Fetterman says he’s ready to return to lieutenant governor duties
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman said in a letter to state legislators Wednesday that he is ready to return to his duties in Pennsylvania’s second-highest elected office, a day after undergoing a procedure to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator in his chest. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman will continue...
Global pollution kills 9 million people a year, study findsVideo
A new study blames pollution of all types for 9 million deaths a year globally, with the death toll attributed to dirty air from cars, trucks and industry rising 55% since 2000. That increase is offset by fewer pollution deaths from primitive indoor stoves and water contaminated with human and...
After Buffalo massacre, NY governor seeks action on guns
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York would require state police to seek court orders to keep guns away from people who might pose a threat to themselves or others under a package of executive orders and gun control bills touted Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul in the aftermath of a racist...
‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli freed from prison for halfway house
NEW YORK — Convicted pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was freed Wednesday from prison after serving much of a seven-year prison sentence for lying to hedge fund investors and cheating investors in a drug company. His attorney, Ben Brafman, said Shkreli, 39, was released early from a prison in Allenwood, Pa....
Officials say more areas of U.S. may see mask recommendations
WASHINGTON — Covid-19 cases are increasing in the United States – and could get even worse over the coming months, federal health officials warned Wednesday in urging areas hardest hit to consider reissuing calls for indoor masking. Increasing numbers of covid-19 infections and hospitalizations are putting more of the country...
UN envoy: U.S. sanctions on Iran worsen humanitarian situation
TEHRAN, Iran — Sweeping U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran have badly impacted the country’s economy and worsened the humanitarian situation in the Persian Gulf nation, a United Nations special envoy said Wednesday. According to Alena Douhan, the U.N. special rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, the sanctions have affected Iran’s main...
Ex-cop pleads guilty to manslaughter in George Floyd killing
MINNEAPOLIS — A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd. As part of the plea deal, Thomas Lane will have a count of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder dismissed. Lane and former Officers...
Interrogation, uncertainty for surrendering Mariupol troops
KYIV, Ukraine — Nearly 1,000 last-ditch Ukrainian fighters who had held out inside Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant have surrendered, Russia said Wednesday, as the battle that turned the city into a worldwide symbol of defiance and suffering drew toward a close. Meanwhile, the first captured Russian soldier to be put...
Russian soldier pleads guilty at Ukraine war crimes trial
KYIV, Ukraine — A 21-year-old Russian soldier facing the first war crimes trial since Moscow invaded Ukraine pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing an unarmed civilian. Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin could get life in prison for shooting a a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in the...
Exiled Russian director returns to Cannes, decries war
CANNES, France — The last two times the Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov had films playing at the Cannes Film Festival, he couldn’t attend. He was under a travel ban in Russia as part of a conviction for fraud in what was widely protested as unwarranted repression of the arts in...
Pennsylvania covid update: 27K cases reported for week
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health released its weekly update on covid-19, showing an additional 27,391 infections in the past seven days. The state is recording new cases of the virus at levels not seen since mid-February. The latest report shows new cases increased 23% over the previous week’s...
Oz, McCormick still neck and neck in Pa. GOP Senate primary
HARRISBURG — Heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick went into Wednesday essentially tied in Pennsylvania’s hotly contested Republican nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat, expected to be among the nation’s most competitive races in the fall. The contest was within a couple...
Pakistan Taliban extend truce for more talks with government
ISLAMABAD — The Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday said they are extending a cease-fire with the government until May 30, after the two sides held an initial round of talks in neighboring Afghanistan. In a statement, Mohammad Khurasani, the spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan said the talks were being facilitated by Afghanistan’s...
In Ukraine, limbs lost and lives devastated in an instant
KYIV, Ukraine — There is a cost to war — to the countries that wage it, to the soldiers who fight it, to the civilians who endure it. For nations, territory is gained and lost, and sometimes regained and lost again. But some losses are permanent. Lives lost can never...
Egypt: Mubarak son says family clear of corruption charges
CAIRO — The son of Egypt’s former president said Tuesday that he and family members were innocent of corruption charges made in international courts after the country’s 2011 popular uprising, after courts last month in Switzerland and the European Union ruled in the family’s favor. The announcement by Gamal Mubarak,...
‘They belong here’: Ukrainian nuns take in dozens displaced by war
HOSHIV, Ukraine — In high, tremulous voices, the Sisters of the Holy Family were chanting their midday prayers when a child’s gleeful shout echoed from a nearby corridor, punctuating the solemn incantation. The Ukrainian nuns didn’t miss a beat. At this quiet monastery in the green foothills of the Carpathian...
Man who provided drugs to Mac Miller sentenced to 17½ years
LOS ANGELES — A man who pleaded guilty to distributing narcotics that led to the death of rapper Mac Miller has been sentenced to 17½ years in prison. Stephen Andrew Walter, who is about 50, had agreed to a plea agreement last year to serve 17 years. But U.S. District...
Utah boy dies from being buried under sand dune at state park
SALT LAKE CITY — A 13-year-old Utah boy has died from his injuries a day after a sand dune he was digging in collapsed and buried him at a state park, officials said. The boy had been digging a tunnel into the dune at southern Utah’s Coral Pink Sand Dunes...
McKeesport’s Austin Davis wins Democratic primary for lieutenant governor; DelRosso out to early lead in GOP race
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Democrats gave their nominee for governor his choice for second-in-command on Tuesday, selecting state Rep. Austin Davis to be their lieutenant governor candidate in the fall election. Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democrats’ choice for governor, had endorsed Davis over state Rep. Brian Sims, who ran an...
Madison Cawthorn concedes to Chuck Edwards in North Carolina primary
RALEIGH, N.C. — First-term U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn conceded his Republican primary race Tuesday to state Sen. Chuck Edwards, ousting the pro-Donald Trump firebrand from Congress after his personal and political blunders translated into constituent unhappiness. Cawthorn called Edwards to concede the 11th Congressional District primary to Edwards, Cawthorn campaign...
Doug Mastriano wins GOP nomination for Pennsylvania governor
HARRISBURG — Doug Mastriano won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor on Tuesday, beating eight other candidates and a party establishment that had tried to head off his nomination over fears that he is too extreme to win the general election in the presidential battleground. Mastriano, a retired U.S. Army...
Bill Cosby lawyers cry foul as civil sex assault trial looms
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — With jury selection less than a week away, attorneys scrambled to deal with shifting evidence Tuesday in Bill Cosby’s civil trial over allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl at the Playboy mansion nearly 50 years ago. Plaintiff Judy Huth said in a recent court...
Girlfriend: Dallas shooting suspect feared Asian Americans
DALLAS — The girlfriend of a man arrested Tuesday in a shooting that wounded three women of Asian descent in a hair salon in Dallas’ Koreatown told police that he has delusions that Asian Americans are trying to harm him, an arrest warrant affidavit states. Jeremy Smith faces three charges...
Fetterman headed toward Democratic nomination in U.S. Senate race
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman jumped out to a commanding lead for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race, but he didn’t get to enjoy the moment alongside supporters. As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of State was reporting that Braddock’s Fetterman had collected 58.96% of the...
John Fetterman wins Senate primary after stroke
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has won the state’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate just days after suffering a stroke. The 52-year-old Fetterman defeated U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta on Tuesday to advance to November’s general election. He will face the winner of a...
