Taliban takes key northern Afghan cities as battles rage on
KABUL — Taliban fighters seized most of the capital of northern Afghanistan’s key Kunduz province on Sunday, and took another neighboring provincial capital after a monthlong siege. The advances were the latest in a series of blows to government forces as U.S. troops complete their pullout after nearly two decades...
Some praise, some doubts as Facebook rolls out a prayer tool
Facebook already asks for your thoughts. Now it wants your prayers. The social media giant has rolled out a new prayer request feature, a tool embraced by some religious leaders as a cutting-edge way to engage the faithful online. Others are eyeing it warily as they weigh its usefulness against...
Markie Post, TV veteran actor of ‘Night Court,’ dies at 70
Markie Post, who played the public defender in the 1980s sitcom “Night Court” and was a regular presence on television for four decades, has died. She was 70. Post’s manager, Ellen Lubin Sanitsky, said Post died Saturday in Los Angeles after a years-long battle with cancer. Post was a longtime...
Pandemic set off deadly rise in speeding that hasn’t stopped
Motorists put the pedal to the metal during the pandemic and police are worried as roads get busy with the final stretch of summer travel. The latest data shows the number of highway deaths in 2020 was the greatest in more than a decade even though cars and trucks drove...
Texas Democrats continue holdout, don’t show for new session
Texas Democrats still refused to return to the state Capitol on Saturday as Gov. Greg Abbott began a third attempt at passing new election laws, prolonging a monthslong standoff that ramped up in July when dozens of Democratic state lawmakers left the state and hunkered down in Washington, D.C. “A...
Hezbollah leader vows retaliation for future Israeli attacks
The leader of the militant Hezbollah group said Saturday his group will retaliate against any future Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, a day after his supporters fired a barrage of rockets toward Israel. Hassan Nasrallah said it would be wrong to assume Hezbollah would be constrained by internal divisions in Lebanon,...
Wildfires rampage in Greek forests, cut large island in half
Three large wildfires churned across Greece on Saturday, with one threatening whole towns and cutting Evia, the country’s second-largest island, in half. Others engulfed forested mountainsides and skirted ancient sites, leaving behind a trail of destruction that one official described as “a biblical catastrophe.” A flotilla of ten ships —...
Kool & the Gang co-founder Dennis Thomas dead at age 70
Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, a founding member of the long-running soul-funk band Kool & the Gang known for such hits as “Celebration” and “Get Down On It,” has died. He was 70. He died peacefully in his sleep Saturday in New Jersey, where he was a resident of Montclair, according...
Theft charges brought down a state lawmaker. But Pa.’s taxpayer-funded system for perks was already ripe for abuse.
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 — Theft charges against a Philadelphia-area Democrat highlight Pennsylvania’s lax rules for reimbursing lawmakers with taxpayer and donor money, two...
Pa. patients swear by cannabis as tool to fight opioid addiction. The research still isn’t there.
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. BERNVILLE — The back pain started when Luke Shultz was a teenager, and it got worse. When he was in his...
Senate’s key vote advances Biden’s $1T infrastructure bill
The Senate moved closer to passing a $1 trillion infrastructure package Saturday after lawmakers from both parties came together and voted to clear a key procedural hurdle. More votes will be needed before Senate passage of one of President Joe Biden’s top priorities. The measure would provide a massive injection...
Colorado mudslides wreak havoc on major transportation route
As ominous storm clouds gathered in western Colorado over a large area blackened by a recent wildfire, torrential rain fell and the charred land stripped of vegetation gave way, sending a rush of mud and boulders tumbling down steep canyon walls and onto a major highway. The July 29 mudslides...
U.S. now averaging 100,000 new covid-19 infections a day
The U.S. is now averaging 100,000 new covid-19 infections a day, returning to a milestone last seen during the winter surge in another bleak reminder of how quickly the delta variant has spread through the country. Health officials fear that cases, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to soar if more...
Want to pretend to live on Mars? For a whole year? Apply now
Want to find your inner Matt Damon and spend a year pretending you are isolated on Mars? NASA has a job for you. To prepare for eventually sending astronauts to Mars, NASA began taking applications Friday for four people to live for a year in Mars Dune Alpha. That’s a...
Pause on student loan payments extended through January
The Biden administration on Friday issued what it says will be the final extension to a student loan moratorium that has allowed millions of Americans to put off debt payments during the pandemic. Under the action, payments on federal student loans will remain paused through Jan. 31, 2022. Interest rates...
9/11 families challenge Biden to release classified reports or avoid 20th anniversary ceremonies
Nearly two decades after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a group of survivors who lost loved ones and first responders afflicted with lingering illnesses are asking President Biden to avoid ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the attacks next month. About 1,800 who lost loved ones as well as first responders...
United Airlines will require all U.S. employees to get the covid-19 vaccine by fall
United Airlines will require all of its U.S.-based employees get the covid-19 vaccine by this fall. Earlier this year, United CEO Scott Kirby said he wanted to make the vaccine mandatory as long as the Chicago-based airline wasn’t the only company to do so. Now, with covid-19 cases rising, United...
Health officials urge covid tests for Lollapalooza crowd
CHICAGO — Alison Goodwin was eager to attend Lollapalooza, excited for both the live music lineup and the strict pandemic protocols that she had assumed would keep the event safe for her and her wife, who traveled here from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yet she became increasingly worried during the four-day festival,...
Republican issues subpoenas for Wisconsin election info
MADISON, Wis.— The leader of the state Assembly’s elections committee issued subpoenas Friday demanding extensive election materials, including all ballots and voting machines, from two Wisconsin counties in what she called a “top-to-bottom” investigation of the state’s 2020 presidential results. Republican Rep. Janel Brandtjen said she has sent subpoenas to...
Cuomo accuser files criminal complaint with Albany Sheriff’s Office
ALBANY, N.Y. — A staffer who accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping her has filed a criminal complaint against him, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Friday. The unnamed assistant, whose claims were detailed and corroborated in a bombshell report from Attorney General Letitia James, alleges that the...
Thousands flee fires in Greece, Turkey; some rescued by sea
DROSOPIGI, Greece — Thousands of people fled wildfires burning out of control in Greece and Turkey on Friday, including a major blaze just north of the Greek capital of Athens that left one person dead, as a protracted heat wave turned forests into tinderboxes and flames threatened populated areas, electricity...
More than 300 people will be laid off from Cumberland County plant beginning next month
It’s no surprise that GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, will close a manufacturing facility in Carlisle. Last February, the company said it would transfer operations at the plant site off Allen Road would transfer to Puerto Rico. At the time, the company said the decision would impact...
Tropical depression likely to form this weekend or early next week
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A tropical depression appears likely to form in the next few days off Africa and drift west across the Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center said Friday morning. The patch of stormy weather has been given a 60% chance of forming a tropical cyclone, a rotating storm...
Arkansas judge blocks state from enforcing mask mandate ban
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.— An Arkansas judge on Friday temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its ban on mask mandates after lawmakers left the prohibition in place despite a rising number of covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox issued a preliminary injunction against the law that Gov....
At least 10 passengers stabbed on underground train in Tokyo
TOKYO — A man with a knife stabbed at least 10 passengers on a commuter train in Tokyo on Friday and was arrested by police after fleeing, fire department officials and news reports said. NHK public television said one passenger was seriously injured. It said the suspect left his knife...
