More flexibility proposed for student debt forgiveness
New rules proposed by the Biden administration on Wednesday would make it easier for borrowers to get their federal student debt forgiven through several existing programs. The action is intended to overhaul relief programs that have been criticized for their burdensome paperwork requirements and long processing times. It builds on...
Why more Pa. hunters are using crossbows since they became legal statewide in 2009
There’s no doubt that crossbows have grown in popularity when it comes to archery deer hunting in Pennsylvania, but by just how much may be a bit surprising. First allowed in the state’s special regulations areas, and also for use by individuals who had a disabled hunters permit, crossbows became...
Democrat Josh Shapiro picks up Republican endorsements in race for governor
Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s gubernatorial campaign has earned a slew of endorsements from prominent Republicans. Shapiro, a Democrat from Montgomery County, said his campaign has received nine GOP endorsements from across Pennsylvania. In a swing state like Pennsylvania, having crossover appeal can be paramount to success in statewide races. Republicans...
Parade shooting suspect contemplated 2nd shooting
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — The man charged with killing seven people at an Independence Day parade confessed to police that he unleashed a hail of bullets from a rooftop in suburban Chicago and then fled to the Madison, Wisconsin, area, where he contemplated shooting up an event there, authorities said...
Trump White House counsel Cipollone to testify to Jan. 6 panelVideo
WASHINGTON — Pat Cipollone, Donald Trump’s former White House counsel, is scheduled to testify Friday before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a person briefed on the matter. Cipollone, whose reported resistance to Trump’s schemes to overturn his 2020 election defeat has...
Judge won’t block law banning most Mississippi abortions
JACKSON, Miss. — As attorneys argued about abortion laws across the South on Tuesday, a Mississippi judge rejected a request by the state’s only abortion clinic to temporarily block a law that would ban most abortions. Without other developments in the Mississippi lawsuit, the clinic will close at the end...
UK’s Johnson vows to stay in job after top ministers quit
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday he plans to stay in power despite the resignations of two top Cabinet ministers and a slew of more junior officials. Johnson told lawmakers that “the job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances when you’ve been handed a colossal mandate...
Judges keeping Capitol riot trials in DC amid bias claims
WASHINGTON — For some of the Washington, D.C., residents who reported for jury duty last month, a pro-Trump mob’s assault on the U.S. Capitol felt like a personal attack. Ahead of a trial for a Michigan man charged in the riot, one prospective juror said a police officer injured during...
Capitol quiet during 5th day without new Pennsylvania budget
HARRISBURG — Most Pennsylvania lawmakers were absent from the state Capitol on Tuesday, five days into the new budget year without a state government spending agreement in place. Leaders were hoping negotiations would wrap up over the coming days and the House announced voting sessions were scheduled through Friday. Thursday...
Judge throws out Trump-era rollbacks on endangered species
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a host of actions by the Trump administration to roll back protections for endangered or threatened species, a year after the Biden administration said it was moving to strengthen such species protections. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in Northern California eliminated...
Parents of boy, 2, found alone at Illinois parade shooting among deadVideo
Aiden McCarthy’s photo was shared across Chicago-area social media groups in the hours after the July 4 parade shooting in Highland Park, accompanied by pleas to help identify the 2-year-old who had been found at the scene bloodied and alone and to reunite him with his family. On Tuesday, friends...
Feds sue over new Arizona citizenship proof law for voting
PHOENIX — The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday sued Arizona over a new law requiring people who use a federal form to register to vote to provide additional proof of citizenship if they want to vote for president or using the state’s popular vote-by-mail system. The law signed by...
Colorado funeral home owner pleads guilty in body sales case
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in federal court. The Daily Sentinel reports that Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday...
Biden awards Medal of Honor to 4 for Vietnam War heroism
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday bestowed the nation’s highest military honor to four Army soldiers for heroism during the Vietnam War, bravery that he said had not diminished even with the passage of time. Biden presented the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Edward N. Kaneshiro, Spc. Five...
Funerals begin for 3 Kentucky officers killed in ambush
Sheriff John Hunt fought back tears while saying goodbye to his longtime friend, William Petry, one of three law enforcement officers killed in an ambush while serving a warrant in eastern Kentucky last week. The small Appalachian county that Hunt is in charge of protecting is reeling from the deaths...
After West Virginia opioid verdict, another case postponed
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A trial in a lawsuit accusing three major U.S. drug distributors of causing a health crisis throughout West Virginia was postponed Tuesday, a day after the companies prevailed in another case in the state. Attorneys who represented Cabell County and the city of Huntington on the losing...
Florida’s 15-week abortion ban reinstated after legal appeal
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban was blocked and then quickly reinstated Tuesday after an appeal from the state attorney general in a lawsuit challenging the restriction. Judge John C. Cooper issued the order temporarily halting the law after reproductive health providers argued that the state constitution guarantees the...
Mexico leader to end daylight saving, keep ‘God’s clock’
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president submitted a bill Tuesday to end daylight saving time, putting an end to the practice of changing clocks twice a year. Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer said Mexico should return to “God’s clock,” or standard time, arguing that setting clocks back or forward damages people’s health....
Police: 3 shot to death at block party in Gary, Indiana
GARY, Ind. — Gunfire during a July Fourth block party in northwestern Indiana left three people dead and seven wounded early Tuesday, police said. The shooting happened in a residential neighborhood of Gary, Indiana, about 12:45 a.m. and officers who responded found three people down and unresponsive, city police Lt....
Giuliani, Graham testimony sought in Trump election probe
ATLANTA — The Georgia prosecutor investigating the conduct of former President Donald Trump and his allies after the 2020 election is trying to compel U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and other members of Trump’s campaign legal team to testify before a special grand jury. Fulton...
Rudy Giuliani, Lindsey Graham testimony sought in Trump election probe
ATLANTA — The Georgia prosecutor investigating the conduct of former President Donald Trump and his allies after the 2020 election is trying to compel U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and other members of Trump’s campaign legal team to testify before a special grand jury. Fulton...
A survivor of the migrant trailer: ‘They couldn’t breathe’
GUATEMALA CITY — Simple advice from a friend to stay near the door may have saved Yenifer Yulisa Cardona Tomás from the deadly fate that befell 53 other migrants when they were abandoned trapped in a sweltering semi-trailer last week on the edge of San Antonio. Speaking by phone from...
Florida teen attacked by shark will have leg amputated, hospital says
ORLANDO, Fla. — A 17-year-old Florida girl who was attacked by a 9-foot shark last week learned she will have her leg amputated Tuesday. Addison Bethea, of Perry, was scalloping Thursday with her brother in Keaton Beach — in Taylor County — when a shark pulled her underwater, according to...
2 key UK Cabinet ministers quit Boris Johnson’s government
LONDON — Two of Britain’s most senior Cabinet ministers have quit, a move that could spell the end of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership after months of scandals. Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned within minutes of each other. Javid said “I can no longer continue...
Small predator, missing from Pa. for more than a century, might be brought back
The return of the American marten, a larger relative of the weasel and mink, will be up for consideration by the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners when it meets this weekend at the agency’s Harrisburg headquarters. The marten, a tree-climbing predator about 24 to 30 inches long, including the tail,...
