Donald Trump asks judge to delay sentencing in hush money case until after November election
NEW YORK — Donald Trump is asking the judge in his New York hush money criminal case to delay his sentencing until after the November presidential election. In a letter made public Thursday, lawyers for the former president and current Republican nominee suggested that sentencing Trump as scheduled on Sept....
Matthew Perry’s assistant among 5 people, including 2 doctors, charged in ‘Friends’ star’s death
LOS ANGELES — Five people including his personal assistant and two doctors have been charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death in what prosecutors called a “broad underground criminal network” dedicated to getting the “Friends” star the powerful surgical anesthetic that killed him. The doctors preyed on Perry’s history of...
Berlin’s newest pygmy hippo makes her debut, with a name inspired by a soccer star
BERLIN — The Berlin Zoo’s newest baby pygmy hippo made her public debut on Thursday, a day after her name — Toni, inspired by German soccer star Antonio Rüdiger — was chosen from more than 20,000 suggestions. Toni was born on June 3. She’s still not much bigger than a...
Vance and Walz agree to a vice presidential debate on Oct. 1 hosted by CBS News
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance have agreed to debate each other on Oct. 1, setting up a matchup of potential vice presidents as early voting in some states gets underway for the general election. CBS News on Wednesday posted on its X feed...
U.S. unemployment claims fall 7,000 to 227,000 in sign of resiliency in job market
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week, another sign that the job market remains resilient in the face of high interest rates. Jobless claims dropped by 7,000 to 227,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out...
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says Kyiv troops have full control of Russian town of Sudzha
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Kyiv troops have full control of the Russian town of Sudzha in the Kursk region in their incursion into Russian territory. The town, the largest that Ukraine has reportedly seized so far, had a prewar population of around 5,000 people....
White House says prescription drug deals will produce billions in savings for taxpayers, seniors
WASHINGTON — Taxpayers are expected to save billions after the Biden administration inked deals with pharmaceutical companies to knock down the lists prices for 10 of Medicare’s costliest drugs. But how much older Americans can expect to save when they fill a prescription at their local pharmacy remains unclear, since...
Millions of kids are still skipping school. Could the answer be recess — and a little cash?
MEDFORD, Mass. — Flerentin “Flex” Jean-Baptiste missed so much school he had to repeat his freshman year at Medford High outside Boston. At school, “you do the same thing every day,” said Jean-Baptiste, who was absent 30 days his first year. “That gets very frustrating.” Then his principal did something...
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry says
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry said Thursday. Israel’s offensive has also wounded 92,401 people and displaced over 85% of the population from their homes, the ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said. It does not...
Hurricane Ernesto aims for Bermuda after leaving many in Puerto Rico without power or waterVideo
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Ernesto barreled toward Bermuda on Thursday after leaving hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico without power or water as sweltering heat enveloped the U.S. territory, raising concerns about people’s health. A hurricane warning was in effect for Bermuda, with Ernesto expected to...
Pennsylvania troopers stop drivers at similar rates no matter their race or ethnicity, study finds
HERSHEY — Pennsylvania drivers were pulled over and cited by state police last year at roughly comparable rates for various races and ethnicities, according to information about 450,000 vehicle stops that was made public on Wednesday. “The findings across multiple analyses demonstrated no substantive racial and ethnic differences in the...
More Pa. voters have registered as Democrats since Kamala Harris entered the presidential race
PHILADELPHIA — Voter registration among Democrats in Pennsylvania has spiked in the three weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race, according to State Department data. The boost in registered Democrats comes amid a flurry of national and swing state polling that reflects increased enthusiasm for a Harris ticket,...
West Virginia senator removed as committee chair after indecent exposure chargesVideo
CHARLESTON — The chair of a key West Virginia state legislative committee was removed from his position by chamber leadership Wednesday after being charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct. Republican Sen. Mike Maroney, who led the state Senate Health and Human Resources Committee, was arrested Tuesday on the two...
President of Columbia University has resigned, effective immediately
NEW YORK — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after a brief, tumultuous tenure that saw the head of the prestigious New York university grapple with protests over the Israel-Hamas war and criticism over how the school handled divisions related to the conflict. The school in upper Manhattan was...
Trump’s campaign called it an economic address. He made big promises but mostly veered off topicVideo
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Donald Trump made little effort to stay on message Wednesday at a rally in North Carolina that his campaign billed as a big economic address, mixing pledges to slash energy prices and “unleash economic abundance” with familiar off-script tangents on Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ laugh, the mechanics...
North Huntingdon karate school owner in critical condition after motorcycle crash
Elizabeth Lindsay is no stranger to pushing physical limits. The owner of C.S. Kim Karate in North Huntingdon, Lindsay has practiced karate since she was 4 years old. The 39-year-old Greensburg resident earned a place in a national Black Belt Hall of Fame in 2019. Her brother, Peter Lindsay, believes...
Disney says man can’t sue for wrongful death because he signed up for Disney+, bought parks tickets
Walt Disney Co. is asking a Florida state court to toss a wrongful death lawsuit because the plaintiff agreed to terms and conditions mandating arbitration when he signed up for Disney+ and when he purchased park tickets. The response comes after plaintiff Jeffrey Piccolo sued Disney in February, alleging that...
Ohio family reaches $7M settlement in fatal police shooting of Casey Goodson Jr.
The family of an Ohio man who was shot and killed by a former sheriff’s deputy will receive $7 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit over the December 2020 shooting. The Franklin County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the settlement late last month. Casey Goodson Jr., 23, was...
Hunter Biden reportedly sought U.S. government help for Ukrainian gas company Burisma
WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden asked the U.S. ambassador to Italy for help regarding an energy project a Ukrainian gas company was pursuing while his father was vice president, according to The New York Times. Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, wrote a letter to the ambassador in 2016 seeking...
Wisconsin voters reject GOP-written ballot measures, U.S. Senate race set with Hovde’s primary win
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin voters on Tuesday rejected Republican-authored ballot questions that would have limited the governor’s power to spend federal money that comes to the state for such things as disaster relief, a big win for Democrats who mobilized against them. In Wisconsin’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, Republican...
Hidden report reveals how workers got sick while cleaning up Ohio derailment site
The creeks around East Palestine, Ohio, were so badly contaminated by last year’s disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment that some workers became sick during the cleanup. Workers who reported headaches and nausea — while shooting compressed air into the creek bed, which releases chemicals from the sediment and water — were...
WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads
LONDON — The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent....
NASA still deciding whether to keep 2 astronauts at space station until next year
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA said Wednesday it’s still deciding whether to keep two astronauts at the International Space Station until early next year and send their troubled Boeing capsule back empty. Rather than flying Boeing’s Starliner back to Earth, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams would catch a ride on...
Harris campaign’s new $90 million in battleground ads in August aims to sharpen contrast with Trump
WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is launching a $90 million advertising effort over the next three weeks to introduce the Democrat to voters and sharpen the contrast with Republican Donald Trump. The media buy marks her campaign’s largest-yet investment in messaging to voters with just 2 1/2 months until...
Presented with rise in border crossings, Kamala Harris chose a long-term approach to the problem
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, watching tens of thousands of migrants from Central America reach the U.S.-Mexico border just a few months into his administration, tapped his second-in-command to help address the influx — a decision that has exposed Vice President Kamala Harris to one of her biggest political liabilities....