U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, Vermont’s first woman and first openly gay person to represent the state in Congress, announced Wednesday that she’s running for a second term. Balint, a Democrat, said in Congress she has focused on making affordable housing more accessible, mental health care for all and protecting the country’s democracy. “When I was first elected to Congress, we …
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A robotic dog is being thanked by state police in Massachusetts for helping avert a tragedy involving a person barricaded in a home. The dog named Roscoe was part of the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad and deployed on March 6 in a Barnstable house after police were fired upon. Police sent in two other robots often used for bomb …
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New York lawmakers are expected to miss the state’s budget deadline as negotiations over housing and education funding remain ongoing, a top official said Wednesday. The due date for adopting a new state budget is April 1, but legislators are set to give themselves a extension early next week that will keep government functioning while talks continue, Senate Leader Andrea …
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A large suburban Philadelphia county has joined dozens of other local governments around the country in suing the oil industry, asserting that major oil producers systematically deceived the public about their role in accelerating global warming. Bucks County’s lawsuit against a half dozen oil companies blames the oil industry for more frequent and intense storms — including one last summer …
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Three middle schoolers from southern Maryland have been charged with hate crimes after they displayed swastikas, performed Nazi salutes and made derogatory remarks about a classmate’s religion, according to county prosecutors. Officials with the Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office said the harassment began in December and the students refused to stop despite repeated requests. The victim ultimately reported the behavior …
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A New York woman was charged Monday with beating her 5-year-old daughter to death nearly three months ago and hiding the body, which has not been found. Latasha Mott, 29, of Syracuse, was arraigned on charges of manslaughter and disposal of a corpse in the death of her daughter, Nefertiti Harris. Prosecutors said Mott hit Nefertiti with a belt multiple …
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Tammy Murphy, the wife of New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, suspended her bid for U.S. Senate on Sunday, after running a campaign that critics claimed was nepotistic. The first lady of the Garden State had been vying to win the Democratic primary for the upcoming U.S. Senate election, in light of Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal corruption charges. On Thursday, Menendez …
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An 18-year-old in Pennsylvania has entered a guilty plea after she killed a 12-year-old girl over a year ago, authorities say. Ash Cooper, a transgender woman formerly known as Joshua Cooper, pleaded guilty Thursday to a slew of charges that include third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. Cooper murdered Morgan Connors, …
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A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought against the state of New Hampshire after government officials removed a historical marker dedicated to a feminist and labor activist who also led the U.S. Communist Party. The sponsors of the marker honoring Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who filed the lawsuit last year, lack the legal right or interest to argue for the marker’s …
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Investigators were searching Thursday for the cause of a fire that tore through a house in the Pittsburgh suburbs, killing a man and four children and spreading to another house before the flames were extinguished. Firefighters arrived quickly but found the two-story house in Jeannette already engulfed. The man’s fiancée and two other children were rescued by a neighbor, police …
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