Pennsylvania Game Commission advises hunters to take precautions against EEE virus
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is issuing a warning to the state’s hunters. With a rare mosquito-transmitted virus documented in the state this year, the Game Commission is encouraging hunters and others who spend time outdoors to take precautions against mosquito bites and report to the agency any dead or strange-acting...
Anonymous Trump official writing ‘unprecedented’ inside takeVideo
NEW YORK — The Trump administration official who wrote an anonymous essay about resistance from the inside has a book deal. The book, titled “A Warning”, will come out Nov. 19, The Hachette Book Group imprint Twelve announced Tuesday. It will likely set off the biggest Washington guessing game since...
Ohio woman who claims she sold drugs to send kids to college gets 11-year sentence
ZANESVILLE, Ohio — An Ohio woman who claims the reason she sold drugs was to raise money to buy a farm and send her five children to college has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. The Zanesville Times Recorder reports 41-year-old Janet Gartner’s defense attorney, Nicole Churchill, said Monday...
Trump floats Mulvaney replacements including Steve Mnuchin and Kellyanne ConwayVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has for weeks been privately testing the idea of replacing his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who’s swiftly fallen out of favor with some of the president’s allies as a result of high-profile stumbles handling the House impeachment inquiry. About a month ago, Trump said to...
Democrats in impeachment inquiry ‘astonished’ by latest testimony of key U.S. diplomat William TaylorVideo
WASHINGTON — The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine provided House investigators Tuesday with what some lawmakers described as the most detailed and shocking account they’ve yet heard regarding President Donald Trump’s attempt to pressure Ukraine to help investigate his political enemies, according to Democrats who left the secured hearing room....
Pa. House votes to exempt fire, rescue agencies from records law
The Pennsylvania House is giving its approval to a bill that would exempt the state’s volunteer fire and rescue companies from the Right-to-Know Law. State representatives voted 166 to 34 on Tuesday to send the proposal to the Senate. Supporters of the legislation argue the 2008 rewrite of the open...
U.S. highway deaths fall in 2018 for 2nd straight year
The U.S. government’s road safety agency says traffic deaths fell by a small amount for the second straight year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration attributed the 2.4% drop partially to technology in newer vehicles that can prevent crashes. A total of 36,560 people died on the nation’s roads in...
Mitch McConnell resolution prods Trump to keep troops in Syria
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced legislation Tuesday denouncing Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria and gently prodding President Donald Trump to halt his withdrawal of U.S. troops from the embattled country. But McConnell, R-Ky., said lawmakers should refrain from imposing sanctions on Turkey for now, saying, “We don’t...
Charge dropped against man arrested after speaking Spanish
PORTLAND, Maine — Federal prosecutors dismissed a felony charge against a Guatemalan who was arrested after coming to the attention of Border Patrol agents for speaking Spanish in public in a case that raised concerns about racial profiling. The Border Patrol acknowledged in a court document that suspicions about members...
South Pole’s ozone hole shrinks to smallest since discoveryVideo
WASHINGTON — The ozone hole near the south pole this year is the smallest since it was discovered, but it is more due to freakish Antarctic weather than efforts to cut down on pollution, NASA reported . This fall, the average hole in Earth’s protective ozone layer is 3.6 million...
Tennessee autoworker killed in car accident on picket line
SPRING HILL, Tenn. — A striking autoworker in Tennessee has died when a vehicle hit him along a picket line outside a General Motors plant. Columbia Police Lt. Jeremy Haywood says a vehicle accidentally struck a pedestrian outside the Spring Hill plant just before 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday. A statement...
Pennsylvania House resumes guest chaplain invocation
On Monday, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives resumed its policy of having guest chaplains offer a session-opening prayer following an August reversal of a lower-court decision by a federal appeals court. In 2016, a group of atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and humanists filed suit, arguing against the practice of limiting prayers...
Challenge to victims’ rights amendment heads to Commonwealth Court
A state appellate court will hear arguments Wednesday in Harrisburg in a suit seeking to bar Pennsylvania from counting votes in the Nov. 5 referendum on a crime victims’ rights amendment. Civil liberties advocates say Marsy’s Law, the proposed amendment that has attracted widespread support from victims’ rights groups and...
2 students charged with shouting racial slur on UConn campus
STORRS, Conn. — Two University of Connecticut students have been charged with shouting a racial slur outside a campus apartment complex in an incident that was caught on video and has led to protests at the school. Jarred Karal, of Plainville, Ryan Mucaj, of Granby, both identified by police as...
Springsteen surprises moviegoers at film preview screenings
FREEHOLD, N.J. — Bruce Springsteen surprised moviegoers by introducing his new concert film in his New Jersey hometown. The Asbury Park Press reports Springsteen introduced two showings of “Western Stars” at the AMC Loews Freehold Metroplex Cinema in Freehold on Saturday. Springsteen is a native of Freehold borough. Springsteen told...
Stabbing aboard bus on Pa. Turnpike leaves 3 injured, man facing charges
RAPHO — A dispute aboard a bus traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike ended with three people stabbed and a man facing attempted homicide charges. The stabbings occurred around 11 p.m. Monday near the Lancaster Lebanon interchange in the eastbound lanes of the turnpike in Rapho. But details about what sparked...
Spread the holiday spirit with unique gifts, Santa pictures and more
Get ready for the 22nd Annual Greater Pittsburgh Arts & Crafts Holiday Spectacular. One of the area’s premier Christmas festivals is back by popular demand at the Monroeville Convention Center, from November 22 - 24. It’s sure to be the perfect way to ease yourself and your family into the...
Blackouts possible again as fire danger looms in California
Less than two weeks after blacking out much of Northern California, the state’s largest utility is warning that dangerous fire weather could prompt it to shut off power to about a half-million people. Pacific Gas & Electric began notifying customers Monday that it could begin precautionary shutoffs to parts of...
Jimmy Carter hospitalized after fall at Georgia home
ATLANTA — Former President Jimmy Carter had another fall at his home in Plains, Georgia, fracturing his pelvis and going to the hospital for treatment and observation, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo described the fracture as minor. Her statement said that the 95-year-old was in good...
Easy ways to stay healthy on airplanes
A colleague had been on an airplane — and he felt a cold coming on. With watery eyes and a red nose, he asked, “Have you written about how to stay healthy on flights?” It seems like it’s time to do so again, especially because flu season is on the...
How much sleep do you need to stay healthy?
If you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes or heart disease, getting enough sleep at night is imperative, according to a new report. Researchers from the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine recently conducted a study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, to explore the association between lack of...
Health Happenings: Week of Oct. 21
Blood drives • American Red Cross will host these blood drives: — Noon-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, 300 W Main St., Ligonier — 1-6:30 p.m. Oct. 31, Mother of Sorrows Church, 4202 Old William Penn Highway, Murrysville Appointments: 800-733-2767 or redcrossblood.org; walk-ins welcome Classes/programs • WCCC is...
Americans continue to be ignorant or indifferent about HPV vaccine
Thirteen years after the HPV vaccine was hailed as a revolution in cancer prevention, most Americans still don’t know the virus causes oral and genital cancers, and most doctors still aren’t recommending the vaccine to patients, according to a new study in JAMA Pediatrics. Part of the problem is that...
Democrats seek insider trading probe as a result of ‘Trump Chaos’ article
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers are increasingly demanding that U.S. authorities investigate allegations raised in a recent magazine article that traders might be using nonpublic government information to reap huge illegal profits, even as the exchange where the transactions purportedly took place called the story “patently false.” In a letter on...
Liberal icon Justin Trudeau appears set to hold onto government
TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared set to win a second term in Canada’s parliamentary elections Monday, seemingly fending off a challenge from rival Conservatives despite having been weakened by a series of scandals. Trudeau’s Liberal party was projected to win the most seats in the 338-seat Parliament, giving...
