Gov. Wolf vetoes Pa. congressional map sent to him by Republicans
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 — Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed a congressional map sent to...
Democrats eye Supreme Court pick to revive 2022 prospects
Democrats stung by a series of election year failures to deliver legislative wins for their most loyal voters hope they’ll be buoyed by the prospect that President Joe Biden will name the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Justice Stephen Breyer’s pending retirement, confirmed by numerous sources...
Magistrate orders Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes jailed until trial
PLANO, Texas — The founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group must remain behind bars until he goes on trial on sedition charges arising from last year’s assault on the U.S. Capitol, a federal magistrate ruled Wednesday. Stewart Rhodes had been jailed sincehis Jan. 13 arrest on...
California lab hits milestone on long road to fusion power
With 192 lasers and temperatures more than three times hotter than the center of the sun, scientists hit — at least for a fraction of a second — a key milestone on the long road toward nearly pollution-free fusion energy. Researchers at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore...
Hospital patient without covid vaccine denied heart transplant
MENDON, Mass. — A Boston hospital is defending itself after a man’s family claimed he was denied a new heart for refusing to be vaccinated against covid-19, saying most transplant programs around the country set similar requirements to improve patients’ chances of survival. The family of D.J. Ferguson said in...
Gun rights group sues California city over liability law
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A gun rights group and a gun owner have filed a lawsuit against a California city for a newly passed ordinance requiring citizens to obtain firearm liability insurance and pay an annual fee. The National Association for Gun Rights and gun owner Mark Sikes sued San...
QAnon follower who attacked police at Capitol on Jan. 6 gets prison
A man who identified himself as a believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory was sentenced on Wednesday to three years and eight months in prison for assaulting police officers at the Capitol during last year’s riot. Nicholas Languerand called himself a patriot, but the judge who sentenced him said the...
Meet Methuselah, the oldest living aquarium fish
SAN FRANCISCO — Meet Methuselah, the fish that likes to eat fresh figs, get belly rubs and is believed to be the oldest living aquarium fish in the world. In the Bible, Methuselah was Noah’s grandfather and was said to have lived to be 969 years old. Methuselah the fish...
Democrats walk out of hearing with Florida’s surgeon generalVideo
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo moved closer to Senate confirmation Wednesday after a tense hearing where Democrats accused the state’s top doctor of evading questions on his coronavirus policies and stormed out before casting their votes. Ladapo, appointed in September by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, has drawn...
Pro-ivermectin Kansas doctor-lawmaker under investigation
TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas doctor-lawmaker who has prescribed a parasitic worm treatment for covid-19 symptoms acknowledged Wednesday that the state medical board has been investigating him since the summer of 2020. Conservative Republican state Sen. Mark Steffen disclosed the Kansas Board of Health Arts’ investigation of him during a...
Feds accuse Texas man of selling gun used to take synagogue hostages
DALLAS — A Texas man has been charged with a federal gun crime after authorities say he sold a gun to a man who held four hostages inside a Texas synagogue earlier this month before being fatally shot by the FBI, the Justice Department said Wednesday. Henry “Michael” Williams, 32,...
Covid-19 hospitalizations set record in West Virginia
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia set a pandemic record Wednesday for the number of residents hospitalized for the coronavirus. Covid-19 daily hospitalizations hit 1,043, breaking the mark of 1,012 set on Sept. 24, according to state health figures. The number of virus patients in the hospital has increased 52% over...
Los Angeles City Council approves phaseout of oil drilling
The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved a measure to ban new oil and gas wells and phase out existing ones. The council directed the city attorney to draft an ordinance to prohibit oil and gas drilling in Los Angeles, change zoning laws to make drilling illegal and study...
Biden has long been preparing for a Supreme Court pick
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has already narrowed the field for his first Supreme Court pick. Biden said as a presidential candidate that if he were given the chance to nominate someone to the court, he would make history by choosing a Black woman. And word on Wednesday that Justice...
Explainer: Who are the kids trapped in Syria prison attack?
BEIRUT — A distressing series of voice notes sent by an injured Australian teenager from a prison in northeast Syria underscores the plight of thousands of forgotten children who remain trapped in overcrowded detention facilities in Syria and Iraq. Hundreds of minors are believed to be holed up in Gweiran...
Americans’ trust in science now deeply polarized, poll shows
WASHINGTON — Republicans’ faith in science is falling as Democrats rely on it even more, with a trust gap in science and medicine widening substantially during the covid-19 pandemic, new survey data shows. It’s the largest gap in nearly five decades of polling by the General Social Survey, a widely...
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire, giving Biden his first appointment
WASHINGTON — Justice Stephen G. Breyer, the Supreme Court’s 83-year-old liberal pragmatist, plans to retire this year, clearing the way for President Joe Biden to make his first appointment to the high court. Breyer, a 1994 appointee of President Bill Clinton, is the senior member of the three-justice liberal bloc,...
Medicare posts key nursing home staffing info for consumers
WASHINGTON — Shining a light on key markers for nursing home quality, Medicare said Wednesday it is now posting details on staff turnover and weekend nurse coverage on its Care Compare website, where families can research a facility. The move by the Biden administration comes as covid-19 cases and deaths...
Rioter who wore ‘Camp Auschwitz’ sweatshirt pleads guilty
A Virginia man who wore a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt at the U.S. Capitol during last year’s riot pleaded guilty Wednesday to joining the mob of people who stormed the building. Photographs of Robert Keith Packer wearing the sweatshirt with the anti-Semitic message went viral after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection....
Herschel Walker reports $5.4M raised for Georgia Senate race
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Herschel Walker raised $5.4 million for his U.S. Senate race in the last quarter of 2021, the former football star’s campaign said Wednesday. Walker is seeking the Republican nomination in Georgia to challenge Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, an Atlanta pastor whose victory in a runoff election a...
U.S. new home sales jump in December as prices fall
Sales of new single family homes in December rose to their highest level in 10 months as buyers took advantage of lower prices in anticipation of higher interest rates. The increase put the seasonally adjusted annual sales pace to 811,000 for the month, according to the Commerce Department, an 11.9%...
Netherlands, Ukraine take Russia to European rights court
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Netherlands and Ukraine argued Wednesday that a top European court should hear their cases that seek to hold Russia responsible for human rights violations in eastern Ukraine including the 2014 downing of a passenger jet that killed all 298 people on board. Lawyers representing the...
Man paralyzed in Uber vehicle crash sues for $63M
BOSTON — A Massachusetts man who was left a quadriplegic when his Uber vehicle crashed last year is seeking $63 million in damages in a negligence lawsuit he has filed against the ride-hailing platform. William Good, 31, of Somerville alleges in the lawsuit that Uber “failed to appropriately screen, hire...
Nissan recalls 793,000 Rogues; wiring trouble raises fire risk
DETROIT — Nissan is recalling more than 793,000 small SUVs in the U.S. and Canada because water can get into wiring and in rare cases could start a fire. The recall covers Nissan Rogue SUVs from the 2014 through 2016 model years. The Rogue is Nissan’s top-selling vehicle in the...
U.S.-backed Syrian forces capture prison from IS after a week
BEIRUT — U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces said they wrestled control of the last section of a prison controlled by Islamic State militants, ending a weeklong assault by the extremists on one of the largest detention facilities in Syria. The attack was the biggest by IS militants since the fall of the...
