Expelled to reinstated: Pearson to return to Tennessee House
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The second of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House will follow his colleague in returning to work at the Capitol on Thursday, a week after their banishments for a gun control protest on the House floor that propelled them into the national spotlight. Justin...
Trump answers questions for 7 hours in New York fraud lawsuit
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump answered questions for nearly seven hours Thursday during his second deposition in a legal battle with New York’s attorney general over his company’s business practices, reversing an earlier decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remain silent. The Republican met...
Look who’s back: Donald Trump’s big return to Fox News
NEW YORK — For several months, Fox News treated Donald Trump like yesterday’s news. But now the former president has come roaring back at the popular network for conservative viewers, most notably since his indictment in New York on hush-money charges. The Trump revival was on display Tuesday night, when...
Holy Land Christians say attacks rising in far-right Israel
JERUSALEM — The head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land has warned in an interview that the rise of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has made life worse for Christians in the birthplace of Christianity. The influential Vatican-appointed Latin Patriarch, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told The Associated Press...
DOJ to ask Supreme Court to put abortion pill limits on hold
AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department said Thursday that it will again go to the Supreme Court over abortion after a lower court ruling allowed the abortion pill mifepristone to remain available in the U.S. but reimposed past restrictions on getting and using the drug. At stake in the accelerating...
Torrential storms batter South Florida, close key airportVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE — Nearly a foot of rain fell in a matter of hours in Fort Lauderdale — causing widespread flooding, the closure of the city’s airport and the suspension of high-speed commuter rail service for the Broward County region. The city of Fort Lauderdale released a statement Wednesday evening...
Trump sues ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, key witness in criminal case
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump sued the key witness in his criminal case on Wednesday, accusing onetime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen of “vast reputational harm” for talking publicly about the hush-money payments at the heart of the case. The lawsuit, filed in Miami, offered a preview of...
After calls to resign, Feinstein seeks Judiciary replacement
LOS ANGELES — Recuperating U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California asked Wednesday to be temporarily replaced on the Judiciary Committee, shortly after two House Democrats called on her to resign after her extended absence from Washington. In a statement, the long-serving Democratic senator said her recovery from a case of...
Missing woman rescued from submerged Jeep, Texas police say
JEFFERSON, Texas — A missing woman was rescued from a submerged vehicle, and taken to a nearby hospital, according to east Texas law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement agencies have said little about the woman, or how she ended up in the sinking Jeep. The woman was found alive Friday in...
Montgomery County mother charged in son’s death after SUV found at New Jersey beach
HORSHAM — A mother has been charged with murder in the death of her 11-year-old son in southeastern Pennsylvania and is awaiting extradition from New Jersey, where she was arrested after her SUV was found in the surf on a beach at the Jersey shore. Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, 50, of Horsham,...
In a blow to Fox News, judge rules network committed ‘discovery misconduct’ over withheld Giuliani tapeVideo
Fox News was cited for “discovery misconduct” by the judge in the $1.6 billion defamation case filed by Dominion Voting Systems after learning that recorded conversations with former president Donald Trump’s attorneys were not turned over as evidence. The potentially significant revelation that such tapes exists — which could impact...
Westmoreland Intermediate Unit will host first education fair in Youngwood
Belle Vernon Area School District Superintendent Kenneth Williams is looking for a few good men and women interested in education. And he is hardly alone. “School districts have been struggling with finding high-caliber candidates to fill positions for quite some time,” Williams said. With that in mind, the Westmoreland Intermediate...
Expelled Black lawmaker Justin Pearson to return to Tennessee HouseVideo
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The second of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House will return to the Legislature after a Memphis commission voted to reinstate him Wednesday, nearly a week after his banishment for supporting gun control protesters propelled him into the national spotlight. Hundreds of supporters marched...
Robotic dog rejoins New York police
NEW YORK — New York City officials unveiled three new high-tech policing devices Tuesday, including a robotic dog that critics called creepy when it first joined the police pack 2½ years ago. The new devices, which also include a GPS tracker for stolen cars and a cone-shaped security robot, will...
An emerging threat: Drug mix of xylazine, fentanyl
The U.S. has named a veterinary tranquilizer as an “emerging threat” when it’s mixed with the powerful opioid fentanyl, clearing the way for more efforts to stop the spread of xylazine. The Office of National Drug Control Policy announced the designation Wednesday, the first time the office has used it...
Democrats, GOP convention picks show Midwest’s political influence
CHICAGO — Donald Trump won the White House in 2016 by breaking up the famed electoral “blue wall,” snatching the Midwestern battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin, along with Pennsylvania, from Democrats. He lost the White House four years later when those same states flipped to Joe Biden. Both parties...
Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes loses bid to stay out of prisonVideo
Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has been rebuffed in her attempt to stay out of federal prison while she appeals her conviction for the fraud she committed while overseeing a blood-testing scam that exposed Silicon Valley’s dark side. In an 11-page ruling issued late Monday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila...
Video shows Louisville police under fire from bank shooterVideo
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Police body camera video released Tuesday shows Louisville officers being fired upon as they arrive at the bank where five people were killed and the harrowing minutes while officers confront the shooter and work to rescue a wounded colleague. Two patrol officers who responded to the shooting...
Dominion allowed to discuss general threats in Fox defamation trial
WILMINGTON, Del. — The judge presiding over a voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News for airing bogus allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election indicated Tuesday he would allow jurors to hear some testimony about threats directed at the company, but only to a point. Delaware Superior...
Police: Louisville shooter targeted bank co-workers
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The bank employee who opened fire at his Louisville workplace targeted people he knew with a rifle that was bought legally a week earlier, police said Tuesday. Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said at a news conference that bank employee Connor Sturgeon, 25, bought the...
Manhattan DA sues Rep. Jim Jordan over Trump indictment inquiryVideo
NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sued Rep. Jim Jordan on Tuesday, an extraordinary move as he seeks to halt a House Judiciary Committee inquiry that the prosecutor contends is a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” him over his indictment of former President Donald Trump. Bragg, a...
Lawsuit: Pa. chocolate factory ignored warning before deadly blast
A Pennsylvania candy-maker ignored warnings of a natural gas leak at its chocolate factory and bears responsibility for a subsequent explosion that killed seven workers and injured several others, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The family of Judith “Judy” Lopez-Moran, a 55-year-old mother of three, filed what their lawyers...
Abortion questions intensify in U.S. courts, legislatures
New court rulings could spark more change for U.S. abortion policy, which has been in flux since last June when the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to an abortion. Courts are considering big changes, including some with broad implications, as state legislatures enact more restrictions or outright bans. Here’s...
U.S. organ transplant system overhaul: What will it mean for Pennsylvanians waiting?
For nearly 40 years, organ transplants in the United States have been directed by a single nonprofit called the United Network for Organ Sharing — UNOS. Critics say UNOS has come to be plagued by problems including outdated technology, wasted organs and lack of transparency. In March, the Biden administration...
Ex-firefighter from Pa. gets prison for Jan. 6 extinguisher attack
Robert Sanford, 57, a retired firefighter from Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, a town southwest of Philadelphia, threw a fire extinguisher at police officers during the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Tuesday to more than four years in prison. Sanford struck two police officers in the head with the fire extinguisher that...
