Millions endure record cold without power; at least 20 dead across U.S.Video
OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. — A winter storm that left millions without power in record-breaking cold weather claimed more lives Tuesday, including three people found dead after a tornado hit a seaside town in North Carolina and four family members who perished in a Houston-area house fire while using a...
Delay in census data could put transparency in Pa.’s redistricting process at risk
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members, including TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — The data needed to redraw Pennsylvania’s political...
Report: Iran and Russia begin joint naval drill
TEHRAN, Iran — The Iranian and Russian militaries have kicked off a joint naval drill in the Indian Ocean aimed at boosting security of maritime trade in the region, Iran’s state TV reported on Tuesday. The TV said units from Iran’s Navy and the powerful Revolutionary Guard’s naval forces will...
Hospitals still ration medical N95 masks as stockpiles swell
Mike Bowen’s warehouse outside Fort Worth, Texas, was piled high with cases of medical-grade N95 face masks. His company, Prestige Ameritech, can churn out 1 million masks every four days, but he doesn’t have orders for nearly that many. So he recently got approval from the government to export them....
Case dropped after woman in racist NYC run-in gets therapy
NEW YORK — Amy Cooper, the white woman arrested last year for calling 911 on a Black birdwatcher in New York’s Central Park, had her criminal case thrown out Tuesday after completing a diversionary counseling program that prosecutors said was meant to educate her on the harm of her actions....
Muted Mardi Gras: Closed bars, barricaded Bourbon Street
NEW ORLEANS — Music blared from the courtyard of a French Quarter restaurant on Mardi Gras morning but nobody was there to hear it until Tom Gibson and Sheila Wheeler of Philadelphia walked out of their hotel’s nearly empty lobby. “We were expecting a little bit lower key than the...
For just 2nd time in 2021, Pa. reports new covid deaths in single digits
Pennsylvania reported seven additional covid-19 deaths Tuesday, per the state Department of Health. The deaths reported Tuesday increase the state’s death total to 23,126, with 1,465 deaths reported in February. Only once before this year have health officials reported such a low number of new covid-related deaths: Feb. 8 when...
Belarus targets journalists, activists in new raids
KYIV, Ukraine — Authorities in Belarus raided homes and offices of journalists and human rights activists Tuesday in the latest move to squelch protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Police searched the offices of the Belarusian Association of Journalists and the Viasna human rights center as well as the apartments...
Democrat’s lawsuit accuses Trump of inciting deadly Capitol riotVideo
WASHINGTON — The House Homeland Security chairman accused Donald Trump in a federal lawsuit Tuesday of inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and conspiring with his lawyer and extremist groups to try to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election he lost to Joe Biden....
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi faces new charge as crackdown intensifies
YANGON, Myanmar — Police in Myanmar filed a new charge against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer said Tuesday, in a move that may allow her to be held indefinitely without trial as part of an intensifying crackdown by authorities who seized power in a coup. Suu Kyi,...
In Athens, rare snow blankets Acropolis, halts vaccinations
ATHENS, Greece — Heavy snowfall blanketed the Acropolis and other ancient monuments in Athens and halted covid-19 vaccinations in the Greek capital Tuesday as the weather brought many services across the country to a standstill. The snow, an unusual sight in the city of more than 3 million residents, also...
Biden extends pandemic help for homeowners, renters wait
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is extending a ban on housing foreclosures to June 30 to help homeowners struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. The moratorium on foreclosures of federally guaranteed mortgages had been set to expire on March 31. On his first day in office, Biden had extended the moratorium...
S. Korea spy agency: N. Korea hackers targeted vaccine tech
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean hackers attempted to steal information about coronavirus vaccines and treatments, South Korea’s intelligence service said Tuesday, but it denied a lawmaker’s claim that vaccine maker Pfizer Inc. was targeted. Earlier Tuesday, Ha Tae-keung, a member of parliament’s intelligence committee, told reporters that the National...
France, West Africa to step up counterterrorism efforts
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday urged West African leaders to step up efforts in the fight against Islamic extremists in the Sahel region both on the military and political fronts, with support from the international community. Macron joined by video from Paris Tuesday a summit held in...
Rockets strike near U.S. base in Iraq, killing 1, wounding 8
BAGHDAD — Rockets struck Monday outside Irbil international airport near where U.S. forces are based in northern Iraq, killing one U.S.-led coalition contractor and wounding at least eight people, Iraqi security and coalition officials reported, sparking fears of new hostilities. At least three rockets hit areas between the civilian airport...
N.C. GOP votes to censure Sen. Richard Burr for impeachment vote
RALEIGH — The North Carolina Republican Party unanimously approved a resolution Monday to censure Sen. Richard Burr over his vote to convict former President Donald Trump during Trump’s second impeachment trial. Michael Whatley, the state party chairman, said the central committee’s decision serves as a symbolic gesture of the party’s...
Gov. Cuomo: New York should have released care home death data fasterVideo
NEW YORK — Under fire over his management of the coronavirus’ lethal path through New York’s nursing homes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday the state didn’t cover up deaths but should have moved faster to release some information sought by lawmakers, the public and the press. “All the deaths in...
Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson downplays attack on U.S. Capitol
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson downplayed the storming of the U.S. Capitol last month, saying on conservative talk radio Monday that it “didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me.” Johnson’s comments on WISN-AM in Milwaukee came after he voted Saturday to acquit former President Donald...
Pennsylvanians consumed an average of 753 drinks each in 2020, study says
A new study has found that people in Pennsylvania really kept their spirits high in 2020. The study found that those in the Keystone State drank an average total of 753 drinks each by the end of the year. While this may not be surprising because of how stressful 2020...
Pelosi says independent commission will examine Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Congress will establish an independent, Sept. 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol. Pelosi said the commission will “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic...
The inside story of how Pennsylvania failed to deliver millions in coronavirus rent relief
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 — It was late August, just past noon, and time was running out. Bryce Maretzki was in charge of a...
Egypt: Archaeologists unearth ancient beer factory in Abydos
CAIRO — American and Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed what could be the oldest known beer factory at one of the most prominent archaeological sites of ancient Egypt, a top antiquities official said. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the factory was found in Abydos, an...
Pennsylvania GOP may meet to discuss Toomey impeachment vote
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Republican Party is planning a meeting to potentially censure U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey amid a growing GOP backlash over his vote to convict Donald Trump during the former president’s second impeachment trial, county party officials said Monday. County party chairs said the state GOP chairman, Lawrence Tabas,...
Biden faces questions about commitment to minimum wage hike
WASHINGTON — Union activist Terrence Wise recalls being laughed at when he began pushing for a national $15 per hour minimum wage almost a decade ago. Nearly a year into the pandemic, the idea isn’t so funny. The coronavirus has renewed focus on challenges facing hourly employees who have continued...
Kosovo’s leftist opposition party gains landslide win
PRISTINA, Kosovo — The left-wing opposition leader who’s poised to become Kosovo’s next prime minister said Monday that he would push hard for his country to join the European Union, but also urged the bloc to provide an economic aid package to help smooth the path to membership for western...
