February 5, 2024 5:06 am
BEIRUT (AP) — A drone attack on a base housing U.S. troops in eastern Syria killed six allied Kurdish fighters late Sunday. The U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour and accused “Syrian regime-backed mercenaries” of carrying out the attack. No casualties were reported among U.S. troops. An umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias, dubbed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, released a video claiming responsibility for the attack and showing them launching a drone from an unspecified location. In late January, a drone attack by the umbrella group killed three U.S. troops and wounded dozens more at a desert base in Jordan.
February 5, 2024 4:59 am
HANOVER, Pa. (AP) — Police shot and killed a man at a southern Pennsylvania gas station after they say he pointed a gun at officers who were trying to arrest him on an outstanding warrant. Authorities say 37-year-old Richard Bolen was wanted on aggravated assault and other charges after he was accused of “brandishing a firearm at officers” as he fled from a business Wednesday. The state police say in a news release that Hanover officers responded when Bolen’s SUV was spotted at a Sunoco gas station on Friday, and that they fired on him after he pointed a gun at them in front of the station’s store, killing him.
February 5, 2024 4:57 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver his second budget proposal to Pennsylvania lawmakers with a firmer grasp on how he wants to pursue top priorities and his state in a strong fiscal position. Ahead of the delivery set for Tuesday, most details of the Democratic governor’s budget plan for the 2024-25 fiscal year starting on July 1 remain under wraps. But Shapiro has made it clear he will seek more money for higher education and public transit agencies and possibly underfunded public schools. Shapiro’s first budget proposal disappointed many allies. This year, he is returning with recommendations from appointees on major issues. Meanwhile, tax collections are meeting expectations and Shapiro has a strong cash cushion.
February 5, 2024 4:50 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Josh Shapiro is set to deliver his second budget proposal to Pennsylvania lawmakers. The Democrat has released few details of his spending plan for the 2024-25 fiscal year. He’s expected to return Tuesday with bigger proposals for higher education institutions, underfunded public schools and economic development. The governor is looking at a relatively strong fiscal position. He will almost certainly propose an operating budget that goes above this year’s $45 billion. Shapiro will deliver his budget address to a joint session of the House and Senate. The Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House will begin budget hearings in two weeks.
February 4, 2024 7:54 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — For decades, the University of Pennsylvania has held hundreds of skulls that were once used to promote white supremacy through racist scientific research. As part of a growing effort among museums to reevaluate the curation of human remains, the Ivy League school laid some of the remains to rest last week in a local historic Black cemetery. Officials held a memorial service for them Saturday. The university says it is trying to begin rectifying past wrongs. But some community members feel excluded from the process, illustrating the challenges that institutions face when it comes to addressing institutional racism.
February 4, 2024 7:52 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Another “Pineapple Express” storm is on its way to California, bringing with it the threat of dangerous flooding and mudslides. Californians spent Friday and Saturday preparing for what forecasters are saying could be the largest storm of the season, with the worst expected to hit Ventura and Santa Barbara counties on Sunday and Monday. Most of the state was under some sort of wind, surf or flood watch by Saturday afternoon. The storm marks the second time this week the state will be pummeled by an atmospheric river, a long band of moisture that forms over the Pacific. It’s called the “Pineapple Express” because its plume of moisture stretches back across the Pacific to near Hawaii.
February 4, 2024 7:51 am
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden has won South Carolina’s Democratic primary, notching a victory in the state that he pushed to lead the party’s nominating calendar. Biden on Saturday defeated the other Democrats on South Carolina’s ballot, including Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson. Black voters play an outsized role in South Carolina’s Democratic electorate, and Biden and other party leaders had recommended that the state lead off the party’s 2024 primary calendar. A big win in South Carolina helped revive Biden’s 2020 campaign and propel him to the nomination.
February 4, 2024 7:50 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans will move forward with a $17.6 billion package to provide military aid to Israel and replenish U.S. weapons. The bill leaves out more aid for Ukraine, underscoring the challenges facing supporters of a comprehensive national security package that would also include billions of dollars for immigration enforcement. The move gives Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans the chance to show support for Israel even though there is little chance the Senate would go along with the narrower effort. Meanwhile, text of a broader Senate compromise is expected to be released this weekend and a key test vote on that package will be held next week.
February 4, 2024 7:48 am
(AP) – Moscow-installed officials say Ukrainian shelling killed at least 28 people Saturday at a bakery in the Russian-occupied city of Lysychansk. At least one child was among the dead, local leader Leonid Pasechnik wrote in a statement on Telegram. A further 10 people were rescued from under the rubble by emergency services, he said. Ukrainian officials in Kyiv did not comment on the incident. Both Moscow and Kyiv have increasingly relied on longer-range attacks this winter amid largely unchanged positions on the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line in the nearly 2-year-old war.
February 4, 2024 7:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Britain struck 36 Houthi sites in Yemen in a second wave of assaults meant to further disable Iran-backed groups that have relentlessly attacked American and international interests in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. In addition to the strikes on Saturday, U.S. Central Command says it conducted an additional “self-defense” strike on Sunday against a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile. Washington did not directly target Iran as it tries to find a balance between a forceful response and intensifying the conflict. The Saturday strikes against the Houthis were launched by U.S. warships and American and British fighter jets and followed an air assault in Iraq and Syria on Friday in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend.
