Lyft’s new CEO tackles a job requiring some heavy lifting
SAN FRANCISCO — Even before he joined Lyft’s board in 2021, David Risher had taken hundreds of trips as a passenger so he felt like he knew a lot about the ride-hailing service. But he never expected to be thrust into the driver’s seat at a time when Lyft was...
HBCUs get donations 178 times lower than Ivy League: study
The average historically Black college and university received 178 times less funding from foundations than the average Ivy League school in 2019, according to a new report on the underfunding of HBCUs released Tuesday. The study — conducted by the philanthropic research group Candid and ABFE, a nonprofit that advocates...
‘Godfather of AI’ leaves Google, warns of tech’s dangers
WASHINGTON — Sounding alarms about artificial intelligence has become a popular pastime in the ChatGPT era, taken up by high-profile figures as varied as industrialist Elon Musk, leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky and the 99-year-old retired statesman Henry Kissinger. But it’s the concerns of insiders in the AI research community that...
Ex-officer Thao convicted of aiding George Floyd’s killing
MINNEAPOLIS — A former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders while his colleagues restrained a dying George Floyd has been convicted of aiding and abetting manslaughter. Tou Thao, who already had been convicted in federal court of violating Floyd’s civil rights, was last of the four former officers facing...
Vermont allows nonresidents to use its assisted suicide law
Vermont on Tuesday became the first state in the country to change its medically assisted suicide law to allow terminally ill people from out of state to take advantage of it to end their lives. Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed the bill that removes the residency requirement for the decades-old...
Biden sending 1,500 troops for Mexico border migrant surge
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will send 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border starting next week, ahead of an expected migrant surge following the end of coronavirus pandemic-era restrictions. Military personnel will do data entry, warehouse support and other administrative tasks so that U.S. Customs and Border Protection can...
FIFA warns Europe of Women’s World Cup broadcast blackout
GENEVA — Publicly criticizing broadcasters for offering too little to screen the Women’s World Cup has not worked out yet for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who is now threatening a blackout in major European markets. A public standoff that started last October was intensified by Infantino late Monday when he...
Crown comes to Parliament in pre-coronation Charles visit
LONDON — Before the glory of his coronation weekend, King Charles III visited Parliament Tuesday, to get a reminder that the monarch’s power has limits. Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, attended a reception for lawmakers, most of whom haven’t been able to snag a ticket to Saturday’s coronation ceremony...
Supreme Court Justice Stevens’ private papers open to public
WASHINGTON — Newly opened records that belonged to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens give the public a behind-the-scenes glimpse at his decades on the court, including the tense struggle over the 2000 presidential election and major cases on affirmative action and abortion. Documents that became available Tuesday show the...
Trump PAC complaint against DeSantis rejected in Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida ethics board has dismissed a complaint that allies of former President Donald Trump filed against Republican rival Gov. Ron DeSantis, finding no legal basis for allegations that the governor violated campaign finance laws with a “shadow” run for the White House. The Florida Commission on...
Giant Eagle plans price reductions, return of circulars, interim CEO says
Giant Eagle is listening. That’s the message the O’Hara-based chain wants to make clear to customers. Whether it’s about the printed weekly circular (reappearing soon because of high demand) or price reductions on items (starting this week), Giant Eagle wants your feedback. It’s been about six weeks since Bill Artman,...
Aged Van Winkle bourbons featured in upcoming PLCB lottery
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s next round of lottery drawings for more than 3,900 specialty bottles will take place next week. Registration will be open through 5 p.m. on Friday. The lottery is only open to Pennsylvania residents and liquor-license holders. Winners will have a chance to purchase limited-release bourbon...
Scooby doobie don’t: Discarded joints pose hazards for dogsVideo
NEW YORK — Bondi, an 8-month-old toy poodle, had just returned from a walk when he began stumbling. His head wobbled and soon he could barely stand, so his owner, Colleen Briggs, rushed him to the vet. The good doctor quickly made a diagnosis: Bondi was stoned. On his walk,...
Loneliness poses risks as deadly as smoking: surgeon general
WASHINGTON — Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually, the U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday in declaring the latest public health epidemic. About half of U.S. adults say they’ve experienced loneliness, Dr....
New bride dies at beach when speeding DUI driver slams golf cart
FOLLY BEACH, S.C. — A bride leaving her wedding reception was killed when a woman driving under the influence and well over twice the speed limit slammed into the back of a golf cart on a South Carolina beach road, authorities said. Data retrieved from Jamie Lee Komoroski’s rental car...
Man who gave $1M to IUP’s osteopathic medicine school explains why he donated
Rich Caruso was skeptical when he learned his alma mater, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, wanted to boost rural physician access by opening the commonwealth’s first school for osteopathic medicine on a state university campus. Then his 101-year-old mother, Margaret, got sick. What happened next to the woman who lives in...
Pennsylvania Senate panel advances bill that would ban supervised injection site
A state Senate bill that would ban what are often called “supervised injection sites” has elicited a divide among Democratic lawmakers and potentially opened a new front in Republicans’ repeated efforts to circumvent the power of Philadelphia’s district attorney. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday discussed and ultimately approved Senate...
7 bodies found during search for missing Oklahoma teens
HENRYETTA, Okla. — Authorities searching a rural Oklahoma property for two missing teenagers discovered the bodies of seven people Monday, including the suspected remains of the teens and a convicted sex offender who was sought along with them, the local sheriff said. Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice said the state...
CNN says Trump to appear in New Hampshire town hall
NEW YORK — As president, Donald Trump frequently derided CNN as “fake news.” Now that he’s running again, Trump has agreed to appear on a live town hall forum from New Hampshire next week for CNN viewers. The event, scheduled for May 10 at St. Anselm’s College in Goffstown, N.H.,...
At least 6 people dead in Illinois highway windstormVideo
DIVERNON, Ill. — A windstorm in southern Illinois kicked up dangerous clouds of blinding dust off farm fields Monday, causing numerous crashes and killing at least six people on Interstate 55, police said. The late morning crashes involved 40 to 60 cars and multiple tractor-trailers, two of which caught fire,...
The Pa. legislature appears to have met a tax break it doesn’t like: one for teachers, nurses, and cops
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 — Harrisburg policymakers appear unlikely to embrace a signature selling point in Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s first budget: a tax...
Pa. breast cancer screening bill signed into law
Pennsylvania created a new law Monday that will require insurers to cover preventive breast and ovarian cancer screenings for high-risk women at no cost. In doing so, the state became the first in the nation to establish such a law. The bill was introduced by Senate President Pro Tempore Kim...
Trump accuser says many in her generation didn’t report rape
NEW YORK — A magazine columnist who says Donald Trump raped her in a department store’s dressing room two decades before he became president acknowledged Monday that she never followed her own advice to readers that they report sexual attacks to police. E. Jean Carroll told a Manhattan federal court...
U.S. says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December
WASHINGTON — The White House said Monday it now estimates that just since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including more than 20,000 killed, as Ukraine has rebuffed a heavy assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. In what has become a grinding war of attrition, the fiercest battles have...
Erdogan says Turkish forces killed IS chief in Syria
ANKARA, Turkey — The leader of the Islamic State group was killed in an operation by Turkish intelligence teams in northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced. Turkey’s state media said the IS leader blew himself up to avoid capture. Recep Tayyip Erdogan told TRT Turk television in an...
