Truss quits, but UK’s political and economic turmoil persist
LONDON — British Prime Minister Liz Truss quit Thursday after a tumultuous and historically brief term marred by economic policies that roiled financial markets and a rebellion in her political party that obliterated her authority. After just 45 days in office, Truss became the third Conservative prime minister to be...
Prison escapee accused of sending threatening letter, powder
SCRANTON — Federal prosecutors have accused a Pennsylvania prison escapee of sending a letter with threats to kill President Biden and the chairman of the Jan. 6 committee, among others, and containing a white powder with an allusion to anthrax. Robert Maverick Vargo, 25, of Berwick is charged with making...
Texas schools are giving parents DNA kits to help identify their children in emergencies
DALLAS — Texas public schools are distributing DNA and fingerprint identification kits to parents in case they need to provide their child’s DNA to law enforcement if they go missing — or in case of other emergencies. But as school districts begin distributing the kits this fall, for many it’s...
GOP candidate for Arizona college district suspends campaign
PHOENIX — The Republican candidate for Maricopa Community College District Governing Board has suspended his campaign after being cited for alleged public sexual indecency, according to authorities. A police officer at Rio Salado College’s Surprise campus west of Phoenix reported seeing Randy Kaufman allegedly exposing himself while in his parked...
Judge: Trump knew vote fraud claims in legal docs were falseVideo
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump signed legal documents challenging the results of the 2020 election that included voter fraud claims he knew to be false, a federal judge said in a ruling Wednesday. U.S. District Court Judge David Carter in an 18-page opinion ordered that four emails between Trump...
Officials: Customs and Border Protection agent killed during training in Florida
MIAMI — A U.S. Customs and Border Protection firearms instructor was shot and killed during a training class Wednesday morning at a South Florida gun range, officials said. The shooting occurred just before 11 a.m. at the Trail Glades Range in western Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade police spokesman Angel Rodriguez said...
Police: 3-year-old shoots baby in the face in Lancaster County home
Police have confirmed that a 3-year-old child fatally shot an infant in the head on Tuesday night. Lancaster Bureau of Police said the shooting was reported around 7 p.m., at a home on Woodward Street. A baby had been shot in the face and was unable to be saved by...
Trump deposed in defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump answered questions under oath Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, a magazine columnist who says the Republican raped her in the mid-1990s in a department store dressing room. The deposition gave Carroll’s lawyers a chance to interrogate Trump about the...
Covid-19 linked to increase in U.S. pregnancy-related deaths
WASHINGTON — Covid-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims, according to a report released Wednesday.. The report lays out grim trends across the...
Breast cancer screening bills pass Pa. Senate that would remove cost as a deterrent
HARRISBURG — Legislation aimed at helping Pennsylvanians detect breast cancer earlier and remove cost as a barrier to women having breast cancer screenings advanced in the state Senate on Wednesday. The two bills that accomplish these goals now move to the House of Representatives for consideration although the two-year legislative...
How well a death in Pennsylvania will be investigated depends largely on where someone dies
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our regional newsletter, Talk of the Town. STATE COLLEGE — In one Pennsylvania county, the coroner’s office relies on an autopsy facility...
Massachusetts woman charged, accused of freeing swarm of bees on deputies
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman is facing multiple assault and battery charges for allegedly releasing a swarm of bees on a group of sheriff’s deputies, some of them allergic to bee stings, as they tried to serve an eviction notice, authorities said. Rorie S. Woods, 55, pleaded not guilty...
Report: Pa. priest carjacked while unloading wheelchair
A priest and his passenger were carjacked in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia on Sunday, according to a story from CBS Philadelphia. The incident happened along the 2100 block East Somerset Street at around 8:45 p.m., the news station reported. According to police, four men approached the priest while he...
Race gap seen in U.S. infant deaths after fertility treatment
Black-white disparities exist in fertility medicine, reflected in life-and-death outcomes for babies, according to a large study of U.S. births. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics, is the broadest look yet at racial gaps for women who use in vitro fertilization, fertility drugs or other fertility treatments. Researchers...
Energy agency: CO2 emissions rise in 2022, but more slowly
BERLIN— The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that it expects carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels to rise again this year, but by much less than in 2021 due to the growth in renewable power and electric cars. Last year saw a strong rebound in carbon dioxide emissions...
Fetterman’s doctor says he’s recovering well from stroke
John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, released a doctor’s note Wednesday saying he is recovering well from a May stroke as he vies for an open seat in a bare-knuckle campaign against Republican rival Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has questioned Fetterman’s fitness to serve. Five months after...
Genetic twist: Medieval plague may have molded our immunity
Our Medieval ancestors left us with a biological legacy: Genes that may have helped them survive the Black Death make us more susceptible to certain diseases today. It’s a prime example of the way germs shape us over time, scientists say in a new study published Wednesday in the journal...
Marijuana coming to select Circle K gas stations in U.S. next year
Circle K, the global convenience-store chain, signed a deal with Green Thumb Industries Inc., one of the largest U.S. cannabis producers, to sell licensed marijuana at its Florida gasoline retailers. The partnership will begin next year with 10 of the company’s 600 locations in the state, Green Thumb said. The...
IRS ups standard deductions, tax brackets due to inflation
WASHINGTON — Taxpayers will get fatter standard deductions for 2023 and all seven federal income tax bracket levels will be revised upward as the government allows people to shield more of their money from taxation because of persistently high inflation. For couples who file jointly for tax year 2023, the...
Here’s how to apply for student loan forgiveness
NEW YORK — President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. announced in August, will cancel up to $20,000 in debt per borrower. The application process is now open, and the administration says the forms should take five minutes to complete. Borrowers who apply before mid-November should see forgiveness before Jan....
Abortion access looms over medical residency applications
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Students in obstetrics-gynecology and family medicine — two of the most popular medical residencies — face tough choices about where to advance their training in a landscape where legal access to abortion varies from state to state. Abortions are typically performed by OB-GYNs or family doctors, and...
Putin declares martial law in annexed regions of Ukraine
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law Wednesday in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow illegally annexed and given additional emergency powers to the heads of all regions of Russia. Putin didn’t immediately spell out the steps that would be taken under martial law, but said his...
UK inflation accelerates to 40-year high as food prices rise
LONDON — British food prices rose at the fastest pace since 1980 last month, driving inflation back to a 40-year high and heaping pressure on the embattled government to balance the books without gutting help for the nation’s poorest residents. Food prices jumped 14.6% in the year through September, led...
Georgia college student killed by plane propeller at airport
STATESBORO, Ga. — A college student died as a result of being struck by the propeller of a small plane as he disembarked at an airport in southeast Georgia, authorities said. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Board are investigating the death Sunday night at Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport,...
Biden to release 15M barrels from oil reserve, more possible
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will announce the release of 15 million barrels of oil from the U.S. strategic reserve Wednesday as part of a response to recent production cuts announced by OPEC+ nations, and he will say more oil sales are possible this winter, as his administration rushes to...
