Pa. Election Day 2022: A complete guide to the Nov. 8 election
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 — On Nov. 8, Pennsylvanians will make their way to polling places to decide the governor’s race and U.S. Senate...
Is Alex Jones verdict the death of disinformation? Unlikely
NEW YORK — A Connecticut jury’s ruling this week ordering Alex Jones to pay $965 million to parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims he maligned was heartening for people disgusted by the muck of disinformation. Just don’t expect it to make conspiracy theories go away. The appetite for such hokum...
Clean Water Act at 50: environmental gains, challenges unmet
Lifelong Cleveland resident Steve Gove recalls when the Cuyahoga River symbolized shame — fetid, lifeless, notorious for catching fire when sparks from overhead rail cars ignited the oil-slicked surface. “It was pretty grungy,” said the 73-year-old, an avid canoeist in his youth who sometimes braved the filthy stretch through the...
Explainer: Killer drones vie for supremacy over Ukraine
They are precise, small in size, able to engage a target in relatively large numbers like a swarm of wasps and above all, they’re cheap. In Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, drones have cemented their reputation as a potent, hard-to-stop and cost-effective weapon to seek out and destroy targets while simultaneously...
Application site launches for Biden student debt cancellation
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Education Department has begun accepting applications for President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation — a plan that makes 43 million Americans eligible for at least some debt forgiveness. Borrowers were notified late Friday that an early, “beta launch” version of a new online form was made...
Am I allowed to drop off a ballot for someone else?
The question is simple, yet often asked: Am I allowed to drop off a ballot for someone else? In Pennsylvania, the answer is mostly no. As stated on Pennsylvania’s official voting website, “The only exceptions are if you are a voter with a disability and have designated someone, in writing,...
Justice Department: Steve Bannon should get 6-month sentenceVideo
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department declared Monday that Steve Bannon should serve six months behind bars and pay a $200,000 fine for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Convicted last summer, the longtime ally of former President Donald Trump...
FDA pushes to remove pregnancy drug, company pushes back
WASHINGTON — The maker of the only U.S. drug intended to prevent premature births is making a last-ditch effort this week to keep its medication on the market, even as health regulators insist that it doesn’t work. A Food and Drug Administration meeting that opened Monday comes more than two...
Court rejects appeal to give American Samoans citizenship
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal seeking to give people born in American Samoa U.S. citizenship. In leaving in place an appeals court decision, the court also passed up an invitation to overturn a series of decisions dating back to 1901 known as the Insular Cases,...
Waves of suicide drones strike Ukraine’s capital, 4 killed
KYIV, Ukraine — Waves of explosives-laden suicide drones struck Ukraine’s capital Monday, setting buildings ablaze and tearing a hole in one of them while sending people scurrying for shelter or trying to shoot down the kamikazes. The concentrated use of the drones was the second barrage in as many weeks...
Nigeria races to assist flood victims; death toll tops 600
ABUJA, Nigeria — The death toll from floods in Nigeria this year has increased to 603 as local authorities race to get relief items to hundreds of thousands being evacuated from their submerged homes. More than 1.3 million people have been displaced by the disaster, which has affected people across...
Landmark trial begins over Arkansas’ ban on trans youth care
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The nation’s first trial over a state’s ban on gender-confirming care for children begins in Arkansas this week, the latest fight over restrictions on transgender youth championed by Republican leaders and widely condemned by medical experts. U.S. District Judge Jay Moody will hear testimony and evidence...
Kanye West to buy conservative social media platform Parler
The rapper formerly known as Kanye West is offering to buy right-wing friendly social network Parler shortly after being booted off Twitter and Instagram for antisemitic posts. Parlement Technologies, which owns the platform, and West, legally known as Ye, said the acquisition should be completed in the fourth quarter, but...
Radioactive waste found at Missouri elementary school
FLORISSANT, Mo. — There is significant radioactive contamination at an elementary school in suburban St. Louis where nuclear weapons were produced during World War II, according to a new report by environmental investigation consultants. The report by Boston Chemical Data Corp. confirmed fears about contamination at Jana Elementary School in...
Bird flu case prompts Omaha zoo to close several exhibits
OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium has closed several exhibits and taken other precautions after one of its pelicans died from bird flu. The zoo said one of its pink-backed pelicans that died on Thursday tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza. A second pelican became...
House GOP’s Steve Scalise defends Medicare, Social Security plansVideo
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the number two House Republican, defended his party’s approach to Medicare and Social Security, which has become a campaign issue ahead of U.S. midterm elections in November. It’s a mischaracterization to say the GOP plans to “cut” the programs, Scalise said on “Fox News Sunday.” “That...
California city rests easier after serial killings arrest
STOCKTON, Calif. — Residents of Stockton, California, were able to rest easier following the weekend arrest of a man suspected of killing six men and wounding a woman in a series of shootings over a period of three months in Northern California, the city’s mayor said Sunday. Mayor Kevin Lincoln...
Ukraine: Rockets strike mayor’s office in occupied Donetsk
KYIV, Ukraine — Pro-Kremlin officials on Sunday blamed Ukraine for a rocket attack that struck the mayor’s office in Donetsk, a city controlled by the separatists, while Ukrainian officials said Russian rocket strikes hit a town across from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, among other targets. The attacks came as...
Biden turning to Trump-era rule to expel Venezuelan migrants
WASHINGTON — Two years ago, candidate Joe Biden loudly denounced President Donald Trump for immigration policies that inflicted “cruelty and exclusion at every turn,” including toward those fleeing the “brutal” government of socialist Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Now, with increasing numbers of Venezuelans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as the...
Small businesses brace for cautious holiday shoppers
NEW YORK — Small businesses are stocking the shelves early this holiday season and waiting to see how many gifts inflation-weary shoppers feel like giving. Holiday shopping was relatively strong during the past two years as shoppers flocked online to spend, aided by pandemic stimulus dollars. Sales in November and...
Postal worker holdup leads to muscle car theft ring arrests
DETROIT — Thieves are using cloned key fobs to steal Dodge muscle cars and other high-powered vehicles directly from dealerships and even automakers in Michigan, then selling them for tens of thousands of dollars less than their value, according to authorities and court records. For one Ohio-based theft ring, it...
Greece says Turkey forced naked migrants to cross border
ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities on Saturday accused Turkey of forcing 92 migrants to cross into Greece and stripping them naked before doing so. Greek police said that police officers found the migrants stark naked on Friday, “some with bodily injuries” who had entered the country using plastic boats to...
‘Flirting’ juror dismissed from Whitmer kidnapping trial
A juror was relieved of her jury duties in the trial of three men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer over concerns that she was flirting with one of the defendants. On Friday, Judge Thomas Wilson announced that the juror, described by the Jackson Citizen Patriot as...
Musk has a ‘super app’ plan for Twitter. It’s super vague
Elon Musk has a penchant for the letter “X.” He calls his son with the singer Grimes, whose actual name is a collection of letters and symbols, “X.” He named the company he created to buy Twitter “X Holdings.” His rocket company is, naturally, SpaceX. Now he also apparently intends...
China expected to grant Xi 5 more years, no major changes
BEIJING — China on Sunday opens a twice-a-decade party conference at which leader Xi Jinping is expected to receive a third five-year term that breaks with recent precedent and establishes himself as arguably the most powerful Chinese politician since Mao Zedong. Xi is expected to issue a lengthy address at...
