American pilot dies in light plane crash in Indonesia
JAYAPURA, Indonesia — An American pilot died after her light plane crashed into a lake Tuesday while delivering humanitarian supplies in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua, police said. The pilot, Joyce Chaisin Lin, 40, of Ohio, apparently had technical problems two minutes after takeoff from Sentani airport in the provincial...
Russia: Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov hospitalized with coronavirusVideo
MOSCOW — Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has been hospitalized with the coronavirus, the latest in a series of setbacks for President Vladimir Putin as Russia struggles to contain the growing outbreak. “Yes, I’ve gotten sick. I’m being treated,” Peskov, a key Putin aide, told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday....
Prosecutors who recused themselves from Ahmaud Arbery case now under investigationVideo
ATLANTA — The Georgia prosecutors who first handled the fatal shooting of a black man, before charges were filed more than two months later, were placed under investigation Tuesday for their conduct in the case, which has fueled a national outcry and questions about whether the slaying was racially motivated....
Fauci warns of ‘suffering and death’ if U.S. reopens too soon
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, is warning Congress that if the country reopens too soon during the coronavirus pandemic, it will result in “needless suffering and death.” Fauci is among the health experts testifying to a Senate panel. His testimony comes as President Donald...
Trump casts doubt on mail voting. His campaign promotes it.
While President Donald Trump claims mail-in voting is ripe for fraud and “cheaters,” his reelection campaign and state allies are scrambling to launch operations meant to help their voters cast ballots in the mail. Through its partnership with the Republican National Committee, Trump’s campaign is training volunteers on the ins...
Analysis: We knew the coronavirus was coming, yet we failed 5 critical tests
The arrival of covid-19 has provided a nuclear-level stress test to the American health care system, and our grade isn’t pretty: at least 80,000 dead, 1.3 million infected and 30 million unemployed; nursing homes, prisons and meatpacking plants that have become hotbeds of infection. The actual numbers are certainly far...
Pennsylvania lawmakers’ spending on their own operations
HARRISBURG — The Associated Press combed through more than 6,000 pages of line items to get a clearer picture of how the Pennsylvania General Assembly spent taxpayer money on its own operations during the fiscal year that ended June 30. Highlights of the findings: • Total spending: The 253-member Legislature...
From frames to furniture to food, here’s how Pa. lawmakers spent millions of taxpayer dollars
HARRISBURG — It takes hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars a year for the Pennsylvania General Assembly to maintain one of the country’s largest legislative staffs, a small army that needs food, shelter, transportation, office supplies and modern electronics. An Associated Press review of invoices and more than 6,000 pages...
Data: Coronavirus-weary Americans slowly return to the road
OAK PARK, Ill. — Americans are slowly getting back on the road after hunkering down due to the coronavirus, though the volume of traffic is still well below what it was before many states issued stay-at-home orders. Drivers in the U.S. have been more active in the past week than...
Colorado restaurant shut down for allowing sit-down diningVideo
DENVER — A Colorado restaurant that opened for full service on Mother’s Day in defiance of state rules banning sit-down dining was ordered to close Monday and had its license suspended indefinitely by health officials. A video posted by Colorado Community Media showed people sitting at tables and waiting close...
White House recommends tests for all nursing home residentsVideo
WASHINGTON — With deaths mounting at the nation’s nursing homes, the White House strongly recommended to governors Monday that all residents and staff at such facilities be tested for the coronavirus in the next two weeks. Why the government is not ordering testing at the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing...
Supreme Court could reshape congressional subpoena power in Trump caseVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and House Democrats don’t agree on much these days, but both sides will tell the Supreme Court during oral arguments Tuesday that the fate of four committee subpoenas could redraw the limits of congressional investigative power. Trump’s personal lawyers and the Justice Department have warned...
New coronavirus test is imperfect step toward mass screening
WASHINGTON — A new type of coronavirus test offers a cheaper, quicker way to screen for infections, moving the U.S. toward the kind of mass screening that experts say is essential to returning millions of Americans to school and work. But the first so-called antigen test — announced Saturday by...
Trump abruptly ends briefing after contentious exchangesVideo
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump abruptly ended his White House news conference Monday following combative exchanges with reporters Weijia Jiang of CBS News and Kaitlan Collins of CNN. Jiang asked Trump why he was putting so much emphasis on the amount of coronavirus tests that have been conducted in...
Commission delays decision on gun ban at Michigan Capitol
LANSING, Mich. — A commission that oversees Michigan’s Capitol delayed a decision Monday on banning guns from the building before a planned protest against the governor’s coronavirus restrictions, in a meeting that later ended abruptly due to racist and threatening messages posted in Zoom. The State Capitol Commission voted to...
Shanghai Disneyland reopens with anti-virus controlsVideo
SHANGHAI — Visitors in face masks streamed into Shanghai Disneyland as the theme park reopened Monday in a high-profile step toward reviving tourism that was shut down by the coronavirus pandemic. The House of Mouse’s experience in Shanghai, the first of its parks to reopen, foreshadows hurdles global entertainment industries...
State says workers don’t have to report if business reopens illegally
Pennsylvania workers who refuse to report to any business that opens in violation of Gov. Tom Wolf’s orders will not lose their unemployment benefits, a state official said Monday. “If a business opens in defiance of the governor’s orders … those employees may stay home and not lose their benefits,”...
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in ‘modified quarantine’ as a result of Pence meetingsVideo
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds was in partial quarantine Monday because she may have been exposed to the coronavirus, even as she made plans to lift more restrictions that were intended to slow the spread of the disease. Reynolds said she would follow a modified quarantine plan...
Execution notice signed for convicted cop killer Eric Frein
Convicted cop killer Eric Frein has been scheduled for execution, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections announced Monday. According to a release from the department, Secretary John Wetzel signed a Notice of Execution setting June 22, 2020 as the date of execution for Frein. A Notice of Execution was signed for...
West Wing visitors, staff now required to wear masks
WASHINGTON — The White House is requiring everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask or face covering after coronavirus scares near President Donald Trump. A memo sent to all staff outlined the new directive Monday after two staffers last week tested positive for covid-19. The memo says:...
Pennsylvania state senator calls for resignation of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine
A state senator from Franklin County has called for the immediate resignation of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, saying her actions were a major factor in the large number of covid-19 cases and deaths in the state’s nursing homes. Sen. Doug Mastriano, a first-term Republican representing Franklin, Adams and...
Appeals court upholds lawsuit by Indiana man released after 34 years
INDIANA — A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling declining to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a man who served more than three decades in prison in the slaying of a teenage girl before his conviction was overturned due to new DNA evidence. The Indiana Gazette reports...
Documents: Federal agents engaged in sex acts with trafficking victims
This project was produced by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, an initiative of the Scripps Howard Foundation. — — — PHOENIX — The women were forced to live and work in filth and near darkness, the federal...
Kennywood extends 2020 season passes through all of 2021
There’s no word on when – or if – Kennywood Park will open this year. But 2020 season pass holders received a little bit of good news when the West Mifflin park announced that this year’s passes would be extended through all of 2021. This hasn't been the year any...
Pennsylvania customs officials seize unapproved medication shipped from Hong Kong
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials seized a shipment of 1,200 capsules of an unapproved medicine shipped from Hong Kong to Pennsylvania. Working out of the Port of Harrisburg, agents seized the Lingua Qingwen capsules en route to an address in Union County, in the central part of the state....
