Housing shortage, soaring rents squeeze U.S. college students
BERKELEY, Calif. — UC Berkeley sophomore Terrell Thompson slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, living out of a suitcase stashed in the trunk and texting dozens of landlords a day in a desperate search for a place to live....
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bill creating election police unit
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday to create a police force dedicated to pursuing voter fraud and other election crimes, embracing a top priority of Republicans after former President Donald Trump’s false claims that his reelection was stolen. The new law comes after the Republican governor...
Court filings show U.S. Rep. Scott Perry further linked to attempts to overturn 2020 presidential election
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-York County, has been linked to meetings with former White House staff as they planned a strategy to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to a deposition transcript of Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. The deposition excerpts were...
Trump endorsement hovers over prime-time GOP Senate debate
HARRISBURG — Candidates for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat charged into Monday night’s live-televised prime-time debate with extra incentive to attack Mehmet Oz after the celebrity heart surgeon received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. And attack they did, almost solidly throughout the one-hour debate at the...
Penn State surpasses fundraising goal by raising more than $2 billion
Penn State recently surpassed its six-year fundraising goal by raising more than $2.166 billion, a total that puts the land-grant university among elite company. The fundraising campaign — titled “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence” — will continue through June 30, but the university celebrated reaching its goal...
Kevin McCarthy downplays remarks about Trump in secret recording
WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday downplayed secretly recorded remarks he made about Donald Trump shortly after last year’s attack on the Capitol. He also said he never told the then-president that he should resign — something news organizations have not reported. McCarthy’s comments were his first...
Video: Pa. Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate debateVideo
A debate between Democratic candidates vying for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat was held Monday night with candidates John Fetterman, Malcolm Kenyatta, Alexandria Khalil and Conor Lamb. Spotlight PA is organized the debate with its media partners The Philadelphia Inquirer, PennLIVE/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and WITF Public Media. The debate was...
North Dakota lawmaker quits after child porn suspect texts
BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota’s longest-serving state senator announced Monday that he would resign following a report that he had traded scores of text messages with a man jailed on child pornography charges. Republican Ray Holmberg, who rose to become one of the state’s most powerful lawmakers in a career...
Michigan police chief IDs officer who fatally shot Patrick Lyoya
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Michigan police chief reversed course Monday and publicly identified the officer who fatally shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head during an April 4 traffic stop. The Grand Rapids officer is Christopher Schurr, Chief Eric Winstrom said. Lyoya, 26, a Black man and...
Turkish court gives philanthropist Osman Kavala life in prison
A Turkish Court on Monday sentenced prominent Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala to life in prison without parole, finding him guilty of attempting to overthrow the government in connection with the 2013 mass anti-government protests. The court in Istanbul also sentenced seven other defendants, including 71-year-old architect...
Judge finds Trump in contempt in legal fight with NY AG
A New York judge found former President Donald Trump in contempt of court Monday for failing to adequately respond to a subpoena issued by the state’s attorney general as part of a civil investigation into his business dealings. Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay a fine of $10,000 per...
Egypt: Ruins of ancient temple for Zeus unearthed in Sinai
Egyptian archaeologists unearthed the ruins of a temple for the ancient Greek god Zeus in the Sinai Peninsula, antiquities authorities said Monday. The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said in a statement the temple ruins were found in the Tell el-Farma archaeological site in northwestern Sinai. Tell el-Farma, also known by...
Error forces redo of Florida school shooter’s jury selection
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The judge overseeing jury selection for a man who murdered 17 people at a Florida high school declared that the process will start over Monday, conceding that she should have questioned 11 potential jurors who said they would not follow the law before she dismissed them....
Report: Sweden, Finland to apply to NATO
Two newspapers — one Swedish, the other one Finnish — are reporting that the governments of Sweden and Finland have agreed to submit NATO applications at the same time and that it will happen in the middle of next month. The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti said that the Swedish government has...
Slovenia’s populist leader loses power as trend continues
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Only a few months ago, Robert Golob was virtually unknown in politics, didn’t belong to any party, but had a clear goal: to remove Slovenian right-wing populist Prime Minister Janez Jansa from power and stop a democratic backslide in the tiny Alpine state. On Sunday, the Freedom...
Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44B and will privatize company
Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the social media platform where he — the world’s richest person — promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on a wide range of issues to more...
Beijing locks down some areas as covid-19 cases mount
China’s capital, Beijing, began mass testing of more than 3 million people on Monday and restricted residents in one part of the city to their compounds, sparking worries of a wider Shanghai-style lockdown. While only 70 cases have been found so far in the city of more than 21 million...
Russia hits faraway targets; diplomat warns of risk of WWIII
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia unleashed a string of attacks Monday against rail and fuel installations deep inside Ukraine, far from the front lines of Moscow’s new eastern offensive, as Russia’s top diplomat warned against provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict “should not be underestimated.”...
17 dead in Russian military research facility fire last week
MOSCOW — At least 17 people have died in last week’s fire at a Russian military research facility, authorities said Monday. The regional government in Tver, a city about 112 miles northwest of Moscow, said that so far only five of the victims had been identified. The blaze at the...
Jurors reject array of defenses at Capitol riot trials
Jurors have heard — and rejected — an array of excuses and arguments from the first rioters to be tried for storming the U.S. Capitol. The next jury to get a Capitol riot case could hear another novel defense this week at the trial of a retired New York City...
White House seeks more power to counter use of drones in U.S.
The Biden administration is calling on Congress to expand authority for federal and local governments to take action to counter the nefarious use in the U.S. of drones, which are becoming a growing security concern and nuisance. The White House on Monday released an action plan that calls for expanding...
Melissa Lucio’s execution delayed by Texas appeals court
A Texas appeals court on Monday delayed the execution of Melissa Lucio amid growing doubts about whether she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter in a case that has garnered the support of lawmakers, celebrities and even some jurors who sentenced her to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted...
Leslie McCrae Dowless, key figure in N.C. absentee ballot fraud probe, dies
RALEIGH, N.C. — Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., the key player in a North Carolina absentee ballot fraud probe that led to a do-over congressional election, has died. His daughter, Andrea Dowless Heverly, wrote that her father “passed away peacefully” Sunday morning, according to a social media post. He had been...
Georgia’s Brain Kemp, David Perdue clash over elections in debate
ATLANTA — The top two Republicans running for governor in Georgia launched the first of three debates Sunday by bickering over who was responsible for 2020 and 2021 Republican election losses, with former U.S. Sen. David Perdue pressing his attack that incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp is to blame for Democratic...
Nebraska wildfires kill ex-fire chief, hurt 15 firefightersVideo
CAMBRIDGE, Neb. — Wind-driven wildfires sweeping through parts of Nebraska killed a retired fire chief and injured at least 15 firefighters, authorities said Sunday. The man who died Friday night was a retired Cambridge fire chief who was working with firefighters as a spotter in Red Willow County in the...
