Erie man wounded in deadly gun range shooting now out of hospital
ERIE — A man shot and wounded by his friend in an apparently unprovoked attack at a western Pennsylvania gun range has been released from a hospital, authorities said. It’s still not known what sparked the shooting, which began around 2 p.m. Tuesday while Robert A. Eppley, 26, of North...
British model, fashion muse Stella Tennant dies at 50
LONDON — Stella Tennant, the aristocratic British model who was a muse to designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace, died suddenly at the age of 50, her family said Wednesday. Tennant, the granddaughter of a duke, rose to fame in the 1990s while walking the runway for Versace,...
Baltimore building explosion injures 23, traps workersVideo
BALTIMORE — An explosion in a high-rise building in Baltimore injured 23 people Wednesday and temporarily trapped a window washing crew on dangling scaffolding. Twenty-one of the victims were brought to area hospitals following the explosion, which caused a partial roof collapse. The city’s fire department tweeted that at least...
Video released in Ohio police shooting of Black man holding phone
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Body camera footage released Wednesday shows Andre Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, emerging from a garage and holding up a cellphone in his left hand seconds before he is fatally shot by a Columbus police officer. About six seconds pass between the time Hill is visible in...
Covid relief bill morphs into a test of GOP loyalty to Trump
Threatening to tank Congress’ massive covid relief and government funding package, President Donald Trump’s demand for bigger aid checks for Americans confronts Republicans traditionally leery of such spending with an uncomfortable test of allegiance. On Thursday, House Democrats who also favor $2,000 checks will all but dare Republicans to break...
Trump vetoes defense bill, setting up possible override voteVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the annual defense policy bill, following through on threats to veto a measure that has broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency. The bill affirms 3% pay raises for U.S. troops and authorizes...
As he seeks to overturn Pa.’s election, Trump invites state’s GOP senators to White House lunch
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 — As he seeks to overturn Pennsylvania’s election results in the courts, President Donald Trump invited Republican members of the...
Trump’s threat plunges covid talks – and GOP – into tumult
The video message that plunged Washington into chaos was filmed in secret. President Donald Trump stood in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room, holiday garland and gleaming ornaments draped on the fireplace behind him, and spoke into the camera not to deliver warm Christmas wishes, but to threaten to detonate...
Federal covid relief bill includes ‘Save Our Stages’ funding for independent music venues, promotersVideo
Independent music venue owners across the U.S. got their first good news in quite some time on Monday with the announcement the
$900 billion federal covid-19 relief bill will include $15 billion as part of the Save Our Stages Act. If it is signed by President Trump — a move...
Woman charged in threats against Michigan election official
DETROIT — A woman angry with a Detroit-area election official sent photos of a dead body and threatened her family, a day after a clamorous meeting at which Republican board members initially refused to certify local results in favor of Joe Biden, authorities said Wednesday. Katelyn Jones, 23, was charged...
‘Mom’s worth it’: U.S. holiday travel surges despite outbreak
TAMPA, Fla. — Some are elderly and figure they don’t have many Christmases left. Others are trying to keep long-distance romance alive. Some just yearn for the human connection that’s been absent for the past nine months. Millions of Americans are traveling ahead of Christmas and New Year’s, despite pleas...
Pennsylvania reports 9,605 new coronavirus cases, 230 deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Wednesday reported 9,605 new coronavirus cases and 230 deaths in the state. The new positive tests bring the state’s total to 581,156 and the newly added deaths raise the state’s total to 14,442. Pennsylvania’s seven-day average of new cases dropped to 8,827 after hitting...
UPS driver in Connecticut dies after assault; police seek co-worker
WATERTOWN, Conn. — A UPS truck driver died after an assault in Connecticut, and authorities were searching Wednesday for a suspect identified as his co-worker. The victim and the suspect apparently were riding in the same vehicle before the assault Tuesday evening but the motive is unknown, Connecticut State Police...
NYC health care worker had ‘significant allergic reaction’ to covid vaccine
NEW YORK — A New York City health care worker experienced a “significant allergic reaction” after receiving a covid-19 vaccine, the city Health Department revealed Wednesday morning. More than 30,000 people in the city have gotten the shot since it was first administered to a Queens ICU nurse last week,...
Violent crash in New York City suburb splits vehicle in half, kills 5 in both carsVideo
YONKERS, N.Y. — A car speeding away from police Tuesday night in suburban New York City barreled into another car, splitting that vehicle in half and killing five people, officials said. The 36-year-old driver of the speeding car and four 18-year-old men, who were ejected from the other vehicle, died...
Trump’s presidential legacy, by the numbers
Words matter. But numbers tell stories, too. Presidential historians and others will plumb them as they assess President Donald Trump’s legacy, Trump’s presidency is reflected in a broad range of numbers representing everything from the U.S. death toll during the coronavirus pandemic to the miles of his “big, beautiful wall”...
Trump EPA overhaul of lead pipe regulations allows toxic plumbing to stay in the ground in Chicago, other cities
Chicago has more lead water pipes than any other American city, yet federal regulations unveiled this week by the Trump administration likely won’t require anything new to prevent homeowners and renters from ingesting the brain-damaging metal. Physicians and scientists say that unless water drawn from household faucets is properly filtered,...
Holland Tunnel toll booths no longer accept cash
Staring Wednesday, cash is gone forever as a method to pay the $16 toll at the Holland Tunnel. The tunnel between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan will be the first Port Authority Hudson River crossing to use cashless toll collection and joins the authorities’ Staten Island bridges, which already use...
Trump lashes out at S.D. senator: ‘He will be primaried in 2022’
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — President Donald Trump took to social media to lash out at South Dakota U.S. Sen. John Thune, saying his political career is over. The attack on Thune comes following remarks by the 59-year-old Republican about efforts by some GOP members in the U.S. House to reject...
Pfizer to supply U.S. with additional 100M doses of vaccine
WASHINGTON — Pfizer and BioNTech will supply the U.S. with an additional 100 million doses of the covid-19 vaccine under a new agreement. The drugmakers said Wednesday that they expect to deliver all the doses by July 31 in the nearly $2 billion deal. Pfizer already has a contract to...
Gunman kills 3 French police in domestic abuse standoff
PARIS — A gunman who had beaten and threatened his wife in southern France killed three policemen who came to the woman’s aid and then fled, prompting a wide manhunt, authorities said. The suspected assailant was later found dead. The unusual killing of three police officers on duty drew national...
Pennsylvania’s covid testing capacity ready for potential holiday influx, state officials say
In the nine months since testing for covid-19 became available, the number of tests performed in one day across Pennsylvania has increased exponentially, and the state’s testing director said Tuesday he hopes testing capacity will continue to improve and turnaround time will continue to decrease. In early March, when the...
Trump hands Hope Hicks, Richard Grenell prestigious government positions
Just a few days before Christmas, President Donald Trump is in a giving mood. On Tuesday, Trump announced that a slate of aides and loyalists would be assigned to federal advisory boards and commissions as he looks to reward his allies in the final stages of his presidency. The president...
Trump assails covid relief bill, suggests he may not signVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is assailing the bipartisan $900 billion pandemic relief package that Congress just passed and is suggesting that he may not sign it. Trump complained in a video that he tweeted out Tuesday night that the bill delivered too much money to foreign countries, but not...
Video released in Columbus police shooting of Black man holding phone
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Body camera footage released Wednesday shows Andre Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, emerging from a garage and holding up a cellphone in his left hand seconds before he is fatally shot by a Columbus police officer. About six seconds pass between the time Hill is visible in...
