Commencement season gets underway
A friend asked Katy Nesbitt what’s more stressful: Being second-guessed by thousands of screaming World Cup soccer fans in a gigantic stadium or giving the commencement speech at her alma mater. The first American woman to referee at a men’s World Cup, Nesbitt laughed at the thought, knowing she will...
2 abortion bans failed, 1 passed in U.S. statehouses this week
Ten months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and a nationwide right to abortion, states are pushing in opposite directions on the issue. This week, one state adopted a ban, two states tried to but didn’t get support from enough lawmakers and three states advanced measures...
Fed faults Silicon Valley Bank execs, itself in bank failure
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve blamed last month’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on poor management, watered-down regulations and lax oversight by its own staffers, and said the industry needs stricter policing on multiple fronts to prevent future bank failures. The Fed was highly critical of its own role in...
Conflict over transgender rights simmers across the U.S.
As transgender people have increasingly gained acceptance and visibility, conservative lawmakers have zeroed in on restricting their rights: keeping transgender children off girls’ sports teams and out of certain bathrooms, and blocking them from receiving gender-affirming medical care. In response, a growing number of Democratic-controlled states officials have moved to...
2 U.S. Army helicopters crash in Alaska, killing 3 soldiers
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Two U.S. Army helicopters crashed Thursday in Alaska while returning from a training flight, killing three soldiers and injuring a fourth. Two of the soldiers died at the crash near Healy, Alaska, and a third died on the way to a hospital in Fairbanks. A...
House votes to restore solar panel tariffs paused by Biden
WASHINGTON — The House voted Friday to reinstate tariffs on solar panel imports from several Southeast Asian countries after President Joe Biden paused them in a bid to boost solar panel installations in the U.S., a key part of his climate agenda. The 221-202 vote sends the measure to the...
Derailed train cars removed from river in Wisconsin
MADISON, Wis. — Crews removed two rail cars from the Mississippi River after a freight train derailed in southwestern Wisconsin, leaving four railway employees with minor injuries, officials said Friday. Thursday’s derailment in Crawford County involved two of the train’s three locomotives and 10 cars carrying a variety of freight,...
Recent U.S. military helicopter crashes in training missions
The collision of two helicopters in Alaska was the latest in a series of military helicopter crashes this year whose causes are still being investigated. The crashes and a rollover involved Black Hawk and Apache helicopters on training missions. A total of 14 soldiers have died and three have been...
Rising GOP star embroiled in tough Kentucky primary fight
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Flagged as a rising Republican star who worked for Mitch McConnell and pitched Donald Trump’s campaign to Black voters, Daniel Cameron could have taken a cautious approach and run for reelection as attorney general. Instead, he took a career-defining risk by plunging into Kentucky’s competitive race for...
2 journalists killed in Haiti as gang violence spikes
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Two local journalists have been killed in Haiti over the past couple of weeks as rampant gang violence has gripped the capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement Thursday that radio reporter Dumesky Kersaint was fatally shot...
Error, confusion plague review kicking millions off Medicaid
WASHINGTON — Days out from a surgery and with a young son undergoing chemotherapy, Kyle McHenry was scrambling to figure out if his Florida family will still be covered by Medicaid come Monday. One form on the state’s website said coverage for their sick 5-year-old son, Ryder, had been denied....
Utah judge to consider challenge to new abortion clinic ban
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah judge on Friday will consider a request from Planned Parenthood to delay implementing a statewide ban on abortion clinics set to begin taking effect next week. Planned Parenthood argues a state law passed earlier this year will effectively end access to abortion throughout the...
Russian missile and drone attack in Ukraine kills 19 people
UMAN, Ukraine — Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 19 people, almost all of them when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the center of the country, officials said. Three children were among the dead. The missile...
Pope in Hungary urges Europe to unite to end war next door
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Pope Francis on Friday blasted the “adolescent belligerence” that brought war back to Europe and said the continent must recover its founding spirit of peaceful unity to confront Russia’s war in Ukraine. Francis outlined his vision for the future of Europe as he began a three-day visit...
Train derails in Wisconsin, sends 2 cars into river
MADISON, Wis. — A freight train derailed along the Mississippi River in southwestern Wisconsin Thursday, possibly injuring one crew member and sending two cars into the water, officials said. The train derailed in Crawford County at about 12:15 p.m. Two of the train’s three locomotives and an unknown number of...
Trump lawyer questions E. Jean Carroll at rape lawsuit trial
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s lawyer sought Thursday to pick apart a decades-old rape claim against the former president, questioning why accuser E. Jean Carroll did not scream or seek help when Trump allegedly attacked her in a department store. But Carroll, a writer and former advice columnist, rebuffed the...
Pence testifies before election probe grand jury
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence testified Thursday before a federal grand jury investigating efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person requested anonymity to discuss the private appearance before...
What will Pa. House Democrats do with a majority? First, they’re moving long-stalled priority bills.
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 — Pennsylvania Democrats used the first full week of session since they solidified their majority in the state House to...
Guardsman in leak case wanted to kill a ‘ton of people’: U.S.
WORCESTER, Mass. — The Massachusetts Air National guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents kept an arsenal of guns and said on social media that he would like to kill a “ton of people,” prosecutors said in arguing Thursday that 21-year-old Jack Teixeira should remain in jail for his...
Trump back in New Hampshire, 1st event since Biden launch
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former President Donald Trump is returning to New Hampshire on Thursday for his first campaign appearance since President Joe Biden launched his own reelection bid, heading for a potential 2024 rematch. The appearance at a downtown Manchester hotel, expected to be a smaller event than Trump’s typical...
‘Blood on your hands’: Montana lawmaker’s words not unusual
HELENA, Mont. — The swift punishment brought down on Zooey Zephyr, a transgender lawmaker in Montana, began over words that others in American politics have used without hesitation or consequence: saying opponents have “blood” on their hands. The governor of Texas. A GOP congressman in Florida. A city councilwoman in...
Tunisia rounds up migrants at sea in unprecedented numbers
OFF THE COAST OF SFAX, Tunisia — A young man wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with “Dior,” women clutching babies wrapped in blankets, children bundled in winter coats. All gingerly stepped from rickety boats into the sturdy craft of the Tunisian Maritime National Guard — and away from their dreams...
Police say Altoona man killed neighbor, lived with the corpse for 3 days
An Altoona, Blair County, man is under arrest after police say he killed his neighbor and then lived with the corpse for three days. According to WTAJ, police were called to an apartment along Eighth Avenue around 3:49 p.m. Wednesday for a report of a robbery involving Raymond Oechsle Jr.,...
Carolyn Bryant Donham, at center of Emmett Till death, dies
JACKSON, Miss. — The white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of whistling at her — causing his 1955 lynching in Mississippi, which galvanized a generation of activists to rise up in the Civil Rights Movement — has died at 88. Carolyn Bryant Donham died in hospice care Tuesday...
Montana lawmaker fights on during 1st day of exile
HELENA, Mont. — Montana transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr spent her first day in legislative exile Thursday relegated to a bench in a noisy hallway across from a snack bar outside the state House chambers where she is no longer allowed. Zephyr defiantly stayed put even after the Republican House speaker...
