Pennsylvania certifies election results after recount delay
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top elections official fully certified results from the November vote late last week after recount petitions in some counties had delayed the process, the Department of State said Tuesday. An agency spokesperson said acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman completed certification of all races in the 2022...
First Congress revealed Biden’s generational ambition
WASHINGTON — When he ran for the White House, Joe Biden told voters his presidency would be a bridge to the next generation. His first two years on the job have revealed it to be a much more ambitious venture. As he nears the halfway mark on his first term,...
5 ways to build your credit score in 2023
You’ve got big financial plans for 2023. Maybe they include buying a home or car, or getting a new travel rewards credit card to help pay for your next trip. There’s a key piece of these plans you may not have considered: building your credit score. A better credit score...
Experts share advice about what to do if your flight is canceled
Thousands of travelers were stranded at airports or stuck on hold trying to rebook flights this week as a massive storm snarled travel in the U.S. and Canada. More than 2,800 more flights had already been canceled in the U.S. as of 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to the flight tracking...
Military police to enforce driving ban in snowy Buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — State and military police are being sent to keep people from driving in snow-choked Buffalo, officials said Tuesday as the region kept counting fatalities and strove to recover from its deadliest storm in at least two generations. County Executive Mark Poloncarz said police would be positioned at...
Serbs put up new roadblocks as tensions soar in Kosovo
MITROVICA, Kosovo — Serbs on Tuesday erected more roadblocks in northern Kosovo and defied international demands to remove those placed earlier, a day after Serbia put its troops near the border on a high level of combat readiness. The new barriers, made of heavily loaded trucks, were put up overnight...
Russian FM Lavrov: Ukraine must demilitarize or Russia will do it
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday warned that Ukraine must meet Moscow’s demand for “demilitarization” and “denazification,” as well as the removal of the military threat to Russia, otherwise “the Russian army (will) solve the issue.” Sergey Lavrov also accused the West of fueling the war...
Japan to require covid tests for all visitors from China
TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Tuesday that Japan will tighten border controls for covid-19 by requiring tests for all visitors from China starting Friday as a temporary emergency measure against the surging infections there. The announcement comes days after the World Health Organization said it was very...
Pittsburgh among cities impacted by Southwest flight cancellations; DOT to investigate
The U.S. Department of Transportation said it will look into flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines that have left travelers stranded at airports across the country amid an intense winter storm that has killed dozens of people. Many airlines were forced to cancel flights due to the weather, but Southwest was...
New York Rep.-elect George Santos admits lying about career, college
WASHINGTON — Rep.-elect George Santos, R-N.Y., admitted Monday that he lied about his job experience and college education during his successful campaign for a seat in the U.S. House. In an interview with the New York Post, Santos said: “My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry.” He also...
Manhattan man charged in 2 random knife slashing murders
NEW YORK — Two seemingly isolated and random outdoor murders at the height of the holiday season and of the kind New Yorkers have increasingly feared since the pandemic began were blamed by police officials Monday on a city resident with a criminal record. James Essig, chief of detectives for...
4th Washington state electrical substation vandalized
TACOMA, Wash. — A fourth electrical substation was vandalized late on Christmas Day in Washington state, leaving homes in Kapowsin and Graham temporarily without power, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. By 7 a.m. Monday, more than 10,500 Puget Sound Energy customers were without electricity across the region, KOMO-TV...
Judge rejects Kari Lake’s bid to overturn Arizona election
A judge in Arizona rejected a bid by Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake to throw out the results of the November election she lost, calling her claims of misconduct by election workers “speculation” that she had failed to prove. During a two-day hearing that ended Thursday, Lake’s attorneys claimed that...
$2.2M federal grant to advance Duquesne’s new college of osteopathic medicine
The first entering class of students at Duquesne University’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine will be outfitted with devices to aid patient examinations in remote areas under an award from the federal government. Money for the portable ultrasound handheld devices is included in a $2.2 million grant to help finance...
Deep freeze breaks pipes, creates water crisis across South
JACKSON, Miss. — Days of freezing temperatures in Deep South areas that usually freeze for only hours are threatening dozens of water systems as burst pipes leak millions of gallons of water. The problems were happening Monday in large, troubled water systems like Jackson, Mississippi, where residents were required over...
China to scrap covid-19 quarantine for incoming passengers
BEIJING — China will drop a COVID-19 quarantine requirement for passengers arriving from abroad starting Jan. 8, the National Health Commission announced Monday in the latest easing of the country’s once-strict virus-control measures. Currently, arriving passengers must quarantine for five days at a hotel, followed by three days at home....
Western New York death toll rises to 28 from cold, storm chaosVideo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo residents hovered around space heaters, hunted for cars buried in snow drifts and looked for more victims Monday, after 28 people died in one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit western New York. The rest of the United States also was reeling from the...
UN official, Taliban minister meet on Afghan women NGO ban
KABUL, Afghanistan — The top U.N. official in Kabul met with a Taliban government minister in Afghanistan’s capital on Monday, following a decision by the country’s new rulers to bar women from working for non-governmental organizations, the U.N. mission said. The ban has already prompted four major international aid agencies...
Russia says it shot down Ukrainian drone near airbase
KYIV, Ukraine — The Russian military reported on Monday that it shot down a Ukrainian drone approaching an airbase deep inside Russia, the second time the facility has been targeted this month — raising questions about the effectiveness of Russia’s air defenses if drones can fly that far into the...
On a new map, Pennsylvania elects most diverse assembly ever
HARRISBURG — When mapmakers reimagined the boundaries of Pennsylvania’s 253 legislative districts, they did it with an eye on the state’s growing racial and ethnic minorities, and officials say that has helped yield the most diverse incoming class of lawmakers yet. The number of state lawmakers who are Black, Latino...
China races to vaccinate elderly, but many are reluctant
BEIJING — Chinese authorities are going door to door and paying people older than 60 to get vaccinated against covid-19. But even as cases surge, 64-year-old Li Liansheng said his friends are alarmed by stories of fevers, blood clots and other side effects. “When people hear about such incidents, they...
South Korea launches jets, fires shots after North flies drones
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s military fired warning shots, scrambled fighter jets and flew surveillance assets across the heavily fortified border with North Korea on Monday, after North Korean drones violated its airspace for the first time in five years in a fresh escalation of tensions. South Korea’s military...
GOP stumbles with independents contributed to midterm woes
EAGAN, Minn. — As Republican Tyler Kistner’s closing ad aired last month in one of the most competitive congressional districts in the U.S., Vickie Klang felt that something was missing. The 58-year-old veterinary technician and self-described independent voter watched as the 30-second spot showed grainy black-and-white images of President Joe...
Sports unraveled, collided with politics, racism in 2022
The unspoken deal between sports fans and their favorite teams and players has been, in theory: Sure, there are billions of dollars being thrown around, but at the core, sports are supposed to be fun and games, a never-ending menu of two- or three-hour escapes into a land of winners...
Deaths of 3 endangered Cambodian dolphins raise alarm
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Three endangered freshwater dolphins have died within 10 days of each other, alarming conservationists in Cambodia. The death of a third healthy dolphin in such a brief period indicates “an increasingly alarming situation and the need for an intensive law enforcement be urgently conducted in the...
