Megan’s Law for nursing homes gaining traction in Harrisburg
A state lawmaker is making good on a promise to repair a flawed system that permits aging and ailing convicted sex offenders to quietly enter long-term care facilities — often unbeknownst to patients and staff — where some easily are finding their next victims. A bill set to be introduced...
U.S. says Russia preparing ‘false flag’ operation as pretext to invade Ukraine
WASHINGTON — Reverting to a familiar “playbook,” Russia is plotting a pretext to invade Ukraine, a “false flag” operation that would justify its actions despite a week of intense U.S.-Russia negotiations that apparently failed to move Moscow away from a scheme of regional aggression, U.S. officials said Friday. The White...
Thieves raiding rail cargo containers in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — Thieves have been raiding cargo containers aboard trains nearing downtown Los Angeles for months, taking packages belonging to people across the U.S. and leaving the tracks blanketed with discarded boxes. The packages are from retailers including Amazon, REI and others, CBSLA reported Thursday. The sea of debris...
Pig heart recipient stabbed a man during 1988 attack at Maryland bar, leaving him paralyzed
David Bennett Sr. was celebrated around the world this week as the first-ever pig heart transplant recipient, though family members of the man he repeatedly stabbed in the 1980s struggled to fully appreciate the medical marvel. Diagnosed with terminal heart disease and ineligible for a human transplant, 57-year-old Bennett decided...
‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli ordered to return $64M, barred from drug industry
NEW YORK — Martin Shkreli must return $64.6 million in profits he and his former company reaped from jacking up the price and monopolizing the market for a lifesaving drug, a federal judge ruled Friday while also barring the provocative, imprisoned ex-CEO from the pharmaceutical industry for the rest of...
Ohio Supreme Court rejects GOP-drawn congressional map
Ohio’s Republican-drawn congressional map was rejected by the state’s high court Friday, giving hope to national Democrats who had argued it unfairly delivered several potentially competitive seats in this year’s critical midterm elections to Republicans. In the 4-3 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court returned the map to the Ohio General...
Voters could be flooded with proposed changes to the Pa. Constitution in 2023
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 — Pennsylvania voters could face at least five ballot questions about changing the state constitution next year after House Republicans...
Goodbye ‘godsend’: Expiration of child tax credits hits home
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For the first time in half a year, families on Friday are going without a monthly deposit from the child tax credit — a program that was intended to be part of President Joe Biden’s legacy but has emerged instead as a flash point over who is...
Court puts hold on GOP inspection of county voting machines
An inspection of voting machines in a heavily Republican county in Pennsylvania had been poised to go forward Friday until an 11th-hour appeal to the state Supreme Court by lawyers for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf put it on hold. The high court decision came hours after a state judge rejected...
Cyberattack in Ukraine targets government websites
A cyberattack left a number of Ukrainian government websites temporarily unavailable on Friday, officials said. While it wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the cyberattack, the disruption came amid heightened tensions with Russia and after talks between Moscow and the West failed to yield any significant progress this week. Ukrainian...
3 women charged with beating airline security officer at JFK
NEW YORK — Three women are facing federal charges of attacking an airline security worker who tried to block them from boarding a flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport in September because of what prosecutors say was problematic behavior, including a refusal to wear a face mask properly....
Bill would require Senate confirmation for U.S. prison chief
WASHINGTON — Days after the head of the troubled federal Bureau of Prisons said he was resigning amid increased scrutiny over his leadership, lawmakers have introduced a bill to require Senate confirmation for future bureau directors — the same process used to vet leaders of the FBI and other federal...
Study: More evidence links a virus to multiple sclerosis
There’s more evidence that one of the world’s most common viruses may set some people on the path to developing multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is a potentially disabling disease that occurs when immune system cells mistakenly attack the protective coating on nerve fibers, gradually eroding them. The Epstein-Barr virus has...
U.K.’s embattled Prince Andrew loses honorary military titlesVideo
LONDON — Prince Andrew has been stripped of his honorary military roles as the growing furor over allegations that he sexually abused a teenage girl trafficked by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein threatened to taint the House of Windsor. Buckingham Palace said late Thursday that Queen Elizabeth II had also...
Study nixes Mars life in meteorite found in Antarctica
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A 4 billion-year-old meteorite from Mars that caused a splash here on Earth decades ago contains no evidence of ancient, primitive Martian life after all, scientists reported Thursday. In 1996, a NASA-led team announced that organic compounds in the rock appeared to have been left by...
Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby charged with lying in home purchases
BALTIMORE — A federal grand jury indicted Baltimore’s top prosecutor Thursday on charges of perjury and making false mortgage applications in the purchase of two Florida vacation homes, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland said. The four-count indictment alleges that Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby...
California governor rejects parole for Sirhan Sirhan, convicted assassin of Robert F. Kennedy
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday refused to parole the man convicted of gunning down Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, a brazen assassination of a presidential candidate that scarred the nation and altered the course of American politics during the turbulent 1960s. A two-person state parole panel recommended in...
Twitter, Meta among tech giants subpoenaed by Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — Months after requesting documents from more than a dozen social platforms, the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas targeting Twitter, Meta, Reddit and YouTube after lawmakers said the companies’ initial responses were inadequate. The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, demanded records Thursday from the companies...
RNC threatens to boycott commission’s presidential debatesVideo
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee said Thursday it is planning a rules change that would force presidential candidates seeking the party’s nomination to sign a pledge saying they will not participate in any debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. If ultimately enacted and enforced, the move would...
U.S. vows ‘decisive’ response if Russia pursues threatened deployments to Cuba, Venezuela
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration responded Thursday to threats from Russian officials that Moscow could begin military deployments in Cuba and Venezuela if tensions continue to rise with the United States, vowing a “decisive” response if it sees any evidence that the threat is real. Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei...
Philadelphia-area hospitals are overwhelmed, but not only by covid-19 patients
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia-area hospitals are jammed with patients, but not always because they are truly sick enough to be there. Staff shortages at nursing homes and home care companies, difficulty finding dialysis slots for covid-19 patients, and even a lack of space in city homeless shelters are forcing hospitals to...
Supreme Court blocks vaccine-or-test rule for U.S. businesses
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against covid-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate...
Oath Keepers head charged with Jan. 6 seditious conspiracyVideo
WASHINGTON — Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, and 10 other members or associates have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, authorities said Thursday. Despite hundreds of charges already brought in the year since pro-Trump rioters...
Biden all but concedes defeat on voting, election billsVideo
WASHINGTON — All but acknowledging defeat, President Joe Biden said Thursday he’s “not sure” his elections and voting rights legislation can pass Congress this year. He spoke at the Capitol after a key fellow Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, dramatically announced her refusal to go along with changing Senate...
Iraqi officials: 4 rockets target U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
BAGHDAD — At least four rockets targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday, two Iraqi security officials said. The area is home to diplomatic missions and the seat of Iraq’s government, Three of the missiles struck within the perimeter of the American Embassy, the officials...
