Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump, shows startling new video
WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video of close aides describing his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss that led to his supporters’ fierce assault on the U.S. Capitol....
NY attorney general asks for court oversight of Trump Organization
NEW YORK — New York’s attorney general has asked a judge to bar Donald Trump’s company from selling or transferring assets without court approval, saying it had engaged in a devious attempt to duck potential penalties in her fraud lawsuit against the former president. In court papers filed Thursday, lawyers...
Police: Officers may have been ‘lured’ into deadly ambush in Connecticut
BRISTOL, Conn. — Two police officers who were shot dead in Connecticut were apparently drawn into an ambush by an emergency call about possible domestic violence, authorities said Thursday. State police said in a release that the 911 call Wednesday night about a dispute between two siblings appears to have...
Ukraine’s Kyiv area hit by Iranian-made kamikaze drones
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s Kyiv and Odesa regions with Iranian-made drones and used missiles to strike other areas Thursday, Ukrainian officials said as Moscow punished the country for a fourth day after a truck bomb damaged a bridge to the annexed Crimean Peninsula. A strike carried out...
NATO chief warns Russia not to cross ‘very important line’
BRUSSELS — Russian President Vladimir Putin would be crossing a “very important line” if he were to order the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Thursday, as both the military alliance and Russia are due to hold nuclear exercises in the next few days. NATO...
With teachers in short supply, states ease job requirements
As schools across the South grapple with teacher shortages, many are turning to candidates without teaching certificates or formal training. Alabama administrators increasingly have hired educators with emergency certifications, often in low-income and majority-Black neighborhoods. Texas, meanwhile, allowed about one in five new teachers to sidestep certification last school year....
People with disabilities left out of climate planning
When the inevitable hurricanes threaten New Orleans, it’s hard for India Scott to figure where to go. In the city where she was born and raised, she’s stayed in hotels, relief shelters and, during Hurricane Katrina, in the famously overcrowded Superdome. But it is always a gamble choosing where to...
Parkland school shooter to get life sentence for killing 17
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A jury spared Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz from the death penalty Thursday for killing 17 people at a Parkland high school in 2018, sending him to prison for the remainder of his life in a decision that left many families of the victims angered, baffled...
U.S. inflation pressures further intensified in September
WASHINGTON — Inflation in the United States accelerated in September, with the cost of housing and other necessities intensifying pressure on households, wiping out pay gains that many have received and ensuring that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates aggressively. Consumer prices rose 8.2% in September compared with...
Social Security recipients to receive historic hike next year
WASHINGTON — Millions of Social Security recipients will get an 8.7% boost in their benefits in 2023. That’s a historic increase and welcome news for American retirees and others — but it’s tempered by the fact that it’s fueled by record high inflation that’s raised the cost of everyday living....
Explainer: What’s next in the Parkland school shooter trial?
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The jurors who will decide whether Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz is sentenced to death or life without parole concluded their first day of deliberations Wednesday as the three-month trial nears its conclusion. Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year to the murders of 14 students and...
UN demands Russia reverse ‘illegal’ annexations in Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demand its immediate reversal, a sign of strong global opposition to the seven-month war and Moscow’s attempt to grab its neighbor’s territory. The vote in the 193-member world body...
Trump angrily lashes out after his deposition is ordered
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump angrily lashed out Wednesday, calling the nation’s legal system a “broken disgrace” after a judge ruled he must answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit lodged by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s. He also called...
Will you get long covid? Study breaks down the odds of recovery months after infection
It’s likely you’ve heard of long covid by now, and you may be wondering what’s the likelihood of developing it after a covid-19 infection. Researchers in Scotland have sought to determine a person’s long covid chances in a new, nationwide study examining thousands of people in the country who had...
Families of 11 people killed in 1985 MOVE bombing never considered their deaths accidental; now Pa. officially agrees with them
PHILADELPHIA — After nearly four decades, Philadelphia has acknowledged that it was no accident when six adults and five children died in the MOVE bombing. The Medical Examiner’s Office classified as “accidental” the deaths resulting from the city’s 1985 bombing of a West Philadelphia neighborhood where MOVE, a Black liberation...
Amid rising seas, Atlantic City has no plans for retreat
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Some cities around the world are pulling back from shorelines, as rising seas from climate change increase flooding. But so far, retreat appears out of the question for Atlantic City, New Jersey. The breezy getaway town is on the water on a barrier, which was once...
Fetterman addresses criticism over need for closed captioning during his stroke recovery
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman on Wednesday addressed recent criticism he has received for needing to use closed captioning during interviews after he suffered a stroke in May. During a Facebook Live interview with editorial members of PennLive, Fetterman said he has always been upfront about needing closed captioning...
Penn State professor among MacArthur’s 2022 ‘genius grant’ winners
A specialist in plastic waste management, artists, musicians, computer scientists, and a poet-ornithologist who advocates for Black people in nature are among this year’s 25 winners of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s prestigious fellowships known as “genius grants” that honor discipline-bending and society-changing people whose work offers...
Prosecutor: Pa. fisherman caught cheating at tournament charged
CLEVELAND — Two anglers accused of stuffing fish with lead weights and fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in an Ohio fishing tournament were indicted Wednesday on charges of attempted grand theft and other counts. Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominski, 35, of...
Rough times ahead: Hurricane Ian batters SW Florida economy
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Hurricane Ian might have come and gone but it could deliver prolonged blows to the local economy, walloping small businesses heavily dependent on tourists and seasonal residents. The scenes of destruction in southwestern Florida will keep many winter tourists and snowbirds away as well as tasking...
ACT test scores drop to lowest in 30 years in pandemic slide
PHOENIX — Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year’s high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years — the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic. The class of 2022’s average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36,...
FDA clears updated covid boosters for kids as young as 5
The U.S. on Wednesday authorized updated covid-19 boosters for children as young as 5, seeking to expand protection ahead of an expected winter wave. Tweaked boosters rolled out for Americans 12 and older last month, doses modified to target today’s most common and contagious omicron relative. While there wasn’t a...
Europe turns to Africa in bid to replace Russian natural gas
DAKAR, Senegal — A new liquefied natural gas project off Africa’s western coast may only be 80% complete, but already the prospect of a new energy supplier has drawn visits from the leaders of Poland and Germany. The initial field near Senegal and Mauritania’s coastlines is expected to contain about...
Alex Jones ordered to pay $965 million for Sandy Hook lies
WATERBURY, Conn. — The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay $965 million to people who suffered from his false claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, a jury in Connecticut decided Wednesday. The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless...
4 maps show where Pa. governor candidates Mastriano, Shapiro are getting big cash
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 — Tens of millions of dollars from out-of-state donors and political action committees have poured into Pennsylvania to influence the...