Pennsylvania’s July unemployment rate at record low 3.5%
WILKES-BARRE — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate declined three-tenths of a percentage point over the month to 3.5% in July — the lowest rate on record going back to January 1976. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry released its preliminary employment situation report for July. The U.S. unemployment rate...
Trump’s 2024 GOP rivals converge on Atlanta just days after his latest indictment
ATLANTA — Several Republican White House hopefuls are set to greet a conservative conference with hopes of making up ground against Donald Trump. But the former president’s shadow may be especially difficult to escape in the city where he was most recently indicted. Trump will not speak at The Gathering,...
Neonatal nurse in British hospital found guilty of killing 7 babies
LONDON — A neonatal nurse in a British hospital was found guilty Friday of killing seven babies and trying to kill six others. Lucy Letby, 33, was charged with murder in the deaths of five baby boys and two girls, and the attempted murder of five boys and five girls,...
Hurricane Hilary grows off Mexico and could reach California as a very rare tropical storm
MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Hilary grew rapidly to Category 4 strength off Mexico’s Pacific coast on Friday and could reach Southern California as the first tropical storm there in 84 years, causing “significant and rare impacts” including extensive flooding. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hilary had sustained winds near...
Firefighters are trying to put out a peatland fire threatening homes on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island
PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Firefighters on Friday were trying to put out a peatland fire on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island that was growing in size near a dense residential area. The effort is made difficult by the limited firefighting equipment and distant water source, a one-hour trip to the fire’s location in...
Former Somerset County district attorney gets prison time for attacking woman
SOMERSET — A former Western Pennsylvania district attorney was sentenced Thursday to up to seven years in prison after a jury convicted him of attacking a woman in her home. Somerset County’s former elected District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas was sentenced to between just over two years to seven years in...
Justice Department seeks 33 years in prison for ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio in Jan. 6 case
The Justice Department is seeking 33 years in prison for Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy in one of the most serious cases to emerge from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents filed Thursday. Tarrio, who once served...
DeSantis expects ‘knives out’ in first GOP debate as supporters look for reassurance
MIAMI — When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes the stage next Wednesday at the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee, he’ll face perhaps the biggest test yet of his campaign’s efforts to re-establish his position as the strongest alternative to former President Donald Trump. Even as the governor’s campaign has...
Trump lawyers seek April 2026 trial date in federal election subversion case
WASHINGON — Lawyers for Donald Trump asked a federal judge Thursday to put off until 2026 a trial in Washington on charges that the former president plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The suggested April 2026 date is a counterproposal to the Justice Department’s recommendation last week...
Fulton County sheriff investigating online threats to grand jurors after Trump indictment
ATLANTA — The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday it is investigating online threats to the members of the grand jury that indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 others earlier this week. “We take this matter very seriously and are coordinating with our law enforcement partners to respond quickly...
Hurricane Hilary forms off Mexico’s Pacific coast and could bring rain to U.S. SouthwestVideo
MEXICO CITY — Hilary strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane off Mexico’s Pacific coast Thursday, and it could bring heavy rain to the U.S. southwest by the weekend. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said that Hilary had maximum winds of 105 mph and could perhaps skim the coast of the...
Oklahoma City man kills his 3 children and estranged wife before taking his own life, police say
OKLAHOMA CITY — A 28-year-old man fatally shot his three young children and his estranged wife before taking his own life, Oklahoma City police said Thursday. Investigators have not determined a motive, Sgt. Gary Knight said. “They’re still trying to figure out what led up to this,” Knight said. “Sometimes...
Texas woman accused of threatening to kill judge overseeing Trump election case and a congresswoman
HOUSTON — A Texas woman was arrested and has been charged with threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Washington and a member of Congress. Abigail Jo Shry of Alvin, Texas, called the federal courthouse in Washington and left the threatening...
GOP-dominated Utah embraces mail voting despite party rhetoric
WASHINGTON — Deidre Henderson watched in surprise as her party waged one attack after another on mail voting in the aftermath of the 2020 election. For the better part of three years, Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, have repeated claims that mail voting is unsafe and ripe for...
In Anne Frank’s Amsterdam, Ukrainian children’s war diaries go on show in exhibition at City Hall
AMSTERDAM — The city where Anne Frank wrote her World War II diary while hiding with her family from the brutal Nazi occupation is hosting an exhibition about the Ukraine war with grim echoes of her plight more than three quarters of a century later. The exhibition that opened at...
Taliban official says women lose value if their faces are visible to men in public
KABUL, Afghanistan — Women lose value if men can see their uncovered faces in public, a spokesman for a key ministry of Afghanistan’s Taliban government said Thursday, adding that religious scholars in the country agree that a woman must keep her face covered when outside the home. The Taliban, who...
Sweden raises its terror threat level to high for fear of attacks following recent Quran burnings
STOCKHOLM — Sweden raised its terror alert to the second-highest level on Thursday after a string of public desecrations of the Quran sparked angry demonstrations across Muslim countries and threats from militant groups. The Swedish Security Service, known as SÄPO, lifted the “terror threat level” one notch to “high,” the...
Seton Hill, Westmoreland County Community College form nursing partnership
Westmoreland County Community College nursing students receiving registered-nurse degrees can pursue a bachelor’s degree at Seton Hill University, as part of a newly announced partnership. The transfer agreement will allow students a chance to pre-plan their admissions and transfer options for a more seamless transition to Seton Hill’s bachelor’s degree...
Airlines are adding new routes and making a bold bet on continued strong demand for travel
FORT WORTH, Texas — Building on strong bookings this summer, American Airlines said Thursday it will add three new European destinations next summer and revive another international route that it last flew in 2019. The announcement comes one day after Delta Air Lines said it will expand service to China...
Biden to pay respects to former Pennsylvania first lady Ellen Casey in Scranton
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is traveling to Pennsylvania on Thursday to privately pay his respects to the mother of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey in Biden’s hometown of Scranton. The president is expected to arrive before visiting hours for Ellen Casey, also a former first lady of Pennsylvania, at St....
Air evacuations are to begin for people in the path of wildfires in Canada’s Northwest Territories
YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories — Air evacuations were to begin Thursday to move residents in the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories out of the path of wildfires that neared the city of 20,000 people. People in the four areas of Yellowknife at highest risk should leave as soon as possible and...
Hawaii is vowing to protect landowners on Maui from being pressured to sell after wildfires
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Hawaii’s governor vowed to protect local landowners from being “victimized” by opportunistic buyers when Maui rebuilds from deadly wildfires that incinerated a historic island community and killed more than 100 people. Gov. Josh Green said Wednesday that he instructed the state attorney general to work toward a...
Biden’s approval rating on the economy stagnates despite slowing inflation, AP-NORC poll shows
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has devoted the past several weeks to promoting the positive impacts of his policies — but his efforts have yet to meaningfully register with the public. Only 36% of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, slightly lower than the 42% who approve...
Penn Township votes against construction of new golf facility in Blackthorne Estates
Penn Township commissioners voted 4-1 this week to deny construction of a new golf operations facility in the Blackthorne Estates community near Harrison City-Export Road. The new facility for the unfinished 18-hole Blackthorne golf course was discussed at a township meeting last month. After a 30-minute executive session, commissioners held...
Pig kidney works in a donated body for over a month, a step toward animal-human transplantsVideo
NEW YORK — Surgeons transplanted a pig’s kidney into a brain-dead man and for over a month it’s worked normally — a critical step toward an operation the New York team hopes to eventually try in living patients. Scientists around the country are racing to learn how to use animal...
