New York appeals judge rejects Donald Trump’s request to delay hush money trial
NEW YORK — A New York appeals court judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to delay his April 15 hush money criminal trial while he fights to move the case out of Manhattan. The decision came Monday, a week before jury selection was set to start. Trump’s lawyers...
Investigators scour scene of Easter Sunday heist in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — Investigators probing the heist of up to $30 million from a vault in the San Fernando Valley on Easter Sunday have scrubbed the scene, searching for fingerprints, DNA evidence and other materials, according to law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation. Federal and local officials have...
Latino voters, coveted by both major parties, targeted with election misinformation
PHOENIX — As ranchera music filled the Phoenix recording studio at Radio Campesina, a station personality spoke in Spanish into the microphone. “Friends of Campesina, in these elections, truth and unity are more important than ever,” said morning show host Tony Arias. “Don’t let yourself be trapped by disinformation.” The...
Justice Department blasts GOP effort to hold Attorney General Garland in contempt over Biden audio
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Monday blasted Republicans’ effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt over his refusal to turn over unredacted materials related to the special counsel probe into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, the Justice...
‘Panama Papers’ trial starts: 27 charged in worldwide money laundering case
PANAMA CITY — The trial of 27 people charged in connection with the worldwide “Panama Papers” money laundering started Monday in a Panamanian criminal court. Those on trial include the owners of the Mossack-Fonseca law firm that was at the heart of the 2016 massive document leak. The Panama Papers...
Biden could miss the deadline for the November ballot in Ohio, the state’s election office says
TOLEDO, Ohio — President Joe Biden could be left off the ballot in Ohio this fall unless the state’s Republican-dominated legislature creates an exception to the ballot deadline or the Democratic Party moves up its convention, according to the office that oversees the state’s elections. Ohio’s deadline to certify presidential...
Biden promotes ‘life-changing’ student loan relief as he rallies younger voters
MADISON, Wis. — President Joe Biden said Monday that more than 30 million borrowers would see “life-changing” relief from his new plan to ease their student loan debt burdens, a fresh attempt by the Democratic president to follow through on a campaign pledge that could buoy his standing with younger...
New York appeals judge rejects Donald Trump’s request to delay his April 15 hush money trial
NEW YORK — A New York appeals court judge on Monday rejected Donald Trump’s bid to delay his April 15 hush money criminal trial while he fights to move the case out of Manhattan — foiling the former president’s latest attempt to put off the historic trial. Justice Lizbeth González...
Ukraine, Russia trade fresh accusations of targeting major nuclear power plant
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine are trading fresh accusations over renewed threats to Europe’s largest nuclear plant that has been caught up in the war, with Moscow alleging Ukraine was behind drone attacks on the facility that were witnessed by U.N. inspectors and Kyiv accusing Russia of disinformation tactics....
Watch live as the solar eclipse happens around the country
While Pittsburgh is not in the path of totality, we will experience partial totality. The eclipse will start around 2 p.m. Monday and last for approximately 2 hours with the eclipse reaching its peak in the Pittsburgh region at 3:17 p.m. You can watch it live with this stream:...
Solar eclipse: Thousands in Pittsburgh and Erie took in the phenomenon
The sun is back to normal in Southwestern Pennsylvania, hours after a solar eclipse brought people together to watch the phenomenon. Thousands watched from behind the safety of eclipse glasses in the Pittsburgh region and Erie, which was in the path of totality. Cheers of excitement filled the air at...
Pa. House committee to consider bill setting electric vehicle fee to start at $125
Pennsylvania’s electric vehicle owners would pay an annual fee to help make up for lost gas tax revenue that goes toward maintaining the state’s roads and bridges under a bill to receive consideration by a legislative committee Monday. The legislation, sponsored by the House Transportation Committee Chairman Ed Neilson, D-Philadelphia,...
Espionage scandal rocks Austria, laying bare alleged Russian spying operations across Europe
VIENNA — Austria faces its biggest espionage scandal in decades as the arrest of a former intelligence officer brings to light evidence of extensive Russian infiltration, lax official oversight and behavior worthy of a spy novel. Egisto Ott was arrested March 29. The 86-page arrest warrant, obtained by The Associated...
Trump declines to endorse a national abortion ban and says it should be left to the states
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump said he believes abortion limits should be left to the states, in a video released Monday declining to endorse a national ban after months of mixed messages and speculation. “Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights,”...
Huge crowds await a total solar eclipse in North America. Clouds may spoil the viewVideo
MESQUITE, Texas — Millions of spectators along a narrow corridor stretching from Mexico to the U.S. to Canada eagerly awaited Monday’s celestial sensation — a total eclipse of the sun — even as forecasters called for clouds. The best weather was expected at the tail end of the eclipse in...
Vatican blasts gender-affirming surgery, surrogacy and gender theory as violations of human dignity
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Monday declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as grave violations of human dignity, putting them on par with abortion and euthanasia as practices that reject God’s plan for human life. The Vatican’s doctrine office issued “Infinite Dignity,” a 20-page declaration that has been in the...
Palestinians returning to Khan Younis after Israeli withdrawal find an unrecognizable city
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Streams of Palestinians filed into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Monday to salvage what they could from the vast destruction left in the wake of Israel’s offensive, a day after the Israeli military announced it was withdrawing troops from the area. Many...
Total anticipation: Sunny skies that greeted visitors may be fleeting as eclipse day arrives in Erie
ERIE — If only the solar eclipse happened on a day like Sunday, the people crammed into Erie’s hotels would be able to rest easy. It was almost nothing but clear skies Sunday afternoon in northwest Pennsylvania, completely ideal conditions as visitors and natives prepared for Erie’s once-in-a-lifetime astronomical phenomenon....
Eclipse weather forecast: Clouds could spoil view along much of the path
If you’re in Vermont, Maine and Canada, you’re in luck. But for the rest of the path of Monday’s total solar eclipse, it could be dicey weather-wise. Clouds are forecast for much of the eclipse route through the U.S. with some possible patches of clear skies in some spots, according...
Israel pulling some troops from southern Gaza. Now the plan is to clear Hamas from RafahVideo
JERUSALEM — Israel’s military announced Sunday it had withdrawn its forces from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, wrapping up a key phase in its ground offensive against the Hamas militant group and bringing its troop presence in the territory to one of the lowest levels since the six-month...
Penn State trustee scolded for making ‘spectacle’ in push to name football field after Joe Paterno
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our north-central Pa. newsletter, Talk of the Town, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. STATE COLLEGE — Leaders of Penn State’s Board of Trustees recently admonished...
Many cancer drugs remain unproven 5 years after accelerated approval, a study finds
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated approval program is meant to give patients early access to promising drugs. But how often do these drugs actually improve or extend patients’ lives? In a new study, researchers found that most cancer drugs granted accelerated approval do not demonstrate such benefits within...
2 women who say abortion restrictions put them in medical peril feel compelled to campaign for Biden
WASHINGTON — A Texas woman who went into premature labor, developed sepsis and nearly died and a Louisiana woman who said restrictive abortion laws prevented her from getting medical help for a miscarriage are now campaigning for President Joe Biden as the Democrat highlights how women’s health is being affected...
Victims of Montana asbestos pollution that killed hundreds take Warren Buffett’s railroad to court
LIBBY, Mont. — Paul Resch remembers playing baseball as a kid on a field constructed from asbestos-tainted vermiculite, mere yards from railroad tracks where trains kicked up clouds of dust as they hauled the contaminated material from a mountaintop mine through the northwestern Montana town of Libby. He liked to...
Winning Powerball jackpot ticket worth $1.3 billion sold in Portland, Oregon
DES MOINES, Iowa — A Powerball player in Oregon won a jackpot worth more than $1.3 billion on Sunday, ending a winless streak that had stretched more than three months. The single ticket — revealed following a delay of more than three hours to the drawing — matched all six...
