White House adviser: ‘Get to bottom’ of coronavirus origins
WASHINGTON — White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt says “we need to get to the bottom” of the origins of the pandemic pathogen and the World Health Organization and China need to do more to provide definitive answers for the global community. The precise origin of the virus remains undetermined...
4 found dead at central Ohio home after shooting, police say
WEST JEFFERSON, Ohio — The bodies of three men and a woman were found after a shooting at a home on a dead-end street in central Ohio, police said. Officers responded to the scene around 5:30 p.m. Monday after a passerby called 911, police said. One man was found Monday...
Lawyer: U.S. got ex-Ukranian officials’ data in Giuliani probe
NEW YORK — U.S. prosecutors in 2019 sought the electronic messages of two ex-Ukrainian government officials and a Ukrainian businessman as part of their probe of Rudy Giuliani’s dealings in that country, a lawyer accidentally revealed in a court filing Tuesday. The filing said federal prosecutors in New York had...
Bills to restrict abortion, expand gun rights start in Pennsylvania House
HARRISBURG — Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s Legislature began Tuesday to advance hot-button bills to restrict abortion rights and expand gun rights, although the bills faced opposition by Democratic lawmakers and certain veto by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. Since he took office in 2015, Wolf has battled the Legislature’s Republican majorities...
Sheriff: Suspicious package at Sen. Rand Paul’s home is non-toxicVideo
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A suspicious package sent to the Kentucky home of Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul appears to contain a non-toxic substance, the local sheriff’s office said. Paul, a libertarian-leaning former presidential candidate, tweeted Monday that he takes any such “threats immensely seriously” and said he has been “targeted...
Hezbollah leader: Breach of Jerusalem means regional war
BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday any violations of Jerusalem and the sites holy to Muslims and Christians would lead to a regional war. Speaking for the first time since the cease-fire ending the 11-day war between Hamas and Israel, Hassan Nasrallah said Gaza’s militant...
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp: Public agencies can’t require covid-19 vaccine proof
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp says public agencies in Georgia can’t require people to prove they have been vaccinated against covid-19, a step his administration says ultimately means no agency can require anyone to receive the vaccination. The Republican governor issued an executive order Tuesday banning vaccine passports and saying...
GOP leaders condemn Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over Holocaust commentsVideo
WASHINGTON — Republican leaders forcefully condemned GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday, calling her comments comparing covid-19 safety measures like mask-wearing to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany “appalling.” “Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,”...
How to fish for free – no license required – in Pennsylvania this weekend
Sunday, May 30, is the first of 2 Fish-for-Free Days in Pennsylvania this year. The second will be Sunday, July 4. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission annually designates a couple days during holiday weekends when anyone may legally fish in Pennsylvania without buying a fishing license or trout/salmon permit....
Biden to visit Tulsa for 100th anniversary of race massacre
TULSA, Okla. — President Joe Biden will visit Tulsa next week to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1921 massacre that claimed up to hundreds of lives in the city. The White House said Tuesday that Biden will visit Tulsa on June 1. His appearance will follow a weekend of...
Virus positives play role in 1st round of NHL playoffs
Players testing positive for the coronavirus late in the regular season and at the start of the playoffs affected multiple teams around the NHL despite a high rate of vaccinations. The St. Louis Blues were swept in the first round by Colorado after three players who said they were vaccinated...
How a teen’s TikTok birthday invite ended in arrests, clashes at beach
LOS ANGELES — It started with a 17-year-old from the Inland Empire planning a birthday bash in Huntington Beach. He sent the announcement on TikTok. And just like that, “Adrian’s kickback” ended up becoming a viral sensation, one that also became a serious problem for Huntington Beach police. Over the...
Moment of silence marks year since George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — George Floyd was honored Tuesday with a moment of silence in the city where he died at the hands of police, a death captured on a wrenching bystander video that galvanized the racial justice movement and continues to ripple a year later. Floyd’s sister Bridgett and other members...
South Carolina high court hears 1st suit in monument protection law
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court heard its first challenge to the state law protecting Confederate and other historical monuments since it passed 21 years ago with justices questioning Tuesday if parts or all of the act are constitutional. The Heritage Act was passed in 2000 to move...
Board fight at Exxon intensifies spotlight on climate change
NEW YORK — ExxonMobil is facing a major challenge from a group of investors in one of the biggest fights a corporate boardroom has endured over its stance on climate change, an issue of rising urgency for many shareholders. The investor group is pushing to replace four of the oil...
‘System worked’: Man wins prison release after 48 years
DETROIT — A Detroit man who spent 48 years in prison for a fatal robbery pleaded no contest to second-degree murder Tuesday in an extraordinary compromise that settles his claim of innocence and allows him to go free. Ray Gray, 69, wasn’t exonerated during the video court hearing. But the...
Southwest Airlines flight attendant bloodied, loses teeth in assault by rowdy passenger
A Southwest Airlines flight attendant lost two teeth and walked away bloodied after she was physically assaulted by a passenger Sunday morning, part of a disturbing uptick in traveler misconduct. “This past weekend, one of our Flight Attendants was seriously assaulted, resulting in injuries to the face and a loss...
Southwest Airlines flight attendant bloodied, loses teeth in assault by rowdy passenger
DALLAS — A Southwest Airlines flight attendant lost two teeth and walked away bloodied after she was physically assaulted by a passenger Sunday morning, part of a disturbing uptick in traveler misconduct. “This past weekend, one of our Flight Attendants was seriously assaulted, resulting in injuries to the face and...
In New Orleans, documenting history of iconic Black street
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans resident Raynard Sanders can detail the many ways Black businesses and culture thrived under the canopy of oak trees along Claiborne Avenue: the Black insurance companies, the corner lot home to the Black musicians union, the church that held a funeral to bury slavery. And...
100 years after Tulsa Race Massacre, the damage remains
TULSA, Okla. — On a recent Sunday, Ernestine Alpha Gibbs returned to Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church. Not her body. She had left this Earth 18 years ago, at age 100. But on this day, three generations of her family brought Ernestine’s keepsakes back to this place which meant so...
American Jews take stock of internal divisions, antisemitism
As fighting between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers raged before last week’s cease-fire, U.S. rabbinical student Max Buchdahl wanted to be considerate of those in his community who are emotionally connected to Israel — but he also wanted to support Palestinians. Buchdahl, 25, joined dozens of rabbinical and cantorial...
Tennessee bans teaching critical race theory in schools
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee is the latest state to ban teachers from teaching certain concepts of race and racism in public schools. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed into law on Monday a measure that attracted some of the most impassioned debates inside the GOP-controlled General Assembly this year. He signaled...
After citing privacy law, Pa. backtracks and discloses wasted vaccine details
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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 — After refusing to release details about wasted coronavirus vaccine, citing a decades-old disease prevention law, the Wolf administration has...
Gunshots heard near Floyd square on anniversary of death
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis intersection where George Floyd died was disrupted by gunfire Tuesday, just hours before it was to be the site of a family-friendly street festival marking the anniversary of his death at the hands of police. Associated Press video from 38th Street and Chicago Avenue — informally...
White House: Biden to meet Putin for Geneva summit
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will hold a summit with Vladimir Putin next month in Geneva, a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders that comes amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Russia in the first months of the Biden administration. The White House confirmed details of the summit on...
