Colorado man dies after a pet Gila monster bite
A Colorado man has died after being bitten by his pet Gila monster in what would be a rare death by one of the desert lizards if the creature’s venom turns out to have been the cause. Christopher Ward, 34, was taken to a hospital shortly after being bitten by...
Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 67 Palestinians
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 67 Palestinians overnight and into Wednesday, including in areas where civilians have been told to seek refuge. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah says it received 44 bodies after multiple strikes in central Gaza. Associated Press reporters saw...
Pa. Senate taking comments on 10-year plan to help state’s seniors
Members of the Pennsylvania Senate are seeking public comments following the publication of “Aging Our Way, PA: A Plan for Lifelong Independence,” a 10-year plan to support the state’s older residents. “Every Pennsylvanian deserves to live and age with dignity,” Sen. Maria Collett, D-12, said. “This comprehensive and innovative plan...
Nikki Haley vows to stay in Republican primary race against Trump
Nikki Haley on Tuesday insisted she won’t end her long shot Republican primary bid to knock off former President Donald Trump even as she faces daunting odds of winning her home state of South Carolina or anywhere else. Just four days before Saturday’s primary in South Carolina, Haley summoned the...
Carnegie Mellon students sickened from on-campus eatery, officials say
Food safety inspectors from Allegheny County report finding violations in a campus eatery at Carnegie Mellon University after the school said numerous students reported symptoms consistent with a foodborne illness. The Allegheny County Health Department inspected Stack’d Underground in the basement of the Morewood Gardens residence hall on Thursday. Their...
1st federal trial for a hate crime based on gender identity starts over trans woman’s killing
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity began Tuesday in South Carolina, where a man faces charges that he killed a Black transgender woman and then fled to New York. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that in August 2019, Daqua Lameek...
Ex-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens had Russian intelligence contacts, prosecutors say
WASHINGTON — A former FBI informant charged with making up a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company had contacts with Russian intelligence-affiliated officials, prosecutors said in a court paper Tuesday. Prosecutors revealed the alleged contact as they urged a judge to...
A bill to legalize syringe services in Pa. just passed a historic hurdle, but GOP opposition remains
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — In what advocates are calling a historic move, a bill that would legalize syringe services throughout Pennsylvania is making progress in the legislature....
Divers find body in Texas river of Audrii Cunningham, 11, who had been missing since last week
LIVINGSTON, Texas — Divers have recovered the body of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham from a Texas river days after the girl went missing, and authorities are preparing to file a murder charge against a friend of her father who lived on her family’s property, a sheriff said Tuesday afternoon. Polk County...
Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos are ‘children’ under state law
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a decision critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatments. The decision was issued in a pair of wrongful death cases brought by three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed...
Saturated California gets more rain and snow, but so far escapes severe damage it saw only weeks agoVideo
LOS ANGELES — Much of saturated California faced the threat of flooding Tuesday with winter storms blowing through, but so far the state has escaped the severity of damage from mudslides, wind and rain spawned by an atmospheric river only weeks ago. While the rainfall was focused on Southern California,...
2 adults charged with murder in the deadly shooting at Kansas City’s Super Bowl celebrationVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri prosecutors said Tuesday that two men have been charged with murder in last week’s shooting that killed one person and injured 22 others after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade. Dominic Miller and Lyndell Mays are charged with second-degree murder and other counts. They...
YouTube mom Ruby Franke apologizes at sentencing in child abuse caseVideo
SALT LAKE CITY — Ruby Franke, a Utah mother of six who gave parenting advice to millions via a once-popular a YouTube channel, shared a tearful apology to her children for physically and emotionally abusing them before a judge delivered a sentence that could put her in prison for years,...
A Russian court extends the pretrial detention for an American reporter accused of spying
MOSCOW — A court in the Russian capital ruled Tuesday to keep Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in custody pending his trial on espionage charges that he denies. The Moscow City Court rejected an appeal against Gershkovich’s detention filed by his lawyers, upholding an earlier ruling to keep him...
Pitt to launch doctor of chiropractic program
Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and evidence indicates chiropractic care effectively treats pain with less reliance on opioids, some experts say. Those are among the reasons cited by the University of Pittsburgh for establishing a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) program, the first at a research-intensive...
Attacks on ships and U.S. drones show Yemen’s Houthis can still fight despite U.S.-led airstrikes
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Despite a month of U.S.-led airstrikes, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. This week, they seriously damaged a ship in a crucial strait and apparently downed an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. The continued assaults by the Houthis...
Penn Township eyes vote to permit Westmoreland DA to review police video before public release
Penn Township commissioners will vote Wednesday whether to allow the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s office to review police body camera video before before it is released. District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli’s office asked police departments in late December to have prosecutors review their footage if there is a request to have...
Adult and 4 kids die in Missouri house fire that police deem ‘suspicious’
FERGUSON, Mo. — Police are investigating a “suspicious” fire near St. Louis that killed a woman and four children. Firefighters were called to a home in Ferguson at 4:23 a.m. Monday and found the building engulfed in flames. St. Louis County police Sgt. Tracy Panus said the five people who...
U.S. casinos won $66.5 billion in 2023 — their best year ever as gamblers showed no economic fear
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — America’s commercial casinos won $66.5 billion from gamblers in 2023, the industry’s best year ever, according to figures released by its national trade association Tuesday. The American Gaming Association said that total was 10% higher than in 2022, which itself was a record-setting year. When revenue...
White House is distributing $5.8 billion from infrastructure law for water projects
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it is distributing another $5.8 billion for water infrastructure projects around the country, paid for by one of its key legislative victories. The new allocations will go to projects in all 50 states, bringing the total awarded to states for water infrastructure...
White House promises ‘major sanctions’ on Russia in response to Alexei Navalny’s death
WASHINGTON — The U.S. plans to unveil a “major” sanctions package against Russia on Friday following the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, President Joe Biden said. “I told you we’d be announcing sanctions on Russia. We’ll have a major package announced on Friday,” Biden told reporters Tuesday at the...
Supreme Court leaves in place the admissions plan at an elite Virginia public high school
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place the admissions policy at an elite public high school in Virginia, despite claims that it discriminates against highly qualified Asian Americans. A panel of the federal appeals court in Richmond upheld the constitutionality of a revamped admissions policy at the...
WikiLeaks founder Assange faces his last legal roll of the dice in Britain to avoid U.S. extradition
LONDON — Julian Assange’s lawyers opened a final U.K. legal challenge Tuesday to stop the WikiLeaks founder from being sent to the United States to face spying charges, arguing that American authorities are seeking to punish him for exposing serious criminal acts by U.S. authorities. Lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said there...
The Vatican’s problematic process to address clergy sex abuse cases, explained
VATICAN CITY — One afternoon in mid-December, Pope Francis had a meeting that wasn’t on his official agenda or otherwise recorded, that underscored the utter dysfunction of the Catholic Church’s response to the global clergy sex abuse scandal. In the main reception room of the Vatican hotel where he lives,...
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says foreign aid delays are making life ‘very difficult’ on the front line
KYIV, Ukraine — Delays in weapons deliveries from Western allies to Ukraine are opening a door for Russian battlefield advances, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, making the fight “very difficult” along parts of the front line where the Kremlin’s forces captured a strategic city last weekend ahead of the war’s...
