New York City subway train derails in collision with another train, injuring more than 20 people
NEW YORK — A New York City subway train derailed Thursday after colliding with another train at low speed, leaving more than 20 people with minor injuries and causing major service disruptions across Manhattan during the afternoon rush hour, authorities said. At about 3 p.m. on the Upper West Side,...
Poor schools prepared to return to court if Pennsylvania budget falls short on funding plan
HARRISBURG — The poor schools that won a landmark school funding court case in Pennsylvania last year are prepared to go back to court if the Legislature and governor don’t adequately address shortfalls as key junctures approach, the schools’ lawyers said Thursday. Public schools in Pennsylvania are currently underfunded by...
Florida man charged with threatening to kill U.S. Rep Eric Swalwell and his children
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A South Florida man threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell and his children in a series of voicemails left at the California Democrat’s Washington office last month, federal prosecutors said. Michael Shapiro, 72, of Greenacres, Florida, was arrested Wednesday morning on a charge of...
Oscar Pistorius is set to be released on parole. He will be strictly monitored until December 2029
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Oscar Pistorius is due to be released from prison Friday to live under strict conditions at a family home having served nearly nine years of a murder sentence for the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The double-amputee Olympic runner from South Africa is set...
Russia and Ukraine exchange long-range attacks as their front-line forces remain bogged down
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian air-launched missiles over Crimea, as both sides in the war pounded each other with long-range aerial strikes while fighting along the front line remained largely deadlocked. The White House, meanwhile, said U.S. intelligence officials have determined that...
Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology is attempting the first U.S. moon landing since the Apollo missions a half-century ago
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — China and India scored moon landings, while Russia, Japan and Israel ended up in the lunar trash heap. Now two private companies are hustling to get the U.S. back in the game, more than five decades after the Apollo program ended. It’s part of a NASA-supported...
Jeffrey Epstein documents: Here’s what we know so far
NEW YORK — The release of dozens of previously sealed court documents from a lawsuit involving Jeffrey Epstein might disappoint online sleuths who anticipated explosive new information. The 40 documents released late Wednesday largely mention figures whose names were already known, including high-profile friends of Epstein’s and victims who have...
Feeling caucus confusion? Your guide to how Iowa works
WASHINGTON — The race for the White House officially begins in less than two weeks, and despite some prolonged jockeying over the election calendar, the long primary season will once again begin in Iowa with a caucus process that has served as the lead-off voting event since the 1970s. While...
Trump’s lawyers want special counsel Jack Smith held in contempt in 2020 election interference case
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Thursday pressed to have special counsel Jack Smith’s team held in contempt, saying the prosecutors had taken steps to advance the 2020 election interference case against him in violation of a judge’s order last month that temporarily put the case on...
The key question about fiery crash at Tokyo airport: Did one or both planes have OK to use runway?
Passengers on Japan Airlines Flight 516 were buckled up and ready to land at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport as their pilot made a final approach. “Cleared to land,” the pilot repeated after receiving an instruction from air traffic control to put the jet down on a specific runway. About two minutes...
Trump’s ballot fight plunges the Supreme Court into the 2024 election
The U.S. Supreme Court will chart the nation’s political future as it confronts a potentially stark choice over efforts to remove Donald Trump from this year’s presidential ballot for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. The court’s options include putting the kibosh on challenges to Trump’s candidacy with a...
Police say 17-year-old killed a 6th grader and wounded 5 in Iowa school shootingVideo
PERRY, Iowa — A 17-year-old opened fire at a small-town Iowa high school on the first day of school after the winter break, killing a sixth-grader and wounding five others as students barricaded in offices and fled in panic. The suspect, a student at the school in Perry, died of...
U.S. airstrike in Baghdad kills Iran-backed militia leader as regional tensions escalate
BAGHDAD — A U.S. airstrike on the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad on Thursday killed a high-ranking militia commander, militia officials said. Thursday’s strike comes amid mounting regional tensions fueled by the Israel-Hamas war and fears that it could spill over into surrounding countries. It also coincides...
Vatican says no heresy in allowing blessings for same-sex couples after pushback by some bishops
ROME — After pushback by some bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere, the Vatican on Thursday defended the recent move by Pope Francis to allow blessings for same-sex couples, insisting there is nothing “heretical” involved. In a five-page statement, the Holy See’s office to safeguard doctrinal orthodoxy expressed understanding that...
Teen gamer becomes 1st to beat the ‘unbeatable’ Tetris — by breaking it
SAN FRANCISCO — The falling-block video game Tetris has met its match in 13-year-old Willis Gibson, who has become the first player to officially “beat” the original Nintendo version of the game — by breaking it. Technically, Willis — aka “blue scuti” in the gaming world — made it to...
Speaker Johnson demands hard-line policies during a border visit as Ukraine aid hangs in the balance
EAGLE PASS, Texas — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson led about 60 fellow Republicans in Congress on a visit Wednesday to the Mexican border to demand hard-line immigration policies in exchange for backing President Joe Biden’s emergency wartime funding request for Ukraine. He expressed serious doubts about whether he would...
Nevada judge attacked by defendant during sentencing in Vegas courtroom scene captured on videoVideo
LAS VEGAS — A Nevada judge was attacked Wednesday by a defendant in a felony battery case who leaped over a defense table and the judge’s bench, landing atop her and sparking a bloody brawl involving court officials and attorneys, officials and witnesses said. In a violent scene captured by...
More hospitals requiring masks as flu and covid-19 cases surge
NEW YORK — More U.S. hospitals are requiring masks and limiting visitors as health officials face an expected but still nasty post-holiday spike in flu, covid-19 and other illnesses. While many experts say this season likely won’t prove to be as deadly as some other recent winters, it still could...
Florida surgeon general has safety concerns with covid vaccines. FDA disagrees
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, once again at odds with federal officials, is urging people to stop getting Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA covid vaccines over safety concerns that the shots could possibly deliver DNA contaminants into human cells. Ladapo’s call to halt the use of the mRNA vaccines comes a...
Justice Department sues Texas over law that would let police arrest migrants who enter U.S. illegally
AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department on Wednesday sued Texas over a new law that would allow police to arrest migrants who enter the United States illegally, taking Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to court again over his escalating response to border crossers arriving from Mexico. The lawsuit draws Texas into...
Alzheimer’s drugs might get into brain faster with new ultrasound tool
WASHINGTON — Scientists have found a way to help Alzheimer’s drugs seep inside the brain faster by temporarily breaching its protective shield. The novel experiment was a first attempt in just three patients. But in spots in the brain where the new technology took aim, it enhanced removal of Alzheimer’s...
Trump asks Supreme Court to review Colorado ruling barring him from the ballot over Jan. 6 attack
DENVER — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling barring him from the Colorado ballot, setting up a high-stakes showdown over whether a constitutional provision prohibiting those who “engaged in insurrection” will end his political career. Trump appealed a 4-3 ruling in...
Imam killed in shooting outside Newark mosque, shooter at large, authorities say
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey imam was shot multiple times and killed outside his mosque Wednesday, and authorities continue to search for the shooter, officials said. Imam Hassan Sharif was in his car when he was shot more than once at about 6 a.m. near the Masjid-Muhammad Mosque in...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. qualifies for presidential ballot in Utah, the 1st state to grant him access
SALT LAKE CITY — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has collected enough signatures to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot in Utah, election officials say, marking the first state where the independent candidate and prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist has qualified. Kennedy has met the 1,000-signature requirement needed to qualify in Utah...
Unsealed court records offer new detail on old sex abuse allegations against Jeffrey Epstein
NEW YORK — Amid great hype, a court began to release a new batch of previously secret court documents late Wednesday related to Jeffrey Epstein, the jet-setting financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Social media has been rife in recent weeks with posts speculating...
