U.S. soldier convicted of theft in Russia and sentenced to nearly 4 years in prison
MOSCOW — A court in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok on Wednesday convicted a visiting American soldier of stealing and making threats of murder, and it sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city to see...
Texas megachurch pastor resigns after woman says he sexually abused her in the 1980s
DALLAS — The pastor of a Texas megachurch has resigned after a woman said he had sexually abused her on multiple occasions in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12. Gateway Church’s board of elders said in a statement Tuesday that they’d accepted the resignation of Robert Morris, the church’s...
Republicans block bill to outlaw bump stocks for rifles after Supreme Court lifts Trump-era ban
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked bipartisan legislation Tuesday that would have outlawed bump stocks after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on the rapid-fire gun accessory used in the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. Democrats tried to force a voice vote on the bill to ban bump stocks,...
Massachusetts suffers statewide outage of its 911 services
BOSTON — The 911 system across Massachusetts went down Tuesday afternoon, making it impossible for anyone to reach emergency services through the call number. It was unclear how many communities were affected, said Elaine Driscoll, director of communications and policy at the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security....
Officials release autopsy of Missouri student Riley Strain
NASHVILLE — Riley Strain, a University of Missouri student whose body was recovered from a river after going missing in Tennessee’s capital for nearly two weeks, died from accidental drowning and intoxication, according to a newly released autopsy report. News outlets report that Davidson County Medical Examiner’s office released Strain’s...
New York’s top court declines to hear Trump’s appeal of the gag order in his hush money case
NEW YORK — New York’s top court on Tuesday declined to hear Donald Trump’s gag order appeal in his hush money case, leaving the restrictions in place following his felony conviction last month. The Court of Appeals found that the order does not raise “substantial” constitutional issues that would warrant...
At least 1 dead in New Mexico wildfire that forced thousands to flee, governor’s office saysVideo
SANTA FE, N.M. — At least one person has died in a New Mexico wildfire that has forced thousands to evacuate, the governor’s office said Tuesday. “We don’t have any additional details,” said Michael Coleman, communications director for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. “Only one fatality as a result of the...
Pittsburgh lawmaker seeking bipartisan marijuana legalization bill
Pennsylvania is almost completely surrounded by states with legalized recreational marijuana and a Pittsburgh lawmaker is hoping the Keystone State will follow suit before competing states completely overtake the market. State Rep. Emily Kinkead, a Democrat from Brighton Heights, is introducing a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania. She...
Georgia father freed from prison 10 years after his toddler died in hot car, booked into county jail
MARIETTA, Ga. — A father from Georgia has been released from prison 10 years after his toddler died in a hot car, a case that made global headlines after prosecutors accused him of murder. Justin Ross Harris was freed on Sunday — Father’s Day — from the Macon State Prison,...
Thai same-sex marriage bill clears final hurdle with Senate
Thailand’s same-sex marriage bill cleared its final hurdle with the Senate endorsing it in a special session Tuesday, putting the nation on course to be the first in Southeast Asia to guarantee marriage equality. The 250-member upper house voted with 130 in support of the bill that was passed by...
Amazon Labor Union workers vote overwhelmingly in favor of affiliation with Teamsters
Workers who are part of the Amazon Labor Union are aligning themselves with the Teamsters, overwhelmingly voting in favor of an affiliation. The ALU members voted 98.3% in favor of the affiliation, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said Tuesday. The affiliation gives the union workers access to various resources as...
When colleges close, students are left scrambling. Some never go back to school
PHILADELPHIA — Katherine Anderson trekked from Texas to Philadelphia last year for a college program she couldn’t find anywhere else, combining the music business, entrepreneurship and technology. Two weeks ago, she received the startling news the university would be shutting down within days. The closure of the University of the...
When violence and trauma visit American places, a complex question follows: Demolish, or press on?
PITTSBURGH — Last week in Parkland, Florida, wrecking equipment began demolishing the building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where a gunman’s rampage in 2018 ended with 17 people dead. As the rumble of destruction echoed, people in the community set to explaining exactly why ripping the building down was...
Half a million immigrants could eventually get U.S. citizenship under new plan from Biden
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is taking an expansive, election-year step to offer relief to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status in the U.S. — aiming to balance his own aggressive crackdown on the border earlier this month that enraged advocates and many Democratic lawmakers. The White...
The politics of memes: How Biden and Trump are fighting each other on the internet
WASHINGTON — Whether it’s a grinning Joe Biden as “Dark Brandon” or Donald Trump’s face superimposed onto a scene from HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” both presidential campaigns this year have embraced digital memes, the lingua franca of social media. The campaigns of the Democratic president and Republican former president enthusiastically...
Before his summit with North Korea’s Kim, Putin vows they’ll beat sanctions together
SEOUL, South Korea — Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for supporting his actions in Ukraine and said their countries will cooperate closely to overcome U.S.-led sanctions as he headed to Pyongyang on Tuesday for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Putin’s comments appeared in an...
More than 75 million people in the country are under heat alerts. Go indoors and hydrateVideo
PHOENIX — Over 75 million people in the United States were under extreme heat alerts Monday as a heat wave moved eastward, and the mid-Atlantic and New England were likely to see highs in the 90s as the week progresses. Excessive humidity will make it feel even more oppressive. The...
Biden will announce deportation protection and work permits for spouses of U.S. citizens
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is planning to announce a sweeping new policy Tuesday that would lift the threat of deportation for hundreds of thousands of people married to U.S. citizens, an aggressive election-year action on immigration that had been sought by many Democrats. Biden will announce the new program...
Secret Service agent robbed at gunpoint during Biden’s Los Angeles trip, police say
LOS ANGELES — A U.S. Secret Service agent was robbed at gunpoint as President Joe Biden was visiting Los Angeles for a fundraising event over the weekend, officials said. The agent was returning from work Saturday night when he was accosted in a residential community in Tustin, about an hour’s...
Doug Emhoff will speak at groundbreaking of the memorial for Tree of Life shooting victims
WASHINGTON — Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and the first Jewish person to serve as the spouse of a nationally elected U.S. leader, will deliver remarks on Sunday at the groundbreaking of the memorial to victims of the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. The White House announced...
Proposed IUP medical school gets $20M pledge from foundation, support from Pa. legislators
A college of osteopathic medicine proposed by Indiana University of Pennsylvania has secured a $20 million commitment from its foundation, the largest gift toward the initiative to date. In announcing the commitment Monday, the Foundation for Indiana University of Pennsylvania said its board is unanimous in support for what would...
Pennsylvania waste company finds $10M in loose change
You know what they say: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. A waste management company in Pennsylvania has collected about $10 million in coins that’ve been tossed away over the years. Fox Business reports how Ash Processing at Reworld — which is located in Morrisville, Bucks County — “bridges...
Historic SS United States ordered out of its berth in Philadelphia. Can it find new shores?
PHILADELPHIA — The SS United States, a historic ship that still holds the transatlantic speed record it set more than 70 years ago, must leave its berth on the Delaware River in Philadelphia by Sept. 12, a federal judge says. The decision issued Friday by U.S. District Judge Anita Brody...
Nashville court grapples with details on school shooter that were leaked to media
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Attorneys fighting over the release of documents involving a 2023 Nashville elementary school shooting pleaded with a judge Monday to finally issue a ruling settling the matter, their request taking on a more desperate tone amid the recent publication of leaked records about the shooter. It was...
Authorities across U.S. grapple with rash of violence in final days of spring
Communities across the country are grappling with a rash of violence in the final days of spring that included at least four mass shootings in one weekend, and continued Monday with stabbings outside an Indiana strip mall. On Saturday, a lone gunman opened fire at a recreational splash pad in...
