Mehmet Oz wins Pa. Senate primary ahead of showdown with Fetterman
HARRISBURG — Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon endorsed by former President Donald Trump, won Pennsylvania’s Republican U.S. Senate primary on Wednesday, narrowly defeating former hedge fund CEO David McCormick after a dayslong recount. Oz will face Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in November in a race that could...
Judge to John Eastman: Give Jan. 6 committee more emails, including the one presenting evidence of a likely crime
WASHINGTON — Conservative lawyer John Eastman must give 159 more emails to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, including one a judge says is evidence of a likely crime related to the effort to overturn the election. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter...
Pa. House votes to erase ‘homosexuality’ from state crimes code
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House voted unanimously on Wednesday to erase the word “homosexuality” from the definition of prohibited sexual acts in the state Crimes Code. The 198-0 vote was on a bill to clean up language that supporters said does not belong there because homosexuality is not a crime....
Brookings Institution places retired general on leave amid FBI probe
The prestigious Brookings Institution placed its president, retired four-star Marine Gen. John Allen, on administrative leave Wednesday amid a federal investigation into Allen’s foreign lobbying. Brookings’ announcement came a day after The Associated Press reported on new court filings that show the FBI recently seized Allen’s electronic data as part...
‘I don’t want it to happen again,’ Uvalde student Miah Cerrillo says as gun laws debatedVideo
WASHINGTON — Miah Cerrillo gave lawmakers a horrifying firsthand account of the school massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde as she described covering herself in her friend’s blood to play dead while the shooter gunned down her classmates. The fourth grader testified Wednesday via a pre-recorded video in which...
Trump set to undergo questioning in July in NY civil probe
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump, his namesake son and his daughter Ivanka have agreed to answer questions under oath next month in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into his business practices, unless their lawyers persuade the state’s highest court to step in. A Manhattan judge signed...
Tens of millions of Pennsylvania school dollars ‘unauditable’
Recent state audits have called attention to some Pennsylvania school districts’ lackadaisical controls that have made auditing how tens of millions of dollars were spent impossible. The audits do not suggest any illegal activity, but poor compliance measures can hide how taxpayer dollars are being wasted or improperly spent. A...
Coalition urges Pa. lawmakers to adopt a state earned income tax credit to help working poor
A diverse coalition of advocacy groups has come together to promote an anti-poverty initiative that has the potential to benefit as many as 874,000 low- to moderate-income Pennsylvania households. The groups are pushing for Pennsylvania to become the 31st state to enact a refundable state earned income tax credit, which...
Train derailment in east Iran kills at least 21, injures 87
TEHRAN, Iran — A passenger train traveling through eastern Iran struck an excavator and nearly half its cars derailed before dawn on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring 87, officials said. The derailment near the desert city of Tabas was the latest disaster to strike the Islamic Republic...
More bodies found in Mariupol as global food crisis looms
BAKHMUT, Ukraine — Workers pulled scores of bodies from smashed buildings in an “endless caravan of death” inside the devastated city of Mariupol, authorities said Wednesday, while fears of a global food crisis escalated over Ukraine’s inability to export millions of tons of grain through its blockaded ports. At the...
1 dead, 9 injured after driver hits school group in Berlin
BERLIN — A man drove a car into a German school group in a popular Berlin shopping district Wednesday, killing a teacher and seriously injuring nine people, authorities said. He was quickly arrested. The man drove into people on a street corner around 10:30 a.m., got the car back on...
Moderna says updated covid shot boosts omicron protection
Moderna’s experimental covid-19 vaccine that combines its original shot with protection against the omicron variant appears to work, the company announced Wednesday. covid-19 vaccine makers are studying updated boosters that might be offered in the fall to better protect people against future coronavirus surges. Moderna’s preliminary study results show people...
Mississippi lawmaker with ethics woes forced into GOP runoff
LOS ANGELES — U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi advanced to a Republican runoff Tuesday after a congressional ethics watchdog raised questions about his campaign spending and he faced his largest-ever field of primary challengers. In heavily Democratic California, Republican House members faced primary rivals in races that will help...
Reality stars Todd, Julie Chrisley found guilty on federal charges
ATLANTA — Todd and Julie Chrisley, stars of the reality television show “Chrisley Knows Best,” were found guilty Tuesday in Atlanta on federal charges including bank fraud and tax evasion. The Chrisleys were initially indicted in August 2019 and a new indictment was filed in February of this year. Their...
FBI seizes retired general’s data related to Qatar lobbying
The FBI has seized the electronic data of a retired four-star general who authorities say made false statements and withheld “incriminating” documents about his role in an illegal foreign lobbying campaign on behalf of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. New federal court filings obtained Tuesday outlined a potential...
Public water utilities say Senate bill will force up rates
HARRISBURG — Legislation criticized by opponents as a vehicle for-profit water companies to take over municipal water authorities in Pennsylvania by imposing expensive regulations on them passed the Republican-controlled state Senate on Tuesday. Opponents also warned that the bill will precipitate ratepayer increases when water authorities must meet the new...
Man says American Airlines blunder put him in jail for 17 days
An Arizona man says he wrongfully spent 17 days in a rural New Mexico jail in 2021 after American Airlines mistakenly pinpointed him while helping police with a theft investigation at DFW International Airport, according to a lawsuit filed in Fort Worth. Michael Lowe, a Grand Canyon tour guide, said...
2nd person in custody in deadly weekend Philadelphia gunfireVideo
PHILADELPHIA — A second person is in custody in connection with the gunfire that killed three people and wounded 11 in a Philadelphia entertainment district over the weekend, authorities said, but no charges have yet been filed in any of the deaths that stemmed from it. Rashaan Vereen, 34, was...
Pennsylvania pushes free needles to drug users to prevent disease, nudge recovery
As a teenage heroin user in Philadelphia, Kate Favata learned of a place that gave clean needles and syringes to people who inject drugs. Getting what she needed to use drugs was the only appeal. Now in recovery from drug addiction, she believes it saved her life. “Nobody said to...
Matthew McConaughey calls for gun legislation at White HouseVideo
WASHINGTON — Academy Award—winning actor Matthew McConaughey took center stage at the White House briefing Tuesday to call on Congress to “reach a higher ground” and pass gun control legislation in honor of the children and teachers killed in last month’s shooting rampage at an elementary school in his home...
3 Florida officers face manslaughter charge in stun gun death
TALLAHASSEE — Three Florida police officers were charged with manslaughter in the death of a man who was subdued with a stun gun last fall, a state attorney announced Tuesday. A grand jury in Okaloosa County indicted Crestview police officers Brandon Hardaway, William Johns and Evan Reynolds in the death...
FDA advisers back Novavax covid shots as new U.S. option
American adults who haven’t yet gotten vaccinated against covid-19 may soon get another choice, as advisers to the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday backed a more traditional type of shot. Next, the FDA must decide whether to authorize the vaccine made by latecomer Novavax, a protein vaccine that’s made...
‘Bewitched’ statue in Salem vandalized with red paintVideo
SALEM, Mass. — In the wiggle of a nose, a man covered the “Bewitched” statue in Salem, Massachusetts with red paint, police said. Witnesses called police at about 5 p.m. Monday to report someone spray painting the bronze statue, Capt. John Burke said Tuesday. The statue depicts actor Elizabeth Montgomery...
Arizona officers’ inaction during drowning spurs investigationVideo
PHOENIX — A Phoenix suburb is reviewing how it handles water rescues as video of three police officers standing nearby as a homeless man drowns sparks outcry. The Tempe Police Department says the officers are on paid administrative leave after last month’s drowning in a city lake. An uproar arose...
Indigenous expert, British writer still missing in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO — A British journalist and an Indigenous affairs official were still missing in a remote part of Brazil’s Amazon on Tuesday as authorities said they were expanding search efforts in the area, which has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents. Dom Phillips, who has...
