What to watch for in Gov. Wolf’s budget proposal
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf will pitch his eighth and last budget proposal to lawmakers Tuesday, as the Democrat pushes Republicans to spend more federal pandemic relief aid now and Wolf looks to cement his public school legacy by securing a big boost in state aid. The state’s bank accounts...
AP investigation: Women’s prison fostered culture of abuse
WASHINGTON — Inside one of the only federal women’s prisons in the United States, inmates say they have been subjected to rampant sexual abuse by correctional officers and even the warden, and were often threatened or punished when they tried to speak up. Prisoners and workers at the federal correctional...
Black worker at Confederate site raises race complaint
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama welcomes visitors at the “First White House of the Confederacy,” a historic home next to the state Capitol where Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived with his family in the early months of the Civil War. The museum managed by the state’s Department of Finance says it...
Off-duty NYPD officer shot in Manhattan; 7th shot this year
NEW YORK — An off-duty New York City police officer was shot in the left foot Saturday as he was leaving a vigil at a Manhattan community center, police said. It was the seventh time an NYPD officer has been shot this year. The shooting happened around 4:30 p.m. near...
Officials: Russia at 70% of Ukraine military buildup
WASHINGTON — Russia has assembled at least 70 percent of the military firepower it likely intends to have in place by mid-month to give President Vladimir Putin the option of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials say. The officials, who discussed internal assessments of the Russian buildup on...
Morocco’s king says boy, 5, trapped in deep well has died
IGHRAN, Morocco — A 5-year-old boy who was trapped for four days in a deep well in Morocco has died, the royal palace said Saturday. Moroccan King Mohammed VI expressed his condolences to the boy’s parents in a statement released by the palace. The boy, Rayan, was pulled out Saturday...
Waffle House shooter receives life in prison without parole
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A man who shot and killed four people at a Nashville Waffle House in 2018 received a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on Saturday. Jurors handed down the penalty for 33-year-old Travis Reinking after hearing about two hours of testimony from family members...
Amir Locke, killed by Minneapolis cop, wanted music career
Before he was fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer, Amir Locke had been making plans. The 22-year-old Black man had filed paperwork to start a music business, his mother said, and had already designed a logo. Next week, he planned to move to Dallas, where he would be closer...
Police: 2 killed, 2 hurt in shooting in Milwaukee suburb
BROWN DEER, Wis. — Two people were killed and two more were injured in a shooting at an apartment complex in the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer on Saturday morning, police said. Brown Deer Police Chief Peter Nimmer said during a news conference early Saturday afternoon that one of the...
A year after Trump purge, ‘alt-tech’ offers far-right refuge
Philip Anderson is no fan of online content moderation. His conservative posts have gotten him kicked off Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Two years ago, Anderson organized a “free speech” protest against the big tech companies. A counterprotester knocked his teeth out. But even Anderson was repulsed by some of the...
Police: 1 dead, 4 injured in shooting at Virginia hookah bar
BLACKSBURG, Va. — One person was killed and another four people were injured during a shooting at a hookah lounge in Virginia, authorities said. The Blacksburg Police Department said officers responded to reports of shots fired at Melody Hookah Lounge in downtown Blacksburg on Friday just before midnight. Police did...
Final Pa. legislative maps approved by redistricting panel, but legal challenges likely
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — A state panel Friday approved Pennsylvania’s new legislative district maps,...
New map of Pennsylvania legislative districts approved
HARRISBURG — The five-member commission redrawing the boundaries of Pennsylvania’s state legislative districts voted Friday to approve new maps for the next decade, with a focus on the state’s fast-growing Latino population that could change the face of the predominantly white House and Senate. The Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted 4-1...
School lunch rules updated to help ease pandemic disruptions
Low-fat chocolate milk instead of only non-fat. Fewer whole-grain offerings. Less severe salt limits. The Biden administration issued transitional standards for school lunches Friday that are meant to ease the path for cafeterias to get back on a more healthful course as they recover from pandemic and supply chain disruptions....
Pentagon: Deadly Afghan airport attack was not preventable
The military investigation into the deadly attack during the Afghanistan evacuation has concluded that a suicide bomber, carrying 20 pounds of explosives packed with ball bearings, acted alone, and that the deaths of more than 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were not preventable. The blast at Abbey Gate...
Pence: Trump is ‘wrong’ to say election could be overturned
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday directly rebutted Donald Trump’s false claims that Pence somehow could have overturned the results of the 2020 election, saying that the former president was simply “wrong.” In a speech to the conservative Federalist Society in Florida, Pence addressed Trump’s intensifying efforts this week...
Yacht reportedly built for Jeff Bezos is too big for Dutch bridge
A giant, $500 million yacht reportedly being built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos faces a delivery problem: It may require dismantling a beloved, historic bridge in Rotterdam that is blocking its passage to the sea. Reports this week that the Dutch city had already agreed to take apart the recently...
Michael Avenatti convicted of stealing from Stormy Daniels
NEW YORK — Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of cheating porn actor Stormy Daniels out of nearly $300,000 she was supposed to get for writing a book about an alleged tryst with former President Donald Trump. Avenatti, who acted as his own lawyer, stared straight ahead as the guilty verdicts...
GOP censures Cheney, Kinzinger, moves to pull out of debates
Republican Party officials on Friday voted to punish GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their work on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection and advanced a rule change that would prohibit candidates from participating in debates organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates. GOP officials took...
Lethal U.S. raid on IS encounters a doll, crib, bomb, bullets
When helicopters carrying some 50 U.S. commandos thumped onto the ground in Syria an hour after midnight, the raiders confronted a houseful of extremists and children. Baby comforts were inside — a stuffed bunny, a blue plastic swing, a crib. So was the paraphernalia of violence — such as the...
Covid falling in 49 of 50 states as deaths near 900,000
With the brutal omicron wave rapidly loosening its grip, new cases of covid-19 in the U.S. are falling in 49 of 50 states, even as the nation’s death toll closes in on another bleak round number: 900,000. The number of lives lost to the pandemic in the U.S. stood at...
GOP’s Pennsylvania election inquiry: Courts, conspiracies and more costs
A Republican inquiry into Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election inspired by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud has spawned several court cases as it expands into multiple courses of inquiry, grows in cost and shows signs it will drag well into 2022. The Republican pursuit has received a...
Val Arkoosh ends Senate campaign amid tough Democratic field
Val Arkoosh, a trained anesthesiologist who chairs the board of Pennsylvania’s third-most-populous county, on Friday ended her campaign for U.S. Senate, leaving a tough Democratic Party primary field. In a video message, Arkoosh stressed the importance of a Democrat winning the Senate seat being vacated by retiring two-term Republican Sen....
Congress questions independence of NFL’s Washington probe
An investigation into sexual harassment of women employed by Washington’s NFL franchise was not as independent as the team and the league claimed, members of Congress said Friday. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform released documents that showed the league and the team, now known as the Commanders, agreed...
UK’s Boris Johnson ends week of turmoil in weakened position
This was the week British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hoped to get a grip on his government after weeks of scandal. By Friday, he was struggling to hang on after a scathing report on lockdown-breaching parties and the departure of several top aides. Johnson was rocked Thursday by the resignation...
