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Bribery and conspiracy charges have been filed against an Energy Transfer official and four security employees involved in an elaborate scheme to “intimidate citizens” over the Mariner East pipeline, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.

When no Americans replied to her ads seeking a dance instructor, studio owner Chris Sabourin looked overseas. But she was stymied again by a federal tightening of visa application rules she and others contend is hampering the ballroom dance industry. Sabourin had to eventually give up after a year and thousands of dollars trying to hire a top ballroom dancer...

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock announced Monday that he’s ending his Democratic presidential campaign, saying it’s become clear that he won’t have a shot at being his party’s nominee. The two-term governor and former state attorney general tried to make the case that he was the best bet to beat President Donald Trump because he was the only Democratic candidate to...

Independent retailers are gearing up for Small Business Saturday, a day used to promote mom-and-pop retailers, and many towns are doing their best to support the effort. In 2018, an estimated 104 million consumers shopped at independent retailers and restaurants on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. They spent $17.8 billion, the most since the shopping event was created by American Express...

Police in Prince George’s County, Maryland, are investigating after a dead fetus was found in the women’s bathroom of a restaurant.

A 43-year-old man was arrested and charged with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing two teenagers on a SEPTA train last week.

At least 21 people are dead and hundreds more are hurt after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck about 20 miles northwest of Albania’s capital Tirana. Rescue teams were still searching for people trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Rescue crews with excavators searched for survivors trapped in toppled apartment buildings and hotels Tuesday as the death toll from a powerful pre-dawn earthquake in Albania climbed to 21, with more than 600 people injured. The magnitude-6.4 quake was felt across the southern Balkans and was followed by multiple aftershocks, with several above magnitude 5. In nearby Bosnia, another temblor...

A widow is suing Maryland state officials after receiving the wrong remains for her husband who had donated his body to science.

With billions in federal aid and seats in Congress at stake, some states are dragging their feet in carrying out one of the Census Bureau’s chief recommendations for making sure everyone is counted during the 2020 census. Five states — Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas — have not set up “complete count committees” that would create public awareness...

The U.S. government is barring federal dollars meant for opioid addiction treatment to be used on medical marijuana.

A judge dashed the hopes of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky for a shorter prison term Friday, resentencing him to the same 30 to 60 years imposed against him in 2012 for sexually abusing children. Judge Maureen Skerda gave Sandusky what prosecutors and his own attorney described as effectively a life term during a hearing ordered this...

Two teenage boys were stabbed while riding the subway in North Philadelphia Friday morning. According to police, the injured teens got off the train and walked to a hospital a block away.

Two teenagers were injured, one critically, when they were stabbed on SEPTA’s Broad Street Line subway Friday morning.

Amid their annual vigils for transgender homicide victims, trans rights activists in the U.S. are trying to maintain long-term optimism even as many hard-won protections are under threat. Just a few weeks ago, President Donald Trump’s administration argued before the Supreme Court that employers should be allowed to fire workers because they are transgender. The administration also has moved to...

President Donald Trump spent more than two hours at Walter Reed National Medical Center on Saturday for what the White House said were medical tests as part of his annual physical. The appointment wasn’t on Trump’s weekend public schedule, and his last physical was in February. Press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the 73-year-old president was “anticipating a very busy 2020”...

A former California state prison inmate tells her story of sexual abuse by prison staff during her time incarcerated. A closer look at newly released records reveals a culture of sexual misconduct in California’s women’s prisons.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday he was certain that the awarding of a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to Microsoft instead of Amazon was done fairly. The Pentagon awarded the contract to Microsoft in late October, and Amazon said there was “unmistakable bias” on the government’s part and it intended to challenge the decision in court. Esper recused himself...

Three universities and a health care institution are sharing a gift of more than $1 billion that’s one of the largest in the history of higher education, they announced Wednesday. Receiving $260 million apiece will be Duke University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California, and the Cleveland Clinic. The institutions are free to use the money...

A Roman Catholic bishop named by Pope Francis to investigate the church’s response to clergy sexual abuse in Buffalo, New York, has himself been accused of sexual abuse of a child, an attorney for the alleged victim notified the church this week.