‘Mama bears’ may be the 2024 race’s soccer moms. But where the GOP seeks votes, some see extremism
In many election cycles, there’s a snappy shorthand used to describe the type of voters who may help decide the winner. Think soccer moms or security moms. Even NASCAR dads. And now, the “mama bears.” These conservative mothers and grandmothers, who in recent years have organized for “parental rights,” including...
Deck collapse at Montana country club leaves more than 30 injured as people land atop each other
BILLINGS, Mont. — More than 30 people were injured when a deck collapsed at a Montana country club during a weekend golf tournament, police and city officials said Sunday. The second-story patio floor of Billings’ Briarwood Country Club broke and gave way Saturday evening. The collapse caused head wounds, broken...
One year old, U.S. climate law is already turbocharging clean energy technology
FRANKFORT, Ky. — On a recent day under the July sun, three men heaved solar panels onto the roof of a roomy, two-story house near the banks of the Kentucky River, a few miles upstream from the state capitol where lawmakers have promoted coal for more than a century. The...
Nervous Republicans turn to New Hampshire in hopes of stopping Trump
HUDSON, N.H. — They acknowledge Donald Trump’s dominance, but weary Republicans across New Hampshire — even inside the governor’s office — are fighting to stop the former president from winning the first-in-the-nation primary. For now, however, they’re relying on little more than hope and prayers. Look no further than Mike...
Biden will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teen lynched in Mississippi
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed in 1955 after he was accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi, and his mother, a White House official said Saturday. Biden will sign...
Police narrow search for infant lost in flash flood, after 2-year-old sister’s body found
WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. — Search teams in Pennsylvania were focusing on one underwater area Sunday as they try to find a 9-month-old boy swept away in a flash flood, hours after authorities confirmed that the body of his 2-year-old sister was recovered from the Delaware River. Upper Makefield Township police...
‘It’s heartwarming’: Local running store hosts Labor Day race in support of autism nonprofit
Autism Connection of PA, a Pittsburgh nonprofit, has a “huge mission and a limited budget,” said Director of Operations Tammi Morton. So fundraising events like the Labor Day Run for Autism are vital. Gingerbread Man Running Co., a store for runners with locations in Indiana and Greensburg, has hosted the...
Oregon hospital security guard dies after being shot in hospital; police later kill suspect
PORTLAND, Ore. — A security guard died after being shot at an Oregon hospital Saturday, and the suspect was later killed by police in a nearby community, authorities said. Police responded to reports that a person with at least one firearm fired shots inside Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in...
Israel’s Netanyahu goes to hospital for pacemaker, says he will push ahead with judicial overhaul
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushed to the hospital early Sunday for an emergency procedure to implant a pacemaker, plunging the country into deeper turmoil after widespread protests overt his contentious judicial overhaul plan. Netanyahu’s office said that he would be placed under sedation and that a top...
DeSantis downplays Jan. 6, says it wasn’t an insurrection but a ‘protest’ that ‘ended up devolving’
NEW YORK — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday downplayed the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, saying it was not an insurrection but rather a “protest” that “ended up devolving, you know, in a way that was unfortunate, of course.” DeSantis, speaking in an interview on...
Elon Musk gets new hearing on tweet about Tesla workers’ stock amid UAW union effort
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court Friday said it will reconsider its March ruling that Tesla CEO Elon Musk unlawfully threatened to take away employees’ stock options in a 2018 Twitter post amid an organizing effort by the United Auto Workers union. Three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit...
Trump Organization, former fixer Michael Cohen settle lawsuit over unpaid legal bills
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s company and his former longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen have settled a lawsuit over Cohen’s claims that he was unfairly stuck with big legal bills after getting entangled in investigations into the former president. Lawyers for the two sides told the judge they had...
Pa.’s latest attempt to regulate cyber charter schools would lower tuition payments, increase transparency
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — A bill making its way through the Pennsylvania legislature would cap the amount of money public school districts send...
Thousands of Muslims take to the streets to express outrage over Quran desecration in Sweden
BEIRUT — Thousands of people took to the streets in a handful of Muslim-majority countries Friday to express their outrage at the desecration of a copy of the Quran in Sweden, a day after protesters stormed the country’s embassy in Iraq. The protests in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran that followed...
N.J. school bus monitor charged after using cellphone as disabled girl suffocated
FRANKLIN. N.J. — A New Jersey school bus monitor has been charged with manslaughter and child endangerment after authorities say she was using her cellphone and failed to notice a disabled 6-year-old being suffocated by a seat belt. Amanda Davila, 27, of New Brunswick, was charged in the death of...
Mom, 3 children dead in possible Oklahoma murder-suicide
VERDIGRIS, Okla. — A woman and her three children were found dead in an Oklahoma home Thursday evening in what may be a murder-suicide following an hourslong standoff, authorities said. The names of the victims weren’t immediately released. The standoff began in the small town of Verdigris, a suburb east...
Judge sets a trial date for May 2024 in Trump’s classified documents case in Florida
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Florida has scheduled a trial date for next May for former President Donald Trump in a case charging him with illegally retaining hundreds of classified documents. The May 20, 2024, trial date, set Friday by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, is a compromise between...
Some critics see Trump’s behavior as un-Christian. His conservative Christian backers see a hero
For eight years, Donald Trump has managed to secure the support of many evangelical and conservative Christians despite behavior that often seemed at odds with teachings espoused by Christ in the Gospels. If some observers initially viewed this as an unsustainable alliance, it’s different now. Certain achievements during Trump’s presidency...
Tony Bennett, masterful stylist of American musical standards, dies at 96
NEW YORK — Tony Bennett, the eminent and timeless stylist whose devotion to classic American songs and knack for creating new standards such as “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” graced a decadeslong career that brought him admirers from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga, died Friday. He was 96,...
Russia targets Ukraine’s farm storage sites after days of hitting Black Sea port facilities
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian cruise missiles destroyed farm storage buildings in the Odesa region early Friday, Ukrainian officials said, as the Kremlin’s forces expanded their targets following three days of bombardment of the region’s Black Sea port infrastructure. Other Russian missiles damaged what officials described only as an “important infrastructure...
Penn State tuition to increase by 2% for in-state University Park students
In-state undergraduate tuition is going up this fall and next by 2% on Penn State University’s main campus, but will be frozen for Pennsylvania undergraduates both years on branch campuses statewide. University trustees, meeting Friday at Penn State Behrend in Erie, locked in 2023-24 and 2024-25 tuition schedules for the...
Tiny downtown LA store near Skid Row sells winning Powerball jackpot ticket worth over $1 billion
LOS ANGELES — A tiny neighborhood store in downtown Los Angeles sold the winning ticket for the Powerball jackpot worth an estimated $1.08 billion, the sixth largest in U.S. history and the third largest in the history of the game. The winning numbers for Wednesday night’s drawing were: white balls...
Severe thunderstorm watch, including possible tornadoes, issued Thursday night for Pittsburgh areaVideo
Severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, hail and isolated tornadoes are expected to reach Pittsburgh late Thursday between 10 p.m. and midnight, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a severe thunderstorm watch until 3 a.m. Friday. The primary threat will be damaging wind with speeds up to 70 mph,...
Pollution from Canada’s wildfires was similar to breathing secondhand smoke indoors, study shows
The Canadian wildfires this summer exposed people to secondhand smoke at levels not seen since smoking was banned indoors in 2006, according to preliminary findings from Rutgers University researchers. Since the worst of the pollution from June 6 to 8, Philadelphia and other East Coast cities have continued to experience...
RFK Jr. denies making antisemitic comments as congressional Republicans give him a platformVideo
WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. worked to defend himself Thursday against accusations that he traffics in racist and hateful online conspiracy theories, testifying at a House hearing on government censorship despite requests from outside groups to disinvite the Democratic presidential candidate after his recent antisemitic remarks. The Republican-led Select...
