U.S. invests in alternative solar tech, more solar for renters
The Biden administration announced more than $80 million in funding Thursday in a push to produce more solar panels in the U.S., make solar energy available to more people, and pursue superior alternatives to the ubiquitous sparkly panels made with silicon. The Department of Energy announced the investments in the...
An end to the reading wars? More U.S. schools embrace phonics
Move over “Dick and Jane.” A different approach to teaching kids how to read is on the rise. For decades, two schools of thought have clashed on how to best teach children to read, with passionate backers on each side of the so-called reading wars. The battle has reached into...
‘Too much to learn’: Schools race to catch up kids’ reading
ATLANTA — Michael Crowder stands nervously at the front of his third grade classroom, his mustard-yellow polo shirt buttoned to the top. “Give us some vowels,” says his teacher, La’Neeka Gilbert-Jackson. His eyes search a chart that lists vowels, consonant pairs and word endings, but he doesn’t land on an...
More say Trump broke law in Ga. case than NY’s: AP-NORC poll
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has emerged largely unscathed politically from his New York indictment. But a new poll suggests that investigations in Georgia and Washington could prove more problematic. Only 4 in 10 U.S. adults believe Trump acted illegally in New York, where he has been charged in...
$252.6 million winning Powerball ticket sold in Ohio
MACEDONIA, Ohio — Someone in Ohio went to bed $252.6 million richer, before taxes, after hitting the Powerball jackpot. The winning ticket for Wednesday night’s drawing was sold at Get Go #3279 in Macedonia and is Ohio’s fourth Powerball jackpot winner since joining the game in 2010. The retailer will...
Florida expands ‘Don’t Say Gay’; House OKs anti-LGBTQ bills
TALLAHASSEE — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis added more wins to his agenda targeting the LGBTQ+ community as a state board approved an expansion of what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law Wednesday, and the House passed bills on gender-transition treatments, bathroom use and keeping children out of drag...
Manhunt underway after North Carolina girl, parents injured in neighborhood shooting
Officials are searching for a man who shot at at least four people, wounding a child and two others near Gastonia, Gaston County Police said Wednesday. Police identified Robert Louis Singletary, 24, as the shooter, facing murder charges, officials said in a news release. The shooting happened Tuesday night just...
California boy dies when stabbing suspect’s car hits group of teens
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — The driver of a car that crashed into a group of Southern California high school students, killing one and injuring three, was arrested for investigation of murder and other crimes, including an earlier stabbing, authorities said Wednesday. The students were struck while on a sidewalk Tuesday...
Watchdog warns U.S. money could be flowing to TalibanVideo
WASHINGTON — The watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan warned lawmakers Wednesday that American aid to the country could be diverted to the Taliban as he accused the Biden administration of stonewalling his efforts to investigate. “Unfortunately, as I sit here today I cannot assure this committee or the American...
New York woman shot after wrong turn had hopes, dreams, father saysVideo
FORT EDWARD, N.Y. — The father whose 20-year-old daughter was fatally shot after she and her friends got lost and drove to the wrong house in rural town upstate New York raged Wednesday at the man who pulled the trigger. “For this man to sit on his porch and fire...
Semi-automatic rifle ban passes Washington state Legislature
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A ban on dozens of semi-automatic rifles cleared the Washington state Legislature on Wednesday and the governor is expected to sign it into law. The high-powered firearms — once banned nationwide — are now the weapon of choice among young men responsible for most of the country’s...
Oklahoma official who discussed killing reporters resigns
OKLAHOMA CITY — A county commissioner in far southeast Oklahoma who was identified by a local newspaper as one of several officials caught on tape discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people has resigned from office, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office confirmed Wednesday. Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said the office received...
Former Pennsylvania Congressman Bud Shuster dies at 91
HARRISBURG — Former U.S. Rep. Bud Shuster, an influential Republican lawmaker who strongly backed transportation projects but ran afoul of ethics guidelines, has died. He was 91. Shuster died peacefully at his farm Wednesday in Everett, Bedford County, surrounded by his family, including his son, Bill Shuster, who succeeded his...
Fulton County sanctioned over copying 2020 voting machine data
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania Republican-majority county government where two commissioners secretly allowed a third party to copy voting-machine data last year to help former President Donald Trump overturn his 2020 reelection defeat received contempt sanctions Wednesday from the state’s highest court. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled against Fulton County commissioners...
Texas cheerleaders shot after one says she entered wrong carVideo
ELGIN, Texas — A man shot and wounded two cheerleaders in a Texas supermarket parking lot after one of them said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own — the latest in a string of recent U.S. shootings apparently sparked by someone showing up at the...
Tyre Nichols’ family sues Memphis police over beating, death
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the officers and the city of Memphis on Wednesday, blaming them for his death and accusing officials of allowing a special unit’s aggressive tactics to go unchecked despite warning signs....
Sen. John Fetterman posts video trolling body-double conspiracy ‘fringy fringies’Video
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman is back on Capitol Hill and back on social media, trolling conspiracy theorists who claimed last month that he had a body double. Tuesday evening on his non-official Senate Twitter account, Fetterman posted a short video referring to the “fringy fringies” and their conspiracy theory targeting...
Sudanese flee their homes as truce fails, fighting rages
KHARTOUM, Sudan — Terrified Sudanese who have been trapped for days in their homes by fighting in the capital of Khartoum fled on Wednesday, hauling out whatever belongings they could carry and trying to get out of the city, after an internationally brokered truce failed. Explosions shook the city as...
U.S.-made Patriot guided missile systems arrive in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure. The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles...
Alabama teens charged with murder in Sweet 16 party shootingVideo
DADEVILLE, Ala. — Two teenagers have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with a shooting that killed four young people at a Sweet Sixteen birthday party, Alabama investigators announced Wednesday. Tallapoosa County District Attorney Mike Segrest said the pair — Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16,...
Court hearing delayed for airman accused in documents leak
BOSTON — A hearing to decide whether a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking highly classified military documents should remain jailed while awaiting trial has been delayed to give the defense more time to prepare. Jack Teixeira, 21, was supposed to appear in Boston federal court on Wednesday for...
Pa. primary election 2023: Everything you need to know about requesting, filling out, and returning your mail ballot
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 — Voters in Pennsylvania’s May 16 primary election will choose their parties’ statewide candidates for the Commonwealth, Superior, and Supreme...
Iraq’s years of carnage still engrained in Baghdad streets
BAGHDAD — There are places around Baghdad where I’ll sometimes say a silent prayer for the dead when I pass — on certain residential streets, at a particular restaurant, in a square where minibuses gather. Today, people go about their daily business in these places, perhaps no longer thinking of...
Torch-carrying marchers indicted in Charlottesville rally
RICHMOND, Va. — Nearly six years after a large gathering of white nationalists in Charlottesville erupted in violent clashes with counterprotesters, a grand jury in Virginia has indicted multiple people on felony charges for carrying flaming torches with the intent to intimidate. The Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said in...
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising commemorated on 80th anniversary
WARSAW, Poland — Presidents and Holocaust survivors and their descendants commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on Wednesday with a poignant sense that the responsibility for carrying on the memory of the Holocaust is passing from the witnesses to younger generations. Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the...
