Putting an armed security officer in every school gains Pa. Senate panel’s support
Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering requiring every public school building to have a trained armed security officer present during school hours. The Senate Education Committee on a party-line vote sent legislation to the full Senate for consideration that would impose this mandate, starting in 2024-25. Having an armed school police officer,...
1st major storm of the season drops up to a foot of snow in MontanaVideo
HELENA, Mont. — The first major snowstorm of the season dropped up to a foot of snow in the Helena, Montana, area by Wednesday, sending an army of snowplows and sand trucks out onto the roads. Residents woke up to swirling snow and the sound of shovels on sidewalks just...
Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York charged with misdemeanor, to pay fine after triggering House fire alarm
WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman was charged Wednesday with a misdemeanor for triggering a fire alarm as lawmakers scrambled to pass a funding bill before a government shutdown deadline in September. He is expected to plead guilty, formally apologize and pay a $1,000 fine. The alarm prompted an evacuation...
Far-right candidate who wouldn’t denounce white supremacist supporters loses Tennessee mayor’s race
NASHVILLE — Voters in a Tennessee city have firmly rejected a far-right mayoral candidate after she refused to denounce her white supremacist supporters, and the incumbent mayor decried hate and divisiveness as he celebrated his election win. Gabrielle Hanson lost the race by a wide margin Tuesday, according to unofficial...
Western Pa. congressional delegation weighs in on new House speaker
After weeks of turmoil and inaction, the U.S. House of Representatives elected Louisiana conservative Mike Johnson as its new speaker on Wednesday. The vote came more than three weeks after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was booted from the position in a historic vote. Johnson was the fourth nominee...
States sue Meta claiming its social platforms are addictive and harm children’s mental health
Dozens of U.S. states, including California and New York, are suing Meta Platforms Inc. for harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. A lawsuit filed by 33 states in federal...
Judge reinstates murder charge against Philadelphia police officer in fatal shooting of motorist
PHILADELPHIA — A judge on Wednesday reinstated all charges, including a murder count, against a former police officer who shot and killed a driver through a rolled-up car window — a confrontation police initially described as the officer shooting the driver after he lunged at him with a knife outside...
A teacher was shot by her 6-year-old student. Is workers’ compensation enough?
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A heated debate has emerged about the once-unimaginable shooting of a teacher by her 6-year-old student: How should the school district take care of the teacher? Should she only get workers’ compensation for her serious physical injuries? Or does she deserve the chance to sue the...
Mike Johnson, staunch Louisiana conservative, elected House speaker with broad GOP support
WASHINGTON — Republicans unanimously elected Rep. Mike Johnson as House speaker on Wednesday, eagerly elevating a deeply conservative but lesser-known leader to the major seat of U.S. power and ending for now the weeks of political chaos in their majority. Johnson, 51, of Louisiana, swept through on the first ballot...
AI-generated child sexual abuse images could flood the internet. A watchdog is calling for action
NEW YORK — The already-alarming proliferation of child sexual abuse images on the internet could become much worse if something is not done to put controls on artificial intelligence tools that generate deepfake photos, a watchdog agency warned on Tuesday. In a written report, the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation urges...
USPS touts crackdown on postal crime, carrier robberies, with hundreds of arrests
With mail theft and postal carrier robberies up, law enforcement officials have made more than 600 arrests since May in a crackdown launched to address crime that includes carriers being accosted at gunpoint for their antiquated universal keys, the Postal Service announced Wednesday. Criminals are both stealing mail and targeting...
Amy Schumer’s memoir, ‘The Art of War’ and many other books are banned in U.S. prisons. Here’s why
NEW YORK — Tens of thousands of books are being banned or restricted by U.S. prisons, according to a new report from PEN America. The list includes everything from self-help books to an Elmore Leonard novel. “The common concept underpinning the censorship we’re seeing is that certain ideas and information...
California Gov. Newsom has surprise meeting with China’s leader Xi amid warm welcome in Beijing
BANGKOK — California Gov. Gavin Newsom had a surprise meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday after being warmly welcomed by other senior leaders in a display of friendliness that stands in sharp contrast to the dialogue between the U.S. and China in recent years. The governor...
City of Orlando buys Pulse nightclub property to build memorial to massacre victims
ORLANDO, Fla. — The city of Orlando is moving forward with plans to create a memorial on the property of the Pulse nightclub, where 49 people were massacred seven years ago. City leaders agreed Monday night to purchase the property for $2 million. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said they plan...
2nd Baltimore firefighter has died after battling rowhouse fire
BALTIMORE — A second Baltimore firefighter has died from injuries sustained while battling a rapidly intensifying blaze that engulfed multiple rowhouses in northwest Baltimore last week, a city official said. Lt. Dillon Rinaldo was hospitalized in critical but stable condition after the fire Thursday afternoon. He later succumbed to his...
Trump fined $10,000 over a comment he made outside court in his New York civil fraud trial
NEW YORK — Donald Trump was called to the witness stand and then fined $10,000 on Wednesday after a judge concluded that the former president had violated a limited gag order in his civil fraud trial. It was the second time in less than a week that Trump was penalized...
Battle of wreaths erupts in the Arctic when Russian envoy puts his garland over Norway’s wreath
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A battle of wreaths erupted Wednesday when a Russian diplomat in the Arctic town of Kirkenes in northern Norway reportedly put his garland on top of Norway’s at a monument for the 1944 liberation of the region by Soviet troops. Magnus Mæland, the municipality mayor, then angrily...
Derailment costs grow for Norfolk Southern but railroad’s trains moving more smoothly
OMAHA, Neb. — The costs related to the East Palestine derailment continue to grow to reach $966 million for Norfolk Southern, but the railroad’s service is improving and its insurance companies have started to pay their share of the cost of the crash in eastern Ohio early this year. The...
Pa. Superior Court candidate Maria Battista suffered broken collarbone when struck by car, campaign says
Pennsylvania Superior Court candidate Maria Battista has been released from a hospital and is “doing well” after she was injured Sunday when a car hit her, according to her campaign. A statement issued by the campaign Tuesday afternoon said that Battista, a Clarion County Republican, was “putting out her campaign...
States sue Meta claiming its social platforms are addictive and harm children’s mental health
Dozens of states, including California and New York, are suing Meta Platforms Inc. for allegedly harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. A lawsuit filed by 33 states claims Meta...
Now freed, an Israeli hostage describes the ‘hell’ of harrowing Hamas attack and terrifying capture
JERUSALEM — Eighty-five-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz spoke of a “hell that we never knew before and never thought we would experience” as she described the harrowing Oct. 7 assault on her kibbutz by Hamas militants and the terror of being taken hostage into the Gaza Strip. Lifshitz was the first of...
UN warns Gaza blockade could force it to sharply cut relief operations as bombings rise
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The U.N. warned Wednesday that it is on the verge of running out of fuel in the Gaza Strip, forcing it to sharply curtail relief efforts in the territory blockaded and devastated by Israeli airstrikes since Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel more than two...
Biden won’t appear on New Hampshire Democratic primary ballot. But write-ins are still an option
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden won’t file to have his name appear on the 2024 New Hampshire Democratic primary ballot, his reelection campaign said Tuesday, opting to skip a contest that the state plans to hold in defiance of a revamped primary order that the White House has championed. Julie...
Parents like private school vouchers so much that demand is exceeding budgets in some states
In some states, higher-income families can now use taxpayer money to cover private school tuition — and more people than projected are taking the offer, which might force scrambles to shore up state budgets. It’s especially an issue in states like Arizona and Iowa, where at least some families whose...
Georgia Supreme Court sends abortion law challenge back to lower court, leaving access unchanged
ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a lower court ruling that the state’s restrictive abortion law was invalid, leaving limited access to abortions unchanged for now. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said last November that the ban was “unequivocally unconstitutional” because it was enacted in...
