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...
Westmoreland Fair leaders aim to exceed last year’s 63,000 attendance
Westmoreland Fair organizers are hoping to meet or exceed last year’s record-breaking attendance at the nine-day event. This year’s fair begins at 4 p.m. Friday at the Mt. Pleasant Township fairgrounds, and will feature motocross races, demolition derbies, an animal auction, food, music and more. Last year’s event drew 63,000...
Georgia prosecutor seeks March trial date for Trump, 18 others in election case
ATLANTA — The prosecutor in Atlanta who obtained an indictment this week against former President Donald Trump and 18 others wants to take the case to trial in March. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in a proposed scheduling order filed with the court Wednesday that she wants the...
Arkansas school district says it will continue offering AP African American Studies course
LITTLE ROCK — The Little Rock School District said Wednesday it will continue offering an Advanced Placement course on African American studies despite Arkansas education officials saying the class won’t count toward a student’s graduation credit. The 21,200-student district announced the decision days after the Arkansas Department of Education said...
Veto overridden: Ban on gender-affirming care for minors takes effect in North Carolina
RALEIGH — Transgender youth in North Carolina lost access Wednesday to the gender-affirming treatments many credit as live-saving after the Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of legislation banning such care. GOP supermajorities in the House and Senate enacted — over Gov. Roy Cooper’s opposition — a bill...
Kansas prosecutor says police should return computers, cellphones seized in raid on newspaper
MARION, Kan. — A Kansas prosecutor said Wednesday that he found insufficient evidence to support the police raid of a weekly newspaper and that all seized material should be returned in a dispute over press freedoms that the White House acknowledged it is watching closely. “This administration has been vocal...
Some abortion drug restrictions upheld by appeals court in case bound for Supreme CourtVideo
NEW ORLEANS — New restrictions on access to a drug used in the most common form of abortion in the United States would be imposed under a federal appeals court ruling issued Wednesday, but the Supreme Court will have the final say. The ruling by three judges on the 5th...
Man killed by Philadelphia police never got out of his car, didn’t ‘lunge’ with a knife, police say in new narrative
New questions have emerged about the fatal police shooting of 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry in North Philadelphia this week after the Police Department changed its narrative of the events leading up to his death. At the scene of the shooting Monday, police first said Irizarry emerged from his car after a...
FEMA opens disaster recovery center on Maui to help victims of wildfires
Follow live updates about wildfires that have devastated parts of Maui in Hawaii, killing more than 100 people and destroying the historic town of Lahaina. The wildfires are the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century. Videos showing downed power lines apparently sparking some of the early blazes...
Aldi to buy 400 Winn-Dixie, Harveys groceries in Southern U.S.
Discount grocer Aldi said Wednesday it plans to buy 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys supermarkets in the southern U.S. Under a proposed merger agreement, Aldi will acquire all outstanding shares of Jacksonville, Florida-based Southeastern Grocers Inc., the parent company of Winn-Dixie and Harveys. If the deal is approved by regulators, it’s...
Tropical Storm Hilary forms off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast
MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm Hilary formed Wednesday far off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, but it is expected to strengthen and move north toward the Baja California peninsula later this week. Hilary had wind of 40 mph Wednesday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hilary was located about 370 miles...
Russia hits Ukrainian grain depots again as foreign ship tries out Kyiv’s new Black Sea corridor
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian drones pounded grain storage facilities and ports along the Danube River that Ukraine has increasingly relied on as an alternative transport route to Europe, after Moscow broke off a key wartime shipping agreement using the Black Sea. At the same time, a loaded container ship stranded...
Federal grants will replace tunnels beneath roads that let water pass but not fish
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced nearly $200 million in federal infrastructure grants to upgrade tunnels that carry streams beneath roads but can be deadly to fish that get stuck trying to pass through. Many of these narrow passages known as culverts, often made from metal or concrete, were built...
North Carolina GOP seeks to override governor’s veto of bill banning gender-affirming care for youth
RALEIGH, N.C. — Transgender rights take center stage in North Carolina again Wednesday as GOP supermajorities in the General Assembly attempt to override the governor’s vetoes of legislation banning gender-affirming health care for minors and limiting transgender participation in school sports. The state House will hold the first of two...
Americans are divided along party lines over Trump’s actions in election cases, AP-NORC poll shows
WASHINGTON — Americans are deeply divided along party lines in their views of President Donald Trump’s actions in the most recent criminal cases brought against him, a new poll shows, with about half saying his alleged attempt to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 vote count was illegal. The poll from The...
DeSantis’ appointees ask judge to rule against Disney without need for trial
A Florida judge should rule without trial against Disney as the company fights Gov. Ron DeSantis’ takeover of a board that oversees Walt Disney World, the Republican governor’s appointees said in a Tuesday court filing. Members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District asked the state judge in Orlando for...
A plan to stop diverting road dollars to Pa. State Police could be a final piece of this year’s budget
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. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — For at least 50 years, Pennsylvania has used taxes drivers pay at the pump to fund...
Trump’s Georgia co-defendants played significant roles in seeking to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 vote
PHILADELPHIA — Among the 18 lawyers, aides, and allies who were charged Monday alongside Donald Trump for their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, there are several who played key roles in the former president’s similar push in Pennsylvania. Here’s a breakdown of some...
California judge pleads not guilty to murder in wife’s deathVideo
LOS ANGELES — A Southern California judge charged with killing his wife during an argument while he was drunk pleaded not guilty to murder Tuesday, and his lawyer says it was an “accidental shooting.” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ricardo Ocampo ordered Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, who...
They’re back: College students arrive on Western Pa. campuses
Overstuffed move-in carts, frazzled parents and traffic lined up outside dorms are making a comeback this week and next as Western Pennsylvania college students arrive for fall semester classes. Campuses, meanwhile, are trying to curb stress among the new arrivals. Some initiatives to soothe the psyche are as involved as...
Once a conservative lawmaker, Mark Meadows now indicted
WASHINGTON — Mark Meadows founded one of the most conservative groups in Congress, left early to be White House chief of staff for Donald Trump and now faces two state criminal charges related to the waning weeks of his time in that administration. The North Carolina Republican was named in...
District Attorney: Officers justified in shooting armed 17-year-old burglary suspect in Lancaster
LANCASTER — A Pennsylvania prosecutor said Tuesday that police officers were justified in fatally shooting a teenager who pointed a gun at them after a homeowner called 911 to report her security cameras had detected an intruder in house. Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams told reporters that 17-year-old Darron...
