Asylum officers: Trump policy threatens migrants’ lives
WASHINGTON — U.S. asylum officers slammed President Trump’s policy of forcing migrants to remain in Mexico while they await immigration hearings in the United States, urging a federal appeals court Wednesday to block the administration from continuing the program. The officers, who are directed to implement the policy, said it...
Chaos erupts in Pennsylvania Senate over welfare billVideo
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Senate devolved into partisan shouting, name-calling and bare-knuckled procedural tactics Wednesday over a bill to end a decades-old program that offers $200 a month to people deemed unable to work. The bill ultimately passed the GOP-controlled chamber, 26-24, with two Republicans siding with Democrats against it,...
Artist’s viral Juneteenth doodle leads to job offer from Google
Who says passive-aggression doesn’t earn any friends? It might not, but it reportedly earned artist Davian Chester a job with search engine-giant Google this past week. Chester, 26, called out Google for what he described as the company’s failure to highlight an important milestone for his ancestors, according to VladTV....
EPA’s top air policy official steps down amid scrutiny over possible ethics violations
Bill Wehrum, a top Environmental Protection Agency official who helped reverse Obama-era rules aimed at cutting emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants, is stepping down amid scrutiny over possible violations of federal ethics rules. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s announcement Wednesday did not cite a specific reason for the...
NRA’s top lobbyist Christopher Cox resigns amid chaos at the gun rights organization
The National Rifle Association plunged further into chaos Wednesday as its top lobbyist resigned, its television arm shut down and the organization severed all business ties with its longtime public relations firm. Christopher Cox, who was on administrative leave, officially stepped down days after being accused in court papers of...
Pennsylvania Senate votes to allow hunting on 3 Sundays
HARRISBURG — A proposal to end Pennsylvania’s ban on Sunday hunting has the approval of the state Senate. Senators voted 36 to 14 on Wednesday for a bill that would permit hunting on one Sunday during deer rifle season, one during deer archery season, and on a third day. The...
Graves of U.S. WWII servicemen found on remote Pacific island
A nonprofit organization that searches for the remains of U.S. servicemen lost in past conflicts has found what officials believe are the graves of more than 30 Marines and sailors killed in one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. A team working on the remote Pacific atoll of...
Pa. Senate passes bills to change emissions testing in Westmoreland, statewide
A slate of bills passed this week by the state Senate could bring sweeping changes to vehicle emissions test requirements in Pennsylvania. The five-bill package would exempt vehicles less than eight years old and eliminate seven counties — including Westmoreland — from the emissions program. Drivers with older vehicles in...
Chaos erupts in Pennsylvania Senate over welfare bill
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Senate devolved into partisan shouting, name-calling and bare-knuckled procedural tactics over a bill to end a decades-old program that offers $200 a month to people deemed unable to work. The bill ultimately passed the GOP-controlled chamber, 26-24, with two Republicans siding with Democrats against it. The...
Pennsylvania Auditor General plans to revisit dog-law enforcement audit
A 2013 audit that found Pennsylvania lax in dog-law enforcement will be revisited, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced this week. The 2013 performance audit of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Dog Law Enforcement Office found several problems, including: $8 million from the restrictive dog law account being spent for unrelated...
Target again offering teachers discount on school supplies
Target is bringing back their school supply discount for teachers. The retailer’s Teacher Prep Event runs July 13 - 20 and gives teachers a 15% break on selected merchandise. The discount coupon is available to K-12 educators and also teachers who work in daycare centers, early childhood learning centers and...
Pole artist not ‘family-friendly’ enough for Rotary Ribfest; apology forthcomingVideo
Dancing on a pole and eating barbecued pork are incompatible activities, according to event organizers. Christine Johnson had spent weeks working up a pole art performance for Moncton’s Rotary Ribfest in New Brunswick. The event was hosted by the Rotary Club of Moncton West and Riverview. Johnson’s show was canned...
Report: Pa. students would have to do triple time to work their way through college
Once again, Pennsylvania is ranked No. 1 — only of a list no one wants to top: college costs. The state’s public universities are among the priciest in the nation and landed Pennsylvania at the top of a list that calculated how many hours a week a student would have...
Google Maps routed dozens of drivers into a muddy field
Motorists following a detour soon found themselves axle-deep in mud. Dozens of drivers on Sunday were making their way through traffic in the Denver area when their navigation apps led them astray, reports TheDenverChannel.com. “Google Maps asked us to take the Tower exit, so I did because it was supposed...
Bishop to spray town with holy water from helicopter to ‘get rid of the devil’
When it comes to getting rid of the devil, it’s by any means necessary, right? And that includes air dropping holy water on a Columbian town. Newsweek reports that Monsignor Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya, the appointed Catholic bishop of Buenaventura, Colombia, said he’s planning on using a navy helicopter to...
House panel subpoenas Kellyanne Conway after she fails to show for hearing
WASHINGTON — A House committee voted Wednesday to authorize a subpoena for White House counselor Kellyanne Conway after she failed to show for a hearing on a government watchdog’s findings that she broke the law dozens of times. The House Oversight Committee voted, 25-16, for the subpoena after Special Counsel...
Supreme Court strikes down Tennessee liquor sales law
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a Tennessee law that makes it hard for outsiders to break into the state’s liquor sales market. The court voted 7-2 in ruling that a state requirement that someone live in Tennessee for two years to be eligible for a license...
Report: For 1st time, U.S. renewables produced more electricity than coal in April
Renewable sources of energy produced more electricity than coal in April — a first for the United States, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. Renewable sources — hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal and biomass — provided 23% of total electricity generation to coal’s 20% in April, according to EIA’s Electric...
ACLU objects to nicotine’s addition on school drug test list
FAIRBURY, Neb. — A southeast Nebraska school district’s decision to add nicotine to random drug tests given to students involved in extracurricular activities has drawn criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska. A letter from ACLU legal director Amy Miller to the Fairbury Public Schools district said that...
Malaysia detains 4 Indian travelers, seizes drugs, 5,255 turtles
SEPANG, Malaysia — Malaysia authorities have arrested four Indians and seized more than 14 kilograms of drugs and over 5,000 turtles from their luggage at the Kuala Lumpur airport. Senior customs official Zulkurnain Mohamed Yusof said Wednesday that agents found a total 5,255 red-ear slider baby turtles kept in small...
Facebook to help French police identify hate speech suspects
PARIS — Facebook is agreeing to help French police identify hate speech suspects, in what the French government is celebrating as a global first. France’s digital affairs minister, Cedric O, said that Facebook will provide authorities “IP addresses to help identify authors of hateful content.” Speaking on broadcaster France-Info, he...
Prince William says he’d be ‘absolutely fine’ with gay child
LONDON — Britain’s Prince William says it would be “absolutely fine” if one of his children came out as gay though he’d worry about how the public response. William made the comment on Wednesday while visiting a London nonprofit group that works with young LGBT people who are homeless or...
2 men charged with stealing truck they were test driving
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Authorities say two men held an employee at a Missouri car dealership at gunpoint and stole a truck they were test driving. Police say the theft ended when the suspects crashed the pickup truck. Garrett Eagle, 20, and David Edens, 43, are charged with first-degree robbery in...
Grim border drowning underlines peril facing many migrants
MEXICO CITY — The man and his 23-month-old daughter lay face down in shallow water along the bank of the Rio Grande, his black shirt hiked up to his chest with the girl tucked inside. Her arm was draped around his neck suggesting she clung to him in her final...
Kremlin confirms Trump to meet with Putin at G-20
MOSCOW — The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of an international summit in Japan. Trump has said he plans to meet with Putin during the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, and Putin has welcomed a meeting, saying he’s...
