Senate again deadlocks on Homeland Security funding as shutdown persists
WASHINGTON — The congressional impasse over funding the Department of Homeland Security is entering its second month after the Senate on Thursday again deadlocked over providing money for the agency, even as airports continued to experience security line backups. With Democrats refusing to back money for the agency without significant...
FBI: Attack at Michigan synagogue was a ‘targeted act of violence against the Jewish community’Video
WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. — An attacker armed with a rifle was killed after ramming his vehicle into one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues Thursday in what federal investigators said was an act of violence targeting the Jewish community. Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit...
Will independents ever get to vote in Pa. primaries? Advocates hope a lawsuit moves the needle
HARRISBURG — Supporters of opening Pennsylvania’s primaries to more than 1 million unaffiliated voters hope the courts will accomplish what the legislature couldn’t for decades. Pennsylvania is one of just eight states with a closed primary system, meaning only voters registered as Democrats or Republicans can participate in their respective...
Will independents ever get to vote in Pa. primaries? Advocates hope a lawsuit moves the needle.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Supporters of opening Pennsylvania’s primaries to more than 1 million unaffiliated voters hope the courts will accomplish...
ROTC students at Old Dominion subdued and killed the shooter who killed 1 person, wounded 2Video
ROTC students subdued and killed a gunman who yelled “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire Thursday in an Old Dominion University classroom, killing one and wounding two, according to the FBI, which said the shooter had been in the Army and pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to aid the Islamic...
Trump discourages Iranian soccer team from attending the World Cup, citing safety concerns
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he did not think it would be “appropriate” for the Iranian soccer team to attend this year’s World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, and cited safety concerns as a reason on Thursday, while the countries are embroiled in a war. “The Iran National...
Competency review ordered for leader of cultlike Zizians group that has been linked to 6 deaths
BALTIMORE — A lawyer representing the leader of the cultlike Zizians group that has been linked to six deaths told a judge Thursday that there is reason to believe his client is mentally incompetent to stand trial. Jack LaSota, a transgender woman who goes by “Ziz,” was supposed to be...
AI chatbots want your health records. Tread carefully.
SAN FRANCISCO — For the last few years, the tech industry has convinced people that their artificially intelligent chatbots get better the more data you feed them. The next step is to get users to share their most sensitive information: their health records. What could go wrong? Microsoft this week...
Gallery: Around the world or close to home, the world in focus on March 12, 2026
Every photograph tells a story. From the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania to far-flung corners of the globe, TribLive’s gallery brings those stories to life — moments of connection, place and the quiet beauty of everyday life. It’s more than a look at Western Pennsylvania. It’s a view of the...
AI writes buggy code. A Silicon Valley startup wants to fix it
PALO ALTO, Calif. — In January, a team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University published a study analyzing the use of artificial intelligence technologies that can generate their own computer code. The study found that while these increasingly popular AI systems could speed up software development, they could also degrade...
Utah’s anti-gambling tradition meets Kalshi and Polymarket in a new legal fight
SALT LAKE CITY — For more than a century, Utah has kept gambling almost entirely out of the state. There are no casinos, no lotteries and no racetracks that allow bets, a prohibition rooted in the conservative ideals of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which views gambling...
Slavery exhibit is changing at the African American history museum as a loan agreement ends
WASHINGTON — A Smithsonian museum exhibit about the maritime journey that millions of Africans were forced to take across the Atlantic to slavery in the Americas will change later this month, when a remnant from one of the first sunken slave ships ever recovered is taken off display in Washington....
Outdated intel likely led U.S. to carry out deadly strike on Iranian elementary school, AP sources say
WASHINGTON — Outdated intelligence likely led to the United States carrying out a deadly missile strike on an elementary school in Iran that killed over 165 people, many of them children, in the opening hours of the conflict, according to a U.S. official and a second person briefed on findings...
Hungary to declassify security report as Orbán claims Ukraine is illegally funding his opponent
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s government will declassify a national security report that the populist prime minister says will prove his main political challenger received illegal financing from Ukraine, a minister said Thursday. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán faces the biggest political challenge of his career in next month’s elections, where he...
Iran’s secretive top leader vows to keep up attacks in his first statement since being appointed
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s secretive new supreme leader vowed Thursday to keep up attacks on Gulf Arab countries and use the effective closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz as leverage against the United States and Israel. It was his first public statement since he succeeded his father,...
Pam Bondi moved to military housing because of threats
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi has quietly relocated to one of several military bases in the Washington area where other Trump administration officials also live, after facing threats from drug cartels and critics of her actions in handling the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to people familiar with the situation....
Press freedom in the Americas saw ‘dramatic deterioration’ last year, watchdog says
BOGOTA, Colombia — Press freedom in the Americas suffered a “dramatic deterioration” in 2025, a regional watchdog said Tuesday in an assessment of conditions for the profession in 23 countries across the Western Hemisphere. The Miami-based Inter American Press Association, or IAPA, has been publishing an annual freedom of speech...
Trump administration kicks off new process to try to replace tariffs struck down by Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Wednesday opened a new trade investigation into manufacturing in foreign countries — an effort that comes after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s previous use of tariffs by declaring an economic emergency. Trump and his team have made clear that they’re seeking...
Gov. Gavin Newsom: California preparing for possible Iran attacks
The FBI is warning local police that Iran could target the West Coast, including California, with drone strikes in retaliation for the U.S. and Israel’s attacks, according to ABC News. Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters he was “aware” of the report. His administration is working with the Office of Emergency...
Western Pa. primary races shaping up as candidates file nomination petitions
The May 19 primary could feature more than a dozen contested races across Southwestern Pennsylvania for state House and Senate, the U.S. House and lieutenant governor, according to a state database of candidates who filed nomination paperwork to run for office. The field of candidates isn’t set yet, though. Signatures...
Pentagon blocks photographers from Pete Hegseth’s briefings on the Iran war
NEW YORK — The Pentagon has not permitted photographers to cover Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s last two briefings on the war in Iran, and hasn’t explained the change in longstanding policy. A Pentagon spokesman, Joel Valdez, declined to comment for this story. The Defense Department under Hegseth has had a...
Social Security watchdog opens probe into alleged misuse of data by ex-DOGE employee
WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog is investigating a whistleblower complaint into what it describes as a former Department of Government Efficiency worker’s potential misuse of data obtained from the Social Security Administration. According to a document the Associated Press obtained Wednesday, the SSA’s inspector general informed the...
Epstein’s longtime accountant testifies on his client’s wealth, business tiesVideo
WASHINGTON — House lawmakers were digging into Jeffrey Epstein’s sprawling financial portfolio on Wednesday as a committee deposed his former accountant and tried to understand his connections to some of the world’s wealthiest men. Richard Kahn, who worked closely with Epstein for years and now serves as an executor of...
U.S. at fault in strike on school in Iran, preliminary inquiry says
WASHINGTON — An ongoing military investigation has determined that the United States is responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the preliminary findings. The Feb. 28 strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building was the result...
Republicans concede they need a pivot on immigration ahead of midterms
DORAL, Fla. — House Republicans sought to use their annual policy retreat near Miami this week to articulate a legislative agenda that could broadly appeal to voters ahead of midterm elections the lawmakers are at risk of losing, and to present an optimistic front as they fight to keep control...
