White House reveals winter covid-19 plans, more free tests
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is again making some free covid-19 tests available to all U.S. households as it unveils its contingency plans for potential coronavirus surges this winter. After a three-month hiatus, the administration is making four rapid virus tests available through covidtests.gov starting Thursday, a senior administration official...
Mitch McConnell: Trump’s candidates fumbled 2022 away for GOP in Senate
WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell said former President Donald Trump’s overwhelming influence in Republican Senate primaries led to hobbled candidates in 2022 who lost winnable general election races, leaving Democrats in control of the upper chamber for at least another two years. “Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite...
House passes bill to extend government funding for 1 weekVideo
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-led House passed a short-term spending bill Wednesday to keep government agencies funded at current levels through Dec. 23, giving lawmakers more time to craft a roughly $1.7 trillion appropriations package that would cover the full fiscal year. Congress faces a deadline of midnight Friday to pass...
Report: Texas AG sought driver license data on gender change
AUSTIN — The office of Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this summer sought data on how many people had changed the gender information on their driver’s license, according to a newspaper report published Wednesday that civil rights attorneys described as worrying. The Washington Post reported that public records obtained...
Alabama women convicted for feeding, trapping stray cats
WETUMPKA, Ala. — Two Alabama women have been convicted of misdemeanor crimes because of their efforts to feed and trap stray cats. Local news outlets report that Wetumpka Municipal Judge Jeff Courtney on Tuesday found Beverly Roberts, 85, guilty of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct. Mary Alston, 61, was found...
Recount requests delay Pennsylvania election certification
HARRISBURG — Five weeks after Election Day, winning candidates in Pennsylvania from governor to Congress are waiting for their victories to become official. An effort that appears to be at least partially coordinated among conservatives has inundated counties with ballot recount requests even though no races are close enough to...
Gaming Control Board gives green light to proposed State College mini-casino license hearings
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the licensing hearing process for a proposed $123 million mini-casino in State College to move forward as normal, despite the objections of a Philadelphia-based competitor. Bally’s Corp., in partnership with SC Gaming LLC, led by former Penn State trustee Ira...
EU lawmaker at heart of corruption case to remain in custody
BRUSSELS — A Greek European lawmaker charged with corruption in an alleged plot by a Gulf country that’s tarnishing EU institutions will stay in detention until at least next week after her hearing by a judge was postponed, judicial officials said on Wednesday. Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili, whose term...
Twitter changes rules over account tracking Elon Musk’s jet
Twitter on Wednesday suspended an account that used publicly available flight data to track Elon Musk’s private jet, despite a pledge by the social media platform’s new owner to keep it up because of his free speech principles. Then, hours later, Musk brought back the jet-tracking account after imposing new...
Police: 2 officers slain in Mississippi; shooter also dead
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — Two police officers in coastal Mississippi were shot and killed by a woman early Wednesday as they checked on a call at a motel, authorities said. The woman killed herself after shooting the Bay St. Louis police officers at a Motel 6 in the city...
U.S. storm brings tornadoes, blizzard-like conditions; 2 deadVideo
DALLAS — A volatile storm ripping across the United States spawned tornadoes that killed a young boy and his mother in Louisiana, smashed mobile homes and chicken houses in Mississippi and threatened neighboring Southern states with more punishing weather Wednesday. To the north, the huge storm system delivered blizzard-like conditions...
Company holiday parties are back — but with some restraint
NEW YORK — Say goodbye to virtual wine tastings, and bust out the karaoke. Love them or hate them, company holiday parties back — in a toned-down kind of way. After more than two years of working in pajama bottoms and clinking glasses over Zoom, many office workers seem to...
A decade after Sandy Hook, grief remains but hope grows
NEWTOWN, Conn. — They would have been 16 or 17 this year. High school juniors. The children killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012 should have spent this year thinking about college, taking their SATs and getting their driver’s licenses. Maybe attending their first prom. Instead,...
U.S. death toll tied to long covid exceeds 3,500, CDC report says
The health challenges that a bout of covid-19 sometimes leaves in its wake can be troublesome, scary and quite mysterious. New research confirms they can be deadly as well. A study released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that between January 2020 and June 2022, long...
U.S. military creates space unit in South Korea to watch North
SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. military formally launched a space force unit in South Korea on Wednesday, its first such facility on foreign territory that will likely enable Washington to better monitor its rivals North Korea, China and Russia. The activation of the U.S. Space Forces Korea at Osan...
U.S. study: Over half of car crash victims had drugs in system
DETROIT — A large study by U.S. highway safety regulators found that more than half the people injured or killed in traffic crashes had one or more drugs, or alcohol, in their bloodstreams. Also, just over 54% of injured drivers had drugs or alcohol in their systems, with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC),...
Report: U.S. Rep. Scott Perry shared plan to seize voting machines nationwide
Compelled to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, GOP U.S. Rep. Scott Perry shared detailed plans to seize voting machines nationwide with a White House official. According to a report this week by Talking Points Memo, which obtained text logs between Perry and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows,...
Army sergeant killed at Georgia base identified as Plum resident
FORT STEWART, Ga. — The Army on Tuesday said a soldier who was fatally shot at a Georgia base was a sergeant whose nearly eight years of military service included a deployment to Afghanistan. Sgt. Nathan M. Hillman, 30, of Plum was killed Monday by a gunman at Fort Stewart,...
8 hurt in fire at NYPD warehouse where evidence is storedVideo
NEW YORK — Eight people suffered minor injuries Tuesday in a fire at a New York Police Department warehouse that houses DNA evidence from crime scenes as well as cars, e-bikes and motor scooters, police and fire officials said. The fire at the Erie Basin Auto Pound, a low warehouse...
Some Penn State Law faculty say main campus presence needed in possible law schools merger
Dozens of Penn State Law faculty are urging those weighing their school’s reunification with Dickinson Law in Carlisle to consider what Penn State University would lose if the combined entity lacks a significant University Park presence. A statement endorsed by 42 of Penn State Law’s 51 fulltime faculty stopped short...
U.S. poised to approve Patriot missile battery for Ukraine
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, finally agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian attacks, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The approval is likely to come later this week and could...
Huge U.S. study starts sharing gene findings with volunteers
More than 155,000 Americans who shared their DNA for science are about to learn something in return: Do they have some particularly worrisome genes? It’s part of a massive project to unravel how people’s genetics, environments and habits interact to determine their overall health. The National Institutes of Health said...
Fusion breakthrough is a milestone for climate, clean energy
WASHINGTON — Scientists announced Tuesday that they have for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it — a major breakthrough in the decades-long quest to harness the process that powers the sun. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California...
Shapiro says Pennsylvania Taylor Swift fans will have another chance to get tour tickets
Pennsylvania fans of pop singer Taylor Swift will have another opportunity to purchase tickets to shows within the state, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said on Tuesday. Tickets for Swift’s “Eras Tour” received such high demand when pre-sales began in November that Ticketmaster canceled sales, leading to a national fiasco. Politicians...
At least 100 people killed by floods in capital of CongoVideo
KINSHASA, Congo — At least 100 people have been killed and dozens injured on Tuesday by widespread floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa. Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde said officials were still searching for more bodies. “We came to assess the damage and the primary...
