Sotheby’s selling art treasures from divorced couple’s trove
Artworks by Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol and other modern masters are going up for auction in a sale ordered by a U.S. court as part of a billionaire couple’s acrimonious divorce. Sotheby’s auction house announced Friday that it will offer 30 works from the Macklowe Collection on May...
Senate sends Biden bill averting federal shutdown
The Senate gave final approval Thursday to legislation averting a weekend government shutdown, sending President Joe Biden a measure designed to give bipartisan bargainers more time to reach an overdue deal financing federal agencies until fall. Final passage was by a bipartisan 65-27 vote, five more than the 60 votes...
Nearly half of U.S. bald eagles suffer lead poisoning
America’s national bird is more beleaguered than previously believed, with nearly half of bald eagles tested across the U.S. showing signs of chronic lead exposure, according to a study published Thursday. While the bald eagle population has rebounded from the brink of extinction since the U.S. banned the pesticide DDT...
Israeli strawberry clocks in as world’s heaviest on record
KADIMA-ZORAN, Israel — After a year-long jam, a mammoth Israeli strawberry is entering the record books. Weighing a whopping 10.19 ounces, more than half a pound, the titanic berry this week was declared the world’s largest by Guinness World Records. The strawberry was picked on Chahi Ariel’s family farm near...
Miners, families testify against bill to ax injury benefits
Jonathan Barber was 29 years old with an infant son when injuries he received on the job in a West Virginia coal mine left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Barber was struck between his shoulder blades by an unstable brow at a mine in April 2017. He lay buried...
‘Candy Bomber’ who dropped sweets during Berlin airlift dies
U.S. military pilot Gail S. Halvorsen — known as the “Candy Bomber” for his candy airdrops during the Berlin airlift after World War II ended — has died at age 101. Halvorsen died Wednesday following a brief illness in his home state of Utah, surrounded by most of his children,...
Biden moves to reverse Trump-era limits on green cards
SAN DIEGO — The Biden administration on Thursday proposed reversing a rule that denies green cards to applicants who receive certain government benefits, one of former President Donald Trump’s signature moves to limit legal immigration. The administration stopped applying the more expansive Trump-era limits in March, making the announcement more...
Truckers in Canada hold their ground despite threats of crackdown
OTTAWA, Ontario — Hundreds of truckers clogging the streets of Canada’s capital stood their ground and defiantly blasted their horns Thursday as police poured in, threatening to break up the nearly three-week protest against the country’s covid-19 restrictions. Busloads of police arrived near Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, and workers put up...
No new settlement yet of opioid claims against Purdue Pharma
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and a group of states have not been able to agree on a multibillion-dollar settlement of lawsuits over the drug’s role in the opioid crisis after more than a month of mediation. A mediator could call for still more talks between the parties, Purdue lawyer Marshall...
Estimated 73% of U.S. now immune to omicron: Is that enough?
The omicron wave that assaulted the United States this winter also bolstered its defenses, leaving enough protection against the coronavirus that future spikes will likely require much less — if any — dramatic disruption to society. Millions of individual Americans’ immune systems now recognize the virus and are primed to...
Arbery not seen stealing, cop told hate crime defendants
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A police officer testified Thursday that he told a white father and son on trial for hate crimes in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery there was no evidence the 25-year-old Black man had stolen anything after security cameras recorded him wandering inside a home under construction several...
Trump must testify in New York investigation, judge rules
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into his business practices, a judge ruled Thursday. Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., to comply with subpoenas issued in December by New...
In Latin America’s new Cold War, will China lift up autocrats?
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador’s president and the Chinese ambassador traded flatteries this month as they broke ground on a new national library, one of a slew of gifts China has promised this small mountainous nation as part of its vigorous quest to gain influence across Central America....
Brazil mudslide death toll is at 113, police say 116 missing
PETROPOLIS, Brazil — The death toll from floods and landslides that swept down on the mountain city of Petropolis rose to at least 113 on Thursday and local officials said it could still rise sharply, with 116 more still unaccounted for. The Rio de Janeiro state government confirmed the rising...
As virus surged, few Pa. schools signed up for free covid-19 testing
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 — Nearly six months into the school year, the majority of Pennsylvania schools have not opted into a free, on-site...
Experts see avocado price rise, damage to Mexican producers
MEXICO CITY — Experts say you may be paying more for your avocado toast in the short term, and the effects of the U.S. temporary ban on imports of the fruit is already being felt by avocado pickers in Mexico. Mexico is negotiating security guarantees for U.S. inspectors who certify...
‘The brand is so toxic’: Democrats fear extinction in rural U.S.
SMETHPORT — Some Democrats here in rural Pennsylvania are afraid to tell you they’re Democrats. The party’s brand is so toxic in the small towns 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh that some liberals have removed bumper stickers and yard signs and refuse to acknowledge their party affiliation publicly. These Democrats...
More virus rules fall as CDC hints at better times ahead
The nation’s leading health officials said Wednesday that the U.S. is moving closer to the point that covid-19 is no longer a “constant crisis” as more cities, businesses and sports venues began lifting pandemic restrictions around the country. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during...
How American cash for Canada protests could sway U.S. politics
WASHINGTON — The Canadians who have disrupted travel and trade with the U.S. and occupied downtown Ottawa for nearly three weeks have been cheered and funded by American right-wing activists and conservative politicians who also oppose vaccine mandates and the country’s liberal leader. Yet whatever impact the protests have on...
Biden: Russian threat to invade Ukraine is still ‘very high’
Fears of a new war in Europe resurged Thursday as U.S. President Joe Biden warned that Russia could invade Ukraine within days, and violence spiked in a long-running standoff in eastern Ukraine that some worried could provide the spark for wider conflict. World dignitaries raced for solutions, but suspicions between...
FAA head to resign; had tried to rebuild agency’s reputation
The leader of the Federal Aviation Administration, whose agency has been criticized for its oversight of Boeing and handling of questions surrounding 5G interference with aircraft, said Wednesday he will step down March 31. Stephen Dickson, a former pilot and executive with Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, had led the...
Crews end search for missing cruise traveler in Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a cruise ship passenger who jumped from her balcony into the sea and is missing in the Gulf of Mexico. An airplane had been conducting search patterns off the coast, but Coast Guard officials said Thursday night that the search had...
Plane crashes into tractor-trailer on North Carolina highway
LEXINGTON, N.C. — An airplane crashed into a tractor-trailer on Wednesday on a North Carolina highway, killing the pilot and sparking a small fire, the N.C. State Highway Patrol said. The Federal Aviation Administration said a twin-engine Beechcraft Barron crashed into the tractor-trailer on Interstate 85 South, near the Davidson...
GOP-led Arizona Senate OKs huge school voucher expansion
PHOENIX — Arizona’s Republican-controlled Senate approved a massive expansion of the state’s school voucher system on Wednesday, a contentious proposal the sponsor says is aimed at low-income students but that also adds wealthier parents who could use public money to pay for private schools. The measure would make as many...
Florida House OKs budget that punishes mask mandate schools
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — School districts that ignored Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order banning mask mandates will face a $200 million penalty under a budget bill passed Wednesday by the Florida House. The funding stripped from those districts would be spread among the state’s other districts. Republican Rep. Randy Fine angrily...
