Report: U.S. energy consumption, production and exports hit record highs in 2018
U.S. energy consumption, production and exports all reached record levels in 2018, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The United States produced a record amount of energy from various sources in 2018, reaching 96 quadrillion British thermal units — an 8% increase from 2017, EIA said. The increase in...
New York Senate OKs giving U.S. House Trump state tax return
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s Democrat-controlled Senate approved a bill easily Wednesday that would allow three congressional committees to get access to President Donald Trump’s state tax returns, giving Democrats a potential end-run around the administration’s refusal to disclose the president’s federal returns. The bill, which now goes to the...
Point Park University launches $20K mission to ease losses in small-town journalism
Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation in Pittsburgh is launching a $20,000 fellowship designed to tackle the growing dearth of investigative journalism in communities that no longer host a daily newspaper, officials announced Wednesday. A three-year grant from the Allegheny Foundation underwrote the creation of the Annual Doris O’Donnell...
Harlem apartment fire kills 6, including 4 children
NEW YORK — Six family members, including four children, were killed early Wednesday when a fire that apparently started on a stove ravaged a Harlem apartment, authorities said. Firefighters, who were called at about 1:40 a.m., pushed quickly and aggressively into the flames and thick smoke and found a man...
1 killed, 4 injured when motorcycle hits Amish buggy in Ohio
MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio — Authorities say a motorcycle has struck an Amish buggy in Ohio, killing the man driving the motorcycle and injuring all four people in the horse-drawn vehicle. A State Highway Patrol release says 26-year-old Brandon Lee, of Middlefield, died at the scene of the crash that occurred around...
Gov. Wolf to honor Fred Rogers with ‘143 Day’ in Pennsylvania
If you don’t already know why the number 143 was so significant to Fred Rogers, then May 23 will be your day to learn. To get you up to speed, the beloved children’s show host loved the number because it was a sort of code for “I love you” —...
Trump invokes ‘privilege,’ aims to block full release of Robert Mueller’s report
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is invoking executive privilege, reserving the right to block the full release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia probe, escalating President Donald Trump’s battle with Congress. The administration’s decision was announced just as the House Judiciary Committee was gaveling in to...
At least 2 handguns used in Denver-area school shooting that killed 1
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Two high school students used at least two handguns in the shooting at a charter school that killed one of their classmates and injured eight others in a Colorado community that just weeks ago marked the 20th anniversary of one of the nation’s worst school shootings,...
Three Mile Island nuclear plant to proceed with closure
HARRISBURG — The owner of Three Mile Island, site of the United States’ worst commercial nuclear power accident, says it now appears certain it will not get a financial rescue from Pennsylvania and said it will go ahead with a planned shutdown starting June 1. Exelon Corp.’s Wednesday statement comes...
Trump says report he lost over $1 billion is ‘inaccurate’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says a New York Times report that his businesses lost more than $1 billion from 1985 to 1994 is “highly inaccurate.” The newspaper, citing information from Trump’s tax transcripts, reported business losses of $46.1 million in 1985, and a total of $1.17 billion in losses...
Franklin Regional board may change grading scale, broaden range
Franklin Regional school director Paul Scheinert hoped students were benefiting from having a more rigorous grading system where “A” grades (the district uses a plus/minus system as well) range from 92 to 100%, “B” grades range from 82 to 91% and so on. But seeking to give students a more-level...
Philadelphia-area school drops ‘God bless America’ after pledge
SPRINGFIELD, Pa. — A Pennsylvania school principal will no longer say “God bless America” after leading students in the Pledge of Allegiance. Peter Brigg’s practice at Sabold Elementary School in Springfield led at least one parent to complain to the Freedom for Religion Foundation, whose attorney contacted the district. The...
Ex-White House lawyer Don McGahn defies House subpoena for Mueller docs
WASHINGTON — A former White House lawyer defied a congressional subpoena Tuesday, setting the Trump administration on course for another collision with the Democratic-led House over its pursuit of documents related to the Russia investigation. Don McGahn’s refusal to provide the documents to the House Judiciary Committee came at the...
Appeals court: Trump can make asylum seekers wait in Mexico
SAN DIEGO — A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration can force asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for immigration court hearings while the policy is challenged in court, handing the president a major victory, even if it proves temporary. The order by the 9th U.S. Circuit...
Sandra Bland’s own video of 2015 Texas traffic stop surfacesVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — Cellphone video recorded by Sandra Bland, a black woman found dead in a Texas jail after a confrontational 2015 traffic stop, shows for the first time her perspective as a white state trooper draws his stun gun and points it at close range while ordering her out...
Tax returns from ’80s and ’90s reveal Trump lost over $1 billion in business deals
Donald Trump reported $1.17 billion in financial losses to the IRS between 1985 and 1994, a massive run of red ink that kept him from paying income taxes during most of that period, according to a report published late Tuesday in The New York Times. The Times said it had...
Trump may redefine poverty, cutting Americans from welfare rollsVideo
The Trump administration may alter the way it determines the national poverty threshold, putting Americans living on the margins at risk of losing access to welfare programs. The possible move would involve changing how inflation is calculated in the “official poverty measure,” the White House Office of Management and Budget...
1 dead, 8 hurt in Colorado school shooting, 2 in custodyVideo
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Two students opened fire Tuesday inside a charter school in an affluent suburban Denver community not far from Columbine High School , killing a teenager, wounding eight and spreading minutes of terror before they were taken into custody with no injuries, authorities said. Douglas County Sheriff...
U.S. asylum screeners to take more confrontational approach at southern border
The Trump administration has sent new guidelines to U.S. asylum officers, directing them to take a more skeptical and confrontational approach during interviews with migrants seeking refuge. It is the latest measure aimed at tightening the nation’s legal “loopholes” Homeland Security officials blame for a spike in border crossings. According...
FBI Director Christopher Wray tells Congress he has no evidence of ‘spying’ on Trump campaignVideo
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that he would not call the investigation of Trump campaign advisers in 2016 “spying” — distancing himself from language used by President Trump and Attorney General William Barr. “That’s not the term I would use,” Wray said in response to a question...
Adult-only resort in Key Largo destroyed by massive fire
A spectacular blaze on Sunday destroyed the main building of a new resort in Key Largo, Florida. No one was injured as flames engulfed the Bungalows resort just before 5 a.m., reported the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff’s Office deputies responded along with multiple Upper Keys fire/rescue stations to a...
Go Red for Women Luncheon hopes to raise heart health awareness
Red is the color for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Luncheon at 10 a.m. Friday at the Fairmont Pittsburgh Hotel, Downtown. The Go Red for Women movement is dedicated to raising awareness of heart disease and stroke in women all over the world. This 15th annual event...
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters freed from Myanmar prison
HONG KONG — Two Pulitzer-winning Reuters journalists held in Myanmar for more than 500 days for their coverage of the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims were freed from jail Tuesday, ending a prolonged detention that has tainted Myanmar and its Nobel laureate civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Wa Lone and...
Nestle to cut 4,000 jobs in delivery changes
Nestle SA’s U.S. unit will lay off about 4,000 workers as it stops delivering frozen pizza and ice cream directly to stores and instead transitions to a warehouse model that’s becoming an industry standard for Big Food companies looking to trim costs. The company said Tuesday that it’s shutting down...
Cuba cancels Conga Against Homophobia parade
HAVANA — The Cuban government has cancelled a parade widely seen as a sign of progress on gay rights. The state-run Center for Sex Education run by Mariela Castro, the daughter of Communist Party First Secretary Raul Castro, said in a Facebook post Tuesday that the Conga Against Homophobia scheduled...
