For 1st time in 4 years, U.S. life expectancy rises — a little
NEW YORK — Life expectancy in the United States is up for the first time in four years. The increase is small — just a month — but marks at least a temporary halt to a downward trend. The rise is due to lower death rates for cancer and drug...
Trump support edges up in Pennsylvania poll as impeachment continues
President Trump has grown stronger with Pennsylvania voters despite ongoing impeachment proceedings, a poll finds. A majority of the 628 registered Pennsylvania voters who responded to a Jan. 20-26 Franklin & Marshall Poll said it is time for a change in the White House. Still, 38% of them said President...
GOP optimism grows on blocking witnesses as Democrats focus questions on what John Bolton might knowVideo
WASHINGTON — Former national security adviser John Bolton loomed large in Democratic senators’ inquiries during the question-and-answer phase of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Wednesday, but Republicans are increasingly confident that by the end of the week they will have the votes to rebuff calls to subpoena him and other...
Parent resistance thwarts school desegregation efforts
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — As they try to address stubborn school segregation, many of the nation’s school districts confront a familiar obstacle: resistance from affluent, well-organized and mostly white parents to changes affecting their children’s classrooms. From New York City to Richmond, Va., sweeping proposals to ease inequities have been...
NASA chooses company for first habitable commercial space on space station
The International Space Station may soon become a duplex. NASA announced Houston-based Axiom Space has won the contract to begin to build what could become a commercial space station that connects to to the ISS. The first step is letting Axiom Space hook up to the ISS with an initial...
Humpback whales’ food chain snarled by climate change
LOS ANGELES — Karin Forney still remembers when an unusual number of humpback whales started showing up in Monterey Bay a few winters ago. She could see them out her window — so close to the surf that kayakers could literally paddle up to them. But with this delightful arrival...
3rd-degree murder charge filed in death of 91-year-old grandfatherVideo
WILKES-BARRE — Authorities allege that a man charged in the death of his 91-year-old grandfather last week ingested LSD and exhibited “violent and erratic behavior” that prompted his friends to leave the northeastern Pennsylvania home hours before the victim’s body was found. Nineteen-year-old Joshua Bacon is charged in Luzerne County...
Authorities find longest Southwest border smuggling tunnelVideo
SAN DIEGO — U.S. authorities on Wednesday announced the discovery of the longest smuggling tunnel ever found on the Southwest border, stretching more than three-quarters of a mile from an industrial site in Tijuana, Mexico, to the San Diego area. The tunnel featured an extensive rail cart system, forced air...
Pennsylvania has early primary envy, plots to move up in 2024
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania wants to be a player in the presidential primary, instead of an afterthought. The state Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that would move up Pennsylvania’s primary elections in presidential election years by five weeks, starting in 2024, in a state where critics say its presidential...
Justice Department won’t oppose probation for ex-Trump aide Mike Flynn
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Wednesday that it would not oppose probation for former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn — a more lenient stance than prosecutors took earlier this month, when they said he deserved prison time. The latest sentencing filing still seeks a sentence of up...
Ethics panel warns House members not to share fake images
The House Ethics Committee is warning lawmakers not to share doctored images or videos that could “erode public trust, effect public discourse, or sway an election,” guidance that comes during a proliferation of online misinformation in the run-up to the 2020 elections. In a memo sent to House members Tuesday,...
Health experts: Human-to-human spread of new virus worrying
BEIJING — World health officials expressed “great concern” Wednesday that a dangerous new virus is starting to spread between people outside of China, a troubling development as China and the world frantically work to contain the outbreak. For a second day, the number of infections grew dramatically. The new virus...
Women, 5 children among 8 victims of Alabama dock fireVideo
SCOTTSBORO, Ala. — A woman and her five children were among the eight people who died in a dock fire at a north Alabama marina, authorities and relatives said. Grace Annette Watson Miles, 40, was killed in the blaze early Monday, along with Dezli Nicole Miles, 7; Kesston Damien Miles,...
Trump celebrates major rewrite of North American trade rulesVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a major rewrite of the rules of trade with Canada and Mexico, celebrating the fulfillment of one of his top campaign promises while declining to share the moment with Democratic lawmakers whose support was essential to getting it over the...
Unwed, pregnant teacher in Pennsylvania can sue Catholic school over bias
SUNBURY — A Pennsylvania teacher who alleges that she was fired from her job at a Roman Catholic school because the diocese was upset she was pregnant and unmarried has lost another bid for reinstatement, but she will be allowed to proceed with her discrimination lawsuit. A judge in Northumberland...
Social Security scam is top fraud targeting seniors
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey took a break from President Trump’s impeachment trial long enough to attend a Senate hearing Wednesday on the latest telephone scam afflicting senior citizens. “For Americans who are worried about their loved ones … our efforts to stop con artists must be taken just as seriously...
Bond denied for Maryland officer in handcuffed man’s fatal shooting
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A judge denied bond Wednesday for a Maryland police officer who has been charged with murder after being accused of fatally shooting a handcuffed man in his patrol car. Judge Robert Heffron Jr. said he found convincing evidence that Prince George’s County Police Cpl. Michael Owen...
Gov. Wolf floats plan to attack lead, asbestos in Pa. schools
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled a new $1.1 billion package Wednesday intended to help eliminate lead and asbestos contamination in Pennsylvania’s schools, homes, day care facilities and public water systems. The five initiatives include money in Wolf’s upcoming budget proposal and expanding existing grant programs, his administration said. One...
‘I thought I was going to die’: Tenants flee LA high-rise fire
LOS ANGELES — Firefighters made a dramatic ladder rescue of a man about to jump from a burning Los Angeles apartment building on Wednesday and helicopters plucked people from the roof of the 25-story high-rise as other terrified residents fled through smoke-choked stairwells to safety. Six people were hospitalized, including...
Trump trial gets more pointed with Bolton book at the center
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial shifted to sharply pointed, back-and-forth questioning Wednesday as Republicans strained to contain the fallout over John Bolton’s forthcoming book, which threatens their hopes of ending the trial with a quick acquittal. The day started simply enough. Three Republican senators asked Trump’s legal team:...
Leaked report shows United Nations suffered hack
GENEVA — The United Nations has been hacked. An internal confidential document from the United Nations, leaked to The New Humanitarian and seen by The Associated Press, says that dozens of servers were “compromised” at its offices in Geneva and Vienna. Those include the U.N. human rights office, which has...
Auschwitz survivor inspires some, but angers Polish leaders
An Auschwitz survivor’s warning about indifference to discrimination is reverberating strongly in his native Poland, with some people praising the 93-year-old’s World War II anniversary speech as wise and the country’s conservative government criticizing it as overtly political. Marian Turski, 93, was one of the keynote speakers during observances held...
The end is nigh: European Parliament to approve Brexit
BRUSSELS — The European Parliament on Wednesday is set to overwhelmingly approve the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union — the final major decision in the four-year Brexit saga. Yet at the same time, EU nations are already preparing for the possibility that talks on a new...
Americans evacuated from China virus zone pass health test
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A plane evacuating 201 Americans from the Chinese city at the center of the virus outbreak continued Wednesday on to Southern California after everyone aboard passed a health screening test in Anchorage, where the aircraft had stopped to refuel. All the passengers had already been through two...
Inspector General charges 45 with welfare fraud
The state caught 45 suspected welfare fraudsters in December, who allegedly scammed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and other programs out of more than $240,000, according to the Office of the State Inspector General. The office charged 35 people with felonies, the remaining 10 with misdemeanors. Three residents of Allegheny...
