U.S. Rep. Jody Hice fights subpoena in Georgia election probe
ATLANTA — Republican U.S. Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia is fighting a subpoena seeking to have him testify before a special grand jury that is investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election in the state. The subpoena, which Hice received on...
‘Nontraditional’ DNA technology leads to arrest in 1975 stabbing death of Pa. newlywed
Lancaster County investigators arrested a 68-year-old man in connection with the brutal stabbing death of a 19-year-old newlywed 46 years ago using new DNA technology and genealogical research. Police on Sunday arrested David Sinopoli, of Lancaster, in the death of Lindy Sue Biechler, on Dec. 5 1975 inside her apartment...
New Pa. budget injects $125M into private school tax credit program that lacks accountability
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 — When Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-led Legislature hammered out the $45.2 billion budget deal in early July, they...
What does ‘plead the Fifth’ mean? Will the Trumps do it?
NEW YORK — Donald Trump and two of his children — Donald Jr. and Ivanka — were due to face questioning under oath in New York’s civil investigation into their business practices. New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office said last week it had agreed to postpone the scheduled depositions...
Amid Russia shelling, Zelenskyy seeks to strengthen ranks
KYIV, Ukraine — With Russian shelling across the country showing no signs of easing, Ukraine’s leaders on Monday were looking to strengthen their own ranks after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy removed from office some of his most prominent officials because of alleged “poor performance” over clearing their agencies of “collaborators and...
Doug Mastriano is deleting his videos from Facebook as he runs for Pa. governor
PHILADELPHIA — In early April, Doug Mastriano was recording a Facebook Live video on his phone after a legislative session in Harrisburg when he segued into his thoughts on global warming. The state senator from south-central Pennsylvania, who would become the Republican nominee for governor the following month, told his...
UN decries rising death toll, rights violations in Haiti
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. human rights office expressed concern about rising violence around Haiti’s capital, saying 99 people have been reported killed in recent fighting between rival gangs in the Cite Soleil district alone. The warning came hours after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution renewing the...
Millions swelter as UK endures its 1st extreme heat warning
LONDON — Millions of people in Britain stayed home or sought shade Monday during the country’s first-ever extreme heat warning, as hot, dry weather that has scorched mainland Europe for the past week moved north, disrupting travel, health care and schools. The red heat alert covers a big chunk of...
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he will retire by end of Biden’s 1st term
The United States will grapple with covid-19 long after Dr. Anthony Fauci leaves his post as the president’s chief medical adviser, the Brooklyn native said in a Politico interview announcing his plans to retire by the end of Joe Biden’s first term. Fauci, 81, became the face of the covid-19...
Florida high school shooter’s penalty trial begins
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz began on Monday, the deadliest U.S. mass shooting to go before a jury. Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty last October to 17 counts of first-degree murder at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in the deaths of 14 students...
U.S. markets point higher ahead of another busy earnings week
NEW YORK — Wall Street appeared to be headed for gains before markets opened Monday ahead of another week loaded with quarterly earnings reports from major U.S. corporations. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1% as did futures for the S&P 500. Oil prices also rose. Chinese markets...
GOP establishment steps up push to block Trump ally in Ariz.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has already helped block one of former President Donald Trump’s allies from winning the Republican nomination for governor in a crucial battleground state. Now he’s hoping for a repeat in his own backyard. Ducey is part of a burgeoning effort among establishment Republicans...
Sri Lanka acting president declares emergency amid protests
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s acting president on Monday declared a state of emergency giving him broad authority amid growing protests demanding his resignation two days before the country’s lawmakers are set to elect a new president. Ranil Wickremesinghe became acting president on Friday after his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa,...
Buffalo supermarket shooter arraigned on federal charges
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The white gunman charged with killing 10 Black people in a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket pleaded not guilty Monday to federal hate crime charges that could be punishable by the death penalty. The shooter was indicted last week on hate crimes and weapons counts....
Jury selection underway for ex-Trump adviser Steve BannonVideo
WASHINGTON — Jury selection began Monday in the trial of Steve Bannon, a one-time top adviser to former President Donald Trump. He is facing criminal contempt of Congress charges after refusing for months to cooperate with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Bannon is charged in...
Police: 3 people and gunman dead in Indiana mall shootingVideo
GREENWOOD, Ind. — Three people were fatally shot and two were injured, including a 12-year-old girl, at an Indiana mall after a man with a rifle opened fire in a food court and an armed civilian shot and killed him, police said. The man entered the Greenwood Park Mall on...
Ex-police chief convicted of child rape gets 16 to 32 years
JIM THORPE, Pa. — A former Pennsylvania police chief convicted of rape of a child has been sentenced to 16 to 32 years in prison, state prosecutors said. The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said the sentence was imposed Friday on 30-year-old Brent Getz following his conviction on rape and sexual...
‘Large alligators’ attack, kill elderly Florida woman
An elderly woman who slipped and fell into a pond Friday was attacked and killed by two large alligators, according to multiple reports. The incident occurred in Florida, and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said that after the woman fell into the water she “struggled to stay afloat.” That is...
Enormous jackpot on the line for Tuesday’s Mega Millions
One of the largest Mega Millions jackpots ever is on the line Tuesday with an estimated grand prize of $530 million. Only seven of the previous Mega Millions sweepstakes have yielded a bigger jackpot, with the largest coming in October 2018 with a $1.5 billion prize. Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing...
Jan. 6 panel to receive Secret Service texts after data lossVideo
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol assault expects to receive text messages it has subpoenaed from the Secret Service by Tuesday, panel member Zoe Lofgren said. A government inspector general told the panel last week that the agency wasn’t cooperating with its inquiry into the Jan. 6,...
Fires scorch France and Spain, as Europe wilts in heat waveVideo
PARIS — Firefighters battled wildfires raging out of control in France and Spain on Sunday as Europe wilted under an unusually extreme heat wave that authorities in Madrid blamed for hundreds of deaths. Two huge blazes, which have consumed pine forests for six days in southwestern France, have forced the...
Report: ‘Systemic failures’ in Uvalde school massacreVideo
UVALDE, Texas — Nearly 400 law enforcement officials rushed to a mass shooting at a Uvalde elementary school, but “systemic failures” created a chaotic scene that lasted more than an hour before the gunman who took 21 lives was finally confronted and killed, according to a report from investigators released...
Doug Mastriano helps celebrate the political movement that made him at film premiere
LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP — Sen. Doug Mastriano largely set aside his standard stump speech Saturday night to pay an homage to the latest grassroots conservative movement in Pennsylvania of which— for the moment — he’s field general as he fights with Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro to become the state’s...
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy fires top security chief and prosecutor
VINNYTSIA, Ukraine — As Russia’s military pressed its efforts to expand into Ukraine’s east, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the head of the country’s security service and its prosecutor general on Sunday, citing hundreds of criminal proceedings into treason and collaboration by people within their departments. “In particular, more than...
Abortion laws spark profound changes in other medical care
A sexual assault survivor chooses sterilization so that if she is ever attacked again, she won’t be forced to give birth to a rapist’s baby. An obstetrician delays inducing a miscarriage until a woman with severe pregnancy complications seems “sick enough.” A lupus patient must stop taking medication that controls...
