Lawmakers keep covid-19 regulatory waivers for 6 more months
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature voted Wednesday to again extend hundreds of regulatory waivers that Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration had approved under its pandemic-related disaster emergency authority. The House and Senate voted unanimously to add another six months to a prior extension they granted, as the delta variant of the...
U.S. general: Afghan collapse rooted in 2020 deal with Taliban
WASHINGTON — Senior Pentagon officials said Wednesday the collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces in August could be traced to a 2020 U.S. agreement with the Taliban that promised a complete U.S. troop withdrawal. Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of Central Command, told the House Armed Services...
North Korea says hypersonic missile made 1st test flight
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Wednesday that it successfully tested a new hypersonic missile it implied was being developed as nuclear capable, as it continues to expand its military capabilities and pressure Washington and Seoul over long-stalled negotiations over its nuclear weapons. The missile test early Tuesday was...
New records reveal the cost of Pa.’s failure to clarify rules around addiction treatment and marijuana
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 — The failure by Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration to clarify federal rules around addiction treatment funding and medical marijuana caused...
Hurricane Ida devastation lingers in Louisiana 1 month later
IRONTON, La. — The land on which Audrey Trufant Salvant’s home sits in the small Louisiana town of Ironton has become an island in a sea of mud and snake-infested marsh grass. Nearby houses are disconnected from their foundations, a refrigerator is lodged sideways in a tree, and dozens of...
U.S. says ivory-billed woodpecker, 22 other species extinct
BILLINGS, Mont. — Death’s come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The U.S. government is declaring them extinct. It’s a rare move for wildlife officials to give up hope on a plant or animal, but government scientists say they’ve...
U.K. officer accused of citing covid to detain slaying victim
LONDON — A prosecutor argued Wednesday that a serving London police officer handcuffed a woman on the pretext of breaking covid-19 lockdown rules before he kidnapped and killed her. Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared at London’s Central Criminal Court charged with the kidnap, rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who...
6 arrested at Greek school protest backed by far-right group
THESSALONIKI, Greece — Police in northern Greece have arrested six people and detained at least 40 others following clashes involving youths backed by an extreme right-wing political group. The youths entered a vocational high school and hurled gasoline bombs, flares and rocks at a rival gathering organized by left-wing university...
Gang clash at Ecuador prison kills 30 inmates and injures 47
QUITO, Ecuador — A battle between prison gangs in the coastal city of Guayaquil killed 30 inmates and injured 47, according to Ecuadorian officials. Police Commander Fabian Bustos told reporters that a police and military operation had regained control of the prison after five hours. He said several weapons had...
London honors Princes Diana with blue plaque at former home
LONDON — London finally honored the late Princess Diana on Wednesday with a blue plaque at the place she called home in the two years before she married Prince Charles and her life in the goldfish bowl began. For Diana, 60 Coleherne Court, an apartment near London’s fashionable King’s Road,...
Capitol Police chief sees rising threats
WASHINGTON — The newly installed chief of the U.S. Capitol Police says the force, still struggling six months after an insurrection that left its officers battled, bloodied and bruised, “cannot afford to be complacent.” The risk to lawmakers is higher than ever. And the threat from lone-wolf attackers is only...
Alabama Gov. Ivey defends use of coronavirus funds for prisons
MONTGOMERY — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday defended her state’s plan to use pandemic relief funds to build new prisons —saying the $400 million expenditure is both allowed and needed — while a legislative committee swiftly advanced the construction plan. Ivey issued a response to U.S. House Judiciary Committee...
Pennsylvania woman who said she wanted to shoot Pelosi ‘in the friggin’ brain’ pleads guilty to Capitol riot charges
PHILADELPHIA — A Bucks County gym owner who recorded herself during the storming of the Capitol saying she was looking for Speaker Nancy Pelosi “to shoot her in the friggin’ brain” pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor Tuesday, making her the latest Pennsylvanian to admit her role in the Jan....
Pfizer vaccine for children may not be available until November
WASHINGTON — Pfizer has submitted research to the Food and Drug Administration on the effectiveness of its covid-19 vaccine in children but the shots may not be available until November. The company said Tuesday it provided health regulators with data from a recent study of its vaccine in children 5...
Washington state man who sexually exploited teens sentenced to 20 years
RIDGEFIELD, Wash. — A southwest Washington man who pleaded guilty in a scheme in which he enticed and pressured teens into sending him sexually explicit photos and videos has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Joshua Punt, of Ridgefield, pleaded guilty in April in U.S. District Court in...
Mask opt-out bill for students clears Pennsylvania Senate committee
A bill that would allow parents in Pennsylvania to exempt their children from wearing a mask at school cleared a state Senate committee on Tuesday as Republican lawmakers started making good on their pledge to counter the governor’s statewide mask mandate. The legislation would hand the ultimate decision on masking...
Massachusetts sheriff proposes using jail to house people with opioid addiction
BOSTON — A Massachusetts sheriff has proposed turning a part of his jail into a treatment center to help ease the drug use and homelessness in an area of Boston hit hard by the opioid epidemic. Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins last week said he wants to house up to...
VA medical centers, other federal agencies to offer voter registration under Biden order
WASHINGTON — Veterans will be able to register to vote when they receive medical treatment. Job seekers may be able to do the same at federally funded employment centers. And local housing agencies may offer voter registration help to millions of Americans living in public housing. All of those steps...
Bill would give parents front-row seat to what students are being taught in Pa. schools
Parents of public school students would be able to access the contents of a school curriculum, textbook titles and lesson plans with a few clicks on a computer keyboard under legislation that is advancing in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Andrew Lewis, R-Dauphin County, would...
Biden nominates 9 candidates for federal prosecutor posts
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is nominating nine lawyers to run U.S. attorney’s offices across the country, a diverse group of candidates in the latest round of picks for the top law enforcement positions. The nominations, announced by the White House on Tuesday, are expected to run the federal prosecutors’...
How many parents would get young children vaccinated against covid? What a poll found
A new poll found a slim majority of parents would get their young children vaccinated against covid-19. The Gallup poll released Tuesday found 55% of parents with children under 12 plan to get them a coronavirus vaccine when one is authorized for use in younger kids while 45% said they...
Employer vaccine mandates convert some workers, but not all
NEW YORK — Businesses that have announced vaccine mandates say some workers who had been on the fence have since gotten inoculated against covid-19. But many holdouts remain — a likely sign of what is to come once a federal mandate goes into effect. Even before President Joe Biden’s Sept....
Maryland newspaper gunman gets more than 5 life prison terms
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A man who killed five people at a newspaper in Maryland was sentenced on Tuesday to more than five life sentences without the possibility of parole. Anne Arundel County Judge Michael Wachs ordered the sentence for Jarrod Ramos, whom a jury previously found criminally responsible for killing...
Pfizer submits vaccine data from kids 5-11 to FDA
NEW YORK — Pfizer has submitted research to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the effectiveness of its covid-19 vaccine in children as it moves closer to seeking approval for expanded use of the shots. The drugmaker and its partner, Germany’s BioNTech, say they expect to request emergency use...
Atlanta spa-shooting suspect pleads not guilty in 4 killings
ATLANTA — A man already sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to fatally shooting four people at a massage business outside Atlanta pleaded not guilty to shooting four others on the same day at two spas inside the city. Robert Aaron Long, 22, appeared briefly Tuesday in Fulton...
