Census meddling is targeted in bill, recommendations
Democratic lawmakers intent on making sure that unprecedented efforts by the Trump administration to politicize the 2020 census never happen again are moving forward with plans for safeguards they say will help the U.S. head count stay free of future interference. Democratic House members are preparing this week to send...
Hungary’s government tightens rules regulating abortion
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s right-wing government has issued a decree which will require doctors to present women requesting an abortion with fetal vital signs, an obligation that tightens the country’s relatively liberal abortion rules. The decree issued on Monday states that health care providers must provide pregnant women with “a...
German man convicted of murder after killing over mask rules
BERLIN — A man in Germany was convicted of murder and given a life sentence Tuesday for fatally shooting a gas station clerk following a dispute over face masks. The September 2021 killing in the western town of Idar-Oberstein shocked the country. The defendant also was convicted of illegal weapons...
Sailor killed at Pearl Harbor to be laid to rest, at last
CHICAGO — A 21-year-old sailor will be laid to rest on Tuesday following a decades-long effort to identify remains pulled from Pearl Harbor, more than 80 years after he was killed in the attack that propelled the United States into World War II. Members of Herbert “Bert” Jacobson’s family have...
U.S. inflation falls for 2nd straight month on lower gas costs
WASHINGTON — Sharply lower prices for gas and cheaper used cars slowed U.S. inflation in August for a second straight month, though many other items rose in price, indicating that inflation remains a heavy burden for American households. Consumer prices surged 8.3% in August compared with a year earlier, the...
Ukraine piles pressure on retreating Russian troops
KHARKIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces on Tuesday, pressing a counteroffensive that has produced major gains and a stunning blow to Moscow’s military prestige. It was not yet clear if the Ukrainian blitz in the northeast after months of little discernible movement could signal a...
Plane carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin lands in London
LONDON — The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II left the monarch’s beloved Scotland and landed Tuesday evening in London, where crowds have gathered along the route it will take to Buckingham Palace. Her son, King Charles III, returned to London from Northern Ireland, where his visit drew a rare moment...
Australian man killed by kangaroo in rare fatal attack
PERTH, Australia — A man who may have been keeping a wild kangaroo as a pet was killed by the animal in southwest Australia, police said Tuesday. It was reportedly the first fatal attack by a kangaroo in Australia since 1936. A relative found the 77-year-old man with “serious injuries”...
5 doctors plead guilty in West Virginia in pain pill scheme
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Five doctors pleaded guilty in a pain pill prescription scheme involving clinics in West Virginia and Virginia, federal prosecutors said Monday. The scheme was tied to the Hope Clinic and involved prescribing oxycodone and other controlled substances that weren’t for legitimate medical purposes from 2010 to 2015....
Debate talks in Pennsylvania governor, Senate races devolve into trash talk, predawn tweets
They can’t even agree on when, where or how to disagree. In two of the most important races in the country, Pennsylvania’s candidates for U.S. Senate and governor are hurling insults at each other over what was once a relatively routine process: negotiating a time and place for debates. Mehmet...
Police believe 3 children drowned by mother at Brooklyn beachVideo
NEW YORK — Three children were found dead on the beach near Brooklyn’s famed Coney Island boardwalk early Monday and police believe they may have been drowned by their mother. The bodies of the children, identified by police as Zachary Merdy, 7; Lilana Merdy, 4, and 3-month-old Oliver Bondarev, were...
John Lennon’s killer denied parole again, for 12th time
ALBANY, N.Y. — The man who shot and killed John Lennon in 1980 outside his Manhattan apartment building has been denied parole for a 12th time, New York corrections officials said Monday. Mark David Chapman, 67, appeared before a parole board at the end of August, according to the state...
Soldier accused of sharing racist post, engaging in extremism while at Fort Bragg
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A U.S. Army soldier shared a racist, violent reason for joining the service on Instagram and engaged in online extremism while stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, according to federal investigators. “I serve for combat experience so I’m more proficient in killing (racial slur),” Killian Mackeithan...
Why did Penn State create a new VP position during a hiring freeze?
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. The Penn State Transparency Tracker is an ongoing effort by Spotlight PA to document and...
Ex-Harrisburg councilman convicted of sharing child porn tells judge ‘I thought the rules didn’t apply to me’
Former Harrisburg councilman Brad Koplinski once ran for lieutenant governor. But on Monday, he was facing a Dauphin County judge after pleading guilty to 15 counts of possessing child pornography. “Humiliation is not a negative term. It is a return to humility,” Judge William Tully told Koplinski before sentencing him...
Pa. election 2022: Your complete guide to the candidates for 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 — The 2022 election for Pennsylvania governor is coming soon, and Spotlight PA wants to make sure you are prepared...
Biden hopes ending cancer can be a ‘national purpose’ for U.S.
BOSTON — President Joe Biden on Monday urged Americans to come together for a new “national purpose” — his administration’s effort to end cancer “as we know it.” At the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Biden channeled JFK’s famed moonshot speech 60 years ago, likening the space race...
Pa. high court tells Wolf it won’t fast track amendments lawsuit
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s highest court on Monday rejected a request from Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf that it immediately take up his challenge to Republican legislation that has bundled a constitutional amendment regarding abortion with four unrelated proposed changes. In turning down Wolf’s request, the justices said he was free to...
Bezos rocket fails during liftoff, only experiments aboardVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A rocket crashed back to Earth shortly after liftoff Monday in the first launch accident for Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, but the capsule carrying experiments managed to parachute to safety. No one was aboard the Blue Origin flight, which used the same kind of rocket...
Justice Department OK with 1 Trump pick for Mar-a-Lago arbiter
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Monday that it was willing to accept one of Donald Trump’s picks for an independent arbiter to review documents seized during an FBI search of the former president’s Florida home last month. The accommodation could help accelerate the selection process and shorten any delays...
Police believe 3 children drowned by mother at NYC beach
NEW YORK — Three children were found dead in the surf off Brooklyn’s famed Coney Island boardwalk early Monday and police believe they may have been drowned by their mother. The bodies of the 7-year-old boy, 4-year-old girl and 3-month-old girl were found after a nearly three-hour search that began...
Teacher shortages are real, but not for the reason you heard
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Everywhere, it seems, back-to-school has been shadowed by worries of a teacher shortage. The U.S. education secretary has called for investment to keep teachers from quitting. A teachers union leader has described it as a five-alarm emergency. News coverage has warned of a crisis in teaching. In...
Queen hailed in service as a ‘constant in all our lives’
EDINBURGH, Scotland — As Queen Elizabeth II’s four children walked silently behind, a hearse carried her flag-draped coffin along a crowd-lined street in the Scottish capital Monday to a cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving hailed the late monarch as a “constant in all of our lives for over 70...
Testimony: School shooter’s home ruled by chaos
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Chaos reigned in the home where Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz grew up, testimony in his ongoing penalty trial has shown. He and his half-brother Zachary tormented their adoptive, widowed mother, Lynda. By the time Cruz reached middle school in the early 2010s, the pair took...
‘I cannot mourn’: Former colonies conflicted over the queen
NAIROBI, Kenya — Upon taking the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II inherited millions of subjects around the world, many of them unwilling. Today, in the British Empire’s former colonies, her death brings complicated feelings, including anger. Beyond official condolences praising the queen’s longevity and service, there is some bitterness...
