GOP-controlled Texas House impeaches Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ Republican-led House of Representatives impeached state Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday on articles including bribery and abuse of public trust, a sudden, historic rebuke of a GOP official who rose to be a star of the conservative legal movement despite years of scandal and alleged...
Game Commission: Bear that attacked 2 children in Northeastern Pennsylvania captured
The Pennsylvania Game Commission announced Friday that it has captured and euthanized the bear that attacked two small children in Luzerne County. A bear reportedly attacked the children — a 14-month-old and a 5-year-old — while they played in the driveway of their Wright Township home near Mountain Top on...
Franklin Regional seniors headed to national Future Business Leaders of America competition finals
Franklin Regional students Augusto Butkewitsch and Jacob Toniolo can add three more words to their word-based video game — “Pennsylvania,” “state” and “champions.” The seniors from Murrysville came out on top in the computer games and simulation programs category at the statewide high school competition organized by the Future Business...
Biden, McCarthy reach final deal to prevent default, now must sell to CongressVideo
WASHINGTON — With days to spare before a potential first-ever government default, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached final agreement Sunday on a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling while trying to ensure enough Republican and Democratic votes to pass the measure in the coming week....
Judge: School district can bar student from wearing Mexican and American flag sash at graduation
DENVER — A federal judge ruled Friday that a rural Colorado school district can bar a high school student from wearing a Mexican and American flag sash at her graduation this weekend after the student sued the school district. Judge Nina Y. Wang wrote that wearing a sash during a...
Man who opened emergency door on South Korea flight told police he felt suffocated
SEOUL, South Korea — A passenger who opened an emergency exit door during a flight in South Korea told police that he felt suffocated and tried to get off the plane quickly as it approached landing, reports said Saturday. Twelve people were slightly injured when the man opened the door...
Pope Francis resumes regular appointments after canceling schedule with a fever
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis resumed regular appointments on Saturday, one day after canceling his schedule due to a fever. The pontiff held a number of private meetings, including with visitors from Georgetown University who were in town for a conference with a Jesuit-run journal. According to Vatican News, a...
Threat to Queen Elizabeth during 1983 U.S. trip detailed in FBI documents
WASHINGTON — The FBI has disclosed a potential threat to Queen Elizabeth II during her 1983 trip to the United States. The documents were released this week on the FBI’s records website. Queen Elizabeth II died last September after a 70-year reign. The queen’s West Coast visit with her husband,...
Former U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger celebrates 100th birthday
Former diplomat and presidential adviser Henry Kissinger marks his 100th birthday on Saturday, outlasting many of his political contemporaries who guided the United States through one of its most tumultuous periods including the presidency of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War. Born in Germany on May 27, 1923, Kissinger remains...
Vice President Harris, 1st woman to give commencement speech at West Point
NEW YORK — Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to deliver a commencement speech at West Point, lauded graduating cadets Saturday for their noble sacrifice in serving their country, but noted they were entering an “unsettled world” because of Russian aggression and the rising threats from China. “The world...
McCarthy says negotiators are ‘closer to an agreement’ on debt crisis, but no deal yet
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Saturday that Republican negotiators were “closer to an agreement” that would resolve the looming debt crisis, but had not reached a deal with President Joe Biden. The Republican speaker gathered top allies behind closed doors at the Capitol as negotiators pushed for a...
GOP-controlled Texas House votes to impeach Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ GOP-led House of Representatives impeached state Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday on articles including bribery and abuse of public trust, a sudden, historic rebuke of a fellow Republican who rose to be a star of the conservative legal movement despite years of scandal and alleged...
Serbian border troops on high alert after ethnic clashes inside Kosovo
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Serbian troops on the border with Kosovo were put on high alert Friday following clashes inside Kosovo between police and ethnic Serbs that injured more than a dozen people. Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo, who are a majority in that part of the country, had tried to...
U.N. regional group has endorsed Amazon city to host 2025 climate conference
SAO PAULO — Brazil’s government announced Friday that a U.N. Latin America regional group has endorsed a Brazilian city in the Amazon region to host the 2025 U.N. climate change conference, though the world body has not yet publicly confirmed the venue. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initially said...
Yellen tells Congress U.S. could run out of money to pay all its bills by June 5
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress on Friday that the U.S. could default on its debt obligations by June 5 — four days later than previously estimated — if lawmakers do not act in time to raise the federal debt ceiling. Yellen’s letter comes as Congress breaks for...
‘X-date’ calculations aim to zero in on when the U.S. may run short of cash
WASHINGTON — For all the concern over just when the government might run short of money to pay its bills, it turns out that no one can be absolutely sure exactly when the country will default — what officials are calling the “X-date” — if there’s no deal to raise...
From the Civil War to today’s mattress sales, Memorial Day is full of contradiction
NORFOLK, Va. — Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers. Auto club AAA said in a travel forecast that this holiday...
Pa. limited a board’s power to regulate abandoned oil and gas wells, but Democrats want to restore it
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 — Across Pennsylvania, unplugged oil and gas wells spew a powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere and contaminate soil and...
Mother of man who killed Gabby Petito said in letter she would help son ‘dispose of a body’
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The mother of the man who killed Gabby Petito told her son in an undated letter that she would “dispose of a body” if needed because she loved him so much, according to copies of the note shared publicly for the first time this week by attorneys...
U.S. cities reporting fewer killings hope crime strategies prevent a summer surge
CHICAGO — An expected bump in violent crime this summer has mayors and police officials around the U.S. rolling out familiar strategies of making officers more visible and engaging with community groups, in some cases leaning on civilians to enforce curfews and keep the peace. Chicago is among the U.S....
Latest GOP 2024 hopeful DeSantis ‘blazing a trail’ on book bans in Republican-controlled states
TALLAHASSEE, Florida— As he vies for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is touting a series of measures he has pushed that have led to an upswing in banned or restricted books — not just in Florida schools but in an increasing number of other conservative states. Florida...
Judge halts South Carolina’s new stricter abortion law until state Supreme Court review
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A judge on Friday put a temporary halt to South Carolina’s new law banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy until the state Supreme Court can review the measure. The ruling by Judge Clifton Newman came just about 24 hours after Gov. Henry McMaster signed the...
Pa. baseball player fatally struck in face while dismantling unapproved dugout
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A college baseball player died after he was struck in the face when a makeshift dugout he was helping to dismantle collapsed on him this week. Angel Mercado, 19, was a middle infielder who had just completed his freshman season at Division II Central Penn College. He...
Biden releases new strategy to tackle rise in antisemitism, says ‘hate will not prevail’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced what he said is the most ambitious and comprehensive undertaking by the U.S. government to fight hate, bias and violence against Jews, outlining more than 100 steps the administration and its partners can take to combat an alarming rise in antisemitism. Speaking...
Flight cancellations, strikes raise fears of new summer travel chaos in Europe
LONDON — British Airways canceled dozens of flights Friday, blaming computer problems for disrupting plans for thousands of passengers at the start of a busy holiday weekend — a rocky kickoff to the summer travel season in Europe. The technical glitches and strikes by airport staff across Europe are stirring...
