May 24, 2022 4:20 am
NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. births bumped up last year, but the number of babies born was still lower than before the coronavirus pandemic. The modest 1% increase was a bit of a rebound from 2020. The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic witnessed the largest one-year drop in births in nearly a half-century. Government officials think last year’s uptick reflects pregnancies that were postponed during the early days of the pandemic. Deliveries were way down in January last year, but improved as the year went on. But the government report released Tuesday shows there were still about 86,000 fewer births last year than in 2019.
May 24, 2022 4:19 am
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – One of the 10 Republicans who attempted to cast Electoral College ballots for Donald Trump even though he lost Wisconsin is running to become chairman of the state elections commission where he currently serves as a member. Bob Spindell has been an outspoken member of the bipartisan commission and supporter of the investigation into the 2020 election being led by a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. Spindell said Monday he is the most qualified to help the image of the commission as chair. Under state law, the next chair must be a Republican. The commission scheduled a Wednesday vote.
May 24, 2022 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it will start publicly providing more details about how advertisers target people with political ads. It is acting just months before the U.S. midterm elections and years after criticism that the social media platforms withhold too much information around how campaigns, special interest groups and politicians target small pockets of people with sometimes polarizing and misleading messages. Meta will start showing the demographics and interests of audiences advertisers select to target with political ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The company will also share how much advertisers spent in an effort to target people in certain states.
May 24, 2022 4:16 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday could bring an end to the faceoff between Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and former U.S. Sen. David Perdue. On the Democratic side, Stacey Abrams is running unopposed and will be crowned as her party’s nominee. With three other Republicans running, it’s possible neither Kemp nor Perdue will win a majority, requiring a June 21 runoff. But polling has shown Kemp extending his lead, raising the possibility that the nomination could be settled Tuesday. Perdue was personally courted by former President Donald Trump to enter the race as retribution for Kemp not backing Trump’s effort to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
May 24, 2022 4:15 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A Ukrainian court sentenced a captured Russian soldier to the maximum penalty of life in prison for killing a civilian, and the Kremlin hinted that it may put on trial some of the fighters who surrendered at Mariupol’s steelworks. Meanwhile, a veteran Kremlin diplomat resigned and sent a scathing letter Monday to foreign colleagues in which he said he had never been so ashamed of his country as when the invasion was launched on Feb. 24. It was a rare public expression of opposition to the war from the ranks of the Russian elite. Heavy fighting was raging in the Donbas in the east, where Moscow’s forces have stepped up their bombardment.
May 24, 2022 4:11 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – An autopsy report shows that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins was legally drunk when he was fatally struck by a dump truck on a Florida highway last month. The Broward County Medical Examiner said in its report released Monday that Haskins’ blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal level for driving when he was struck April 9. The 24-year-old former Ohio State star had run out of gas on Interstate 595 near Fort Lauderdale about dawn. He told a companion he was going to find a gas station. The dump truck driver told investigators Haskins stepped in front of him as he traveled in the center lane.
May 24, 2022 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A cabinet secretary who helped shepherd Pennsylvania’s entry into a regional carbon pricing program to combat climate change is leaving the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. The governor said Monday that Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell will be replaced in July by Ramez Ziadeh. McDonnell was deeply involved in the state’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The program imposes a cost for emitting planet-warming carbon dioxide from fossil fuel-fired power plants. McDonnell started at the agency in 1998 and has been secretary since 2016. Ziadeh has been a deputy secretary at the agency after starting there in 1994.
May 24, 2022 4:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Republicans in the Pennsylvania Legislature are extending their inquiry into the state’s 2020 presidential election inspired by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud. The contract is to last another six months, through Nov. 18, under an extension signed last week. The original no-bid contract, including an addendum, was worth $485,115 and expired last week. The extension has no dollar figure attached to it. Senate Republican officials say the contractor hasn’t billed for the contract’s full value while Republicans fight in court to get access to voting machines and certain information about voters and voting systems. Republicans have yet to report any findings.
May 24, 2022 4:04 am
Peters Township Council was alerted by a local attorney about the proposed changes that the Washington County Court of Common Pleas is proposing. Sean Logue addressed council and explained that the magisterial court in the township will be vacated and all cases in the township would be shifted to Cecil Township. Logue pointed out that it would be difficult for residents to get to the new location as there is no easy way to get from Peters Township to the court’s location on Millers Run Road. Township Manager Paul Lauer explained that the proposed change would drastically increase costs to the township in travel time for police and staff when they are called to testify. He also pointed out the extra wear and tear on vehicles that would be encountered. Council Vice Chairman Frank Kosir found the proposal hard to believe and encouraged residents to reach out to county officials to let them know they want to keep their magisterial court in Peters Township.
May 23, 2022 4:28 am
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Authorities in Puerto Rico say at least five people have been shot to death at a public housing complex. Police spokesman Axel Valencia told The Associated Press that the deaths occurred Sunday night in the community of Caimito in the capital of San Juan. He says the group was shot outside the Villa Esperanza housing complex. Valencia says that police have not yet identified the victims and that it isn’t immediately clear why they were targeted. No one has been arrested. Last month, police reported that two men were found fatally shot inside an overturned car at the same public housing complex.
