Woman gets 12 to 24 years in I-76 crash that killed Pa. firefighter
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A New Jersey woman has been sentenced to 12 to 24 years in prison in the death of a firefighter struck along with two other firefighters and a state trooper as they were responding to a crash on Interstate 76 in suburban Philadelphia more than a year...
In Selma, Biden says right to vote remains under assault
SELMA, Ala. — President Joe Biden used the searing memories of Selma’s “Bloody Sunday” to recommit to a cornerstone of democracy, lionizing a seminal moment from the civil rights movement at a time when he has been unable to push enhanced voting protections through Congress and a conservative Supreme Court...
Restoring rights for felons a rare bipartisan voting change
LINCOLN, Neb. — TJ King had candidates and causes to support, but couldn’t vote in Nebraska’s last election. An outreach specialist with the Nebraska AIDS Project, King came off probation in August after serving time for drug and theft convictions. In many states, he could have voted in the November...
Army boss’ mission: Persuade schools to welcome recruiters
CHICAGO — Army recruiters struggling to meet enlistment goals say one of their biggest hurdles is getting into high schools, where they can meet students one on one. But they received a recent boost from a recruiting advocate whom school leaders couldn’t turn away: the secretary of the Army. During...
Ex-Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan won’t challenge Trump in 2024
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor of Maryland who positioned himself as one of his party’s fiercest critics of Donald Trump, said Sunday he will not challenge the ex-president for the GOP’s White House nomination in 2024. “I would never run for president to sell books or...
Latest Ohio derailment poses no public risk, officials say
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Authorities in Ohio say there is no indication of any risk to public health from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern cargo train between Dayton and Columbus, the second derailment of a company train in the state in a month. Norfolk Southern and Clark County officials say...
Senate bill would continue to reduce state police funding from Motor License Fund
Senate Republicans in Pennsylvania advanced a bill that could reopen discussion about former Gov. Tom Wolf’s suggestion that communities without a police force should help fund the state police who provide services there. Senate Bill 121, introduced by Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Johnstown, continues the state’s recent trend of lessening...
Biden expected to tighten rules on U.S. investment in China
WILMINGTON, Del. — The Biden administration is close to tightening rules on some overseas investments by U.S. companies in an effort to limit China’s ability to acquire technologies that could improve its military prowess, according to a U.S. official familiar with the deliberations. The soon-to-be-issued executive order from President Joe...
Marianne Williamson begins longshot 2024 challenge to Biden
WASHINGTON — -Self-help author Marianne Williamson, whose 2020 White House campaign featured more quirky calls for spiritual healing than actual voter support, launched another longshot bid for the presidency on Saturday, becoming the first Democrat to formally challenge President Joe Biden for the 2024 nomination. “We are upset about this...
Proposed bill would give Pa. doctors more leeway in prescribing medical marijuana
A bipartisan bill expected to be introduced soon in Harrisburg would loosen regulations of Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program and could substantially increase the number of cannabis patients in the state. A memo on the legislation co-sponsored by state Sens. Jim Brewster, D-McKeesport, and Mike Regan, R-York, said the bill would...
What to Watch: Shapiro will pitch first budget as Pa. governor
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver his first budget to the Legislature on Tuesday, as the Democrat aims in his first months to remake the state’s public school funding system and to put Pennsylvania on competitive footing with other states to attract major companies. Shapiro has been touring...
Pa. lawmaker accused of sexual harassment says he won’t resign, will seek treatment for ‘illness’
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 — A Pennsylvania lawmaker accused of sexual harassment says he won’t resign from office but will seek treatment for an...
First evidence for horseback riding dates back 5,000 years
WASHINGTON — Archaeologists have found the earliest direct evidence for horseback riding — an innovation that would transform history — in 5,000 year old human skeletons in central Europe. “When you get on a horse and ride it fast, it’s a thrill — I’m sure ancient humans felt the same...
Election conspiracies fuel dispute over voter fraud system
ATLANTA — A bipartisan effort among states to combat voter fraud has found itself in the crosshairs of conspiracy theories fueled by Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 presidential election and now faces an uncertain future. One state has dropped out, a second is in the process of doing...
Defense lawyers in Idaho stabbing case say gag order needed
BOISE, Idaho — Defense attorneys for a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death asked the Idaho Supreme Court on Friday to keep a gag order in place, saying a challenge to the order filed by 30 news organizations is premature and that media coverage of...
The implications of Walgreens’ decision on abortion pills
Walgreens says it will not start selling an abortion pill in 20 states that had warned of legal consequences if it did so. The drugstore chain’s announcement Thursday signals that access to mifepristone may not expand as broadly as federal regulators intended in January, when they finalized a rule change...
Officials: Person dies after brain-eating amoeba infection
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — A person in southwest Florida has died after being infected with an extremely rare brain-eating amoeba, health officials said. The Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County confirmed the death Thursday. The agency had previously issued an alert last month, warning residents about the Naegleria fowleri...
Doctor: Lesion removed from Biden’s chest was cancerous
WASHINGTON — A skin lesion removed from President Joe Biden’s chest last month was a basal cell carcinoma — a common form of skin cancer — his doctor said Friday, adding that no further treatment was required. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the White House doctor who has served as Biden’s longtime...
Zelenskyy tells U.S., Europe law chiefs Russia must face court
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Friday with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and top European legal officials, and called for Russia to face international prosecution for war crimes. Zelenskyy announced the meetings in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, hundreds of kilometers from the war’s front lines, during his evening...
In race for technology, China has a ‘sometimes stunning lead’ over the U.S.
American higher education is touted as the world’s envy, but a new report says the United States and other Western countries have fallen dangerously behind China in research that results in leading-edge technology. The world’s most populous country has amassed a “sometimes stunning lead,” says the Australian Strategic Policy Institute,...
U.S. to focus bison restoration on expanding tribal herds
DENVER — U.S. officials will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands under a Friday order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland that calls for the government to tap into Indigenous knowledge in its efforts to conserve the burly animals that are an icon of the American...
Paris Olympics sports bodies seek IOC clarity on Russia
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Ongoing uncertainty about letting Russian athletes try to qualify for the Paris Olympics affects “less than half” of its 32 sports, the umbrella group of Summer Games governing bodies said on Friday. Those sports have an urgent need for more clarity from the International Olympic Committee with...
Who’s benefiting from Russia’s war on Ukraine? Arms dealers and manufacturers
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — There’s always an element of the surreal at arms fairs. You catch it in the chipper tone of salespeople hawking new instruments of destruction; in the euphemisms — “defense” instead of “warfare,” “weapons platforms” rather than “guns” — sprinkled throughout glossy brochures; in the...
Businessman Perry Johnson announces 2024 presidential bid
OXON HILL, Md. — Republican businessman Perry Johnson has announced his long-shot bid for president. Johnson, who tried to run for Michigan governor last year but was deemed by the state’s elections bureau to have filed thousands of fraudulent nominating signatures, announced his White House candidacy to a group of...
Abortion clinics crossing state borders not always welcome
BRISTOL, Va. — The pastors smiled as they held the doors open, grabbing the hands of those who walked by and urging many to keep praying and to keep showing up. Some responded with a hug. A few grimaced as they squeezed past. Shelley Koch, a longtime resident of southwest...
