State & Regional News

Gov. Josh Shapiro ordered Pennsylvania flags on all Commonwealth facilities, buildings, and grounds be lowered to half-staff to honor the victims of the RM Palmer Company factory explosion.

West Reading's police chief announced two additional fatalities on Sunday evening, ending the search for two missing individuals. The search and rescue operation followed a chocolate factory explosion Friday night.

Reporter Julian Abraham spent the weekend covering the explosion that occurred Friday at a chocolate factory in West Reading.

As part of a yearlong investigation, The Associated Press obtained the data points underpinning several algorithms deployed by child welfare agencies to understand how they predict which children could be at risk of harm.

A chemical spill of a latex product late Friday in Bristol Township released contaminants into a Delaware River tributary, according to OEM officials.

Three people died and four remain missing in the explosion at the R.M. Palmer Co. chocolate-making plant in West Reading. The grim announcement Saturday night came after a day of hope spurred by a victim found alive in the wreckage early in the day.

Pennsylvania will again operate a water assistance program for low-income households behind in their water or wastewater bills, state officials announced last week.

While the report indicates positive trends, community advocates and leaders raised concerns about high rates of gun violence and educational outcomes. They called for more hyper-localized data to identify trends and correlations between issues impacting Black communities.

Thursday's March For Our Lives rally marks its fifth anniversary since its inception after a 2018 mass shooting at a Florida high school. Hundreds are expected at Thursday's rally in Harrisburg, which coincides with rallies this week in Florida, Michigan, California and Texas.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said he's long admired the Lehigh Valley's unique ability to build partnerships. It's a skillset he said he hopes to bring to other communities across the state to promote economic growth. Shapiro was keynote speaker at the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. annual meeting in Bethlehem.

Lawyers for Jimmy Lai, a jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher, have asked for an urgent meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a leading member of his international legal team said Tuesday.

In the absence of information about why the Buffalo Bills player collapsed during a game, misleading claims about COVID vaccines quickly spread online.

The two leaders sparred over the history of U.S. support in Latin America at talks in Mexico City — but found common ground on migration, as well as fentanyl interdiction and the economy.

The company behind the iconic green and yellow farm equipment says it wants to make it easier for farmers and independent repair shops to fix problems with its tractors and other products.

Before the pandemic, the hajj pilgrimage drew millions each year to Islam's holy city of Mecca, home to the cube-shaped Kaaba that observant Muslims pray toward five times a day.

The Vatican opened a file on the disappearance of a teenage girl months after a new Netflix documentary aired on the case and weeks after her family asked the Italian Parliament to take up the cause.

Georgia, ranked No. 1, stopped Texas Christian's vaunted offense and ended their improbable season. The Bulldogs are the first team to repeat as champion in the college football playoff era.

Chef Rene Redzepi's house of Nordic gastronomy will close by the winter of 2024 and re-emerge as Noma 3.0, the Copenhagen eatery said on its webpage.

Legislators in the state's House of Representatives were set for a special meeting Monday to increase the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse. They stalled all day and never held a vote.

The documents were discovered in November by President Biden's attorneys, who then notified the National Archives and turned the materials over.

The House voted Monday on a new rules package that contains key concessions to the most conservative wing of the party.

Brazilian authorities arrested over 1,500 people following Sunday's assault on top government buildings by supporters of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who's taken temporary residence in the U.S.