and senior adviser to the president at Carnegie Mellon, will begin the job next Tuesday after Shapiro...
UPMC East to add robotic surgical system in Monroeville
UPMC East will join more than 20 other hospitals throughout the health system in adding robotic-assisted surgery as an option for patients. The da Vinci Surgical System allows surgeons to make small incisions and perform surgery using tiny robotic surgical instruments and cameras. At UPMC East, a dual-console system will...
Shapiro taps ex-lawmakers, Carnegie Mellon official for Cabinet
HARRISBURG — Two just-retired state lawmakers will help fill out the Cabinet of the incoming Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, who also said Thursday that he will pluck a pair of nominees from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania who each held senior federal government posts. Former Republican Sen....
Idaho stabbing suspect to face preliminary hearing in June
The man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students will have a preliminary hearing in late June, when prosecutors will try to show a judge that they have enough evidence to justify the felony charges. Bryan Kohberger waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing during...
Russian forces press deadly assault for breakthrough in east
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia said Thursday that its forces are edging closer to capturing a salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine, which would mark an elusive victory for the Kremlin but come at the cost of heavy Russian casualties and extensive destruction of the territory they claim. More than 100 Russian...
U.S. kindergarten vaccination rate dropped again, data shows
NEW YORK — Vaccination rates for U.S. kindergarteners dropped again last year, and federal officials are starting a new campaign to try to bring them up. Usually, 94% to 95% of kindergarteners are vaccinated against measles, tetanus and certain other diseases. The vaccination rates dropped below 94% in the 2020-2021...
A side-by-side look at the Trump, Biden classified documents
The revelation that classified materials were discovered at think tank offices formerly used by President Joe Biden, as well as at the president’s Delaware home, has prompted questions on how the circumstances compare with the seizure last year of hundreds of documents marked as classified from Mar-a-Lago, the Florida residence...
Trump to hold 1st public campaign event in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump is planning to hold the first public campaign event of his 2024 White House bid in the early-voting state of South Carolina. Campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told The Associated Press on Thursday that Trump will visit South Carolina later this month. No other...
Valuable winning lottery ticket could be in your coat pocket
DES MOINES, Iowa — Thinking of lining up at the mini-mart for a shot at a $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot? Maybe you should first dig into your coat pockets or your car’s glove box to make sure you don’t already have a winning ticket from an earlier drawing. As...
