Abrams-Kemp slugfest promises to be pricey, long and ugly
ATLANTA — Georgia voters didn’t get much of a break from election talk on the day after the Tuesday primary in which Republican Gov. Brian Kemp demolished GOP challenger David Perdue and Democrat Stacey Abrams finally clinched a nomination waiting for her after no other members of her party jumped...
Medical marijuana card companies push access in Pa., while doctors are silenced
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 Pennsylvania lawmakers legalized medical cannabis in 2016, they struck an unusual deal: Physicians can approve patients for the...
Ohio’s high court rejects latest GOP-drawn Statehouse maps
COLUMBUS — A frustrated Ohio Supreme Court rejected Republican-drawn Statehouse maps for a fifth time Wednesday, extending the string of GOP defeats in a redistricting process that has ground the state’s legislative primaries to a halt. Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor was clearly angered by the Republican-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission’s decision...
Police suspect arson in fire at Wyoming abortion clinic site
CASPER, Wyo. — An abortion clinic set to open next month in conservative Wyoming was damaged in a fire early Wednesday that police believe was deliberately set — possibly by someone seen running away from the building carrying what appeared to be a gas can and a bag. The blaze...
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice being treated for possible Lyme disease
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday he is bring treated for possible Lyme disease after becoming ill following two events he attended in the northern part of the state. The Republican governor postponed his regularly scheduled covid-19 briefings this week and said he has tested negative...
‘How to Murder Your Husband’ author found guilty of murder
PORTLAND, Ore. — A jury in Portland has convicted a self-published romance novelist — who once wrote an essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband” — of fatally shooting her husband four years ago. The jury of seven women and five men found Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, guilty of second-degree...
Pennsylvania House votes against taking up gun bill after Texas killings
HARRISBURG — An effort by Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania to ban owning, selling or making high-capacity, semi-automatic firearms went nowhere Wednesday as state House Republicans again displayed their firm opposition to gun restriction proposals. The state House of Representatives voted 111-87 against the effort by Democratic Rep. Danielle Friel Otten...
Trump vows to speak at NRA convention days after Texas school shooting
Former President Donald Trump vowed to speak at the National Rifle Association convention this weekend even after an 18-year-old gunman killed 21 people, including 19 children, at a Texas elementary school. Denouncing “politicians and partisanship,” Trump said he would appear as scheduled on Friday at the pro-gun group’s annual confab...
Will Congress act on guns after Sandy Hook, Buffalo, Uvalde?Video
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer swiftly set in motion a pair of background-check bills for gun buyers Wednesday in response to the school massacre in Texas. But the Democrat acknowledged Congress’ unyielding rejection of previous legislation to curb the national epidemic of gun violence. Schumer implored his Republican...
Reality TV’s Josh Duggar gets 12 years in child porn case
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Former reality TV star Josh Duggar was sentenced Wednesday to about 12 1/2 years in prison after he was convicted of receiving and possessing child pornography. Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks to give the maximum term of 20 years to Duggar, whose large family...
Beto O’Rourke disrupts Texas governor’s news conference on shootingVideo
UVALDE, Texas — Surrounded by fellow Republicans on a high school stage, Gov. Greg Abbott was wrapping up his opening remarks about the killing of school children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas, when Beto O’Rourke strode forward from his seat in the audience. “Gov. Abbott, I have something to say,”...
From Columbine to Robb, 169 dead in U.S. mass school shootings
Mass shooters have killed hundreds of people throughout U.S. history in realms like stores, theaters and workplaces, but it is in schools and colleges where the carnage reverberates perhaps most keenly — places filled with children of tender ages, older students aspiring to new heights and the teachers planting the...
Oz, McCormick race heads into recount in Pa. Senate primary
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top election official said Wednesday that the margin between the top two candidates in last week’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate is tight enough to trigger a statewide recount, dragging the outcome into June as the candidates fight in court. The state’s acting secretary of state, Leigh...
2 years after Floyd murder, racial trauma permeates US
Black Men Heal co-founder Zakia Williams was deeply moved as she watched a young Black man become emotional while speaking about the mental health toll the past few years have taken on him. “He said ‘I just want to play basketball without fear of getting shot, I just want to...
‘Trump is in the past’: Mounting losses show limits of power
WOODSTOCK, Ga. — Donald Trump opened May by lifting a trailing Senate candidate in Ohio to the Republican nomination, seemingly cementing the former president’s kingmaker status before another possible White House run. He’s ending the month, however, stinging from a string of defeats that suggests a diminishing stature. Trump faced...
Blast in Kabul mosque, IS bombs in north Afghanistan kill 14
ISLAMABAD — A series of explosions shook Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Taliban said, including a blast inside a mosque in the capital of Kabul that killed at least five worshippers and three bombings of minivans in the country’s north that killed nine passengers. The Islamic State group’s local affiliate claimed...
Long covid affects more older adults; shots don’t prevent it
New U.S. research on long covid-19 provides fresh evidence that it can happen even after breakthrough infections in vaccinated people, and that older adults face higher risks for the long-term effects. In a study of veterans published Wednesday, about one-third who had breakthrough infections showed signs of long covid. A...
U.K.’s Johnson faulted for lockdown parties but won’t quit
LONDON — An investigative report released Wednesday blamed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other senior leaders for allowing boozy government parties that broke the U.K.’s covid-19 lockdown rules, and while Johnson said he took “full responsibility” for the breaches, he insisted he would not resign. Revelations that Johnson and...
Pennsylvania reports 29K new covid cases in past week; deaths at same rate as last month
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health released its weekly update on covid-19, reporting 29,227 new cases in the past week. While the overall number of cases rose 4.8% from May 18 to 24, the growth of new cases week over week dropped significantly. From May 11 to 18, the...
Turkish foreign minister makes rare visit to Israel as nations mend ties
JERUSALEM — Turkey’s foreign minister visited Israel on Wednesday as part of ongoing efforts to improve ties between the two countries, which have often been bitterly divided in recent years over Turkey’s support for the Palestinians. Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the first official visit to Israel by a Turkish official in...
Last known survivor of WWII POW massacre dead at 99
MOUNT JOY — Harold Billow, 99, the last known survivor of a World War II POW massacre during the Battle of the Bulge, will be laid to rest Thursday in Pennsylvania. Billow, who died May 17, was attached to the Army’s 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion when his unit surrendered...
UN official urges world not to forget Rohingya refugees
DHAKA, Bangladesh — The head of the U.N. refugee agency urged the international community on Wednesday not to forget more than 1 million Rohingya refugees who are living in sprawling camps in Bangladesh after fleeing from neighboring Myanmar. Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said he visited...
Texas school shooting live updates: Gunman sent Facebook messages before shooting
UVALDE, Texas — A Facebook spokesman says messages posted by the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school were private. Andy Stone says the messages “were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy.” He says Facebook is cooperating with investigators....
Onlookers urged police to charge into Texas school
UVALDE, Texas — Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by...
School massacre continues Texas’ grim run of mass shootings
AUSTIN, Texas — Once again, one of America’s deadliest mass shootings happened in Texas. Past shootings targeted worshippers during a Sunday sermon, shoppers at a Walmart, students on a high school campus and drivers on a highway. Among the latest victims were 19 children and two teachers in the small...
