China bans ‘sissy men’ from TV in new crackdown
BEIJING — China’s government banned effeminate men on TV and told broadcasters Thursday to promote “revolutionary culture,” broadening a campaign to tighten control over business and society and enforce official morality. President Xi Jinping has called for a “national rejuvenation,” with tighter Communist Party control of business, education, culture and...
Democrats promote Liz Cheney to vice chairwoman of Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — House Democrats have promoted Republican Rep. Liz Cheney to vice chairwoman of a committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, placing her in a leadership spot on the panel as some members of the GOP caucus are threatening to oust her for participating. Cheney, a fierce critic of...
Supreme Court’s decision on Texas abortion ban raises stakes for Pa. governor’s race
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 abortion-rights advocates and their opponents agreed Wednesday that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to let a Texas law...
Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers go to court to challenge mail-in voting law
HARRISBURG — Fourteen Republican lawmakers have filed a new lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law, calling it unconstitutional and asking for it to be thrown out. The legal challenge was filed just before midnight Tuesday in the state Commonwealth Court. It is the latest attempt by Republicans to invalidate the...
Divided Supreme Court leaves Texas abortion law in place
WASHINGTON — A deeply divided Supreme Court is allowing a Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in force, stripping most women of the right to an abortion in the nation’s second-largest state. The court voted 5-4 early Thursday to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and others...
Ida’s remnants blanket Pennsylvania, New Jersey in rain, stir tornadoesVideo
HARRISBURG — Soaking rains from the remnants of Hurricane Ida prompted the evacuations of thousands of people Wednesday after water reached dangerous levels at a dam near Johnstown, a Pennsylvania town nicknamed Flood City. The storm moved east in the evening, with the National Weather Service confirming at least one...
Intel shows extremists to attend Capitol rally
WASHINGTON — Far right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are planning to attend a rally later this month at the U.S. Capitol that is designed to demand “justice” for the hundreds of people who have been charged in connection with January’s insurrection, according to three people...
1 student killed in shooting at North Carolina high schoolVideo
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A suspect was taken into custody Wednesday after one student was fatally shot at a North Carolina high school, officials said. Winston-Salem police Chief Catrina Thompson, fighting back tears, told a news conference that Mount Tabor High School went into immediate lockdown as emergency responders, sheriff’s deputies...
Judge conditionally approves Purdue Pharma opioid settlement
A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday gave conditional approval to a sweeping, potentially $10 billion plan submitted by OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to settle a mountain of lawsuits over its role in the opioid crisis that has killed a half-million Americans over the past two decades. Under the settlement reached...
Firefighters report progress against flames near Lake TahoeVideo
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Firefighters reported progress Wednesday in the battle to save communities on the south end of Lake Tahoe from an approaching forest fire after the stiff winds they had feared failed to materialize in the California-Nevada alpine region. “We lucked out a little bit yesterday with...
Misspelling of Moderna leads to tourist’s arrest in Hawaii
HONOLULU — A 24-year-old Illinois woman submitted a fake covid-19 vaccination card to visit Hawaii with a glaring spelling error that led to her arrest: Moderna was spelled “Maderna,” according to court documents. In order to bypass Hawaii’s 10-day traveler quarantine, she uploaded a vaccination card to the state’s Safe...
USA Today names Hotel Bethlehem best historic hotel in the country
Hotel Bethlehem has been named the best historic hotel in the country by USA Today as part of its 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. The historic hotel — which is nearing its 100th anniversary — was the only hotel in Pennsylvania to be nominated as part of the awards. In 2019,...
5 missing and 6 hurt after Navy helicopter crashes in PacificVideo
SAN DIEGO — Rescue crews were still searching Wednesday for five missing sailors a day after a U.S. Navy helicopter crashed in the ocean off Southern California near an aircraft carrier, military officials said. One sailor was rescued shortly after the crash of the MH-60S helicopter Tuesday afternoon and was...
After Ida, small recovery signs amid daunting destructionVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Lights came back on for a fortunate few, some corner stores opened their doors, and crews cleared fallen trees and debris from a growing number of roadways Wednesday — small signs of progress amid the monumental task of repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida. Still, suffering...
Texas school system shuts down after 2 teachers die of covid-19Video
WACO, Texas — A Central Texas school district closed its schools until after the Labor Day holiday Tuesday after two teachers died last week of covid-19. Connally Independent School District officials closed its five suburban Waco schools for the rest of the week after the covid-19 death of Natalia Chansler,...
13 essential workers charged with paying for fake papers to avoid free vaccine, prosecutors say
NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors have found 13 essential workers — including hospital, nursing home and school staff — who preferred to pay $200 for fake covid-19 vaccine documents than get a free-of-charge jab in the arm. The scam’s accused mastermind, Jasmine Clifford, 31, had a warrant out for her...
9-year-old boy killed in fire blamed on scooter charger
NEW YORK — A 9-year-old boy was killed and more than a dozen people were injured Wednesday in a fire caused by an electric scooter that was charging overnight, New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. Firefighters worked “heroically” to remove 14 people from the three-story Queens building where...
R. Kelly accuser says he kept gun nearby while berating her
NEW YORK — One of R. Kelly’s accusers testified on Wednesday that he kept a gun by his side while he berated her as a prelude to forcing her to give him oral sex in a Los Angeles music studio. “He had a weapon, so I wasn’t going to step...
Covid cases in Westmoreland, Allegheny up for 2nd straight month
After seeing numbers decline earlier in the summer, covid cases increased for a second straight month in Pennsylvania and Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. Cases As of Wednesday’s covid report, the Pennsylvania Department of Health saw 22,269 new cases of covid-19 in the past seven days, averaging 3,181 cases per day....
Officers, paramedics charged in Elijah McClain’s 2019 death
DENVER — Colorado’s attorney general said Wednesday that a grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who was put in a chokehold and injected with a powerful sedative two years ago in suburban Denver. The 23-year-old’s death gained widespread attention...
Pennsylvania’s carbon-pricing plan at last regulatory hurdle
The centerpiece of Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to fight climate change was confronting its last regulatory hurdle Wednesday, in a bid to make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon pricing policy. The plan to impose a price on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power...
New online site launched to help people get child tax credit
WASHINGTON — The government has collaborated on a new internet site to help more Americans apply for and receive the expanded child tax credit, a monthly payment of as much as $300 per child that was part of the coronavirus relief package. GetCTC.org was developed by Code for America in...
Wisconsin election probe includes $325,000 for data analysis
MADISON, Wis. — Nearly half of the money being spent on a Republican-ordered investigation into Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election is earmarked for data analysis, a contract released Wednesday spelling out how the $676,000 in taxpayer money will be spent shows. The Associated Press obtained the contract entered into by Assembly...
Photo gallery: Ida’s remains drench Western Pennsylvania region
The remnants of Hurricane Ida moved across parts of Western Pennsylvania late Tuesday and early Wednesday morning. Despite losing its tropical depression status, Ida’s impact was definitely felt on residents — on their streets and in their homes. Some of the heaviest rainfall dropped early Wednesday, with several areas of...
Texas’ 6-week abortion ban takes effect as Supreme Court stays mum on appeal
For the first time since 1973, a state law banning most abortions has taken effect. A Texas law that would drastically limit the availability of abortions in defiance of Roe vs. Wade took effect early Wednesday, as the Supreme Court took no action on pending appeals. The so-called Texas Heartbeat...
