Feds taking first steps toward revising race, ethnic terms
The federal government is taking preliminary steps toward revising racial and ethnic classifications that have not been changed in a quarter century following calls for more accurate categories for how people identify themselves in federal data gathering. The revisions could open the door to changes long desired by advocates on...
Confederate flag-toting man, son convicted in Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday convicted a Confederate flag-toting man and his son of charges that they stormed the U.S. Capitol together during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, to obstruct Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden delivered the verdict from the...
FDA advisers endorse 1st covid-19 shots for kids under 5
The first covid-19 shots for U.S. infants, toddlers and preschoolers moved a step closer Wednesday. The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisers gave a thumbs-up to vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer for the littlest kids. The outside experts voted unanimously that the benefits of the shots outweigh any risks for...
2 California officers killed in motel shootout identified
EL MONTE, Calif. — Two Southern California police officers were patrolling their shared hometown — one on the force for more than two decades and the other for just months — when both were slain Tuesday in a shootout while investigating a possible stabbing at a suburban Los Angeles motel....
Lawyers urge leniency at sentencing for Ghislaine Maxwell
NEW YORK — Lawyers for British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell told a judge Wednesday that she should face no more than four to five years in prison for her sex trafficking conviction and role in financier Jeffrey Epstein’s decade-long sex abuse of teenage girls. They said in a Manhattan federal court...
Despite push, states slow to make Juneteenth a paid holiday
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Recognition of Juneteenth, the effective end of slavery in the U.S., gained traction after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. But after an initial burst of action, the movement to have it recognized as an official holiday in the states has largely stalled. Although almost...
Pa. Senate votes to block charter school regulations from taking effect
The Pennsylvania Senate on Wednesday passed a concurrent resolution that would block Gov. Tom Wolf’s regulatory changes to the state’s charter school law from taking effect. By a 30-20 near party-line vote, the chamber approved the House-passed disapproval resolution which now goes to the governor who is expected to veto...
Pa. state university system adopts enrollment-based formula for distributing state dollars
The stakes over state investment in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education got higher on Wednesday with the approval of a new enrollment-driven formula for allocating dollars to the system’s soon-to-be 10 universities. The system’s governing board on Wednesday unanimously voted to implement a funding distribution formula that at the...
Dr. Anthony Fauci tests positive for covid-19, has ‘mild symptoms’
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of America’s pandemic response through two White House administrations, has tested positive for the coronavirus. The 81-year-old Fauci, who is fully vaccinated and has received two booster shots, was experiencing mild covid-19 symptoms, according to a statement Wednesday from the National Institutes of Health. Fauci...
John Hinckley Jr. freed from court oversight after decades
NORFOLK, Va. — John Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was freed from court oversight Wednesday, officially concluding decades of supervision by legal and mental health professionals. “After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!,” he wrote on Twitter shortly after 12...
Poll: Fetterman leads Oz in Senate race; Shapiro and Mastriano locked in gubernatorial battle
Polling released Tuesday shows Democrat John Fetterman with an early advantage over Republican Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s high-profile U.S. Senate race, while Democrat Josh Shapiro and Republican Doug Mastriano are locked in a tight race for governor. The Suffolk University/USA Today poll is the first major polling on the general...
Fed attacks inflation with its largest rate hike since 1994
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday intensified its drive to tame high inflation by raising its key interest rate by three-quarters of a point — its largest hike in nearly three decades — and signaling more large rate increases to come that would raise the risk of another recession....
Russia targets depot in western Ukraine, advances in east
KYIV, Ukraine — The Russian military said it used long-range missiles Wednesday to destroy a depot in the western Lviv region of Ukraine where ammunition for NATO-supplied weapons was being stored, and the governor of a key eastern city acknowledged that Russian forces are advancing amid heavy fighting. Those strikes...
Buffalo supermarket gunman charged with federal hate crimes
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The white gunman who killed 10 Black people in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket has been charged with federal hate crimes, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday. Payton Gendron had already faced a mandatory life sentence without parole if convicted on previously filed state...
China’s Xi reasserts support for Russia on security issues
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping reasserted his country’s support for Russia on issues of sovereignty and security in a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, state media said. Xi told Putin that “all parties should responsibly push for a proper settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” according...
Biden tells oil refiners: Produce more gas, fewer profits
President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on U.S. oil refiners to produce more gasoline and diesel, saying their profits have tripled during a time of war between Russia and Ukraine as Americans struggle with record high prices at the pump. “The crunch that families are facing deserves immediate action,” Biden...
Sweden: Cartoonist Vilks’ fatal car crash was an accident
STOCKHOLM — The police car crash in Sweden that killed Swedish artist Lars Vilks last year was an accident, Swedish authorities said Wednesday, not a targeted attack on the cartoonist who lived under police protection since his controversial 2007 sketch of the Prophet Muhammad. An exploding tire led the driver...
Odessa, Texas, remains without water as temperatures soar
ODESSA, Texas — Residents of the West Texas city of Odessa remained without water Wednesday as crews worked to restore service amid scorching temperatures in the area. The city water system’s 165,000 customers’ taps lost pressure or went completely dry after the 24-inch main broke Monday afternoon, according to the...
U.S. report: nearly 400 crashes of automated tech vehicles
DETROIT — Automakers reported nearly 400 crashes of vehicles with partially automated driver-assist systems, including 273 involving Teslas, according to statistics released by U.S. safety regulators on Wednesday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cautioned against using the numbers to compare automakers, saying it didn’t weight them by the number...
Election 2022 Takeaways: Big Trump win, Nev. Senate race set
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump notched a significant victory in South Carolina, where his preferred candidate easily ousted five-term Rep. Tom Rice, the first Republican to be booted from office after voting to impeach the former president last year. But another high-profile GOP target of Trump in the state, Rep. Nancy...
Sig Sauer sued over pistol critics say goes off by itself
A pistol made by Sig Sauer and sold to law enforcement and civilians alike is prone to going off without the trigger being pulled, a defect that has led to dozens of injuries over the past several years, a U.S. Army veteran alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The veteran...
Penn-Trafford video class brings home a half-dozen student Emmy awardsVideo
Video production students at Penn-Trafford High School are finishing the year with a bang. Students from the class brought home National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences High School Student Production awards in six different categories in the Mid-Atlantic region on Thursday, including winning “Best Newscast” four of the past...
Monroeville VA clinic expected to serve up to 10,000 veterans annually
Veterans Affairs officials are certainly proud of the work done at their flagship hospital in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. But they’re also well aware of the drawbacks elderly veterans face when walking up the aptly-named “Cardiac Hill” to their appointments. “There are a lot of steep hills, and in bad weather...
At 2nd trial, ex-CIA employee defends himself in big leak
NEW YORK — A former CIA software engineer charged with causing the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history defended himself at the start of his trial Tuesday, telling jurors he was falsely accused and the victim of a political witch hunt. Joshua Schulte, 33, said he was singled...
Pa. is considering ban on trans athletes; experts say it’s discriminatory and ‘anti-evidence’
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 — A coalition of Pennsylvania lawmakers and activists recently gathered on the Capitol rotunda steps with one mission in mind:...
