Conservative strategies for a post-Roe world face roadblock
Republican lawmakers in a handful of conservative states have stumbled on a roadblock to what they thought would be a clear path to setting new restrictions on abortion if the Supreme Court upends the landmark Roe v. Wade decision: right-to-privacy protections enshrined in their own state constitutions. In states where...
Helicopter crashes into ocean near Miami Beach swimmers
MIAMI — A helicopter crashed Saturday into the ocean waters off Miami Beach, plummeting a few feet away from swimmers in a crowded stretch popular among tourists, officials said. Two passengers were taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition, and no one else appeared to be injured. The Miami...
Last Afghan refugees leave N.J. base after chaotic evacuation
WASHINGTON — The last of thousands of Afghan refugees who awaited resettlement at eight U.S. military installations departed Saturday from a base in New Jersey, completing a journey that started with the chaotic evacuation from Kabul in August. With assistance from refugee resettlement organizations, Afghans evacuated after their country fell...
Actor Lindsey Pearlman found dead after going missing in L.A.
LOS ANGELES — Actor Lindsey Erin Pearlman, who had roles in “General Hospital,” “American Housewife” and other shows, was found dead days after she was reported missing in Los Angeles, authorities said. Investigators had sought the public’s help in finding Pearlman, 43, who was last seen around noon last Sunday,...
Modeling agent close to Jeffrey Epstein found dead in French jail
PARIS — A modeling agent who was close to disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead Saturday in his French jail cell, where he was being held in an investigation into the rape and sex trafficking of minors, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Victims of the alleged abuse...
Plea deal reached in Conneaut Lake boat mishap case
A plea deal was reached Friday in Crawford County Court of Common Pleas in connection with a Conneaut Lake boating mishap that caused $200,000 in damages last year. Two of four summary violation convictions were appealed to county court by Mario DeBlasio. At a hearing Dec. 9, 2021, DeBlasio, 56,...
EU chief: Russia could be cut off from markets, tech goods
MUNICH — Moscow would have its access to financial markets and high-tech goods limited under Western sanctions being prepared in case Russia attacks Ukraine, a top European Union official said Saturday. The comments from Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU’s Executive Commission, came as tensions over Russia’s intentions...
State officials: Bird flu found at 4th Indiana turkey farm
INDIANAPOLIS — Avian influenza has been detected in a fourth commercial poultry flock in southern Indiana, state officials said Saturday. Laboratory testing of a second commercial flock of turkeys in Greene County has come back as presumptively positive for the virus, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health said. The samples...
Dems, GOP set inflation, covid mandates as election themes
WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans each want to flash election-year signals that they are riding to the rescue of families struggling with rising costs and the 2-year-old coronavirus pandemic. Not surprisingly, the parties differ over how to do that. And in comments and votes in the Senate last week, each...
Hundreds of rodents found inside Family Dollar facility
WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — More than 1,000 rodents were found inside a Family Dollar distribution facility in Arkansas, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday as the chain issued a voluntary recall affecting items purchased from hundreds of stores in the South. A consumer complaint prompted officials to inspect...
Rehabilitated sea turtle Sheldon released off Florida Keys
MARATHON, Fla. — Just in time for sea turtle mating season in the Florida Keys, a rehabilitated male loggerhead turtle was released Friday off Pigeon Key. Sheldon, named by his U.S. Coast Guard rescuers, was discovered earlier this month near the Old Seven Mile Bridge. The 230-pound reptile was rehabilitated...
Biden is ‘convinced’ Putin has decided to invade Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday that he is “convinced” Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine, including an assault on the capital, as tensions spiked along the militarized border with attacks that the West called “false-flag” operations meant to establish a pretext for invasion....
Judge rejects effort by Trump to toss Jan. 6 lawsuits
A federal judge on Friday rejected efforts by former President Donald Trump to toss out conspiracy lawsuits filed by lawmakers and two Capitol police officers, saying in his ruling that the former president’s words “plausibly” may have led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta...
White House accuses Russia of cyberattacks targeting Ukraine
The White House blamed Russia on Friday for recent cyberattacks targeting Ukraine’s defense ministry and major banks. The announcement from Anne Neuberger, the White House’s chief cyber official, was the most pointed attribution of responsibility for cyberattacks that unfolded as tensions escalate between Russia and Ukraine. The attacks this week,...
Biden signs stopgap spending bill averting shutdown
President Joe Biden on Friday signed a bipartisan bill to extend government funding for three weeks to give Congress more time to reach an overdue deal financing federal agencies through the rest of the fiscal year, the White House announced. The Senate approved the measure Thursday by a bipartisan 65-27...
National Archives: Trump took classified items to Mar-a-Lago
Classified information was found in the 15 boxes of White House records that were stored at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, the National Archives and Records Administration said Friday in a letter that confirmed the matter has been sent to the Justice Department. The letter from the agency follows...
NYC mayor pushes to remove homeless people in subway system
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is making an aggressive push to try to remove homeless people from the city’s sprawling subway system, announcing a plan to start barring people from sleeping on trains or riding the same lines all night. The new mayor, at one point likening homelessness to...
Police rule out foul play in death of Penn State student who fell down trash chute at a State College apartment
State College police ruled out foul play in the November death of the Penn State student who plunged 11 stories down a trash chute at her off-campus apartment, the department wrote in a statement Thursday. Neither the borough police department nor the Centre County Coroner’s Office gathered any evidence that...
California bill would allow citizens to enforce weapons ban
A new bill in California would allow private citizens go after gun makers in the same way Texas lets them target abortion providers. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday backed legislation that would let private citizens enforce the state’s ban on assault weapons. It’s modeled after a Texas law that lets...
Stranded truck drivers pulled from burning Greek ferry
Rescue specialists boarded a burning ferry in Greece to free two truck drivers who had been stranded inside the vessel for more than 15 hours Friday, but hope was fading for 11 others were reported missing. The rescuers descended from a helicopter onto the ship through thick clouds of smoke...
At least 4 more deaths as 2nd major storm hits north Europe
The second major storm in three days smashed through northern Europe on Friday, killing at least four people as high winds felled trees, cancelled train services and ripped sections off the roof of London’s O2 Arena. The U.K. weather service said a gust provisionally measured at 122 mph, thought to...
Pennsylvania high court eyes how to pick House districts map
Ranks of lawyers packed the courtroom of Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court on Friday, with most of them aiming to persuade justices to pick their clients’ preferred map of new congressional districts for the state and reject a Republican-backed map recommended by a lower court judge. Oral arguments were on course...
Pennsylvania man accused of torturing employee in Iraq
A Pennsylvania man is accused of torturing an employee in Iraq after the worker raised concerns about a project to produce weapons parts in that country, federal prosecutors said. Under a superseding indictment returned Tuesday, federal authorities accused Ross Roggio, 53, of Stroudsburg, with suffocating the victim with a belt,...
A mild U.S. flu season is waning, but is it really over?
This winter’s mild flu season has faded to a trickle of cases in much of the U.S., but health officials aren’t ready to call it over. Since the beginning of the year, positive flu test results and doctor’s office visits for flu-like illness are down. But second waves of influenza...
Kim Potter sentenced to 2 years in Daunte Wright’s death
Kim Potter, the former suburban Minneapolis police officer who said she confused her handgun for her Taser when she fatally shot Daunte Wright, was sentenced Friday to two years in prison. Wright’s family denounced the sentence as too lenient and accused the judge of being taken in by a “white...
