Company hired to arrange Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ migrant flights is tied to high-level state official
TALLAHASSEE — When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration needed a company it could trust to carry out a controversial program to transport migrants to other states, it chose an unusual option. Although Destin-based Vertol Systems Company is in aviation, its primary business is training pilots for the military and providing...
Indiana abortion clinics reopening after judge blocks ban
INDIANAPOLIS — After an Indiana judge on Thursday blocked the state’s abortion ban from being enforced, phones starting ringing across Indiana abortion clinics, which are preparing to resume the procedure a week after the ban had gone into effect. “People are getting the word that abortion is now legal again,...
Jared Kushner slams ‘very troubling’ flights of migrants launched by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantisVideo
Jared Kushner on Thursday blasted as “very troubling” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ policy of flying asylum-seekers from Texas to liberal enclaves like Martha’s Vineyard. The son-in-law of former President Donald Trump said the flights amount to using the people fleeing Venezuela’s dictatorship as “political pawns” in the culture war over...
Lawyer: Teen ‘highly troubled’ months before Michigan school shooting
DETROIT — Some teachers and a counselor at a Michigan high school were aware of a teen’s troubling interest in guns and violence months before he was accused of fatally shooting four students and wounding others, a lawyer representing victims’ families said Thursday. “From literally the beginning of school, Ethan...
New Pennsylvania driver licenses include a ghost portrait of you that can disappear
Pennsylvania driver’s license and PennDOT-issued identification cards have been redesigned to prevent fraud. They now feature an optically variable ghost portrait of the card owner and variable data that disappears depending on the viewing angle. Among other security enhancements, they have a gold metallic tint visible under direct lighting and...
Passenger arrested after seen punching a flight attendantVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — A man who was apparently caught on video slugging a flight attendant in the back of the head during an American Airlines flight was arrested after the plane landed in Los Angeles. Authorities charged Alexander Tung Cuu Le on Thursday with interfering with a flight crew....
Canada to drop vaccine mandate at border Sept. 30
TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has signed off on Canada dropping the vaccine requirement for people entering the country at the end of September, an official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday. Canada, like the United States, requires foreign nationals to be vaccinated when entering...
Atlantic City smoking ban talk nixed, but workers get loud outside casinoVideo
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Irate that a session to discuss a proposed smoking ban during a major casino industry conference was snuffed out, casino workers and patrons opposed to smoking in the gambling halls held a noisy protest outside the meeting Thursday. About 100 people rallied in the rain underneath...
Mississippi agency ex-leader pleads guilty in welfare fraud
JACKSON, Miss. — A former director of Mississippi’s welfare agency pleaded guilty Thursday to federal and state charges in a conspiracy to misspend tens of millions of dollars that were intended to help needy families in one of the poorest states in the U.S. — part of the largest public...
Explainer: Why a NASA spacecraft will crash into an asteroid
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In the first-of-its kind, save-the-world experiment, NASA is about to clobber a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away. A spacecraft named Dart will zero in on the asteroid Monday, intent on slamming it head-on at 14,000 mph. The impact should be just enough to nudge...
Thousands of older Pennsylvanians at risk of losing property tax rebates because of legislative inaction
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 — It’s a conversation Diana Raph dreads. Every year, Raph, a tax preparer in the Lehigh Valley, applies on behalf...
Redrawn districts inject uncertainty in Pa. legislative contests
HARRISBURG — Democrats in Pennsylvania who have long blamed their party’s legislative minorities on Republican gerrymandering will find out in November whether friendlier district maps will edge them closer to retaking control of the House and Senate. Nearly 400 state legislative candidates will appear on ballots Nov. 8, hoping voters...
Neptune and rings shine in photos from new space telescope
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.— Neptune and its rings haven’t looked this good in decades. NASA released new glamour shots of our solar system’s outermost planet Wednesday taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The pictures taken in July show not only Neptune’s thin rings, but its faint dust bands, never before...
Judge blocks Indiana abortion ban week after it took effect
INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana judge on Thursday blocked the state’s abortion ban from being enforced, putting the new law on hold as abortion clinic operators argue that it violates the state constitution. Owen County Judge Kelsey Hanlon issued a preliminary injunction against the ban that took effect one week ago....
Hamas threatens violence over contested Jerusalem holy site
JERUSALEM — The Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday threatened hostile actions against Israel over what it called “violations against Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque” ahead of the upcoming Jewish High Holidays. Hamas’s threats came just ahead of Sunday’s Jewish new year, and a day after a group of Jewish...
No let-up in hostilities in Ukraine despite prisoner swap
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged missile and artillery barrages that killed at least six people Thursday as both sides refused to concede any ground despite recent military setbacks for Moscow and the toll on the invaded country after almost seven months of war. Russian missile strikes in...
Puerto Rico struggles to reach areas cut off by Fiona
CAGUAS, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Fiona left hundreds of people stranded across Puerto Rico after smashing roads and bridges, with authorities still struggling to reach them four days after the storm smacked the U.S. territory, causing historic flooding. Government officials have been working with religious groups, nonprofits and others braving...
Walmart, Target begin holiday early to ease inflation sting
NEW YORK — Walmart and Target plan to begin offering deals and price matching offers earlier this year to keep up with Americans pressed by soaring inflation and looking for ways to ease the potential sting of holiday shopping. For two years now, shoppers have started preparing for the holidays...
Thieves key on hack that leaves Hyundai, Kia cars vulnerable
DETROIT — Some Hyundai and Kia cars and SUVs are missing a “key” anti-theft device, and thieves know. An insurance industry group says these cars are stolen at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the auto industry because their keys lack computer chips for theft “immobilizer” systems. The...
Powell’s stark message: Inflation fight may cause recession
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve delivered its bluntest reckoning Wednesday of what it will take to finally tame painfully high inflation: Slower growth, higher unemployment and potentially a recession. Speaking at a news conference, Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged what many economists have been saying for months: That the Fed’s goal...
Heckler who slapped Rudy Giuliani on back can have charge droppedVideo
NEW YORK — A man charged with assault after he was seen on a video slapping the back of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani accepted a deal Wednesday to have the charges dismissed. According to the Richmond County district attorney’s office, the case has been adjourned in contemplation of...
Florida highway covered in Coors Light beer after semi crashVideo
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Florida highway had to temporarily close Wednesday after a semitrailer carrying cases of Coors Light crashed and turned the roadway into a silver sea of beer cans. The multi-vehicle crash occurred shortly after 6 a.m. in the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 about 30 miles north...
Mike Lindell sues to recover cellphone seized by FBI agents
MINNEAPOLIS — MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell has sued the Department of Justice and the FBI, demanding the return of a cellphone agents seized from him outside a fast food restaurant in southern Minnesota last week, apparently as part of an investigation into an alleged scheme to breach voting system...
Virginia Thomas agrees to interview with Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — Conservative activist Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has agreed to participate in a voluntary interview with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, her lawyer said Wednesday. Attorney Mark Paoletta said Thomas is “eager to answer the committee’s questions to clear up...
Trump docs probe: Court lifts hold on Mar-a-Lago records
WASHINGTON — In a stark repudiation of Donald Trump’s legal arguments, a federal appeals court on Wednesday permitted the Justice Department to resume its use of classified records seized from the former president’s Florida estate as part of its ongoing criminal investigation. The ruling from a three-judge panel of the...
