February 19, 2022 3:46 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Justices on Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court are weighing how to pick a map of new congressional districts. The justices listened to more than a dozen lawyers for five hours Friday each trying to persuade them that their proposed map is best. Meanwhile, justices did not necessarily embrace a Republican-backed map recommended by a lower court judge, but viewed by Democrats as blatantly partisan. Rather, justices seemed to search for a non-partisan and neutral basis on which to select a map. Pennsylvania’s Democratic-majority court must make the final decision on how to draw the state’s congressional districts after Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled Legislature deadlocked.
March 26, 2021 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. will take steps to more quickly move hundreds of migrant children and teens out of cramped detention facilities along the Southwest border. That from President Joe Biden Thursday as he pushed back against suggestions that his administration’s policies are responsible for the rising number of people seeking to cross into the country. Biden was pressed repeatedly on the situation at the border at his first news conference since taking office. He cited a series of measures such as opening space at a Texas Army base for about 5,000 unaccompanied minors, to address the issue. But he also sought to portray the rise in migrants as little different from seasonal increases in the past.
May 28, 2020 2:23 am
In a significant loosening of coronavirus restrictions, Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced that restaurants in yellow-phase Pennsylvania counties as of June 5th can begin outdoor dining, with appropriate precautions. Prior to his order, restaurants in yellow-phase counties were only allowed to do take-out and delivery business. Guidance issued by his administration for outdoor dining includes maximum occupancy limits; a requirement that indoors areas remain closed except for “through traffic”; and that customers being served outside must be seated at a table. Currently, 49 counties statewide are in the yellow phase, and 18 of those are set to move to the less-restrictive green phase on Friday.
August 8, 2019 12:28 pm
CAPITAN, N.M. (AP) – Smokey Bear, the icon of the longest-running public service campaign in the U.S., is set to turn 75. Birthday parties are scheduled to take place this week in honor of the bear that promotes forest fire prevention. The decision to use the Smokey Bear character happened on Aug. 9, 1944, when the U.S. Forest Service and the Ad Council agreed a fictional bear would be the fire prevention campaign symbol. A badly burned cub found after a 1950 fire in New Mexico’s Capitan Mountains was named Smokey Bear and was used in promotional campaigns. The Gila National Forest in Silver, New Mexico, and Wingfield Park in the town of Ruidoso will hold birthday parties for the bear. Parties also are scheduled in Reading, Pennsylvania, and Entiat, Washington.
September 19, 2024 8:59 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets. The strikes came a day after the militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack. Israel’s military said the rockets came in three waves Friday afternoon targeting sites along the ravaged border. Hezbollah said it had targeted several sites along the border with Katyusha rockets including multiple air defense bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armored brigade they said they’d struck for the first time. Hezbollah said the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli strikes on villages and homes in southern Lebanon.
November 22, 2023 5:11 am
DALLAS (AP) — Some of the last surviving witnesses to the events surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy are among those sharing their stories as the nation marks the 60th anniversary. Kennedy was killed as his motorcade passed through downtown Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Associated Press reporter Peggy Simpson said she rushed to the scene that day, staying with police as they converged on the Texas School Book Depository, the building from which shots had rung out. Simpson, former U.S. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill and others who were there are featured in “JFK: One Day in America,” a limited series from National Geographic released this month that pairs their recollections with archival footage.
January 1, 2023 8:03 am
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania prosecutor has ruled that state troopers were justified in shooting and killing a driver after a high-speed pursuit through three counties ended in an exchange of gunfire last month. Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said she reviewed videos, reports, witness interviews and evidence from the scene before making her determination in the Nov. 3 death of 35-year-old Krysten Pretlor of Johnstown. Authorities said Pretlor was wanted in a domestic case but fled when police in Cambria County’s Richland Township tried to serve a warrant, and he then led them on a 45-mile chase into Indiana and Westmoreland counties that reached speeds topping 100 mph.
February 19, 2022 3:44 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A statewide court that declared that Pennsylvania’s expansive 2-year-old mail-in voting law violates the state constitution is following that up by saying its ruling can take effect in mid-March. That’s a week after the state Supreme Court hears arguments on the appeal. Commonwealth Court Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt, in siding again with Republican officeholders who challenged the law, said Wednesday they are likely to prevail at the state Supreme Court. The case is throwing Pennsylvania’s voting laws into doubt as the presidential battleground state’s voters prepare to elect a new governor and a new U.S. senator in 2022. The state Supreme Court scheduled the case for oral arguments on March 8.
March 26, 2021 4:18 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has drawn protests as he signed into law a sweeping Republican-sponsored overhaul of state elections. The law passed Thursday places new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative oversight of elections. Democrats and voting rights groups say the law will disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color. It’s one of a wave of GOP-backed state election bills introduced after former President Donald Trump stoked false claims that fraud led to his 2020 election defeat. President Joe Biden called the GOP efforts “un-American” Thursday. Separately, Georgia authorities said one Black House representative was arrested while she was protesting outside the governor’s bill-signing ceremony and jailed. She has since been released.
May 27, 2020 12:33 pm
ORLANDO (AP) – The Orange County Reopening Task Force has approved the plans for both SeaWorld and Walt Disney World. Next the plans go to Mayor Jerry Demings and then Gov. Ron DeSantis. Disney guests, along with employees, will be required to wear facemasks, have their temperatures checked and will see a reduction of capacity at the theme parks with signs encouraging the practice of social distancing. Walt Disney World will reopen in two waves. Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will reopen on July 11. EPCOT and Hollywood Studios will open on July 15. SeaWorld Orlando is looking to reopen on June 11.
