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...
House Jan. 6 committee wants to hear from Kevin McCarthy after new audioVideo
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol is redoubling its efforts to have GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy appear for an interview amid new revelations concerning his private conversations about the deadly attack, the chairman said Tuesday. Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the panel...
Disney tells investors Florida can’t dissolve special district without paying debt
MIAMI — As Florida legislators were rushing through passage of a bill to repeal the special district that governs Walt Disney World last week, they failed to notice an obscure provision in state law that says the state could not do what legislators were doing — unless the district’s bond...
Video: Pa. Republican candidates for U.S. Senate debateVideo
A debate between Republican candidates vying for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat was held Tuesday night and featured Kathy Barnette, Jeff Bartos, Carla Sands, George Bochoetto and Sean Gale. Spotlight PA organized the debate with its media partners The Philadelphia Inquirer, PennLIVE/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and WITF Public Media. The event,...
Nuclear chief: Russia’s Chernobyl seizure risked accidentVideo
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine — Thirty-six years after the world’s worst nuclear disaster, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that Russian troops risked causing an accident with their “very, very dangerous” seizure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Standing under an umbrella during a rain shower...
Report: N.C. Rep. Madison Cawthorn found with a loaded gun at Charlotte airportVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn was cited for having a gun at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Charlotte Douglas International Airport Tuesday morning, WSOC-TV reported. Cawthorn was stopped after agents found the North Carolina Republican congressman with a 9 mm handgun at Checkpoint D, according to the...
Explainer: Covid-19 pills must be taken within 5 days of symptoms
Newly infected covid-19 patients have two treatment options that can be taken at home. But that convenience comes with a catch: The pills have to be taken as soon as possible once symptoms appear. The challenge is getting tested, obtaining a prescription and starting the pills in a short window....
U.S. preps for even busier border amid lifting of health order
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration released a plan Tuesday to deal with an expected increase in already high numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border because of the planned lifting of a public health order that has kept people from seeking asylum — and that Republican and some Democratic lawmakers...
Wisconsin’s GOP-ordered election investigation will continue
MADISON, Wis. — The Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 election in Wisconsin that was supposed to wrap up this week will continue just as Donald Trump urged, but with no more taxpayer money to pay for it, the state’s top Republican said Tuesday. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ announcement that the...
Daily aspirin to prevent heart disease, stroke no longer recommended for people 60 and older
This might be a tough pill to swallow. People aged 60 and older are no longer recommended to take aspirin medication as a way of avoiding heart disease because of the potential health risks, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force announced Tuesday. The new stance by the leading task force...
Pennsylvania nursing home buyers would face more scrutiny under state health proposal
In the most complete revision of its nursing home rules in at least 25 years, the Pennsylvania Department of Health last month proposed new regulations that would require more scrutiny of homes’ prospective owners. For the first time, regulators would analyze the financial strength and past performance of owners —...
CDC estimates 3 in 4 kids have had coronavirus infections
NEW YORK — Three out of every four U.S. children have been infected with the coronavirus and more than half of all Americans had signs of previous infections, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers estimated in a report Tuesday. The researchers examined blood samples from more than 200,000 Americans...
