$2.5 billion aid sends Strykers, but no tanks, to Ukraine
WASHINGTON — The United States will send 90 Stryker combat vehicles and an additional 59 Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine, in addition to hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, the Pentagon announced on Thursday. It is the latest aid package timed to help Ukraine push back against Russia’s entrenched...
Arkansas panel advances bill to restrict drag performances
LITTLE ROCK — Drag performances would be classified as adult-oriented businesses under an bill in Arkansas that a legislative panel endorsed Thursday. It’s the latest in a growing number of Republican-backed proposals nationwide to restrict or ban the shows. The state Senate City, County and Local Affairs Committee advanced the...
Florida blocks high school African American studies class
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has blocked a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies from being taught in high schools, saying it violates state law and is historically inaccurate. The state education department rejected the program in a letter last week to the College Board, which...
Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro fills executive staff with loyal allies, political veterans
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 — Newly minted Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is stocking his executive staff of advisers, mediators, and policy experts with political...
Body of missing Limerick woman discovered in Royersford, Montco DA saysVideo
NORRISTOWN — The body of Jennifer Brown, a 43-year-old Limerick Township woman who had been missing since Jan. 3, was found partially buried late Wednesday afternoon at a location in Royersford, according to authorities. “Unfortunately, I have to announce that we have found Jennifer Brown who we have been looking...
Supreme Court says it hasn’t found abortion opinion leakerVideo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Thursday it has not determined who leaked a draft of the court’s opinion overturning abortion rights, but that the investigation continues. Eight months after Politico published its explosive leak detailing the draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, the court...
Germany pressed on tanks for Ukraine; Kyiv airs frustration
BERLIN — Germany faced mounting pressure to supply battle tanks to Kyiv and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aired frustration about not obtaining enough weaponry as Western allies conferred Thursday on how best to support Ukraine nearly 11 months into Russia’s invasion. Since the U.K. announced last week that it will...
White House describes probe: Investigation? Nope, review
WASHINGTON — When Hillary Clinton was running for president, her campaign wanted a gentler way to talk about the criminal investigation into her private email server, so they called it a “security review.” Now President Joe Biden’s team is using similar language when talking about the discovery of classified documents...
Cecilia Vega leaves ABC News to join CBS and ’60 Minutes’
Cecilia Vega, a White House correspondent and weekend anchor for ABC News, is joining the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes.” CBS News announced Thursday that Vega will be a correspondent on the venerable franchise, the most watched news program on television. Openings for full-time roles on “60 Minutes” are rare...
Public memorial planned for Parkland school school victims
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A nonprofit organization in Florida is planning a public memorial dedicated to the 17 people who died during a 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The Parkland 17 Memorial Foundation said the memorial will be built on a nature preserve on the edge of...
President Biden at the 2-year mark
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden notches two years in office on Friday. That represents 730 days since his inauguration — and a whole lot of other numbers as well. The story of the first half of Biden’s term, at least by the numbers, is a mixed bag. It includes a...
Lawyer: Gun used by child who shot teacher was secured
NORFOLK, Va. — The family of a 6-year-old boy who shot and wounded his teacher in Virginia said Thursday that the gun he used had been “secured” and that one of his parents usually accompanied him in class but did not the week the shooting occurred. The family’s statement was...
Pa. woman accused of killing parents, living with their dismembered bodies
A Montgomery County woman found at home with her parents’ dismembered bodies was charged Wednesday with killing them, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office. Police found the bodies of a 73-year-old man and a 72-year-old woman in a home in the 1100 block of Beverly Road with their...
U.S. Treasury buys time for Biden, GOP on debt limit deal
WASHINGTON — The countdown toward a possible U.S. government default began Thursday with Treasury implementing accounting measures to buy time as frictions between President Joe Biden and House Republicans raise alarms about whether the United States can sidestep a potential economic crisis. The Treasury Department said in a letter to...
Gov. Shapiro signs order moving state’s hiring emphasis from degrees to experience, skills
Trying to deliver on a 2022 campaign promise, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order Wednesday designed to encourage more people without college degrees to seek out employment opportunities within state government. The order flatly declares that 92% of all executive branch jobs don’t require four-year degrees, though in reality,...
Lunar New Year tourism hopes fizzle as Chinese stay home
BANGKOK — A hoped-for boom in Chinese tourism in Asia over next week’s Lunar New Year holidays looks set to be more of a blip as most travelers opt to stay inside China if they go anywhere. From the beaches of Bali to Hokkaido’s powdery ski slopes, the hoards of...
Cardinal says book by Benedict XVI’s secretary unseemly
ROME — The archbishop of Vienna, a longtime friend and former student of Pope Benedict XVI, has confirmed that it was he who wrote a letter to his former teacher urging him to accept election as pontiff in 2005 if the votes went his way. Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn issued a...
Alec Baldwin to be charged with manslaughter in set shooting
SANTA FE, N.M. — Actor Alec Baldwin and a weapons specialist will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico movie set, prosecutors announced Thursday, citing a “criminal disregard for safety.” Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies issued a statement announcing the...
Flavored cannabis marketing is criticized for targeting kidsVideo
NEW YORK — When New York’s first licensed recreational marijuana outlet opened last month, the chief of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, Chris Alexander, proudly hoisted a tin of watermelon-flavored gummies above the crowd. Outside the Manhattan shop, he displayed another purchase — a jar containing dried flowers of...
U.S. Treasury buys time for Biden and GOP on debt limit deal
WASHINGTON — The countdown toward a possible U.S. government default began Thursday with Treasury implementing accounting measures as a stopgap, while frictions between President Joe Biden and House Republicans raise alarms about whether the U.S. can sidestep a potential economic crisis. The Treasury Department said in a letter to congressional...
‘The real McCoy’: Greensburg native appointed acting Pa. attorney general
More than three decades ago, Michelle Henry was walking the halls of Greensburg Salem High School with her classmates. This week, the 53-year-old Greensburg native was named acting Pennsylvania attorney general. After graduating from high school and Allegheny College, Henry headed east to attend the Widener University School of Law,...
Battery charge for San Francisco man who sprayed homeless woman with hoseVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco art gallery owner who was recorded on video spraying a homeless woman with a water hose earlier this month was arrested Wednesday and charged with misdemeanor battery, authorities said. Collier Gwin, the owner of Foster Gwin Gallery, was taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon...
Donald Trump says he never read book accusing him of rape
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump said he has never read any part of a book in which the columnist E. Jean Carroll accused him of raping her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, according to court records unsealed Wednesday. Trump was questioned under oath in...
New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, an icon to many, to step downVideo
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who became a global icon of the left and exemplified a new style of leadership, said Thursday that she would leave office. Just 37 when she became leader, Ardern was praised around the world for her handling of the nation’s...
Florida congressman Steube injured in accident at home
SARASOTA, Fla. — A Florida congressman was injured in an accident at his home Wednesday afternoon, his office said. U.S. Rep. Greg Steube’s office released a short statement saying that he had been involved in an accident on his property and had sustained several injuries. The statement didn’t include details...
