Suspected tornado rips through Kansas, causes severe damage
WICHITA, Kan. — A suspected tornado that barreled through parts of Kansas damaged multiple buildings, injured several people and left more than 6,500 people without power, officials said Saturday. Officials said the suspected twister moved though parts of southeast Wichita and Andover on Friday evening. Andover Fire Chief Chad Russell...
GOP election-deniers elevate races for secretary of state
ATLANTA — Add one more group of contests to the white-hot races for Congress and governor that will dominate this year’s midterm elections: secretaries of state. Former President Donald Trump’s attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 election and his subsequent endorsements of candidates for state election offices who...
Ukrainians plead for Mariupol rescue; Russian advance crawls
KHARKIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces fought village by village Saturday to hold back a Russian advance through the country’s east, while the United Nations worked to broker a civilian evacuation from the last defensive stronghold in the bombed-out ruins of the port city of Mariupol. An estimated 100,000 civilians remain...
Musk engages in Twitter spat after rebuttal from Ocasio-Cortez
WASHINGTON — Elon Musk engaged in a Twitter spat with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she rebuked billionaires and delivered an indirect rebuttal to the Tesla Inc. chief executive’s tweet saying that the Democratic Party “has been hijacked by extremists.” Musk, who has agreed to buy Twitter Inc. for $44 billion,...
Justice Dept. files challenge to Alabama transgender law
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday challenged an Alabama law making it a felony for doctors to treat transgender people under age 19 with puberty-blockers and hormones to help affirm their new gender identity. The Justice Department filed a motion seeking to intervene in an ongoing...
Russia makes last-minute bond payment to avoid default
NEW YORK — Russia staved off a default on its debt Friday by making a last-minute payment using its precious dollar reserves sitting outside the country, U.S. Treasury officials said. The amount of the payment was not disclosed, but earlier this month Russia’s finance ministry said it tried to make...
Prosecutor: L.A. funeral home director left remains to rot
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles funeral home owner illegally left the remains of 11 people, including infants, in stages of decay and mummification and faces more than a decade in jail, prosecutors said Friday. City Attorney Mike Feuer, whose office can only file misdemeanor offenses, announced the charges Friday,...
Judge delays some New York primaries after court tosses maps
ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York judge ordered Friday that the state’s congressional and state Senate primaries be delayed until Aug. 23 to provide enough time to replace district maps that were ruled unconstitutional this week. State Judge Patrick McAllister moved the primaries back from their original date of June...
A complete guide to the May 17 primary
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. More than a few things have changed since Pennsylvanians last went to the polls. Your congressional and legislative districts might be...
Americans bring ‘souvenir’ artillery shell to Israel airport
A bomb scare set off scenes of panic at Israel’s airport after an American family showed up with an unexploded artillery shell they had found in the Golan Heights and intended to bring back as a souvenir. Videos circulating online showed passengers ducking for cover, running and screaming at the...
New York Times’ top editor may speak out more on journalism
The New York Times has a tradition of letting its work speak for itself, rather than publicly defending its journalism from criticism. Yet with democracy, truth, and the news business under attack, that’s a luxury The Times’ incoming executive editor, Joe Kahn, may not be able to afford. Kahn, a...
Former Pa. AG Kathleen Kane back in jail for alleged probation violation
A former Pennsylvania attorney general who served jail time for leaking grand jury material and lying about it was taken into custody Friday on an alleged probation violation, more than a month after she was charged with drunken driving, officials said. Kathleen Kane, 55, is behind bars at Montgomery County...
Ukraine cracks down on ‘traitors’ helping Russian troops
Viktor appeared nervous as masked Ukrainian security officers in full riot gear, camouflage and weapons pushed into his cluttered apartment in the northern city of Kharkiv. His hands trembled and he tried to cover his face. The middle-aged man came to the attention of Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, after...
1st case of human bird flu infection confirmed in Colorado
A Colorado prison inmate has tested positive for bird flu in the first recent confirmed case of a human infected with the disease that has resulted in the deaths of millions of chickens and turkeys, but federal officials say they still see little threat to the general public. The U.S....
102 marathons in 102 days: Amputee’s unofficial world record
As Forrest Gump in the Oscar-winning 1994 film of the same name, lead actor Tom Hanks abruptly trots to a halt after more than three years of nonstop running and tells his followers: “I’m pretty tired — I think I’ll go home now.” Jacky Hunt-Broersma can relate. On Thursday, the...
Tennis great Boris Becker gets 2 1/2 years in prison for bankruptcy offenses
Tennis great Boris Becker was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on Friday for illicitly transferring large amounts of money and hiding assets after he was declared bankrupt. The three-time Wimbledon champion was convicted earlier this month on four charges under the Insolvency Act and had faced a maximum...
FDA sets June meetings on covid vaccines for youngest kids
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday set tentative dates in June to publicly review covid-19 vaccines for the youngest American children, typically the final step before authorizing the shots. The meeting announcement follows months of frustration from families impatient for a chance to vaccinate their little children, along with...
Munich to stage 1st Oktoberfest after 2-year hiatus
BERLIN — The annual Oktoberfest festival is on again for this fall, the city of Munich said Friday, following a two-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. Dieter Reiter, the mayor of the Bavarian capital, said the popular beer festival will be held without restrictions from Sept. 17 to Oct....
Relatives: Former U.S. Marine killed fighting in Ukraine
WASHINGTON — A former U.S. Marine was killed fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in war with Russia, his relatives told media outlets. He is the first U.S. citizen known to have been killed while fighting in Ukraine. Rebecca Cabrera told CNN her son, 22-year-old Willy Joseph Cancel, was killed Monday while...
Allegheny County algorithm to screen for child neglect raises concerns
Inside a cavernous stone fortress in downtown Pittsburgh, attorney Robin Frank defends parents at one of their lowest points — when they risk losing their children. The job is never easy, but in the past she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protective services in...
Mitch McConnell miscalculated Republican impeachment count against Trump, book says
WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell thought the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol would finally vanquish former President Donald Trump, initially predicting that at least 17 Republican senators would vote to convict him in his impeachment trial, barring the former president from running again. He was wrong. McConnell’s miscalculation is...
Oklahoma House sends Texas-style abortion ban to governor
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma House gave final approval on Thursday to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. The bill approved by the GOP-led House on a 68-12 vote without discussion or debate now heads...
House passes military lend-lease bill to speed Ukraine aidVideo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House gave final passage Thursday to legislation that would streamline a World War II-era military lend-lease program to more quickly provide Ukraine and other Eastern European countries with American equipment to fight the Russian invasion. The measure, which passed by an overwhelming 417-10 vote, now goes...
Key players urge accountability for atrocities in Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS — For the first time, key players seeking accountability for atrocities during the Ukraine war have come together at an informal meeting of the U.N. Security Council to spur investigations into abuses that many Western countries blame on Russia. The session Wednesday included the International Criminal Court’s chief...
U.S. Army ‘returns’ cake to Italian woman for 90th birthday
ROME — With a round of “Happy Birthday” in Italian and English, the U.S. Army toasted an Italian woman with a birthday cake Thursday to replace the one that U.S. soldiers ate as they entered her hometown during one of the final battles of World War II. Meri Mion, who...
