Contaminated waste shipments from Ohio derailment to resume
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Shipment of contaminated waste from the site of a fiery train derailment earlier this month in eastern Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line will resume Monday to two approved sites in Ohio, according to federal environmental authorities. The announcement came a day after the Environmental Protection...
Media drop Dilbert after creator’s Black ‘hate group’ remark
The creator of the Dilbert comic strip faced a backlash of cancellations Saturday while defending remarks describing people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.” Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments by Dilbert creator Scott Adams as racist,...
EU slaps sanctions on top Russia officials, banks, trade
BRUSSELS — The European Union agreed Saturday to impose new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine targeting more officials and organizations accused of supporting the war, spreading propaganda or supplying drones, as well as restricting trade on products that could be used by the armed forces. The EU’s...
Inadequate investigation? Takeaways at Murdaugh murder trial
Investigators like to say the crime scene at a killing tells the story even if no one else does. In the double murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, his defense lawyers want jurors to believe the crime scene can’t tell them much about the deaths of his...
Bills would let transgender people seal name-change requests
SEATTLE — You can change your name, but in many states you can’t completely shed your old one — something that’s of particular concern to transgender people and that legislators in at least two states are trying to change. A bill in Washington would allow gender expression and identity as...
Appreciating Jimmy Carter, outspoken but ‘never irrelevant’
WASHINGTON — Ever the outsider, Jimmy Carter served a turbulent term in the White House. His presidency was beset by soaring interest and inflation rates, gasoline pump lines and the Iran hostage crisis that eventually led to his re-election defeat. But he rose to even greater heights with his post-presidential...
Some Democratic-led states seek to bolster voter protections
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in several Democratic-controlled states are advocating sweeping voter protections this year, reacting to what they view as a broad undermining of voting rights by the Supreme Court and Republican-led states as well as a failed effort in Congress to bolster access to the polls. Legislators in Connecticut,...
Ukraine: Zelenskyy seeks more sanctions, fighting grinds on
KYIV, Ukraine — Fighting is grinding on in Ukraine after the country marked the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, with Ukrainian authorities on Saturday reporting dozens of new Russian strikes and attacks on cities in the east and south. After a somber and defiant day of commemorations on Friday and a...
Schools reopen as Syrians live with quake’s devastation
IDLIB, Syria — Schools resumed classes in Syria’s rebel-held northwest Saturday after closing for nearly three weeks following an earthquake that devastated the region, local officials said, even as many schoolchildren suffer from shock. Many schools were turned into temporary shelters following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and...
Justice Thomas wrote of ‘crushing weight’ of student loans
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court won’t have far to look if it wants a personal take on the “crushing weight” of student debt that underlies the Biden administration’s college loan forgiveness plan. Justice Clarence Thomas was in his mid-40s and in his third year on the nation’s highest court when...
Key U.S. inflation measure surges at fastest rate since June
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose last month at its fastest pace since June, an alarming sign that price pressures remain entrenched in the U.S. economy and could lead the Fed to keep raising interest rates well into this year. Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed...
University of Pittsburgh provost is finalist for presidency at Portland State
University of Pittsburgh Provost Ann Cudd is one of two finalists for the presidency of Portland State University. Trustees at the public institution in Portland, OR. with 22,000 students met this week and have entered a negotiation phase, a confidential process typically lasting two to six weeks before a new...
California faces more blizzards, floods in multistate storm
LOS ANGELES — A powerful winter storm lashing California threatened floods, blizzards and avalanches Saturday while adding frigid temperatures to the misery mix. Overnight lows could drop below freezing in some areas while downtown San Francisco could see record-breaking cold temperatures Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Projected...
Feds seek to limit telehealth prescriptions for some drugs
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration moved Friday to require patients see a doctor in person before getting attention deficit disorder medication or addictive painkillers, toughening access to the drugs against the backdrop of a deepening opioid crisis. The proposal could overhaul the way millions of Americans get some prescriptions after...
West Virginians clash over religious freedom bill at hearing
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some people said West Virginia needs a law to codify the right of residents to challenge government regulations that interfere with their religious beliefs because of growing threats to their constitutional freedoms. Others who spoke during a public hearing at the state Capitol Friday said they are...
After Ohio train wreck, Biden orders door-to-door checks
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine, Ohio, to check on families affected by the toxic train derailment that has morphed into a heated political controversy. Under Biden’s order, teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency...
Panel: Military needs gun safety measures to limit suicides
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department should implement a series of gun safety measures to reduce suicides in the force, an independent committee recommended Friday, calling for waiting periods for the purchase of firearms and ammunition by service members on military property. The panel said the department should also raise the...
Nikki Haley keeping early 2024 fundraising numbers quiet
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley had a busy first week as an official 2024 presidential candidate, announcing in her native state, then hustling to early voting New Hampshire and Iowa and going on a media blitz. But as fundraising starts to build for the potential GOP...
Biden unveils new Ukraine weapons package, Russia sanctions
WASHINGTON— The Biden administration declared its solidarity with Ukraine with fresh action as well as strong words on Friday, piling sweeping new sanctions on Moscow and approving a new $2 billion weapons package to re-arm Kyiv a year after Russia’s invasion. Despite the U.S. and allies’ continued ambitious efforts to...
Did dioxins spread after the Ohio train derailment?
After a catastrophic 38-train car derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, some officials are raising concerns about a type of toxic substance that tends to stay in the environment. Last week, Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance, the U.S. senators from Ohio, sent a letter to the state’s environmental protection agency expressing...
Russia, Ukraine face off at UN with rival tributes to dead
UNITED NATIONS — Russia and Ukraine faced off at the U.N. Security Council on Friday on the first anniversary of their war, with their confrontation even extending to dueling moments of silence for the dead. The showdown began before the session formally started, with Russia’s ambassador demanding to know why...
Biden ready to run, U.S. first lady says
NAIROBI, Kenya— U.S. first lady Jill Biden gave one of the clearest indications yet that President Joe Biden will run for a second term, telling The Associated Press in an exclusive interview on Friday that there’s “pretty much” nothing left to do but figure out the time and place for...
Child sex abuse lawsuit window again gets Pa. lawmakers’ OK
HARRISBURG — Victims would be able to sue over otherwise outdated claims of child sexual abuse under two pieces of legislation passed Friday by the Pennsylvania House, but it’s unclear whether the state Senate will take them up. The legislation to temporarily waive the statute of limitations for sex abuse...
Court strikes down charter boat tracking rule
NEW ORLEANS — An appeals court has struck down a federal fisheries management rule requiring operators of privately owned charter boats to equip their vessels with tracking devices, a victory for a group of Louisiana and Florida charter operators who challenged the rule in a 2020 lawsuit. Thursday’s ruling by...
Construction of $40M workforce center proceeds on CCAC’s North Side campus
The timing seemed right in November 2019 when the Community College of Allegheny County announced an ambitious workforce development initiative that included building a multi-story academic hall and expanding programming to steer more students into high-demand fields. The areas of study slated for the new Workforce Development and Training Center...
