Freezing state officials’ pay this year ‘is the right thing to do,’ Pa. lawmaker says
Pennsylvania’s rank-and-file lawmakers could see their salaries rise above $100,000 in December, but some members are seeking legislation to freeze or eliminate the automatic pay raises they receive. House State Government Committee Chairman Seth Grove, R-York County, said he supports a pay freeze to ensure — at least this year...
Colorado GOP senator becomes Democrat, cites vote falsehoods
DENVER — Citing alarm toward the Republican Party’s widespread embrace of 2020 election conspiracies, a moderate GOP Colorado state senator has switched his affiliation to Democrat, enhancing that party’s prospects to retain its majority in the chamber in the November midterms. Kevin Priola, who represents Adams County in Denver’s suburbs,...
Trump seeks special master to review Mar-a-Lago documents
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked a federal judge Monday to halt the FBI’s review of documents recovered from his Florida estate earlier this month until a neutral special master can be appointed to inspect the records. The request was included in a federal lawsuit, the first...
Donald Trump to rally for Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania
Former President Donald Trump will appear at a rally on Sept. 3 in Wilkes-Barre to boost Republican candidates Mehmet Oz and state Sen. Doug Mastriano in their key midterm election campaigns. The rally at Mohegan Sun Arena comes a little more than two months before Election Day in a race...
Heavy rain floods streets across Dallas-Fort Worth areaVideo
DALLAS — Heavy rain across the drought-stricken Dallas-Fort Worth area on Monday caused streets to flood, submerging vehicles as officials warned motorists to stay off the roads and water seeped into some homes and businesses. “The Dallas-Fort Worth area was pretty much ground zero for the heaviest rain overnight,” said...
New space telescope shows Jupiter’s auroras, tiny moons
The world’s newest and biggest space telescope is showing Jupiter as never before, auroras and all. Scientists released the shots Monday of the solar system’s biggest planet. The James Webb Space Telescope took the photos in July, capturing unprecedented views of Jupiter’s northern and southern lights, and swirling polar haze....
Commonwealth Court orders Pa.’s health department to release information on medical marijuana program
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 panel of Commonwealth Court judges has ordered the Wolf administration to reveal how many medical marijuana patients have...
Atlanta police: 2 killed, 1 shot in Midtown neighborhood
ATLANTA — A woman shot and killed two people and wounded a third Monday at two different locations in Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood and was later taken into custody at the city’s airport, police said. Atlanta police said they did not immediately know what prompted the attack, but they believe the...
Family sues Georgia sheriff over drug raid that killed woman
WOODBINE, Ga. — The family of a woman killed by gunfire last year as Georgia sheriff’s deputies executed a drug warrant at her cousin’s home announced a federal lawsuit Monday against the sheriff and others, claiming the deadly raid violated the slain woman’s civil rights. Attorneys for the family of...
Attorney: Florida school shooter was a ‘damaged person’
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — For Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz’s lead attorney, his Valentine’s Day 2018 massacre of 17 people didn’t begin when he stepped into a building at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and opened fire with his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. Public defender Melisa McNeill told the jury...
Ford cutting 3,000 white-collar jobs in bid to lower costs
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is cutting about 3,000 white-collar jobs as it attempts to lower costs and make the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles. Leaders of the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker made the announcement Monday in a companywide email, saying that 2,000 full-time salaried workers would be let...
Study: Already shrunk by half, Swiss glaciers melting faster
GENEVA — Switzerland’s 1,400 glaciers have lost more than half their total volume since the early 1930s, a new study has found, and researchers say the ice retreat is accelerating at a time of growing concerns about climate change. ETH Zurich, a respected federal polytechnic university, and the Swiss Federal...
Ukraine: 9,000 of its troops killed since Russia began war
NIKOPOL, Ukraine — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already killed some 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers since it began nearly six months ago, a general said, and the fighting Monday showed no signs that the war is abating. At a veteran’s event, Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said many of Ukraine’s...
Dr. Anthony Fauci announces departure from government service
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert who became a household name — and the subject of partisan attacks — during the covid-19 pandemic, announced Monday he will depart the federal government in December after more than five decades of service. Fauci, who serves as President...
3 Arkansas cops suspended after video captures beatingVideo
MULBERRY, Ark. — Three Arkansas law enforcement officers were suspended, and state police launched an investigation after a video posted on social media showed two of them beating a suspect while a third officer held him on the ground. The officers were responding to a report of a man making...
Officials: Landslide at Shiite shrine in Iraq kills 7
BAGHDAD — A landslide collapsed the ceiling of a Shiite shrine in central Iraq over the weekend and killed at least seven people, including a child, officials said Monday as rescuers continued to search for survivors. The landslide struck Qattarat al-Imam Ali shrine near the holy city of Karbala, about...
Russia’s FSB blames Ukrainian intelligence for car bombing
MOSCOW — Russia’s top counterintelligence agency on Monday blamed Ukrainian spy agencies have organized the killing of the daughter of a Russian nationalist ideologue. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the main KGB successor agency, said that the killing of Darya Dugina has been “prepared and perpetrated by the Ukrainian special...
Social media posts draw attention to Pa. election races, but will they affect the outcomes?
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman has repeatedly taken to social media to mock his Republican rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz, during this year’s campaign — using celebrity cameo videos to call out Oz for moving from New Jersey to run, memes to criticize his vast wealth and even Oz’s own...
3 Arkansas law enforcement officers suspended over arrest
MULBERRY, Ark. — Three Arkansas law enforcement officers were suspended Sunday as a result of social media outrage over a video that seemingly showed two deputies and an officer using force on a suspect under arrest. Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante issued a statement Sunday evening, stating two county deputies...
Kansas recount confirms results in favor of abortion rights
OLATHE, Kan. — A decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights in traditionally conservative Kansas was confirmed with a partial hand recount, with fewer than 100 votes changing after the last county reported results Sunday. Nine of the state’s 105 counties recounted their votes at the request of Melissa...
3 Indiana State University students killed in car crash
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Indiana State University announced Sunday that three students died in a single-vehicle accident. A release from the university’s athletics department said five people were in the vehicle when it crashed, including several football players. Police were working to identify the three who died. Vigo County Sheriff...
Hiker missing in Utah flooding as monsoon hits SouthwestVideo
SPRINGDALE, Utah — Authorities have been searching for days for an Arizona woman reported missing after being swept away by floodwaters in Utah’s Zion National Park as strong seasonal rain storms hit parts of the U.S. Southwest. National Park Service officials said rangers and members of the Zion Search and...
Court puts on hold Lindsey Graham’s testimony in Ga. election probe
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court on Sunday agreed to temporarily put on hold a lower court’s order requiring that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham testify before a special grand jury that’s investigating possible illegal efforts to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. A subpoena had instructed the...
Car blast kills daughter of Russian known as ‘Putin’s brain’Video
MOSCOW — The daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as “Putin’s brain” was killed in a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow, authorities said Sunday. The Moscow branch of the Russian Investigative Committee said preliminary information indicated 29-year-old TV commentator Daria Dugina was killed by...
Gunmen storm hotel in Somali capital, leave 20 dead
Islamic militants have stormed a hotel in Somalia’s capital, engaging in an hours-long exchange of fire with the security forces that left at least 20 people dead, according to police and witnesses. In addition, at least 40 people were wounded in the late Friday night attack and security forces rescued...
