Penn State spars with conservative activist over whether campus event was booked correctly
Penn State says a conservative activist did not appear for a speech on campus because her event was not booked properly, although the speaker’s representatives suggested the university was using this as cover for preventing the event out of political concerns. Riley Gaines made waves among conservative press outlets after...
Scrutiny of Arkansas governor’s $19,000 lectern deepens after new records are released
LITTLE ROCK — New public records have widened questions over when Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office planned to use Republican Party funds to reimburse the state for a $19,000 lectern, which was bought in June using a government credit card. The Arkansas GOP paid for the lectern in September,...
Rep. George Santos faces new charges he stole donor IDs, made unauthorized charges to their credit cards
NEW YORK — A new indictment filed Tuesday charged U.S. Rep. George Santos with stealing the identities of donors to his campaign and then using their credit cards to ring up tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges. Prosecutors said some of that stolen money ended up in his...
Lidia makes landfall as Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph wind near Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta resort
MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Lidia made landfall as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm Tuesday evening with winds of 140 mph near Mexico’s Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Lidia’s eye appeared to have reached land near Las Penitas in the western state of...
After 1 week without a House speaker, Republicans appear no closer to choosing a new leader
WASHINGTON — The House Republican majority is stuck, one week after the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with lawmakers unable to coalesce around a new leader in a stalemate that threatens to keep Congress partly shuttered indefinitely. On Tuesday evening, two leading contenders for the gavel, Majority Leader Steve Scalise...
Palestinians scramble for safety as Israel pounds sealed-off Gaza Strip to punish HamasVideo
JERUSALEM — Israeli warplanes hammered the Gaza Strip neighborhood by neighborhood on Tuesday, reducing buildings to rubble and sending people scrambling to find safety in the tiny, sealed-off territory now suffering severe retaliation for the deadly weekend attack by Hamas militants. Humanitarian groups pleaded for the creation of corridors to...
Canadian auto workers, GM reach tentative contract agreement, ending strike that began at midnight
TORONTO — General Motors and the union representing Canadian auto workers reached a tentative contract agreement Tuesday, ending a strike that began just after midnight. About 4,300 striking workers at two GM factories and a parts warehouse will return to work Tuesday afternoon and will vote on the three-year deal...
Atlanta police chief fires officer after traffic stop led to Black deacon’s death
ATLANTA — Atlanta’s police chief on Tuesday fired an officer who shocked a 62-year-old Black church deacon with a stun gun during a dispute over a traffic ticket, leading to the man’s death. Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Officer Kiran Kimbrough didn’t follow department procedures Aug. 10 when he didn’t...
Pennsylvania universities are still waiting for state subsidies. It won’t make them more affordable
HARRISBURG — Four of Pennsylvania’s universities are plugging budget gaps while they await hundreds of millions of dollars in aid that has been snarled in a partisan dispute among lawmakers in a state that has one of the nation’s most abysmal records for funding higher education. Education advocates argue that...
X promises ‘highest level’ response on posts about Israel-Hamas war, yet misinformation still flourishes
The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, says it is trying to take action on a flood of posts sharing graphic media, violent speech and hateful conduct about the war between Israel and Hamas. X says it’s treating the crisis with its highest level of response. But outside...
Hamas got around Israel’s surveillance prowess by going dark
Facing one of the most sophisticated surveillance states on the planet, Hamas simply went dark. The militant group’s attack on Saturday caught Israel’s national security apparatus completely off guard — a shocking fact given the scope of the incursion, which included attacks by sea, air and land, and pushed deep...
Former baseball MVP Steve Garvey joins California U.S. Senate race
LOS ANGELES — Former baseball MVP Steve Garvey joined the race Tuesday to succeed the late California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, giving Republicans a splash of star quality on the ballot in a heavily Democratic state where the GOP hasn’t won a Senate race in 35 years. Garvey, 74, launched his...
Biden’s 2nd try at student loan cancellation moves forward with debate over the plan’s details
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s second attempt at student loan cancellation began moving forward Tuesday with a round of hearings to negotiate the details of a new plan. In a process known as negotiated rulemaking, 14 people chosen by the Biden administration are meeting for the first of three hearings...
Fraud trial: Trump acknowledged penthouse size at 11,000 square feet, not 30,000 he later claimed
NEW YORK — Donald Trump signed a document 30 years ago that gave the true size of his New York penthouse which was later listed as far larger on financial statements, according to evidence Tuesday at the former president’s civil business fraud trial. The evidence appeared in an email attachment...
Israeli survivors recount terror at music festival, where Hamas militants killed at least 260
JERUSALEM — The night was a getaway. Thousands of young men and women gathered at a vast field in southern Israel near the Gaza border to dance without a care. Old and new friends jumped up and down, reveling in the swirl of the bass-heavy beats. Maya Alper was standing...
Wall Street Journal reporter loses appeal in Russia and will stay in jail until the end of November
MOSCOW — A Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained in Russia on espionage charges lost his appeal against his arrest Tuesday, meaning he will stay in jail until at least the end of November. Evan Gershkovich, wearing a blue shirt, T-shirt and jeans, appeared in a glass defendant’s cage...
Future of electric vehicles looms over negotiations in the U.S. autoworkers strike
WAYNE, Mich. — On the picket lines at a Ford factory west of Detroit, many striking workers don’t think the electric vehicle revolution is coming for their jobs — at least not in the near future. But just in case, they’re backing United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain’s quest to...
Car rams into Chinese consulate in San Francisco and police fatally shoot driver, officers say
SAN FRANCISCO — A car rammed into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco on Monday, coming to a stop in the lobby and creating a chaotic scene that ended with police shooting the driver, who later died at the hospital, officials said. San Francisco police said they didn’t know why...
Powerball jackpot soars to $1.73 billion as lottery losing streak continues
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Powerball jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.73 billion after no one matched the game’s six numbers Monday and won the giant prize. The winning numbers announced were: 16, 34, 46, 55, 67 and the Powerball 14. There has been no winner for 35 consecutive drawings,...
Biden interviewed as part of special counsel investigation into handling of classified documents
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has been interviewed as part of an independent investigation into his handling of classified documents, the White House said late Monday. It’s a possible sign that the investigation is nearing its end. Special counsel Robert Hur is examining the improper retention of classified documents by...
Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd suspends long-shot GOP 2024 presidential bid, endorses Nikki Haley
WASHINGTON — Former Texas congressman Will Hurd suspended his Republican presidential bid Monday, abandoning a brief campaign built on criticizing Donald Trump at a time when his party seems even more determined to embrace the former president. Hurd said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that he was...
As Republicans split over who will be House speaker, Kevin McCarthy positions himself as a de facto leaderVideo
WASHINGTON — Republicans have no clear idea who to elect U.S. House speaker, leaving an unprecedented power vacuum in Congress and severely limiting America’s ability to quickly respond to the crisis in Israel — or any number of other problems at home or abroad. On Monday, the ousted former speaker,...
RFK Jr.’s independent run for president draws GOP criticism and silence from national Democrats
PHILADELPHIA — Republicans attacked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday as the longtime environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist launched an independent bid for the White House, reflecting growing concerns on the right that the former Democrat now threatens to take votes from former President Donald Trump in 2024. The Republican...
Native Americans celebrate their histories and cultures on Indigenous Peoples Day
Native people celebrated their history on Monday with events across the U.S. marking Indigenous Peoples Day, from a sunrise gathering in Minneapolis to a rally in Maine. The ceremonies, dances and speeches came two years after President Joe Biden officially commemorated Indigenous Peoples Day. At the time, he said the...
U.S. raises the death toll to 9 Americans killed in the weekend Hamas attacks on Israel
WASHINGTON — The State Department said Monday that at least nine American citizens have been killed in the weekend Hamas attacks on Israel, raising the toll from four. It said an undetermined number of American citizens remain missing and unaccounted for. On Sunday, an official said that number was fluid...
