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...
Ahmaud Arbery killer’s father retracts plea before hate crime trial
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — One of the three men convicted of murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery has taken back his guilty plea ahead of their federal hate crime trial. Greg McMichael reversed course late Thursday after the trial judge rejected the terms of an agreement federal prosecutors had reached...
Strained U.S. hospitals seek foreign nurses amid visa windfall
With American hospitals facing a dire shortage of nurses amid a slogging pandemic, many are looking abroad for health care workers. And it could be just in time. There’s an unusually high number of green cards available this year for foreign professionals, including nurses, who want to move to the...
House to vote on bill to boost U.S. computer chip production
House Democrats are poised to approve legislation Friday that they say positions the United States to better compete with China economically and on the global stage by strengthening the domestic semiconductor industry, shoring up strained supply chains and bolstering international alliances. Criticizing China has become a bipartisan playbook in Washington,...
Greensburg diocese excited by 20% bump in Catholic school enrollment
Despite the past two years being hampered by the covid-19 pandemic, officials at the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg are encouraged by other trends that have emerged over the past 24 months — namely, a 20% bump in Catholic school enrollment across the diocese. “I think that’s outstanding,” said Bishop Larry...
Indiana teen sentenced to 100 years for killing 2 siblings
VERSAILLES, Ind. — A southeastern Indiana teenager has been sentenced to 100 years in prison for the suffocation deaths of his two young siblings months apart in 2017, when he was 13 years old. A Ripley County judge ordered the sentence Tuesday for Nickalas Kedrowitz. Jurors convicted him in August...
GOP now looks to censure Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, not oust them
SALT LAKE CITY — Republican officials meeting in Utah advanced a watered-down resolution Thursday that would formally censure GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their perceived disloyalty to former President Donald Trump but not seek to expel them from the party. The resolution’s passage through a subcommittee followed...
Gov. Wolf vetoes bill to prevent municipal firearms restrictions
HARRISBURG — A bill to help gun owners and gun-rights groups seek civil damages from governmental bodies that pass firearms restrictions was vetoed on Thursday by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. The legislation would have given a pathway to the courts for people adversely impacted by ordinances, rules or other actions...
Medicare opens up access to free at-home covid-19 tests
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration, seeking to fill a frustrating gap in coverage for covid-19 tests, Thursday announced that people with Medicare will be able to get free over-the-counter tests much more easily in the coming weeks. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Medicare will cover up to...
