Shapiro sets spending record, outraises Mastriano in final weeks of governor’s race
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 — Democrat Josh Shapiro’s campaign spent a staggering $28 million on his bid for Pennsylvania governor over the past three...
Resilient U.S. consumers spend slightly more in August
WASHINGTON — Consumers spent a bit more in August than the previous month, a sign the economy is holding up even as inflation lifts prices for food, rent, and other essentials. Americans boosted their spending at stores and for services such as haircuts by 0.4% in August, after it fell...
In Hurricane Ian’s wake, worried families crowdsource rescue efforts
Many people whose loved ones stayed behind in the pathway of Hurricane Ian are crowdsourcing rescue efforts as they grapple with the helplessness of waiting and not knowing. In TikTok videos and Facebook posts, families are sharing their desperate pleas and strangers are answering their calls, even as local officials...
Fetterman-Oz in statistical dead heat heading into home stretch of Senate campaign
With 40 days until Election Day, John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz are in a statistical dead heat for the state’s U.S. Senate seat. Multiple polls released in the past few days show Oz, the celebrity heart doctor and Republican candidate, still trailing Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor and Democratic...
Army officers appear on Burkina Faso TV, declare countercoup
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — More than a dozen members of Burkina Faso’s army seized control of state television late Friday, declaring that the country’s coup leader-turned-president, Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had been overthrown. The spokesman introduced Capt. Ibrahim Traore as the new head of the volatile West African...
Putin illegally annexes Ukrainian regions as part of Russia
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties Friday for an illegal annexation of occupied Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of his seven-month invasion of Ukraine. Its leader immediately countered with a surprise application to join the NATO military alliance. Putin’s land-grab and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s signing of...
Suicide bomber strikes Kabul education center, killing 19
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber struck an education center in a Shiite area of the Afghan capital on Friday, killing 19 people and wounding 27, including teenagers who were taking practice entry exams for university, a Taliban spokesman said. The morning explosion at the center took place in Kabul’s...
West rejects Putin’s claim it sabotaged Baltic gas pipelines
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of sabotaging Russia-built natural gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea to Germany, a charge vehemently denied by the United States and its allies. Nordic nations said the undersea blasts that damaged the pipelines this week and have led...
50 years later, Roberto Clemente remains gatekeeper of MLB’s 3,000-hit club
Fifty years ago today, Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roberto Clemente laced a double off New York Mets rookie pitcher Jon Matlack to join one of baseball’s most exclusive fraternities: the 3,000-hit club. “I still think it was a pretty good pitch,” Matlack, now 72, recently told the Tribune-Review, describing the curveball...
Authorities: Texas man shoots 2 migrants near Mexico border
AUSTIN, Texas — Two brothers in Texas have been arrested after authorities say one of them opened fire on a group of migrants getting water near the U.S.-Mexico border, killing one man and shooting a woman in the stomach, according to court documents filed Thursday. The shooting Tuesday was in...
Judge extends Trump special master deadline until December
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Florida has extended the timeline for the review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, delaying the fight over whether any materials are privileged by another two weeks. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, citing delays in hiring a vendor to scan...
ALS drug wins FDA approval despite questionable data
WASHINGTON — A much-debated drug for Lou Gehrig’s disease won U.S. approval Thursday, a long-sought victory for patients that is likely to renew questions about the scientific rigor behind government reviews of experimental medicines. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug from Amylyx Pharmaceuticals based on results from one...
Officials: U.S. doctors tried to help Russia in Ukraine war
A Johns Hopkins anesthesiologist and her U.S. Army doctor spouse have been charged with trying to help Russia in its war against Ukraine with medical records that they thought Moscow could exploit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland said Thursday. The records never made it to Moscow. But they were...
5 found dead after shooting in Central Texas neighborhood
MCGREGOR, Texas — Five people were found dead Thursday in a Central Texas residential neighborhood, officials said. Details on what happened were sketchy, but a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said officers of several law enforcement agencies converged on the neighborhood in McGregor, about 20 miles southwest...
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s husband files for divorce
The husband of outspoken Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed for divorce Wednesday after 27 years of marriage, according to the pair’s hometown paper, the Rome News-Tribune. Perry Greene reportedly said that their union is “irretrievably broken” and filed a motion to seal his filing, which he said contains sensitive...
Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska charged with violating U.S. sanctions
NEW YORK — A Russian billionaire and three associates were criminally charged in New York on Thursday with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and plotting to ensure his child was born in the United States. The Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, 52, has faced economic sanctions since 2018, when he was...
Photos: Ian brings widespread devastation to Florida
Hurricane Ian destroyed a cross-section of Florida and brought torrential rains that continued to fall on Thursday. The destruction began to come into focus a day after Ian made landfall in Florida as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit to the U.S. The storm flooded homes on both...
GOP states sue Biden administration over student loan plan
WASHINGTON — Six Republican-led states are suing the Biden administration in an effort to halt its plan to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans, accusing it of overstepping its executive powers. It’s at least the second legal challenge this week to the sweeping proposal laid out...
Explainer: How do we know when a recession has begun?
WASHINGTON — The economy shrank in the first half of this year, the government confirmed in a report Thursday, underscoring fears of a broad-based slowdown that could lead to a recession. At the same time, the number of people seeking unemployment benefits — a figure that often reflects the pace...
84-year-old Michigan anti-abortion canvasser shot, wounded
ODESSA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A man shot and wounded an 84-year-old Michigan woman who was canvassing door-to-door against a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion in the state. The State Police are investigating the Sept. 20 shooting at a home in Odessa Township, a community about...
Wall Street drops back to lowest since 2020 as fear returns
NEW YORK — Stocks are back to falling on Wall Street Thursday as worries about a possible recession and rising bond yields put the squeeze back on markets. The S&P 500 was 1.8% lower after sinking even more in the morning to its lowest level since late 2020. The washout...
Lordstown Motors starts making electric trucks at Ohio plant
LORDSTOWN, Ohio — Commercial electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors says it has slowly started production of its first model, the Endurance pickup. The struggling company says it has built two pickups, with a third to be finished shortly. It plans to ramp up production depending on quality and parts availability,...
U.S. economy drops at 0.6% annual rate from April through June
WASHINGTON — Battered by surging consumer prices and rising interest rates, the U.S. economy shrank at a 0.6% annual rate from April through June, the government announced Thursday, unchanged from its previous second-quarter estimate. It marked the second consecutive quarter of economic contraction, one informal rule of thumb for a...
North Korea fires missiles after Harris leaves South Korea
PANMUNJOM, Korea — In a show of defiance, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, hours after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris flew home from a visit to South Korea during which she traveled to the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas and emphasized the...
Jan. 6 chairman: Ginni Thomas reiterates false election claimsVideo
WASHINGTON — Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, stood by the false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent during an interview Thursday with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, the panel’s chairman said. “It’s a work in progress,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.,...
