Trump names Pence to lead U.S. response to coronavirus threatVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that the United States is “very, very ready” for whatever the coronavirus threat brings, and he put his vice president in charge of overseeing the nation’s response. Trump sought to minimize fears of the virus spreading widely across the U.S., saying, “I don’t...
Gunman kills 5 at Milwaukee brewery before taking own lifeVideo
MILWAUKEE — An employee opened fire Wednesday at one of the nation’s largest breweries in Milwaukee, killing five fellow workers before taking his own life, police said. The assailant who attacked the Molson Coors complex was identified as a 51-year-old Milwaukee man who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police...
Pa. health department outlines plans for possible virus spread
HARRISBURG — A customized update to pandemic flu plans should be completed in the coming days for the COVID-19 virus, the Pennsylvania health secretary said Wednesday, although the state has yet to identify a case of infection. Dr. Rachel Levine said at a Capitol news conference that monitoring and testing...
Congress warns Pentagon not to move money to fund Trump’s border wall
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from both parties told Pentagon leaders on Wednesday that the Defense Department is undermining its own efforts to get military money by diverting billions of dollars for the construction of President Donald Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the committee’s...
Report: Pa. natural gas production grew in 2019 but at lower rate
Total natural gas production in Pennsylvania grew by 7.6% in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018 — the lowest growth rate in more than two years, a report by the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office said. Pennsylvania remains the second-highest natural gas producing state after...
House makes lynching a federal crime, 65 years after Emmett TillVideo
WASHINGTON — Sixty-five years after 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi, the House has approved legislation designating lynching as a hate crime under federal law. The bill, introduced by Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush and named after Till, comes 120 years after Congress first considered anti-lynching legislation and after dozens...
Brazil confirms 1st coronavirus case in Latin America
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s government confirmed on Wednesday that a 61-year-old Brazilian man who traveled to Italy this month has Latin America’s first confirmed case of the contagious new coronavirus. “We will now see how this virus behaves in a tropical country in the middle of summer, how its...
An increasingly isolated Iran girds for long virus battle
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran girded Wednesday for a long battle against the coronavirus that is spreading rapidly across the country and the wider Middle East, even though officials in the Islamic Republic had earlier minimized the outbreak that has now killed 19 people, the highest toll outside of...
Missing toddler’s mother and grandmother are in same jail
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — The mother and grandmother of a missing 15-month-old girl are now in the same Tennessee jail after giving conflicting accounts about the toddler’s disappearance. Authorities frustrated by their multiple versions of what happened to Evelyn Mae Boswell announced Wednesday that they’ll hold an afternoon news conference on...
‘No way out’: Demographics drive GOP nosedive on West Coast
BEND, Ore. — In the early 1990s, the population of Bend was around 25,000 and leaned Republican. A lumber mill operated along the banks of the Deschutes River in Oregon’s high-desert country. Today, the lumber mill is an REI outdoor recreation store. The population has quadrupled. And for the first...
Joe Biden nabs Jim Clyburn endorsement before South Carolina primary
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking black member of Congress and the kingmaker of South Carolina’s Democratic political orbit, on Wednesday endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. The backing could provide a much-needed boost for the former vice president heading into South Carolina’s primary. “I can think...
Pennsylvania couple awaiting adopted child get $20,000 gift on ‘Ellen’
A Philadelphia-area couple already expecting one life-changing moment received a second one this week, courtesy of TV talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres. Doug and Nick Roberts, of Media, are in the midst of an adoption process. They are also huge fans of the actress Kristen Bell. Somehow, DeGeneres heard about their...
Analysis: Sanders learns what it’s like to be a front-runner
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Bernie Sanders has spent much of his career on the political margins, an outsider looking in. Now, the protest politician is learning what it’s like to be the front-runner for a major political party. Sanders was the target of persistent attacks in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate, both...
Scottdale area mail carrier was always on the go
For eight years, Harry Leighliter lived by the U.S. Postal Service creed, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.’’ Mr. Leighliter worked as a rural carrier in the Scottdale area, delivering mail to homes and businesses...
Democrats band together to knock Sanders during debate clash
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Democrats unleashed a roaring assault against Bernie Sanders and seized on Mike Bloomberg’s past with women in the workplace during a contentious debate Tuesday night that tested the strength of the two men at the center of the party’s presidential nomination fight. As the undeniable Democratic front-runner,...
AP FACT CHECK: Claims from the Democratic debate – Feb. 25, 2020
WASHINGTON — They flailed their arms, talked over each other and at one point called for backup, asking fact checkers to come to their rescue. The last debate before a crucial stage of the primaries was an often unruly affair as the Democratic presidential contenders powered past the moderators in...
5 takeaways from the South Carolina Democratic debate
Well, that was spunky! South Carolina has a history of rapscallion politicians and rowdy debates and Wednesday night’s two-hour throw down in Charleston was no exception. For those not named Michael R. Bloomberg or Bernie Sanders the debate may have been the last best chance for candidates to assert themselves...
South Korean virus cases jump again, 1st U.S. soldier infected
SEOUL — The number of new virus cases in South Korea jumped again Wednesday and the first U.S. military soldier tested positive, with his infection and many others connected to a southeastern city where the outbreak has clustered. South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 134 of the...
U.S. judge says Philly injection site plan doesn’t violate drug lawVideo
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Philadelphia issued a final ruling Tuesday that paves the way for a nonprofit group to open a supervised injection site to combat the city’s opioid epidemic. U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh found that the Safehouse group’s plan doesn’t violate federal drug laws because the...
Roger Stone jurors say bias played no role in his conviction
Three of the jurors who convicted Republican operative Roger Stone for lying to Congress and witness tampering testified that political bias played no role in their decision, pushing back against Stone’s contention that he deserves a new trial. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson did not issue a ruling at...
Utah woman accused of being topless with stepkids takes plea deal
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah woman who fought criminal charges after her stepchildren saw her topless in her own home took a plea deal Tuesday to avoid the risk of having to register as a sex offender if convicted, her lawyer said. Tilli Buchanan’s decision brought an end to...
Democrats thwart Senate Republicans on 2 abortion-related bills
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a pair of Republican bills that would ban most late-term abortions and threaten prison for doctors who don’t try saving the life of infants born alive during abortions. The measures have been defeated multiple times in recent years, but Senate Republicans pushed for...
Body cam captures 6-year-old’s tearful pleas during arrest in FloridaVideo
ORLANDO — A police officer’s body camera shows a 6-year-old Florida girl crying and begging officers not to arrest her as one fastens zip ties around her wrists at a charter school. The video Kaia Rolle’s family shared with the Orlando Sentinel and other media outlets Monday shows the girl...
Democrats beating Trump in a key Pa. county he flipped from Obama, poll says
President Donald Trump trails his top Democratic opponents in a new poll of a key Pennsylvania swing county, though most voters surveyed have positive feelings about the economy, usually a predictor of reelection strength. Trump is running narrowly behind most of the Democratic contenders in Erie County, a longtime Democratic...
Iran says official who played down virus fears is infectedVideo
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The head of an Iranian government task force on the coronavirus who had urged the public not to overreact about its spread has tested positive for the illness himself, authorities said Tuesday, as new cases emanating from the country rapidly emerged across the Middle East....
