For a second time, Sen. Bob Menendez faces a corruption trial. This time, it involves gold bars
NEW YORK — For the second time in a decade, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez faces a corruption trial Monday with his political career and freedom on the line in a criminal case that already has forced him out of one of the most powerful posts in Congress. The 70-year-old New...
Trump vows ‘day one’ executive order targeting offshore wind
Donald Trump vowed to issue an executive order targeting offshore wind development if he wins a second term as president, making his most explicit threat yet toward the growing industry. The presumptive Republican nominee derided offshore wind projects as lethal for birds and whales during his oceanfront rally Saturday in...
Michael Cohen: A challenging star witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trialVideo
NEW YORK — He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors’ biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president’s hush money trial. But if Trump’s fixer-turned-foe is poised to offer jurors this week an insider’s view of the dealings at the...
Pro-Palestinian protests dwindle to tiny numbers and subtle defiant acts at U.S. college graduationsVideo
A tiny contingent of Duke University graduates opposed pro-Israel comedian Jerry Seinfeld speaking at their commencement Sunday in North Carolina, with about 30 of the 7,000 students leaving their seats and chanting “free Palestine” amid a mix of boos and cheers. Some waved the red, green, black and white Palestinian...
Putin in cabinet shakeup moves to replace defense minister as he starts his 5th term in officeVideo
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in a cabinet shakeup that comes as he begins his fifth term in office. In line with Russian law, the entire Russian Cabinet resigned Tuesday following Putin’s glittering inauguration in the Kremlin, and most members have been widely...
Suspect is being sought in shooting death of an Ohio police officer, officials say
EUCLID, Ohio — An Ohio police officer was shot and killed after being “ambushed” while answering a disturbance call over the weekend, and a suspect was being sought, authorities said Sunday. Police in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid said officers were dispatched just before 10 p.m. Saturday to a home...
Federal agency says a second, if weaker, solar storm surge is likely SundayVideo
A U.S. government agency said a weaker repeat of Saturday’s powerful solar storm was likely on Sunday. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that “coronal mass ejections” — clouds of ejected solar plasma that can cause power grid irregularities and issues with high-frequency communications and global positioning systems...
Election deniers: West Virginia voters must pick from GOP candidates who still dispute 2020 outcome
CHARLESTON — When West Virginia Republicans vote in a primary on Tuesday, they will have a hard time finding a major candidate on the ballot in any statewide race who openly acknowledges that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Embracing or skirting the line on election denialism has become...
Israel pushes deeper into Rafah and battles a regrouping Hamas in northern Gaza
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Sunday and battled Hamas in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago but where militants have regrouped. Warnings continued against the growing offensive in Rafah, considered the last...
Penn Township to vote on expanding volunteer service tax program to include Manor firefighters
Penn Township commissioners will vote this next week on a proposal to expand its volunteer service credit program to include residents who serve in neighboring Manor Borough Volunteer Fire Department. Enacted by the township commissioners in 2018, the program gives real estate and earned income tax credits to Penn Township...
‘I put five years of my life into this’: Seton Hill graduates first class of doctor of physical therapy students amid open job market
As Morgan Simkovic watched her brother receive treatment following a brain tumor diagnosis in 2010, she knew she wanted to be a physical therapist one day. Simkovic sat in on some of her brother’s physical therapy treatments at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. He completed seven months of...
Some older Americans splurge to keep homes accessible while others struggle to make safety upgrades
NEW YORK — Brenda Edwards considers the four-bedroom, ranch-style house where she has lived for 20 years her forever home. It’s where the 70-year-old retired nurse and her 79-year-old husband want to stay as their mobility becomes more limited. So she hired an interior designer for $20,000 and spent another...
Trump increasingly directing personal attacks against independent rival Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Donald Trump is known for leveling constant and often personal attacks on top rivals such as Joe Biden. Lately, he’s increasingly taking that same approach against independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Among the recent jabs, Trump this past week posted a roughly four-minute video online...
Joe Biden wants to remind 2024 voters of a record and an agenda. Often it’s Donald Trump’s
SEATTLE — President Joe Biden is running for reelection on a record and an agenda — often Donald Trump’s. In a hotel ballroom in Seattle, at fancy homes in California and at stops in Illinois and Wisconsin over the past week, Biden has been betting that reminding voters about Trump’s...
Report: Trump may face $100 million-plus tax bill if he loses IRS audit fight over Chicago tower
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump may face an IRS bill in excess of $100 million after a government audit indicates he double-dipped on tax losses tied to a Chicago skyscraper, according to a report by The New York Times and ProPublica that drew on a yearslong audit and public...
Israel orders new evacuations in Gaza’s last refuge of Rafah as it expands military offensive
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Saturday, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its military operation closer to the heavily populated central area, in defiance of growing pressure amid the war from close ally...
University of Pittsburgh faculty ratifies 1st union contract
About 3,500 University of Pittsburgh faculty represented by the United Steelworkers have ratified their first contract with Pitt, and it includes a $60,000 salary floor for full-time professors, yearly raises and enhanced job protections. The union Saturday announced results from weeklong voting on the main Oakland campus and branches at...
Panama’s next president says he’ll try to shut down one of the world’s busiest migration routes
PANAMA CITY — Panama is on the verge of a dramatic change to its immigration policy that could reverberate from the dense Darien jungle to the U.S. border. President-elect José Raúl Mulino says he will shut down a migration route used by more than 500,000 people last year. Until now,...
Russia claims capture of villages in northeast Ukraine as more than 1,700 civilians flee
VOVCHANSK, Ukraine — Moscow’s forces have captured five villages as part of a renewed ground assault in Ukraine’s northeast, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday. Ukrainian journalists reported Friday that Russian troops took the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha, all of which lie in a militarily contested “gray...
Flash floods kill more than 300 people in northern Afghanistan after heavy rains, UN says
ISLAMABAD — Flash floods from unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed more than 1,000 houses, the U.N. food agency said Saturday. The World Food Program said it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors of one of the many floods that hit...
Strong solar storm hits Earth, could disrupt communications, spur northern lights
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth could produce northern lights in the U.S. this weekend and potentially disrupt power and communications. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner...
Billy Graham statue for U.S. Capitol to be unveiled next week
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A statue of the late Rev. Billy Graham set to stand inside the U.S. Capitol to represent North Carolina will be unveiled next week in a ceremony. House Speaker Mike Johnson, other congressional members and the family of the Charlotte-born evangelist are expected to attend unveiling of...
WABC Radio suspends Rudy Giuliani for flouting ban on discussing discredited 2020 election claims
NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani was suspended Friday from WABC Radio and his daily show was canceled over what the station called his repeated violation of a ban on discussing discredited 2020 election claims. Giuliani said the station’s ban is overly broad and “a clear violation of free speech.” Giuliani...
Civil War General William T. Sherman’s sword, other relics to be auctioned in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Bidders will fight with their dollars next week at an Ohio auction house for the sword of the Civil War Union general who led a scorched-earth campaign across Georgia and coined the phrase, “War is hell.” General William Tecumseh Sherman’s wartime sword, likely used between 1861 and...
Appeals court upholds Steve Bannon contempt of Congress convictions
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on contempt of Congress charges, rejecting his arguments he did not need to comply with subpoenas from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Bannon, who was...