Pa. prosecutors call Jerry Sandusky’s latest appeal ‘variations on a theme’
State prosecutors have sized up Jerry Sandusky’s latest appeal of his conviction on a battery child sex abuse charges, and they say it amounts to little more than a variation on a theme “that has already been thoroughly explored, litigated, reviewed and rejected.” For that reason, the prosecutors said, Judge...
BNSF trains derail in Washington, Arizona; no injuries
ANACORTES, Wash. — Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington state on Thursday, with the latter spilling diesel fuel on tribal land along Puget Sound. No injuries were reported. It wasn’t clear what caused either derailment. The derailment in Washington occurred on a berm along Padilla...
Pitt students gear up for March Madness game against Iowa State with cautious optimism
So, maybe it’s not full-on madness — at least not yet. But with the University of Pittsburgh’s men’s basketball team set to face Iowa State University on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, Panthers fans who haven’t had a tournament win to celebrate since 2014 are...
Fed lent $300B in emergency funds to banks in the past week
WASHINGTON — Cash-short banks have borrowed about $300 billion from the Federal Reserve in the past week, the Fed announced Thursday. Nearly half the money — $143 billion — went to holding companies for two major banks that failed over the past week, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, triggering...
Covid-19 pill Paxlovid moves closer to full FDA approval
WASHINGTON — Pfizer’s covid-19 pill Paxlovid won another vote of confidence from U.S. health advisers Thursday, clearing the way for its full regulatory approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The medication has been used by millions of Americans since the FDA granted it emergency use authorization in late 2021....
Yellen tells Congress U.S. banking system ‘remains sound’
WASHINGTON — A week after the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday that the nation’s banking system “remains sound” and Americans “can feel confident” about their deposits. Her remarks, coming against the backdrop of deepening concerns about the health...
Poland to be 1st NATO member to give Ukraine fighter jets
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s president said Thursday that his country plans to give Ukraine around a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets, which would make it the first NATO member to fulfill the Ukrainian government’s increasingly urgent requests for warplanes. President Andrzej Duda said Poland would hand over four of the Soviet-made...
Military moves to cut suicides, but defers action on guns
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a number of improvements in access to mental health care on Thursday to reduce suicides in the military, but held off on endorsing more controversial recommendations to restrict gun and ammunition purchases by young troops, sending them to another panel for study. An...
Penn State president says cuts will be deeper than anticipated as leaders finalize layoff plans
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our regional newsletter, Talk of the Town. STATE COLLEGE — A Penn State administrator directed university leaders representing nearly all departments to...
U.S. pregnancy deaths dropped in 2022, after covid spike
NEW YORK — Deaths of pregnant women in the U.S. fell in 2022, dropping significantly from a six-decade high during the pandemic, new data suggests. More than 1,200 U.S. women died in 2021 during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth, according to a final tally released Thursday by the Centers for...
Macron shuns parliament to raise French retirement age
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron imposed a highly unpopular bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 on Thursday by shunning parliament and invoking a special constitutional power. Lawmakers were shouting, their voices shaking with emotion as Macron made the risky move, which is expected to trigger quick...
U.S. releases video of Russian jet dumping fuel on its droneVideo
KYIV, Ukraine — The Pentagon on Thursday released footage of what it said was a Russian aircraft pouring fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone and clipping the drone’s propeller in international airspace over the Black Sea. The 42-second video shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the back of the...
Freight train carrying hazardous material derails in Arizona
TOPOCK, Ariz. — A freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in western Arizona, near the state’s border with California and Nevada, an official said. The train derailed Wednesday evening near the town of Topock, Anita Mortensen, a spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that she was not...
Georgia grand jury heard another Trump call recording
ATLANTA — A special grand jury that investigated whether Donald Trump and his allies illegally meddled in the 2020 election in Georgia heard a recording of the former president pushing a top state lawmaker to call a special session to overturn his loss in the state, according to a newspaper...
Utah bans abortion clinics in wave of post-Roe restrictions
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation Wednesday that will effectively ban clinics from providing abortions, setting off a rush of confusion among clinics, hospitals and prospective patients in the deeply Republican state. Administrators from hospitals and clinics have not publicly detailed their plans to adapt...
Caesars Palace to demolish rotunda along Las Vegas Strip
LAS VEGAS — Caesars Palace is bidding farewell to its rotunda along the Strip, a move that will clear space ahead of this fall’s Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Clark County Building Department issued a demolition permit last week for the domed, Roman-themed structure along Las Vegas Boulevard,...
Ex-Wells Fargo exec to plead guilty for role in bank scandal
LOS ANGELES — A former Wells Fargo Bank executive accused of overseeing a ruse that created millions of bogus customer accounts has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges likely to send her prison for her role in the scandal. The agreement filed Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal court...
North Korea launches ICBM before South Korea-Japan summit
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in a display of military might Thursday just hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan were to meet at a Tokyo summit expected to be overshadowed by North Korean nuclear threats. The launch, the North’s first ICBM...
Arizona governor blasted for plans to defy execution order
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is facing heavy pushback from a victim’s sister and a powerful county prosecutor for her plans to defy a court order to execute a prisoner next month for his conviction in a 2002 killing. The newly elected Democratic governor vowed nearly two weeks ago...
Long-used U.S. abortion pill under threat in Texas lawsuit
AMARILLO, Texas — A federal judge in Texas raised questions Wednesday about a Christian group’s effort to overturn federal regulators’ decades-old approval of a leading abortion drug, in a case that could threaten the country’s most common method for ending pregnancies. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk heard more than four hours of...
Gov. Shapiro’s NCAA bracket pits Pitt vs. Penn State in Sweet 16
It’s a bold prediction. One only a Pennsylvania governor could dream up. Right there in his Sweet 16 round, Gov. Josh Shapiro has Pitt meeting Penn State in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The governor shared his bracket Wednesday on social media. It's the best three weeks in basketball, Pennsylvania.Take a...
Stormy Daniels meets with prosecutors investigating Trump
NEW YORK — Porn actor Stormy Daniels met Wednesday with prosecutors who are investigating hush money paid to her on former President Donald Trump’s behalf, her lawyer said Wednesday. The news emerged as Michael Cohen, a former Trump attorney who orchestrated the payment, was giving a second day of testimony...
Macron’s pension plan advances despite strikes across France
PARIS — French people hoping to preserve their retirement benefits took to the streets nationwide on Wednesday as President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension plan was validated by a committee of lawmakers meeting behind closed doors. Macron had the means on the joint Senate and National Assembly committee to advance his...
Why U.S. troops remain in Iraq 20 years after ‘shock and awe’
WASHINGTON — Twenty years after the U.S. invaded Iraq — in blinding explosions of shock and awe — American forces remain in the country in what has become a small but consistent presence to ensure an ongoing relationship with a key military and diplomatic partner in the Middle East. The...
What’s known and not about U.S. drone-Russian jet encounter
WASHINGTON — When a Russian fighter jet collided with a large U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea, it was a rare but serious incident that triggered a U.S. diplomatic protest and raised concerns about the possibility Russia could recover sensitive technology. U.S. and Russian officials had conflicting accounts of...
