Ex-Philadelphia police officer is charged with dozens more sex crimes in 19 new cases
PHILADELPHIA — A retired Philadelphia police officer already in custody on child sex assault charges is now charged with dozens more sex crimes that stem from his time on duty. Former patrol officer Patrick Heron was previously charged with posing as an officer after he retired in 2019 to lure...
Airline delays and cancellations are bad ahead of the holiday weekend and getting worse
Travelers are getting hit with delays at U.S. airports again early Wednesday, an ominous sign heading into the long July 4 holiday weekend, which is shaping up as the biggest test yet for airlines that are struggling to keep up with surging numbers of passengers. As of early morning, nearly...
Families worry over the future of Medicaid caregiver payments that were expanded during the pandemic
Nathan Hill started receiving $12.75 an hour from a state Medicaid program to help care for his severely disabled son during the pandemic, money he said allowed his family to stop using food stamps. The program was designed to provide a continuation of care and ease a home health worker...
Daniel Penny pleads not guilty to revised charges in chokehold death of Jordan Neely on NYC subway
NEW YORK — A U.S. Marine veteran who placed a homeless man in a fatal chokehold aboard a New York City subway train last month pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to revised charges. Daniel Penny, 24, pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the May 1...
Recruitment of children by armed groups in Syria is on the rise, even as fighting subsides
QAMISHLI, Syria — A 13-year-old Kurdish girl went missing on her way home from a school exam last month, after being approached by a man from an armed group. Her parents immediately feared the worst — that she had been persuaded to join the group and was taken to one...
Ukraine accuses local man of directing missile strike that killed 10 at popular pizza restaurant
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities arrested Wednesday a man they accused of helping Russia direct a missile strike that killed at least 10 people, including three children, at a popular pizza restaurant in a city in east Ukraine. The Tuesday evening attack on Kramatorsk wounded another 61 people, Ukraine’s National...
A blistering heat wave is turning up the pressure on Texas’ power gridVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — On another 100-degree day in Texas, Sean Whitaker lingered outside a Dallas cafe after polishing off an iced coffee, having switched off the power to everything back home except his refrigerator. “That’s the reason I’m out,” said Whitaker, 52, finding shade at a patio table. As an...
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani interviewed in Jan. 6 investigation
WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani, who as a member of Donald Trump’s legal team sought to overturn 2020 presidential election results in battleground states, was interviewed recently by investigators with the Justice Department special counsel’s office, according to a person familiar with the matter. The interview was conducted voluntarily and was...
Ohio mom charged in death of toddler left alone for 10 days, prosecutors say
CLEVELAND — Prosecutors in Ohio have announced murder charges against a woman in the death of her 16-month-old daughter, who authorities say was left alone for 10 days while the woman went on vacation. The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office said this week that Kristel A. Candelario, 31, was indicted last...
Pennsylvania Senate advances bill to overhaul probation system
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state Senate on Tuesday approved legislation that is designed to reduce the number of people on probation and in jail, by limiting the length of probation and preventing people from being sent back to jail for minor violations. The bill passed on a 45-4 vote and now...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will no longer speak at Moms for Liberty summit in Philly
PHILADELPHIA — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Democratic presidential candidate known for promoting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, will no longer speak at the Moms for Liberty summit this week in Philadelphia. The campaign for Kennedy, who had been announced as a speaker a week earlier, “told us his schedule changed and...
Pennsylvania state trooper killed in ambush lauded as a hero during funeral service
ERIE — A Pennsylvania state trooper who was shot and killed earlier this month when he went to work on his day off after learning his barracks had been attacked by an armed man was laid to rest Tuesday during a funeral where the state’s governor and his colleagues lauded...
Ivanka Trump dismissed from New York attorney general’s fraud lawsuit against her fatherVideo
NEW YORK — A New York appeals court dismissed Ivanka Trump on Tuesday from a wide-ranging fraud lawsuit brought against her father and his company last year by the state’s attorney general. The civil lawsuit, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accused former President Donald Trump of padding...
Supreme Court rejects GOP claim that state lawmakers have full power over electionsVideo
WASHINGTON — In another surprise ruling, the Supreme Court on Tuesday firmly rejected a Republican claim that the Constitution gives state lawmakers full and unchecked power over the elections of members of Congress and the president in their state. The so-called independent state legislature theory had alarmed Democrats and threatened...
More than $200 billion in covid-19 aid may have been stolen, federal watchdog says
WASHINGTON — More than $200 billion may have been stolen from two large covid-19 relief initiatives, according to new estimates from a federal watchdog investigating federally funded programs that helped small businesses survive the worst public health crisis in more than a hundred years. The numbers issued Tuesday by the...
FBI, Homeland Security ignored ‘massive amount’ of intelligence before Jan. 6, Senate report says
WASHINGTON — The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security downplayed or ignored “a massive amount of intelligence information” ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S Capitol, according to the chairman of a Senate panel that on Tuesday released a report on the intelligence failures ahead of...
Canadian wildfires are causing unhealthy air quality again in Chicago and other parts of the U.S.Video
CHICAGO — Drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada is creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region, and in parts of the central and eastern United States. In Minnesota, a record 23rd air quality alert was issued Tuesday through late Wednesday night...
Trump target Al Schmidt gets crucial approval as he moves closer to becoming Pa.’s top election official
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. Al Schmidt, the former Philadelphia city commissioner who made national headlines in 2020 for rebuking then-President Donald Trump’s election fraud claims, is one step closer to officially becoming Pennsylvania’s...
Georgia elections official to speak to federal prosecutors probing Trump’s efforts to undo 2020 loss
ATLANTA — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is scheduled to speak to federal prosecutors from the office of special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss. In a rambling phone call on Jan. 2, 2021,...
Wagner ex-convict returned from war and a Russian village lived in fear
TALLINN, Estonia — When Ivan Rossomakhin returned home from the war in Ukraine three months ago, his neighbors in the village east of Moscow were terrified. Three years ago, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to a long prison term but was freed after volunteering to fight with the...
Pepsi takes on ketchup, debuting its 1st condiment
Heinz Ketchup better watch out, Pepsi’s comin’ for ya. Of course, Pittsburghers know there’s no sub for the ol’ 57, but Pepsi’s giving it a go anyway. The soda company is launching Pepsi Colachup — in a joint venture with the Culinary Institute of America Consulting — as “the world’s...
Victims confront Colorado Springs gay nightclub killer, calling shooter a monster and a coward
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — One-by-one, nearly two dozen victims stood in a courtroom to confront the person who pleaded guilty to murdering five people and injuring 17 others in an attack last year on a nightclub that served as a sanctuary for the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado Springs. Some cried,...
Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law is upheld again, as court rules against Republican challenge
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania state court on Tuesday rejected the latest Republican effort to throw out the presidential battleground state’s broad mail-in voting law that has become a GOP target following former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud. It is the latest of several refusals by a state...
Ford cutting several hundred white-collar jobs to reduce cost amid transition to electric cars
DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor Co. is going through another round of white-collar job cuts as the company continues to reduce costs amid a transition to electric vehicles. The company confirmed Tuesday that it was starting to notify several hundred engineers and other salaried employees that their jobs are being...
Supreme Court makes it more difficult to convict someone of making a threat
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to make it more difficult to convict a person of making a violent threat. The case could make it harder for prosecutors to convict certain people who threaten elected officials, including the president. The high court ruled in a case that involves a...
