‘I just need a space to cry.’ How hospitals have set up places where nurses can recharge
MIAMI — Caring for very sick children daily can be emotionally taxing, even for professionals with years of experience. As front-line workers who also support grieving parents, nurses often cope with chronic stress. To help support their nurses, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital recently created two serenity spaces in the oncology and...
Harvard report brings joy, grief for descendants of enslaved
BOSTON — Egypt Lloyd couldn’t hold back tears when she saw the names — her ancestors, Tony, Cuba and Darby — in a study chronicling Harvard University’s involvement in America’s slave trade. Lloyd grew up nearby, in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, but her family learned only recently of ancestors who were...
Survey: Americans increasingly see China as a threat
BEIJING — Americans are increasingly seeing China as a world superpower and a threat, though growing numbers perceive it more as a competitor than an enemy, according to a survey released Thursday. The Washington-based Pew Research Center said that negative views of China reached a new high, with 82% of...
Explosions rock Kyiv again as Russians rain fire on Ukraine
IRPIN, Ukraine — Russia pounded targets from practically one end of Ukraine to the other Thursday, including Kyiv, bombarding the city while the head of the United Nations was visiting in the boldest attack on the capital since Moscow’s forces retreated weeks ago. Several people were wounded in the attack...
4 leading GOP governor candidates look for ways to differentiate themselves in latest debate
The four leading Republican primary candidates for governor agreed on the questions they faced in an hourlong debate Wednesday night inside the WHTM/abc27 studio in Harrisburg, so much of the time was spent trying to separate themselves from their opponents. State Sen. Doug Mastriano took frequent jabs at Tom Wolf...
Moderna seeks to be 1st with covid shots for littlest kids
Moderna on Thursday asked U.S. regulators to authorize low doses of its covid-19 vaccine for children younger than 6, a long-awaited move toward potentially opening shots for millions of tots by summer. Frustrated families are waiting impatiently for a chance to protect the nation’s littlest kids as all around them...
Democratic lawmaker: Biden suggests he’ll ease student loan burden
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has signaled he might forgive some student loan debt and further extend the federal moratorium on repayments, a lawmaker who discussed the issue with him said Wednesday. The White House was notably more measured about Biden’s stance, but such moves would be a boon to...
Trump administration’s $700 million loan to trucking company under fire in Congress
WASHINGTON — Federal officials Wednesday were asked to investigate whether an Overland Park, Kan., trucking company broke federal law when securing a $700 million loan through a federal pandemic aid program — a sum that accounted for 95% of the money allocated to the program. South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn...
Federal judge halts preparations for end of U.S. asylum limits
NEW ORLEANS — The Biden administration must stop what amounts to the phasing out a pandemic-related public health rule allowing the expulsion of migrants without giving them an opportunity to seek asylum, a federal judge in Louisiana ruled Wednesday. The administration plans to end the policy outright on May 23....
Top GOP candidate for Pa. governor campaigned at an event promoting QAnon and conspiracy theories about 9/11
When candidates for public office indulge in conspiracy theories like QAnon, it’s often with a wink and a nod. But just weeks before Pennsylvania’s primary election, such ideas are being promoted in plain sight. And high-profile Republican candidates for statewide office are treating talk of a “global satanic blood cult”...
Bond set at $1M for teen accused of killing 10-year-old Wisconsin girl
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. — A judge set a $1 million cash bond Wednesday for a 14-year-old boy prosecutors say fatally strangled and then sexually assaulted a 10-year-old western Wisconsin girl. The boy, who authorities say was known to the victim, Illiana “Lily” Peters, appeared in adult court in Chippewa County...
Josh Shapiro’s vast donor base has positioned him to enter general election campaign flush with cash
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 — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro has raised nearly $18 million in campaign contributions over the past 15 months —...
One-fifth of reptiles worldwide face risk of extinction
Even the king cobra is “vulnerable.” More than 1 in 5 species of reptiles worldwide are threatened with extinction, according to a comprehensive new assessment of thousands of species published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Of 10,196 reptile species analyzed, 21% percent were classified as endangered, critically endangered or vulnerable...
McCarthy defends Jan. 6 audio, House GOP backs ‘next speaker’
WASHINGTON — House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy assured colleagues Wednesday he never asked then-President Donald Trump to resign over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, defending private conversations that have spilled into the open and jeopardized his leadership. It was McCarthy’s first face-to-face meeting with House Republicans amid...
Fauci: ‘Pandemic phase’ over for U.S., but covid still hereVideo
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday the coronavirus is under better control in the United States. but the pandemic isn’t over — and the challenge is how to keep improving the situation. “We are in a different moment of the pandemic,” said Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, in an...
Post-Floyd probe finds discrimination by Minneapolis police
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minneapolis Police Department has engaged in a pattern of race discrimination, according to the findings released Wednesday of a two-year investigation by the state’s Department of Human Rights launched after George Floyd was killed by a city police officer. The report said the department will...
Police union backs Michigan officer in Patrick Lyoya killing
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The union representing police officers in a Michigan city is defending the officer who shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head. The Grand Rapids Police Officers Association called Lyoya’s death “tragic” but said an “officer has the legal right to protect themselves and community...
Georgia tax cut could hit $2 billion, but maybe not by 2029
BONAIRE, Ga. — A major state income tax cut signed by Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp as he seeks reelection could eventually total more than $2 billion, but the reductions may only happen by a 2029 target date if state revenue holds up. For Kemp, Tuesday’s signing was a tax-cutting...
Russia cuts off gas to 2 NATO nations in bid to divide West
POKROVSK, Ukraine — Russia cut off natural gas to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday and threatened to do the same to other countries, using its most essential export in what was seen as a bid to punish and divide the West over its support for Ukraine. The move,...
Fruity near-miss for France’s Macron, targeted by tomatoes
PARIS — Newly reelected French President Emmanuel Macron narrowly avoided being pelted by what looked like a small sackful of cherry tomatoes Wednesday as he waded through a boisterous and packed crowd in a market northwest of Paris. About six of the small fruits, some orange, some red, contained in...
Russia releases U.S. Marine vet as part of prisoner exchange
WASHINGTON — Russia and the United States have carried out a dramatic prisoner exchange, trading a Marine veteran jailed in Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in America, both countries announced Wednesday. The surprise deal involving Trevor Reed, an American jailed for nearly three...
Court says U.K.’s nursing home covid-19 policy was illegal
LONDON — A British court ruled Wednesday that the government’s decision to discharge hospital patients into nursing homes without testing them for covid-19, which led to thousands of deaths early in the pandemic, was illegal. Two High Court judges said the policy from March and April 2020 was unlawful because...
Researchers: Covid, Israel-Gaza war fueled antisemitism
JERUSALEM — The coronavrius pandemic and Israel’s overwhelming force during the Gaza war helped fuel a worldwide spike in antisemitism last year, Israeli researchers reported on Wednesday. The prominence of political extremism and the reach of social media also may have intensified the ancient phenomenon of scapegoating Jews in recent...
Los Angeles sheriff investigates how reporter obtained leaked videoVideo
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County sheriff on Tuesday disputed allegations he orchestrated a cover-up of an incident where a deputy knelt on a handcuffed inmate’s head and said a Los Angeles Times reporter who used leaked documents and video to first report on the case is part of...
Billions in surplus have Pennsylvania lawmakers thinking business tax cut
HARRISBURG — Hundreds of millions of dollars in business profit tax cuts passed the Republican-majority state House on Tuesday, and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said he was optimistic a final deal can be struck in the coming months. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly for a bill that would reduce the corporate net...
