Putin expands fast-track Russian citizenship to all Ukraine
KHARKIV, Ukraine — As Russian missiles struck a key Ukrainian city, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Monday expanding a fast-track procedure of obtaining Russian citizenship available to all Ukrainians, yet another effort to expand Moscow’s influence in war-torn Ukraine. Until recently, only residents of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and...
Biden to reveal 1st image from NASA’s new space telescope
President Joe Biden on Monday will reveal the first image from NASA’s new space telescope — the deepest view of the cosmos ever captured. The first image from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is going to show the farthest humanity has ever seen in both time and distance,...
Pa. lawmakers agreed to a big election funding deal — with strings attached
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 — Pennsylvania lawmakers have agreed to give counties $45 million in new election funding as part of the state budget,...
There’s another chance to catch a supermoon on Wednesday
If you missed last month’s supermoon, you have another chance. This month’s full moon is Wednesday. At the same time, the moon’s orbit will bring it closer to Earth than usual. This cosmic combo is called a supermoon. That can make the moon appear slightly bigger and brighter, weather permitting....
Biden celebration of new gun law clouded by latest shooting
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is hosting a “celebration” of a new bipartisan law meant to reduce gun violence that, after just 16 days in effect, already has been overshadowed by yet another mass shooting. The bill, passed after recent gun rampages in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, incrementally...
Trump associates’ ties to extremists probed by Jan. 6 panel
After members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, their leader called someone on the phone with an urgent message for then-President Donald Trump, another extremist told investigators. While gathered in a private suite at the Phoenix Park Hotel, an Oath Keeper...
Police: 1 dead, 5 hurt in shooting outside Kansas City bar
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A shooting outside a bar in Kansas City where off-duty police officers were working security has left one person dead and five others hurt, authorities said. The shooting happened about 11 p.m. Sunday following a disturbance inside Westport Ale House, TV stations KCTV and KMBC reported...
Over-the-counter birth control? Drugmaker seeks FDA approval
WASHINGTON — For the first time, a pharmaceutical company has asked for permission to sell a birth control pill over the counter in the U.S. HRA Pharma’s application on Monday sets up a high-stakes decision for health regulators amid legal and political battles over women’s reproductive health. The company says...
15 killed in Russian strike in Ukraine, 20 believed trapped
CHASIV YAR, Ukraine — Dozens of Ukrainian emergency workers labored Sunday to pull people out of the rubble after a Russian rocket attack smashed into apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 15 people. More than 20 people were believed still trapped. The strike late Saturday destroyed three buildings...
Trump ally Bannon now willing to testify before Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon, a former White House strategist and ally of Donald Trump who faces criminal charges after months of defying a congressional subpoena over the Capitol riot, has told the House committee investigating the attack that he is now willing to testify. Bannon’s turnabout was conveyed in a...
Biden says he’s mulling health emergency for abortion access
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — President Joe Biden said Sunday he is considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources to promote abortion access even though the White House has said it doesn’t seem like “a great option.” He also offered a message to people enraged by the...
Highland Park business area opens for 1st time since July 4 parade attack
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — A business district that had been blocked since a July 4 parade mass shooting that left seven people dead reopened Sunday morning in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. The 2-block by 3-block area consists largely of small shops and restaurants. It had been blocked off...
Crypto plunge is cautionary tale for public pension funds
MINNEAPOLIS — When the Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund bought $25 million in cryptocurrencies, with the fund’s chief investment officer touting their potential, retired fire Capt. Russell Harris was concerned. Harris, 62, has attended the funerals of 34 firefighters killed in the line of duty. He was already worried...
In Mideast, Biden struggling to shift policy after Trump
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden took office looking to reshape U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, putting a premium on promoting democracy and human rights. In reality, he has struggled on several fronts to meaningfully separate his approach from former President Donald Trump’s. Biden’s visit to the region this week...
Successors to Johnson seek to stand out in crowded UK field
LONDON — Potential successors to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson rushed to differentiate themselves from an increasingly crowded field on Sunday as the governing Conservative Party was expected to set a tight timetable for the election. Candidates released slick campaign videos on social media and appeared on Sunday morning political...
Gun violence in America: A long list of forgotten victims
ATHENS, Ala. — Amid the stream of mass shootings that have become chillingly commonplace in America, the reality of the nation’s staggering murder rate often can be seen more clearly in the deaths that never make national news. Take last weekend in the Chicago area. On Monday, a rooftop shooter...
Man sentenced to prison in rapes of 4 former Penn State students
A man has been sentenced to decades in prison in the rapes of four former Penn State students over a seven-year period. Jeffrey Fields, 38, of Port Matilda was sentenced Friday in Centre County to 29 1/2 to 61 years in state prison in the assaults, which occurred between 2010...
Ukrainian governor: Russia raising ‘true hell’ in the east
Russian forces are raising “true hell” in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, despite assessments they were taking an operational pause, a regional governor said Saturday, while another Ukrainian official urged people in Russian-occupied southern areas to evacuate quickly “by all possible means” before a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Deadly Russian shelling was reported...
Protesters break into home of Sri Lankan PM, set it on fire
Protesters broke into the Sri Lankan prime minister’s private residence and set it on fire, hours after he said he would resign when a new government is formed, in the biggest day of angry demonstrations on Saturday that also saw crowds storming the president’s home and office. The office of...
Pennsylvania Senate seeks to declare state constitution provides no right to an abortion
HARRISBURG — Voters could be asked as early as the spring to weigh in on five significant amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution, including one that would require voters to show ID every time they vote and another that asserts the state’s charter does not protect abortion access. After a contentious...
Grove of giant sequoias threatened by California wildfire
The largest grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park remained closed Saturday, a day after hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate as a wildfire burning through dense forest became the latest to threaten the world’s largest trees. A team was being sent to the Mariposa Grove to wrap...
In era of transparency, Arizona law limits filming police
Arizona’s governor has signed a law that restricts how the public can video police at a time when there’s growing pressure across the U.S. for greater law enforcement transparency. Civil rights and media groups opposed the measure that Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed Thursday. The law makes it illegal in...
8-year-old paralyzed in parade attack awake, asking for twin
An 8-year-old boy whose spine was severed in the shooting at a Fourth of July Parade is conscious for the first time since the attack and asking to see his twin brother, his family said Friday. Doctors don’t think Cooper Roberts suffered any brain damage from the bullets that hit...
Pa. lawmakers agree to boost education funding, spend billions in remaining stimulus money as part of budget
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 — Pennsylvania lawmakers have sent Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf a $45.2 billion spending plan that boosts education spending by more...
Assassination of Japan’s Shinzo Abe stuns world leaders
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Friday’s shocking assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in one of the world’s safest countries stunned leaders and drew condemnation, with Iran calling it “terrorism” while European leaders slammed the “despicable” attack. Tributes poured in as governments expressed sorrow and solidarity with Japan over...
