Increasingly normal: Guns seen outside vote-counting centers
The most turbulent and norm-breaking presidential election of a lifetime has led to an extraordinary spectacle in the United States over the past three days: armed protesters gathering nightly outside offices where local workers are counting the votes that will decide who wins the White House. Some carry shotguns. Some...
U.S. Supreme Court justice orders Pa. counties to separate, but keep counting, late-arriving mail ballots
PHILADELPHIA — In a move that could signal the U.S. Supreme Court is one step closer to intervening in a fight over Pennsylvania’s grace-period for late-arriving mail ballots, Justice Samuel Alito on Friday ordered all counties to keep separate any ballots that came in after Nov. 3 and instructed state...
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro fires back at Ted Cruz after his shot at Pa.’s vote counting
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro responded to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz after the Texas Republican criticized election vote counting in largely Democratic-run cities, including Philadelphia, while on Fox News “The Sean Hannity Show” Thursday night. “What we’re seeing tonight, what we’ve been seeing the last three days, is outrageous,” Cruz...
Protesters crying foul over vote counts stir safety concerns
Pro-Trump protesters — some of them openly carrying rifles and handguns — rallied outside vote-tabulation centers in a few cities around the country Friday, responding to groundless accusations from President Donald Trump that the Democrats were trying to steal the White House. Elections officials in several states where Democrat Joe...
Tennessee governor gives death row inmate temporary reprieve
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has granted a death row inmate a temporary reprieve from execution. Lee issued a short statement Friday afternoon saying he is granting a reprieve to Pervis Payne until April 9 “due to the challenges and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Payne is...
Demolition starts on big ship stranded 14 months off Georgia
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Using a heavy anchor chain like a saw, a towering crane Friday began cutting apart a cargo ship that’s been stranded on the Georgia coast since it overturned nearly 14 months ago. Demolition of the South Korean ship Golden Ray finally started after months of planning and...
Trump’s wild claims test limits of Republican loyalty
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s wild and unsupported claims of voter fraud have emerged as a high-stakes Republican loyalty test that illustrates the tug of war likely to define the future of the GOP whether he wins or loses the presidency. There is a pervasive sense among current and former...
Trump faces tough road in getting Supreme Court to intervene
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has repeatedly said there’s one place he wants to determine the outcome of the presidential election: the U.S. Supreme Court. But he may have a difficult time ever getting there. Over the last two days, Trump has leaned in to the idea that the high...
Postal Service finds 1,700 ballots in sweep of Pennsylvania post offices
Postal inspectors found more than 1,700 ballots in sweeps of Pennsylvania post office facilities, according to a court filing by the agency Friday. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, ordered the U.S. Postal Service to make sweeps of postal sorting and delivery centers across the country and report...
Pennsylvania vote counters’ work to extend into next week
HARRISBURG — Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow but growing margin in the presidential race drew him closer to winning Pennsylvania’s cache of 20 electoral votes Friday as county-by-county teams of ballot counters continued to toil. The canvassing that in a normal year would be wrapping up on Friday will carry into...
Wallace family calls for firing of officers, police reforms
PHILADELPHIA — The family of Walter Wallace Jr. called Friday for the officers who fatally shot the young Black man to be fired and asked that some of the city’s more than $700 million police budget be diverted to mental health services. However, on the eve of his funeral, they...
AP declares Josh Shapiro winner in reelection bid for Pa. attorney general
The Associated Press on Friday declared Attorney General Josh Shapiro the winner in his bid for reelection over Allegheny County Republican Heather Heidelbaugh. Shapiro, 47, a Democrat from Montgomery County, took the lead in the race Thursday morning. At the time the race was called, Shapiro had won 50.5% of...
UK, EU leaders to discuss state of post-Brexit trade talks
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are set to speak by telephone Saturday to assess the state of post-Brexit trade talks between the U.K. and the European Union. A spokesman at Johnson’s Downing Street office said Friday that the prime minister’s...
At Fox News, pressure mounts and rifts emerge over election
NEW YORK — The steady counting of votes that has moved Democrat Joe Biden closer to the presidency is exposing rifts at Fox News Channel, the influential media outlet that is the favorite for many supporters of President Donald Trump. Despite intense pressure from Trump’s team, Fox’s decision team has...
Armed men arrested near Philadelphia vote counting location
PHILADELPHIA — Two armed men were arrested Thursday near the Philadelphia convention center where an ongoing vote count could decide the presidential election, police said. The men traveled to the city in a Hummer and did not have permits to carry the weapons in Pennsylvania, police said. They were arrested...
Trump vows to fight: ‘This is about the integrity of our entire election process’
President Donald Trump said Friday he “will never give up fighting for you and our nation” as he is on the cusp of losing his bid for reelection. Trump is spending Friday at the White House tweeting, watching results come in and continuing to cast unfounded doubt over the integrity...
Election is over, but plenty of deadlines loom under Pa., U.S. lawVideo
The General Election was held Tuesday, Nov. 3, but the election process is far from over. There are a series of actions required by Pennsylvania and federal law in order to confirm the results and install a new president in January. Here are some important dates moving forward: Nov. 6...
Why Ethiopia is suddenly on brink of civil war
NAIROBI, Kenya — Suddenly, Ethiopia appears on the brink of civil war, threatening the stability of one of the world’s most strategic regions, the Horn of Africa, and the fracturing of one of Africa’s most powerful and populous countries. But the crisis in Ethiopia, a key U.S. security ally, has...
Pennsylvania’s daily coronavirus cases soar to record 3,384
Pennsylvania on Friday set a record for covid-19 cases reported on a single day with 3,384. Of those, 2,910 are confirmed. The state recorded 20,414 new test results with 17,030 of those negative. The state’s total is now 223,950 cases since March with 212,258 of those confirmed while 2,408,366 residents...
Analysis: Trump’s vote diatribe both shocking, unsurprising
WASHINGTON — It was at the same time shocking and utterly to be expected. As the nation held its collective breath and awaited the result of the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump stepped to the podium in the White House on Thursday and made a full-frontal attempt to undermine...
Republican lawmakers rebuke Trump’s claims of voter fraud
WASHINGTON — Republican senators, governors and other elected officials have swiftly pushed back against President Donald Trump and his baseless claim that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, tweeted Thursday that the president’s claims of fraud are “getting insane.” If Trump has...
Allegheny County’s new daily covid-19 cases trend upward to 239
Allegheny County on Friday reported 239 new cases of covid-19, the highest daily total since July. The county’s 7-day average has been climbing for two weeks and sits at 174 cases. The Allegheny County Health Department said 146 cases were confirmed from 1,668 new PCR tests and 93 cases are...
Republican DeFoor elected Pennsylvania’s auditor general
HARRISBURG — Timothy DeFoor has been elected to become auditor general, Pennsylvania’s elected fiscal watchdog. The Republican controller in Dauphin County outpaced Democrat Nina Ahmad for the statewide position. DeFoor campaigned on his record of spending three decades conducting governmental audits and fraud investigations. Democrat Eugene DePasquale is finishing up...
Unemployment drops to 6.9% and U.S. adds a solid 638,000 jobs
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added 638,000 jobs in October, a solid pace though far fewer than needed to regain most of the jobs lost to the pandemic recession just as new viral cases are setting record highs. The gain suggested that a tentative economic recovery may remain intact even in...
Slow march to Pa. victory? Joe Biden methodically builds lead over Donald TrumpVideo
HARRISBURG — Joe Biden looks poised to pull away for good from President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. Biden, the former vice president and Democratic challenger, expanded his lead in the latest figures from the Pennsylvania Department of State. Biden led 3,335,345 (49.64%) to 3,307,167 (49.22%) — by about 28,000 votes....
