U.K. lawmakers will vote on a landmark bill to gradually phase out smoking
LONDON — The British government’s plan for a landmark smoking ban that aims to stop young people from ever smoking was expected to clear its first hurdle Tuesday despite vocal opposition from within Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party. The bill, a key policy announced by Sunak last year, would...
Supreme Court won’t hear election denier Mike Lindell’s challenge over FBI seizure of cellphone
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition by MyPillow founder and election denier Mike Lindell to consider his challenge to the legality of the FBI’s seizure of his cellphone at a restaurant drive-through. The high court, without comment Monday, declined to reconsider three lower court...
Facing a GOP revolt, House Speaker Johnson pushes ahead on U.S. aid for Ukraine, allies
WASHINGTON — Defiant and determined, House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back Tuesday against mounting Republican anger over his proposed U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies, and rejected a call to step aside or risk a vote to oust him from office. “I am not resigning,” Johnson said...
Penn-Trafford grads direct Penn Middle’s ‘Addams Family,’ cultivate ‘safe space’ for growth
Maddie Nick has been a part of the Penn Middle School drama club since its inception. Nick, a 2013 Penn-Trafford graduate, helped with the stage crew for the Penn Township middle school’s 2008 production, “High School Musical,” taking the stage as Rizzo in “Grease” the following year. Even in her...
West Virginia transgender sports ban discriminates against teen athlete, appeals court says
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s transgender sports ban violates the rights of a teen athlete under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools, an appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the law cannot be applied to...
North Korea is buying Chinese surveillance cameras in a push to tighten control, report says
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea is putting surveillance cameras in schools and workplaces and collecting fingerprints, photographs and other biometric information from its citizens in a technology-driven push to monitor its population even more closely, a report said Tuesday. The state’s growing use of digital surveillance tools, which combine...
Only 1 in 3 U.S. adults think Trump acted illegally in New York hush money case, AP-NORC poll shows
WASHINGTON — The first criminal trial facing former President Donald Trump is also the one in which Americans are least convinced he committed a crime, a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds. Only about one-third of U.S. adults say Trump did something illegal in the hush money...
First 7 jurors are chosen for Trump’s hush money criminal trial; 11 more still neededVideo
NEW YORK — The first seven jurors for Donald Trump’s hush money trial were seated Tuesday after lawyers grilled the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide who can sit in fair judgment of the former president. The panelists who were selected are...
Biden returns to his Scranton roots to pitch his plan for higher taxes on the rich
SCRANTON — President Joe Biden returned to his childhood hometown of Scranton on Tuesday to open three straight days of campaigning in Pennsylvania, capitalizing on the opportunity to work the battleground state while Donald Trump spends the week in a New York City courtroom for his first criminal trial. The...
Biden administration announces new partnership with 50 countries to stifle future pandemics
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the covid-19 outbreak that suddenly halted normal life around the globe in 2020. U.S. government officials will work with the countries to develop better testing, surveillance, communication...
Fire rages through 17th-century Old Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, toppling iconic spire
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire from the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said it was “touching” to...
Penn State proposes housing project near Lasch Football Building. Will all students benefit?
Penn State is looking into the construction of a 1,500-bed student housing project that would be located a short walk from the Lasch Football Building, raising the question of whether the proposed project would primarily cater to football players and other student-athletes. According to a source with knowledge of the...
Police: Knife attack in Australia against a bishop, priest being treated as terrorism
SYDNEY— Australian police say a knife attack in Sydney that wounded a bishop and a priest during a church service as horrified worshippers watched online and in person was an act of terrorism. Police arrested a 16-year-old boy Tuesday after the stabbing at Christ the Good Shepherd Church that injured...
House Speaker Mike Johnson taking complicated approach to passing aid for Ukraine and Israel
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday unveiled a complicated proposal for passing wartime aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, leaving its path to passage deeply uncertain as he rejected pressure to simply approve a package sent over by the Senate. The Republican speaker huddled with fellow GOP lawmakers...
Owners of a Colorado funeral home where 190 decaying bodies were found are charged with covid fraud
DENVER — A couple who owned a Colorado funeral home where authorities last year discovered 190 decaying bodies were indicted on federal charges that they misspent nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds on vacations, cosmetic surgery, jewelry and other personal expenses, according to court documents unsealed Monday. The indictment reaffirms...
Audit cites potential legal violations in purchase of $19,000 lectern for Arkansas governor
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office potentially violated state laws on purchasing, state property and government records when it purchased a $19,000 lectern for the Republican governor that’s prompted nationwide attention, an audit requested by lawmakers said Monday. Legislative auditors referred the findings in the long-awaited audit...
Supreme Court allows Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is allowing Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth while lawsuits over the law proceed, reversing lower courts. The justices’ order Monday allows the state to put in a place a 2023 law that subjects physicians to up to 10 years...
Members of self-proclaimed anti-government group ‘God’s Misfits’ held in killings of Kansas women
OKLAHOMA CITY — Two Kansas women who vanished as they tried to pick up children for a birthday party two weeks ago were killed over a custody dispute involving a group of anti-government Oklahomans calling themselves “God’s Misfits,” authorities said Monday. Their vehicle was found March 30 along a rural...
Philly DA announces unit targeting repeat gun possession offenders
PHILADELPHIA — Days after a shooting at an Eid al-fitr celebration near the Philadelphia Masjid, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner announced a new prosecution unit targeting people who repeatedly break gun possession laws in the city. The Prolific Gun Offenders unit, Krasner said at a news conference on Monday morning,...
Sen. Bob Casey has big cash advantage over Dave McCormick, latest campaign finance filings show
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey has nearly double the available cash of Republican challenger Dave McCormick, who has put nearly $2 million of his own money into this year’s campaign. Federal campaign finance reports for the first quarter of the year show that Casey raised $5.67 million, including $4.35 million...
Despite support, state game commission puts hold on marten reintroduction plan
A plan to reintroduce a native species of weasel into the Pennsylvania wild is on hold indefinitely as the majority of the state Game Commission’s board of commissioners again asked for more time. Commissioner Dennis Fredericks said he was satisfied with the American marten reintroduction plan but sought the postponement...
Gun supervisor for ‘Rust’ movie gets 18 months in prison for fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin on setVideo
SANTA FE, N.M. — A movie weapons supervisor was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust,” during a hearing Monday in which tearful family members and friends gave testimonials that included calls for...
Expiring tax refunds worth $43.4M could belong to Pa. taxpayers — see if you’re eligible
More than $1 billion in unclaimed tax refunds is set to expire in a few weeks, and a good chunk is up for grabs for Pennsylvanians. Roughly 940,000 people across the U.S. are eligible for unclaimed refunds for the 2020 tax year with a median return of $932, the Internal...
Retail sales up a strong 0.7% in March from February, underscoring the resiliency of the U.S. consumer
NEW YORK — Americans increased their spending pace in March at a better-than-expected pace the previous month, , underscoring how shoppers remain resilient despite inflationary pressures and other economic challenges. Retail sales rose 0.7% last month after being up a revised 0.9% in February, according to the Commerce Department’s report...
Trump’s historic hush-money trial gets underway; 1st day ends without any jurors being pickedVideo
NEW YORK — The historic hush-money trial of Donald Trump got underway Monday with the arduous process of selecting a jury to hear the case charging the former president with falsifying business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life. The day ended without any jurors being seated....
