Biden’s initial confidence on Israel gives way to the complexities and casualties of a brutal war
WASHINGTON — In the early days and hours after the horrific Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, President Joe Biden spoke with stark declarations and unqualified support for the longtime U.S. ally. Now, a month on, that unambiguous backing has given way to the complexities and haunting casualties...
Battles force Palestinians out of hospitals in Gaza, leaving patients, babies and medics stranded
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Battles around hospitals have forced thousands of Palestinians to flee from some of the last shelters in northern Gaza while stranding critically wounded patients, including newborns, and their caregivers with dwindling supplies and no electricity, health officials said Monday. The Israeli military has urged Palestinians...
‘Something to learn, an adventure’: 3 Irwin brothers, business owners add coffee shop to repertoire
Brothers Chris, Nick and Mike Juricich have spent their entire lives in the restaurant business and have no intention of changing it. The brothers, who reside in Irwin, co-own Ginny’s Neighborhood Pizza Joint in Murrysville, Parkside Creamery ice cream shop in Trafford and Mr. Squeegy window cleaners in North Huntingdon....
Penn Township set to vote on plan for independent living facility
Penn Township commissioners will vote this week on a land development plan for an independent living facility proposed for Harrison City-Export Road. The 119-unit facility was proposed by contractor Concordia of Monroeville for 21 acres of land behind Westmoreland Country Club, near the Bella Victoria housing plan. Commissioners tabled the...
Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott announces he is dropping out of the 2024 race
Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott announced late Sunday that he was dropping out of the 2024 race, about two months before the start of voting in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses. The South Carolina senator, who entered the race in May with high hopes, made the surprise announcement on Fox News Channel’s...
Capitol rioter plans 2024 run as a Libertarian candidate in Arizona’s 8th congressional district
PHOENIX — Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying rioter whose horned fur hat, bare chest and face paint made him one of the more recognizable figures in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, apparently aspires to be a member of Congress. Online paperwork shows the 35-year-old Chansley filed a...
Joe Biden wants to complete his goals on civil rights, taxes, and social services if he’s reelected
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has a simple reelection pitch to voters — let him “finish the job.” So what does that mean? What’s left for him to get done? Unlike Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination who has been releasing videos and statements detailing...
Heavy fighting rages near main Gaza hospital and people trapped inside say they cannot flee
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Health officials and people trapped inside Gaza’s largest hospital rejected Israel’s claims that it was helping babies and others evacuate Sunday, saying fighting continued just outside the facility where incubators lay idle with no electricity and critical supplies were running out. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...
House Republicans look to pass two-step package to avoid partial government shutdown
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled his proposal on Saturday to avoid a partial government shutdown by extending government funding for some agencies and programs until Jan. 19 and continuing funding for others until Feb. 2. The approach is unusual for a stopgap spending bill. Usually, lawmakers extend funding...
Trump’s plans if he returns to the White House include deportation raids, tariffs and mass firings
NEW YORK — A mass deportation operation. A new Muslim ban. Tariffs on all imported goods and “freedom cities” built on federal land. Much of the 2024 presidential campaign has been dominated by the myriad investigations into former President Donald Trump and the subsequent charges against him. But with less...
NYC Jewish sites hit with bomb threats, fake grenade as Gaza war sparks surge in antisemitism
NEW YORK — Reported bombs at separate Jewish sites caused alarm on Saturday and prompted an New York Police Department response as antisemitic incidents sparked by the war in Gaza continue to rise, police said. First, police were called to Holocaust Memorial Park on West End Avenue in Sheepshead Bay,...
Texas police officer, suspect killed in a shooting; 2 others found dead
A Texas police officer was killed early Saturday in a shooting that left the shooter dead, a second officer wounded, authorities said. Two other people were later found dead inside a home in Austin, according to interim Police Chief Robin Henderson. An emotional Henderson, who paused often during a news...
Constitutional challenge to Georgia voting machines set for trial early next year
ATLANTA — The question of whether Georgia’s electronic voting system has major cybersecurity flaws that amount to a violation of voters’ constitutional rights to cast their votes and have those votes accurately counted is set to be decided at trial early next year. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg issued a...
Biden and Xi set to meet next week at the APEC summit — no detail too small to sweat
WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday, there will be no such thing as a small detail. How they greet? If they eat? Where they sit? Will there be flowers? Bottled water or in a glass? “Pretty intense,” senior administration officials say of navigating...
Missile strike targets Kyiv as Russian train carriages derail due to ‘unauthorized interference’
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as part of an overnight bombardment felt across the country, local officials said Saturday, while drones that Russian officials blamed on the Ukrainian military targeted areas around Moscow and the region of Smolensk. A ballistic missile was shot down as it...
In rare move, Pope forcibly removes leading U.S. conservative, Texas bishop
ROME — Pope Francis on Saturday forcibly removed from office the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and some of his priorities. A one-line statement from the Vatican said Francis had “relieved” Bishop Joseph Strickland of the...
U.K. police step up efforts to ensure a massive pro-Palestinian march in London remains peaceful
LONDON — London police have stepped up efforts to ensure a pro-Palestinian march on Saturday remains peaceful following a week of political sparring over whether the demonstration should go ahead on the weekend Britain honors its war dead. More than 2,000 officers, some called in from surrounding forces, will be...
Gaza’s main hospital goes dark as Israel battles Hamas outside, causing patients to die; Netanyahu rejects cease-fire
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that the military will continue its battle against Hamas in Gaza with “full force,” in a rejection of growing international calls for a cease-fire. Netanyahu said in a televised address that a cease-fire would only be possible if...
North Huntingdon Marine honored during Veterans Day 5K
Members of the Steel City Naval ROTC still look to the legacy of Lt. Col. Chris Raible, who died 11 years ago in Afghanistan while serving in the Marines. The former North Huntingdon resident will be honored during the unit’s 5K race Saturday in Schenley Park near Carnegie Mellon University,...
4 men wounded in shootout over allegedly stolen car on Interstate 59 in Alabama
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A confrontation over an allegedly stolen car in Birmingham, Alabama, ended Friday in a shootout on a busy interstate that wounded four people, including two who had life-threatening injuries, police said. The shooting took place shortly after 4:30 p.m. on southbound Interstate 59 near the 20th Street...
4 injured, 1 critically, in shooting at mall in Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Independence police are investigating a shooting Friday afternoon at the Independence Center mall. Police initially said three people had been shot, but later updated that to four shot. One person is in critical condition. A police spokesperson said the shooting occurred in a public area inside...
Lindell’s troubled MyPillow goes with in-house counsel to defend federal Smartmatic case
MINNEAPOLIS — MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has turned to in-house corporate counsel to defend him and his company against Smartmatic’s defamation claim in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, according to a court filing Friday. Doug Wardlow, who ran twice for state attorney general, filed formal notice that he and fellow...
Republican faction seeks to keep courts from interpreting Ohio’s new abortion rights amendment
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four Ohio Republican state lawmakers are seeking to strip judges of their power to interpret an abortion rights amendment after voters opted to enshrine those rights in the state’s constitution this week. Republican state Reps. Jennifer Gross, Bill Dean, Melanie Miller and Beth Lear said in a...
Moody’s lowers U.S. credit outlook, though keeps triple-A rating
WASHINGTON — The credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on the U.S. government’s debt on Friday to “negative” from “stable,” citing the cost of rising interest rates and political polarization in Congress. Moody’s retained its top triple-A credit rating on U.S. government debt, though it is the...
5.0 magnitude quake strikes Dominican Republic near border with Haiti
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck the northwest Dominican Republic on Friday near the border with Haiti. The tremor occurred at a depth of 12 miles just west-northwest of Las Matas de Santa Cruz, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Officials in the Dominican Republic said...
