Los Angeles Council President Nury Martinez resigns after racist remarks
LOS ANGELES — The president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned from the post Monday after she was heard making racist comments and other coarse remarks in a leaked recording of a conversation with other Latino leaders. Council President Nury Martinez issued an apology and expressed shame. “In the...
Why doesn’t James Franklin show up on Penn State’s list of highest-paid employees?
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...
28 dead as Julia drenches Central America with rainfallVideo
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Former Hurricane Julia has dissipated, but is still drenching Guatemala and El Salvador with torrential rains Monday after it reemerged in the Pacific following a pounding of Nicaragua. At least 28 people were reported dead as a direct or indirect result of the storm. Guatemala’s...
A look at the Kevin Spacey-Anthony Rapp trial
NEW YORK — The second week of Kevin Spacey’s #MeToo-era trial starts Tuesday in New York — but no criminal charges are involved. Stage and screen star Anthony Rapp has sued Spacey, accusing him of assault, battery and intentionally inflecting emotional distress when Rapp was 14. The trial opened with...
Former Fed Chair Bernanke shares Nobel for research on banks
STOCKHOLM — Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, who put his academic expertise on the Great Depression to work reviving the American economy after the 2007-2008 financial crisis, won the Nobel Prize in economic sciences along with two other U.S.-based economists for their research into the fallout from bank...
Airbus, Air France face criminal trial over Rio-Paris crash
PARIS — Airbus and Air France went on trial on manslaughter charges Monday over the crash of a Rio de Janeiro to Paris flight in 2009 that plunged into the Atlantic amid thunderstorms, killing all 228 people aboard and leading to changes in air safety regulations. The worst plane crash...
Dutch activists sue government over assisted suicide
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Campaigners calling for the decriminalization of assisted suicide in the Netherlands took the Dutch government to court Monday, arguing that its ban on helping a person end their life breaches human rights norms. The case at The Hague District Court is the latest legal battle in...
Russia unleashes biggest attacks in Ukraine in monthsVideo
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia retaliated Monday for a weekend Ukrainian attack on a critical bridge by unleashing its biggest and most widespread attacks against Ukraine in months. The lethal barrage against multiple cities smashed civilian targets, knocking out power and water, shattering buildings and killing at least 14 people. Ukraine’s...
Roe warriors: Supreme Court abortion ruling spurs increase in women registering to vote
Bethel Park’s Erin Burlew switched her party registration from Republican to Democrat a day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. “Our parties need to meet in the middle, but instead the (Republicans) have gone extreme,” the former longtime Republican said, explaining that she leans to the left...
North Korea nuclear talks offer still on table, White House says
WASHINGTON — The U.S. remains ready for talks with North Korea on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, while ensuring “that we have also the capabilities in the region and ready to go in case we need them,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. After a week in which a North...
Sen. Tommy Tuberville: Democrats back reparations for those who ‘do the crime’Video
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville asserted that Democrats support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people because “they think the people that do the crime are owed that.” The first-term Alabama Republican spoke at a Saturday evening rally in Nevada featuring former President Donald Trump, a political ally. His...
Biden preaches patience to voters spooked by economic tumult
WASHINGTON — When it comes to reassuring Americans about an economy that’s an election-year challenge for his party, President Joe Biden is telling the country to hold on. It’s a message of patience as voters are buffeted by persistent inflation, fears of a recession and the prospect of rising energy...
Hurricane Julia hits Nicaragua with torrential rainfall
MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Julia hit Nicaragua’s central Caribbean coast on Sunday and dumped torrential rains across Central America before an expected reemergence over the Pacific. Julia hit as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, though its winds had dipped to tropical storm force of...
Putin calls Kerch Bridge attack ‘a terrorist act’ by Kyiv
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday called the attack that damaged the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea “a terrorist act” masterminded by Ukrainian special services. The Kerch Bridge, which holds important strategic and symbolic value to Russia in its faltering war in...
Some say radon legislation in Pa. comes down to politics; others say it’s the money
State Sen. Wayne Fontana didn’t mince words. When it comes to getting a law passed requiring radon testing in schools, “I think it’s going to take a tragedy of some sort,” said Fontana, a Democrat from Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood. He was alluding to a 2019 fatal fire at an Erie...
Most Western Pennsylvania schools don’t test for radon, despite high levels in the state
As a father of four, Tim Briggs considered it common sense that schools would test for radon. As a state lawmaker, he was appalled that every school doesn’t, and he has made it his mission to do something about it. A months-long Tribune-Review investigation found that most schools in Southwestern...
These women effected change to spur radon laws in their states
For Gail Orcutt, what began as a cough and a bit of wheezing ended with a baffling diagnosis of lung cancer one day short of her 57th birthday. She never smoked, always watched her diet and never missed a chance to exercise. While recovering from surgery to remove her left...
For children, concerns over radon outweigh that for adults
In Dr. Ned Ketyer’s opinion, there should be no doubt that schools should test for radon — and test regularly. “The way radon works when it gets in the body is it damages DNA, and so that’s why radon is associated with cancer, especially lung cancer,” said Ketyer, a pediatrician...
Serial ‘jogger rapist’ to be released from Oregon prison
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon serial rapist is set to be released from prison in mid-December after serving nearly 36 years behind bars, almost all of his maximum sentence. Richard Gillmore, arrested in 1986 and called the “jogger rapist” because he staked out victims as he ran by their homes,...
Vegas showgirls describe shock of stabbings that left 2 dead
LAS VEGAS — Victims of a quick series of stabbings on the Las Vegas Strip described the shock and horror of the unexpected attack on a group of showgirls and others outside a casino that left two people dead and six injured. Police arrested Yoni Barrios, 32, after a short...
Documents: Florida migrant transport planning began in July
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida officials began planning to transport migrants to other states in July and told potential contractors their task would be to relocate them on a voluntary basis, according to state documents. The documents released Friday night to The Associated Press and other news organizations provide new...
North Korea launches missile toward sea after U.S. – South Korea drills
SEOUL, South Korea — The South Korean military said North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters on Sunday, the latest in the country’s barrage of weapons tests in recent days. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the launch occurred early Sunday but gave...
‘Fake heiress’ released to house arrest, fights deportation
NEW YORK — Phony socialite and convicted swindler Anna Sorokin, whose scheme inspired a Netflix series, has been released from U.S. immigration custody to house arrest, immigration officials and her spokesperson said. Anna Sorokin is on home confinement in New York City, said her spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer. “Anna now has...
Vermont town employee quietly lowered fluoride in water for years
RICHMOND, Vt. — Residents of a small community in Vermont were blindsided last month by news that one official in their water department quietly lowered fluoride levels nearly four years ago, giving rise to worries about their children’s dental health and transparent government — and highlighting the enduring misinformation around...
3 hurt in shooting outside Ohio high school football stadium
TOLEDO, Ohio — Police in Ohio said three people were wounded in a shooting outside a high school football game that sent people on the field and spectators in the stands running for cover. Police said the shots were fired behind the Whitmer High School stadium in Toledo at about...
