Surprise is key part of migrant travel from Florida, Texas
EDGARTOWN, Mass. — The chief executive of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services was wrapping up work when she looked outside to see 48 strangers at her office with luggage, backpacks and red folders that included brochures for her organization. The Venezuelan migrants who were flown to the wealthy Massachusetts island from...
Pennsylvania’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Oz, Fetterman tightens
After a bruising primary that saw Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz emerge as the GOP nominee by less than 1,000 votes, the celebrity surgeon and TV personality’s general-election campaign got off to a slow start. That left an opening for Democratic nominee John Fetterman to define Oz early...
Efforts to ban, restrict LGBTQ curriculum in Pa. schools hinge on who becomes the next governor
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 — As a closeted gay child growing up in Lancaster in the 1990s, J Eric Fisher didn’t feel safe. He...
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signs abortion ban into law
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Friday signed into law a ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy, making West Virginia the second state to enact a law prohibiting the procedure since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling overturning its constitutional protection. The bill will go into...
Court orders Pa. diner to pay $1.35M in back wages to staff after investigation
It seems as though servers and kitchen workers employed by a Delaware County diner have some money coming to them. According to 6ABC, the government has ordered the Empire Diner to pay more than a million dollars in back wages. “We’re only here trying to make a living to feed...
Trump openly embraces, amplifies QAnon conspiracy theoriesVideo
After winking at QAnon for years, Donald Trump is overtly embracing the baseless conspiracy theory, even as the number of frightening real-world events linked to it grows. On Tuesday, using his Truth Social platform, the Republican former president reposted an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with...
Wall Street slips as FedEx warning adds to market woes
Wall Street closed out the stock market’s worst week in three months with more losses Friday, as a stark warning from FedEx about rapidly worsening trends in the economy rattled already anxious investors. The S&P 500 fell 0.7%, with all but two of its 11 company sectors ending in the...
California taxpayers are set to receive gas refunds beginning next month
After several months of waiting, Californians who qualify for the state’s gas price relief program could begin seeing payments in October. The $9.5 billion tax refund program will provide one-time payments of up to $1,050 for some families, expected to be sent out between next month and January 2023. Gov....
Queue for queen’s coffin ‘paused’ as wait hits 14 hoursVideo
LONDON — The flood of grief from the death of Queen Elizabeth II forced the British government to call a temporary halt to people joining a miles-long line to file past her coffin as it lay in state Friday, hours before King Charles III and his siblings were to stand...
Floods in Italy kill 10; survivors plucked from roofs, trees
CANTIANO, Italy — Flash floods swept through several towns Friday in hilly central Italy after hours of exceptionally heavy rain, leaving 10 people dead and at least four missing. Dozens of survivors scrambled onto rooftops or up into trees to await rescue. Floods invaded garages and basements and knocked down...
Biden, South African leader to discuss Ukraine, trade, climate
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are set to meet Friday at the White House for talks on Russia’s war in Ukraine, climate issues, trade and more. Ramaphosa is among African leaders who have maintained a neutral stance in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion...
Ukraine: Some bodies in mass burial site show torture signs
IZIUM, Ukraine — Investigators searching through a mass burial site in Ukraine have found evidence that some of the dead were tortured, including bodies with broken limbs and ropes around their necks, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said Friday. The site near Izium, recently recaptured from Russian forces, appears to be...
Ex-Gulf Cartel boss gets life sentence for drug conspiracy
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — A Mexican national who headed the Gulf Cartel from 2003 to 2012 was sentenced Thursday to life in prison and ordered to pay a $5 million forfeiture after pleading guilty in a U.S. court to drug smuggling conspiracy. A federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, sentenced Jorge “El...
Veteran New York judge named as arbiter in Trump Mar-a-Lago probe
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday appointed a veteran New York jurist to serve as an independent arbiter and review records, including highly classified documents, that were seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last month. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon empowered the newly...
Bill would let people ban themselves from buying booze in Pennsylvania
A state lawmaker who has publicly shared his struggles with alcoholism wants to enlist the help of state liquor stores and restaurants and bars that serve liquor as tools to help individuals like him in their recovery. Rep. Matt Dowling, R-Fayette/Somerset counties, introduced legislation that would allow individuals to voluntarily...
Woman charged with bomb threat against Boston Children’s HospitalVideo
BOSTON — Federal authorities on Thursday arrested a woman accused of calling in a fake bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital, where doctors and staffers have been facing harassment and threats of violence over its surgical program for transgender youths. Catherine Leavy, 37, was arrested at her home in Westfield,...
Mark Meadows complies with Justice Department subpoena
WASHINGTON — Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff under former President Donald Trump, has complied with a Justice Department subpoena and turned over records as part of a federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a...
Pennsylvania woman accused of stealing Pelosi’s laptop allowed to visit Renaissance Faire again
A Cumberland County woman on house arrest for allegedly stealing Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the U.S. Capitol riots will be allowed to attend the Renaissance Faire this weekend for the second time in two months. A federal judge has ruled 25-year-old Riley J. Williams, of Mechanicsburg, will be allowed out...
Rioter who wore ‘Camp Auschwitz’ sweatshirt gets jail term
A Virginia man who stormed the U.S. Capitol while wearing an antisemitic “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt over a Nazi-themed shirt was sentenced on Thursday to 75 days of imprisonment. Robert Keith Packer, 57, declined to address U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols before he sentenced him during hearing held by video conference....
U.S. warns monkeypox could mutate to resist antiviral drug
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials are warning against overuse of the lone drug available to treat monkeypox, saying that even a small mutation in the virus could render the pills ineffective. The Food and Drug Administration updated its guidance this week for Tpoxx, which has been prescribed to tens of...
California wildfire ‘looking a whole heck of a lot better’
FORESTHILL, Calif. — Firefighters again prevented flames from entering a Northern California mountain town and reported major progress Thursday against the week-old blaze that’s become the largest in the state so far this year. Conditions at the Mosquito Fire about 110 miles northeast of San Francisco were “looking a whole...
Infowars rep to return to stand in Sandy Hook hoax trial
WATERBURY, Conn. — A representative for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars brand returned to the witness stand Thursday for questions about how Jones pushed lies that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax as his companies grew more successful. Brittany Paz, a Connecticut lawyer hired by Jones to...
Putin, Zelenskyy court major allies as Ukraine makes gains
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy are each courting major allies on Thursday, seeking to prop up their efforts in a war whose fortunes have tilted toward Ukraine in recent days. In Uzbekistan’s ancient Samarkand, Putin was hoping to break through his international isolation...
Migrants, long used as political props, dumped at the vice president’s residence
WASHINGTON — Politicians have been using migrants as props for decades. Republicans visit the Southwest border and declare that immigration is out of control. During the Trump administration, Democrats made their way to detention centers to decry the treatment of children locked in cages. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas...
Biden: Tentative railway labor deal reached, averting strike
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday a tentative railway labor agreement has been reached, averting a potentially devastating strike before the pivotal midterm elections. He said the tentative deal “will keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy.” The Democratic president believes unions built the...
