From rare bourbon to TV anchors: Here are top TribLIVE news stories of 2021
TribLIVE readers dug into thousands of stories and accounted for millions of page views in 2021. The news stories that got the most views? Well, a rare bourbon lottery from the state led the way. But readers also had an oversized interest in local TV news stations moves — three...
15 Pa. laws from 2021 that could affect your life
In Pennsylvania, laws to expand the pool of eligible substitute teachers, make it a crime to steal from the elderly, and improve transparency in government agencies were among those that took effect in 2021. In all, the 100 laws enacted were a mere fraction of the more than 3,000 bills...
‘So difficult’: Winter snow, cold slam Northwest and Sierra
SEATTLE — The Pacific Northwest and Sierra Nevada grappled Tuesday with another day of snow, ice and unseasonable cold that has disrupted traffic, caused closures and forced people to find refuge in emergency warming shelters. Across western Washington and Oregon, officials and private groups opened emergency spaces for people as...
Harry Reid, former Senate majority leader, dies at 82
LAS VEGAS — Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader and Nevada’s longest-serving member of Congress, has died. He was 82. Reid died Tuesday, “peacefully” and surrounded by friends “following a courageous, four-year battle with pancreatic cancer,” Landra Reid said of her husband in a statement. “Harry was a devout...
Mom: 14-year-old shot by LA police ‘died in my arms’
LOS ANGELES — A 14-year-old was shopping for Christmas clothes last week with her mother when the pair heard screams and hid in a dressing room, where the girl was fatally shot by Los Angeles police after an officer fired a rifle at a suspect and a bullet pierced a...
California man gets 2nd life term for synagogue attack
SAN DIEGO — A 22-year-old white supremacist was sentenced Tuesday to life in federal prison for killing a woman and injuring three others in a shooting at a Southern California synagogue in 2019, adding to the life term he received three months earlier in state court. John T. Earnest declined...
Federal strike teams bound for Pa. to help hospitals stressed by covid-19
Pennsylvania’s acting health secretary said Tuesday the state will receive federal strike teams to “relieve hospital capacity strain in areas hit hardest by the latest covid-19 surge.” Gov. Tom Wolf requested the help about two weeks ago. It wasn’t immediately known when the strike teams will arrive and which hospitals...
Save the Children staff confirmed dead in Myanmar massacre
BANGKOK — The humanitarian group Save the Children said Tuesday it has confirmed that two of its staff were among at least 35 people, including children, who were killed in eastern Myanmar on Christmas Eve in an attack it blamed on the country’s military. It said the two staff members...
Sudan officials say gold mine collapse leaves 38 people dead
CAIRO — Sudanese authorities said at least 38 people were killed Tuesday when a gold mine collapsed in West Kordofan province. The country’s state-run mining company said in a statement the collapse of the closed, non-functioning mine took place in the village of Fuja 435 miles south of the capital...
Experts pull documents, money from Lee statue time capsule
RICHMOND, Va. — Conservation experts in Virginia’s capital pulled books, money, ammunition, documents and other artifacts Tuesday from a long-sought-after time capsule found in the remnants of a pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Over the course of about two hours, the team sliced...
Grads tasted a life without student debt, but that’s set to end next year
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In the mornings, before she starts work at her software development job, St. Petersburg’s Amanda Leaders sits down with coffee and thinks about whom to send a postcard. The hobby began in September when she noticed a sale at Vistaprint. She ordered a set of postcards...
Israeli PM says not opposed to ‘good’ nuclear deal with Iran
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday he is not opposed to a “good” nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, but voiced skepticism that such an outcome would emerge from the current negotiations. Bennett spoke a day after negotiators from Iran and five world powers...
Esports giant Riot settles discrimination case for $100M
LOS ANGELES — Riot Games, the publisher behind esports giant “League of Legends,” agreed Monday night to pay $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging pay disparity, gender discrimination and sexual harassment. The lawsuit was filed in November 2018 after gaming website Kotaku published a story detailing a sexist...
Police: Gunman in Denver who killed 5 targeted some victims
DENVER — A gunman who went on a shooting rampage through several business districts in and around Denver, killing five people and wounding two others, was targeting at least some of his victims, authorities said Tuesday. The suspect also died after exchanging gunfire with officers in a shopping area in...
Russian court orders shutdown of renowned rights group
MOSCOW — Russia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that one of the country’s oldest and most prominent human rights organizations should be shut down, a move that stirred up much public outrage and is the latest step in a months-long crackdown on rights activists, independent media and opposition supporters. The...
World’s fair in Dubai warns of possible closures over virus
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The multibillion-dollar world’s fair in Dubai has warned that some venues on site may shut down as coronavirus cases rapidly rise in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai’s Expo 2020 said that virus outbreaks among staff may force some parts of the fair to “close temporarily...
Biden signs $768.2 billion defense spending bill into law
President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law Monday, authorizing $768.2 billion in military spending, including a 2.7% pay raise for service members, for 2022. The NDAA authorizes a 5% increase in military spending, and is the product of intense negotiations between Democrats and Republicans over issues...
Flu is making a comeback in U.S. after an unusual year off
The U.S. flu season has arrived on schedule after taking a year off, with flu hospitalizations rising and two child deaths reported. Last year’s flu season was the lowest on record, likely because covid-19 measures — school closures, distancing, masks and canceled travel — prevented the spread of influenza, or...
U.S. Catholic clergy shortage eased by recruits from Africa
The Rev. Athanasius Chidi Abanulo — using skills honed in his African homeland to minister effectively in rural Alabama— determines just how long he can stretch out his Sunday homilies based on who is sitting in the pews. Seven minutes is the sweet spot for the mostly white and retired...
Again, crews find apparent time capsule at Lee statue site
Crews wrapping up the removal of a giant pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond found what appeared to be a second and long-sought-after time capsule, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Monday. The governor tweeted photos of a box being removed from the...
CDC recommends shorter covid isolation for all — from 10 to 5 days
U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the...
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene rants against ‘fake religion’ Kwanzaa as Black holiday begins
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has denounced Kwanzaa as a “fake religion” just as millions of Black people start to celebrate the weeklong holiday. The far-right Georgia lawmaker berated the national College Republicans for “pandering and BS” after the GOP group tweeted a seemingly innocuous happy holiday message. “Stop. It’s a...
Omicron, storms disrupt air travel for 4th consecutive day
Flight cancellations that disrupted holiday travel stretched into Monday as airlines called off thousands more flights because crews were sick with covid-19 during one of the year’s busiest travel periods, and storm fronts added to the havoc. Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a constant this...
Omicron spreads global gloom over New Year’s celebrations
BRUSSELS — After struggling with the coronavirus for far too long, the world understands all too well Belgium’s word of the year, “knaldrang!” — the urge to party, the need to let loose. Yet as New Year celebrations approach, the omicron variant is casting more gloom. Dire warnings abound, caseloads...
Racial reckoning turns focus to Pa. roadside historical markers
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania had been installing historical markers for more than a century when the racist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 brought a fresh round of questions from the public about just whose stories were being told on the state’s roadsides — and the language used to tell...
