How the smoking rate in Pa. compares to the nation
Nearly half a million Americans annually die as a result of smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Another 16 million Americans are living with a serious illness caused by smoking. Smoking also has an economic impact, including more than $225 billion each year spent on...
4th resident of Florida retirement haven charged with voter fraud
THE VILLAGES, Fla. — A fourth resident of a massive Florida retirement community has been arrested on a charge of voter fraud. Charles Barnes, 64, was arrested Tuesday and charged with voter fraud for casting more than one ballot, according to an arrest affidavit filed in court. The arrest affidavit...
U.S. had 5 rabies deaths last year, highest total in a decade
NEW YORK — Five Americans died of rabies last year — the largest number in a decade — and health officials said Thursday that some of the people didn’t realize they had been infected or refused life-saving shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report on three...
West Virginia wants to administer 4th covid-19 vaccine dose
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday he will ask the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for permission to offer a fourth dose of covid-19 vaccines to residents 50 and older as well as to essential workers. At a news conference, Justice pointed to Israel, which...
Diaper donnybrook: Family sues condo board, claims swim diaper ban violates baby’s civil rights
Add swim diapers to the list of issues that can get turned into a federal case. A Florida family is suing their condo board over what they say is a rule barring children from using the community pool while wearing swim diapers. Swim diapers are a snug-fitting lightweight alternative to...
Dozens of protesters, 12 police dead in Kazakhstan protests
MOSCOW — Security forces killed dozens of protesters and 12 police died during extraordinarily violent demonstrations in Kazakhstan that saw government buildings stormed and set ablaze, authorities said Thursday. One police officer was found beheaded in escalating unrest that poses a growing challenge to authoritarian rule in the Central Asian...
Analysis: Taking on Trump is Biden’s reluctant calling
WASHINGTON — It may not be the fight he sought, but taking on Donald Trump is President Joe Biden’s calling. Biden offered himself as a guardian of American democracy in a visceral speech Thursday discussing the horrors of the Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overthrow his 2020 election victory....
China plans space station completion, many launches in 2022
China has recommitted itself to completing its orbiting space station by the end of the year and says it is planning more than 40 launches for 2022, putting it roughly level with the United States. Launches would include those of two Shenzhou crewed missions, two Tianzhou cargo spacecraft and the...
U.S. average long-term mortgage rates rise; 30-year at 3.22%
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose in the past week to start the new year. They reached their highest level since May 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, yet remained historically low. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan...
Scientists explore Thwaites, Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ glacier
A team of scientists is sailing to “the place in the world that’s the hardest to get to” so they can better figure out how much and how fast seas will rise because of global warming eating away at Antarctica’s ice. Thirty-two scientists on Thursday are starting a more than...
Cause undetermined in Philadelphia house fire that killed 12
PHILADELPHIA — Investigators worked Thursday to determine the cause of a fire that tore through a Philadelphia rowhome, killing 12 people, including two sisters and several of their children. Specialists from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took photos and then entered the charred, three-story brick duplex,...
Powerball tickets sold in Wisconsin, California split $632M
MADISON, Wis. — Powerball tickets sold in Wisconsin and California were winners of the latest jackpot and will split $632 million, officials said. The Wisconsin Lottery didn’t immediately announce where the winning ticket in its state was sold. The winning ticket in California was sold at a 7-Eleven convenience store...
Omicron surge vexes parents of children too young for shots
Afternoons with Grammy. Birthday parties. Meeting other toddlers at the park. Parents of children too young to be vaccinated are facing difficult choices as an omicron variant-fueled surge in covid-19 cases makes every encounter seem risky. For Maine business owner Erin Connolly, the most wrenching decision involves Madeleine, her 3-year-old...
Biden decries Trump backers as ‘trying to rewrite history’ on anniversary of Capitol breach
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden accused Donald Trump and his supporters of holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy” in a forceful speech Thursday marking the anniversary of the deadly breach of the U.S. Capitol. He warned that though it didn’t succeed, the insurrection remains a serious threat to...
Trump maintains grip on GOP despite violent insurrection
WASHINGTON — As a raging band of his supporters scaled walls, smashed windows, used flagpoles to beat police and breached the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn a free and fair election, Donald Trump’s excommunication from the Republican Party seemed a near certainty, his name tarnished beyond repair. Some...
Big Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial field crowds onto stage together
HARRISBURG — More than a dozen Republican candidates for governor appeared on stage together for the first time, in a question-and-answer session Wednesday sponsored by conservative groups and a statewide business association that inspired agreement and not debate. The questions — such as how would you to reverse brain drain...
Russia-led alliance sending peacekeepers to KazakhstanVideo
MOSCOW — A Russia-led military alliance said Thursday that it will dispatch peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan after the country’s president asked for help in controlling protests that escalated into violence, including the seizure and setting afire of government buildings. Protesters in Kazakhstan’s largest city stormed the presidential residence and the...
Ghislaine Maxwell seeks new trial after juror says he was sex abuse victim and urged jury to convict
Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team is calling for a new trial after one of the jurors who convicted her last week of five of six counts related to child sex trafficking told reporters that he was a victim of sexual abuse and had convinced other jurors to convict Maxwell. Earlier, federal...
U.S. urges covid boosters starting at age 12 to fight omicron
The U.S. is urging that everyone 12 and older get a covid-19 booster as soon as they’re eligible, to help fight back the hugely contagious omicron mutant that’s ripping through the country. Boosters already were encouraged for all Americans 16 and older, but Wednesday the Centers for Disease Control and...
Mayo Clinic dropping 700 workers for lacking covid-19 vaccination
About 700 workers are losing their jobs at Mayo Clinic for failing to comply with a vaccine mandate policy at the Rochester-based health system. Employees had until Monday to either receive their first shots or obtain an exemption for medical or religious reasons. Mayo said it granted the majority of...
Recalling Jan. 6: A national day of infamy, half remembered
NEW YORK — Beneath a pale winter light and the glare of television cameras, it seemed hard not to see the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot for what it was. The violent storming of the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters bent on upending the election of Joe Biden was as...
North Carolina trooper crashes at traffic stop, killing another trooper who was his brother
MOORESBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper and a South Carolina man he was detaining were killed when the trooper’s brother, also a trooper, hit a stopped patrol vehicle as he arrived to help with a traffic stop, officials said. The crash occurred around 9 p.m. Monday...
Grammys postpone ceremony, citing omicron variant risks
LOS ANGELES — The Grammy Awards were postponed Wednesday weeks before the planned Los Angeles ceremony over what organizers called “too many risks” from the omicron variant, signaling what could be the start of another year of pandemic upheaval for awards season. The attempt at a back-to-normal show had been...
U.S. hospitals seeing different kind of covid surge this time
Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier covid-19 surges. This time, they are dealing with serious staff shortages because so many health care workers are getting sick with the fast-spreading variant. People are showing up...
Pa. authorities cracking down on unemployment benefits fraud, some reported in Westmoreland
State officials are examining the source of a reported increase in efforts to steal unemployment compensation benefits, which they are trying to thwart by adding a new process for identity verification. Department of Labor & Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier said the agency is working with law enforcement to investigate and...
