AP-NORC poll: Border woes dent Biden approval on immigration
WASHINGTON — More Americans disapprove than approve of how President Joe Biden is handling the sharply increasing number of unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, and approval of his efforts on larger immigration policy falls short of other top issues — suggesting it could be a weak point...
Woman shoots at Burger King employees over drive-thru wait-time, police say
A woman in a Memphis Burger King drive-thru line no longer wanted to wait for her food, so she took matters into her own hands. Fox 13 Memphis reported that on Tuesday, Memphis Police said a woman exited her car at a Burger King on Winchester Road, walked up to...
Have an idea to improve masks? Biden administration holds $500K contest
President Joe Biden’s administration is looking for ways to improve face masks — and will give out $500,000 in prizes to help do it. The Mask Innovation Challenge invites Americans to submit ideas to make masks more comfortable to wear and to eliminate “barriers to use,” such as discomfort, contact...
Corporations gave over $50M to voting restriction backers
When executives from Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines spoke out against Georgia’s new voting law as unduly restrictive last week, it seemed to signal a new activism springing from corporate America. But if leaders of the nation’s most prominent companies are going to reject lawmakers who support restrictive voting measures,...
Covid cases continue to rise, but the pace appears to be easing
As Pennsylvania loosens its covid-19 mitigation restrictions, the spike in new cases of the virus is showing slight signs of slowing. Over the past two days, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reports there were 6,651 new cases added, bringing the total cases since the pandemic began to 1,045,400. While the...
Supreme Court dismisses case over Trump and Twitter critics
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a case over former President Donald Trump’s efforts to block critics from his personal Twitter account. The court said there was nothing left to the case after Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter and ended his presidential term in January. Twitter banned Trump two...
Hikers scramble as new fissure opens up at Icelandic volcano
Steam and lava spurted Monday from a new fissure at an Icelandic volcano that began erupting last month, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of hikers who had come to see the spectacle. The new fissure, first spotted by a sightseeing helicopter, was about 550 yards long and about a half-mile...
Some businesses want masks on, even as states drop mandates
NEW YORK — Although Texas no longer requires people to wear masks to protect against covid-19, customers do need them to enter De J. Lozada’s store. “We cannot afford to take chances with the lives of my staffers. They’re young people and their parents have entrusted me with their care,”...
Supreme Court sides with Google in copyright dispute with Oracle
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court sided Monday with Google in an $8 billion copyright dispute with Oracle over the internet company’s creation of the Android operating system used on most smartphones worldwide. To create Android, which was released in 2007, Google wrote millions of lines of new computer code. But...
Utah dads to be required to pay half of pregnancy costs
SALT LAKE CITY — Biological fathers in Utah will be legally required to pay half of a woman’s out-of-pocket pregnancy costs under a new law unique to the state that critics say doesn’t do enough to adequately address maternal healthcare needs. The bill’s sponsor has presented the measure as an...
Inmates stage uprising at St. Louis jail dogged by unrest
ST. LOUIS — Inmates broke windows, set a fire and threw debris to the ground late Sunday at a St. Louis jail that has been plagued by uprisings in recent months. The riot broke out Sunday night around 9 p.m. at the City Justice Center, news outlets reported. Inmates were...
Latest attack pushes U.S. Capitol Police further toward crisis
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Capitol Police are struggling. One officer was killed and another injured when a driver slammed into them at a barricade Friday afternoon. The attack comes after officers were overrun and injured when a violent mob of Trump supporters overran the Capitol on Jan. 6, breaking through...
World covid report: Bangkok nightspots may close as virus precaution
BANGKOK — Thai health officials are considering the closure of entertainment venues in Bangkok after an outbreak of coronavirus cases in nightspots in and around the capital, and another at a prison in the south. Apisamai Srirangsan, a spokesperson for the Center for covid-19 Situation Administration, said 194 new coronavirus...
Retired Norwin teacher loved traveling, going to Olympics
Retired Norwin High School teacher Leslie “Les” M. Harvath had a lifelong love for the game of baseball, from playing on a Little League championship team to starring for the Norwin Knights and Duquesne Dukes that led to a tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates and then imparting his knowledge of...
Indonesia landslides, floods kill 55 people; dozens missing
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Multiple disasters caused by torrential rains in eastern Indonesia have killed at least 55 people and displaced thousands, the country’s disaster relief agency said Monday. More than 40 other people were missing. Mud tumbled down from surrounding hills onto dozens of homes in Lamenele village shortly after...
U.S. shuts once-secret Guantanamo prison unit, moves prisoners
WASHINGTON — A once-secret unit within the Guantanamo Bay detention center that had fallen into disrepair has been closed and the prisoners moved to another facility on the American base in Cuba, the U.S. military said Sunday. The prisoners at Camp 7 were transferred to a facility adjacent to where...
Epidemiologist warns of covid-19 variant’s effect on kidsVideo
One of the covid-19 variants can infect children more easily, posing a new risk to kids, a nationally respected epidemiologist warned on Sunday. The variant called B.1.1.7, first detected in the U.K., represents “a brand-new ballgame” in the fight against covid-19, Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious...
U.K. eyes testing covid-19 passports at mass gatherings
LONDON — Britain is planning to test a series of measures including “coronavirus status certifications” over the coming weeks to see if they can allow people to safely return to mass gatherings at sports arenas, nightclubs and concerts. People attending a range of events this month and in May, including...
Capitol attack raises questions of security vs. public accessVideo
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are trying to balance openness with safety after Friday’s attack within steps of the Capitol, a challenge for Congress, nearly three months after a mob stormed the seat of American democracy, to “make it as secure as it needs to be but as free as we could...
‘It gives us some peace:’ Family reacts to arrest in Pa. mother’s death during road-rage incidentVideo
Manheim mother of six Julie Eberly was laid to rest Friday, the same day her family got the news they were hoping for — an arrest in the road-rage shooting that caused Eberly’s death. “I know this won’t really change anything nor bring Julie back, but it gives us some...
Florida works to avoid ‘catastrophic’ reservoir collapseVideo
PALMETTO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that crews are working to prevent the collapse of a large wastewater pond in the Tampa Bay area while evacuating the area to avoid a “catastrophic flood.” Manatee County officials say the latest models show that a breach at the old...
Singing hymns through masks, Christians mark pandemic Easter
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Christianity’s most joyous feast day was celebrated worldwide with the faithful far apart in pews and singing choruses of “Hallelujah” through face coverings on a second Easter Sunday marked by pandemic precautions. From vast Roman Catholic cathedrals to Protestant churches, worshippers followed national or local regulations...
In Easter speech, pope calls wars in pandemic ‘scandalous’
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis in his traditional Easter Sunday address denounced as “scandalous” how armed conflicts continue to rage even as the coronavirus pandemic has triggered severe social and economic suffering and swollen the ranks of the poor. Francis tempered his “Urbi et Orbi″ address (Latin for “To the...
Amid outcry, states push mental health training for police
The officer who Cassandra Quinto-Collins says kneeled on her son’s neck for over four minutes assured her it was standard protocol for sedating a person experiencing a mental breakdown. “I was there watching it the whole time,” Quinto-Collins told The Associated Press. “I just trusted that they knew what they...
Pa. cannabis legalization remains unlikely as neighboring states go for it
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. A version of this story originally appeared in our free weekly newsletter. New Jersey. New York. Virginia. One by one, Pennsylvania’s neighbors are moving to legalize recreational...
