What’s ahead now that Republicans are opening an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he is launching an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, yielding to mounting pressure from former President Donald Trump and his allies in what’s shaping up as an election-year clash between Congress and the White House. In a statement Tuesday, McCarthy said the...
Pulitzer officials expand eligibility in arts categories; some non-U.S. citizens can now compete
The Pulitzer Prize Board has revised its longtime rules on eligibility for many of its arts awards and will now allow those not born in the U.S. and other non-citizens to compete. The board announced Tuesday that permanent residents and those who have made the U.S. their longtime primary home...
‘New normal’ and other annoying buzzwords sure to drive co-workers crazy
If you haven’t uttered them yourself, you’ve probably heard them spew from the mouths of co-workers or your boss. They are the most annoying business buzzwords for 2023. So what’s the most fingernail-on-blackboard phrase for workers? “New normal,” according to a survey conducted by Preply Business, a language learning platform...
Missouri clinic halts transgender care for minors in wake of new state law
ST. LOUIS — At least two Missouri health care centers stopped prescribing puberty blockers and hormones to minors for the purpose of gender transition, citing a new state law that the clinic says “creates unsustainable liability” for health care workers. Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital on...
The ‘science of reading’ swept reforms into classrooms nationwide. What about math?
For much of her teaching career, Carrie Stark relied on math games to engage her students, assuming they would pick up concepts like multiplication by seeing them in action. The kids had fun, but the lessons never stuck. A few years ago she shifted her approach, turning to more direct...
Connecticut couple rescues baby shark caught in a work glove
GLASTONBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut couple’s scuba diving trip in Rhode Island on Monday turned into a mission to rescue a baby shark. Deb and Steve Dauphinais, of Glastonbury, Conn., were diving on the sand flats off Jamestown, R.I., when Deb Dauphinais spotted the 16-inch juvenile shark with its head...
Infowars host Owen Shroyer gets 2 months behind bars in Capitol riot case
WASHINGTON — Infowars host Owen Shroyer was sentenced on Tuesday to two months behind bars for joining the mob’s riot at the U.S. Capitol, which prosecutors said he “helped create” by spewing violent rhetoric and spreading baseless claims of election fraud to hundreds of thousands of viewers. Shroyer hosts a...
Helping mothers and babies survive childbirth is a personal goal, says Melinda French Gates
NEW YORK — Melinda French Gates says she takes personally the deaths of hundreds of thousands of women and babies during child birth each year and believes more people should get involved in the fight for improving maternal health care. French Gates, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-founder and...
Speaker McCarthy directs the House to open an impeachment inquiry into President BidenVideo
WASHINGTON — Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Tuesday he is directing the U.S. House to open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over his family’s business dealings, launching historic proceedings ahead of the 2024 election. McCarthy said that House investigations so far “paint a picture of a culture of corruption”...
Popular nasal decongestant doesn’t actually relieve congestion, FDA advisers say
WASHINGTON — The leading decongestant used by millions of Americans looking for relief from a stuffy nose is no better than a dummy pill, according to government experts who reviewed the latest research on the long-questioned drug ingredient. Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously on Tuesday against...
Russian passenger jet with hydraulics problem makes safe emergency landing in open field
MOSCOW — A Russian passenger plane with 170 people on board made a successful wheels-down emergency landing in a field Tuesday, and no one was seriously injured, officials said. The Airbus A320 belonging to Ural Airlines was flying from the Black Sea resort of Sochi to Omsk in eastern Siberia...
Israeli Supreme Court hears first challenge to Netanyahu’s divisive judicial overhaul
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court heard the first challenge Tuesday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul, deepening a showdown with the far-right government that has bitterly divided the nation and put it on the brink of a constitutional crisis. Netanyahu’s coalition, a collection of ultranationalist and ultrareligious lawmakers,...
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio breaks U.S. record for longest spaceflight
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio now holds the record for the longest U.S. spaceflight. Rubio surpassed the U.S. space endurance record of 355 days on Monday at the International Space Station. He arrived at the outpost last September with two Russians for a routine six months. But their stay was doubled...
Apple’s new iPhones get faster chips, better cameras and new charging portsVideo
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple on Tuesday unveiled its next generation of iPhones — a lineup that will boast better cameras, faster processors, a new charging system and a price hike for the fanciest model. The showcase at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, comes as the company tries to reverse a...
Rhino at Austrian zoo kills zookeeper, seriously injures her husband
BERLIN — A rhino at a zoo in Austria attacked a married couple working as zookeepers Tuesday, killing the woman and seriously injuring the man, authorities said. The fatal attack happened at the Hellbrunn zoo in the western Austrian city of Salzburg. Zoo Director Sabine Grebner told reporters Tuesday that...
North Korea’s Kim in Russia to meet Putin — both locked in standoffs with West
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un rolled into Russia on an armored train Tuesday to see President Vladimir Putin, a rare meeting between isolated leaders driven together by their need for support in escalating standoffs with the West. Kim is expected to seek economic aid and military...
Farm laborers to receive greater protections under Biden administration proposal
WASHINGTON — Immigrant farm workers would receive a raft of new protections under a Biden administration proposal to be announced Tuesday, which would boost safety requirements on farms and raise transparency around how such workers are brought to the U.S., to combat human trafficking. The proposal would reform the H-2A...
Massachusetts city gets more than 9 inches of rain, flooding homes and jeopardizing a damVideo
LEOMINSTER, Mass. — Heavy rainfall flooded parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with two communities declaring a state of emergency as water poured into homes, creating moats around their foundations and leading to boat rescues of residents. Concern about a dam listed in poor condition led to more evacuations. Weather...
Outrage intensifies over New Mexico governor’s temporary gun ban as sheriff vows not to enforce it
ALBUQUERQUE — Federal lawsuits, cries for impeachment and outside protests. Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she would welcome a fight after announcing an emergency order to suspend the right to carry firearms in most public places around Albuquerque. That’s exactly what she’s getting. Since she issued the...
American researcher has been rescued from deep Turkish cave more than a week after he fell illVideo
TASELI PLATEAU, Turkey — Rescuers pulled an American researcher out of a Turkish cave on Monday, more than a week after he became seriously ill more than 3,000 feet below its entrance, said the Speleological Federation of Turkey. Teams from across Europe had rushed to Morca cave in southern Turkey’s...
Escaped Pennsylvania inmate still believed to be within specific perimeter, police sayVideo
POTTSTOWN — Escaped murderer Danelo Souza Cavalcante is still believed to be within a search perimeter in a rural stretch of southeastern Pennsylvania hours after he stole a rifle from a garage and fled a homeowner’s gunfire, authorities said Tuesday. Heavily armed police descended on the South Coventry Township area...
Grand Canyon hiker dies after trying to walk from rim to rim in a single day
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — A 55-year-old Virginia man died in the Grand Canyon while trying to hike from the South Rim to the North Rim in a single day, a distance of 21 miles, authorities said Monday. Grand Canyon National Park officials identified the hiker who died Saturday...
Trump lawyers seek recusal of judge presiding over federal election subversion case
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday asked the federal judge presiding over his election subversion case in Washington to recuse herself, saying her past public statements about the former president and his connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol call into question whether she...
Overdose-reversing drug administered to puppy after possible fentanyl exposure in CaliforniaVideo
IRVINE, Calif. — A pit bull puppy that California police believe got into its owners’ fentanyl stash was administered an overdose-reversing drug and is recovering, officials said. The dog’s owners, a man and a woman, were arrested and could face charges including drug possession and animal cruelty, according to the...
Pennsylvania removes email database of public employees
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds the powerful to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania officials have removed a searchable, online database of state employee emails, narrowing the ways the public can reach the people who...