What’s ‘Putin’s chef’ cooking up with talk on US meddling?
Yevgeny Prigozhin has had many roles: Convicted felon and hot dog vendor. Owner of a swanky St. Petersburg restaurant and holder of lucrative government catering contracts. Founder of a mercenary military force involved in Russia’s various conflicts. Prigozhin has kept a low profile over the years. But in recent months,...
U.S. consumer inflation eased to 7.7% over past 12 months
WASHINGTON — Price increases moderated in the United States last month in the latest sign that the inflation pressures that have gripped the nation might be easing as the economy slows and consumers grow more cautious. Consumer inflation reached 7.7% in October from a year earlier and 0.4% from September,...
People with long covid face barriers to government disability benefits
When Josephine Cabrera Taveras was infected with covid-19 in spring 2020, she didn’t anticipate that the virus would knock her out of work for two years and put her family at risk for eviction. Taveras, a mother of two in Brooklyn, New York, said her bout with long covid has...
Michelle Obama shares personal stories of coping in new book
WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama said she struggled with a “crushing sense of hopelessness” after the 2020 presidential election that was brought on by the death and isolation of the covid-19 pandemic, a summer of political and racial unrest and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “I was in a low...
Futures up modestly ahead of inflation update
U.S. futures are modestly higher Thursday ahead of a U.S. inflation update that will likely influence Federal Reserve plans for more interest rate hikes as it tries to squelch four-decade high inflation. Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.2% and futures for the Dow Jones industrials inched up 0.1%....
Tropical Storm Nicole sends beachfront homes into the oceanVideo
WILBUR-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. — Tropical Storm Nicole sent Florida homes toppling into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday and threatened a row of high-rise condominiums in places where Hurricane Ian washed away the beach and destroyed seawalls only weeks ago. The storm, which caused at least two deaths, was the first November...
Russia says retreat from key city begun but Ukraine cautious
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials acknowledged that Russian troops had no choice but to flee a key southern city but stopped short of declaring victory in Kherson on Thursday even after Moscow said it began a retreat that would represent a humiliating defeat in the grinding war. It was difficult...
How will GOP’s performance in midterms impact Trump’s brand, influence within party?
Democrats had a strong showing in midterm elections across the country and particularly in Pennsylvania, defying many expectations. Many swing seats went in favor of Democrats, including in races for governor, U.S. Senate and the U.S. House. Pennsylvania Democrats also expressed optimism Wednesday about possibly gaining control of the state...
Candidates who backed overturning Trump loss are rebuffedVideo
Republicans made a striking decision earlier this year to nominate candidates for top statewide posts in swing states who backed overturning President Donald Trump’s loss in 2020. Most of those candidates lost in the midterm election. Doug Mastriano, who commissioned buses to take Pennsylvanians to the Jan. 6, 2021, protests...
MSNBC’s election coverage finishes ahead of CNN’s for the first time
NEW YORK — While the votes were being tallied for the Democratic Party’s surprising showing in the midterm elections, some CNN viewers may have been asking “Where’s Wolf?” Longtime CNN star Wolf Blitzer was not the lead anchor of CNN’s prime-time election coverage for the first time since 2004, as...
Man indicted on federal charges in attack on Paul Pelosi
SAN FRANCISCO — A man already in custody in the attack last month on the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of assault and attempted kidnapping. The charges stemming from the Oct. 28 break-in at the Pelosis’ San Francisco...
5 takeaways from the midterm election in Pennsylvania
While many people were sleeping overnight Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s political landscape changed in some significant — and historic — ways. Here are some of the key takeaways from this year’s crucial midterm election: Dems to hold both U.S. Senate seats Democrat John Fetterman declared victory in his U.S. Senate race against...
Slavery rejected in some, not all, states where on ballot
Voters in four states have approved ballot measures that will change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime, while those in a fifth state rejected a flawed version of the question. The measures approved Tuesday could curtail the use of prison labor in Alabama,...
Appellate judge won’t block appointment of Trump Organization monitor
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s company can’t avoid an independent monitor’s oversight while it appeals a court’s decision to require an outside watchdog, a New York appellate court judge ruled Wednesday. Angela Mazzarelli, an associate justice on the state’s mid-level appeals court, rejected the Trump Organization’s request for...
Pennsylvania Democrats kept suburbs, gained rural voters
HARRISBURG — After Joe Biden eked out victory in Pennsylvania in 2020, Democrats in hugely consequential races for governor and U.S. Senate scored blowout wins by comparison in Tuesday’s election. They ran up the score again in leftward-shifting suburbs and cut losses in rural and exurban stretches where former President...
Trump’s role in disappointing midterm elections could leave GOP in a boxVideo
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump — who picked many of his party’s candidates and demanded fealty from them throughout the 2022 midterm campaign — was likely an albatross for the GOP on Tuesday night, limiting Republicans’ gains in a midterm election the party expected to dominate. But if recent...
Warnock, Walker advance to runoff for Senate seat in Georgia
ATLANTA — Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will meet in a Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia after neither reached the general election majority required under state law. That sets up a four-week blitz that again will test whether voters are more concerned about inflation under Democratic...
2022 Western Pennsylvania general election results in charts
After voters cast their votes, elections are all about the data. Here’s a look at the 2022 general elections in Western Pennsylvania in a series of charts and maps....
Democrats buoyed by election returns in Pennsylvania House
HARRISBURG — U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, of Pennsylvania, won a bid for a third term, beating a Republican who runs a manufacturing business in a rematch from Wild’s narrow win two years ago. Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, five-term U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, a Democrat, won his reelection bid over conservative activist...
Amid midterm show of Democratic strength, warnings for Biden
WASHINGTON — Democrats defied gravity this week as voters set aside their concerns about President Joe Biden to deny Republicans the sweeping victory they expected, emboldening a Biden team whose political instincts have been routinely questioned or outright dismissed by opponents and even allies. It was a remarkable display of...
Media narrative of U.S. election: Bad news for Trump, GOP
NEW YORK — Americans awoke Wednesday to Election Day outcomes that remained nearly as murky as the night before: “House, Senate control still hangs in the balance,” a CNN caption blared. Yet if the results of midterm elections hadn’t solidified, the media narrative clearly had. Good night for Democrats. Bad...
Minor poll problems twisted into false U.S. election claims
Former President Donald Trump and some other Republicans are twisting minor voting problems in U.S. midterm elections into conspiracy theories and false claims to sow doubt about Democratic victories, continuing efforts since 2020 to undermine Americans’ confidence in voting. Election Day unfolded without major or widespread voting snags, yet some...
Abortion supporters win in conservative, liberal states
WASHINGTON — Abortion rights supporters won in the four states where access was on the ballot Tuesday, as voters enshrined it into the state constitution in battleground Michigan as well as blue California and Vermont and dealt a defeat to an anti-abortion measure in deep-red Kentucky. In all, it was...
Hurricane Nicole forms; Florida awaits rare November stormVideo
MIAMI — A Florida-bound storm strengthened into Hurricane Nicole on Wednesday after pounding the Bahamas as U.S. officials ordered evacuations that included former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. It’s a rare November hurricane for storm-weary Florida, where only two such hurricanes have made landfall since recordkeeping began in 1853 —...
Voters approve recreational marijuana in Maryland, Missouri
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Voters approved recreational marijuana in Maryland and Missouri but rejected it in two other states, signaling support gradually growing for legalization even in conservative parts of the country. The results mean that 21 states have now approved marijuana’s recreational use. Arkansas and North Dakota voters rejected...
