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Police say man charged in shooting that critically wounded Philadelphia officer

A 36-year-old Philadelphia man was charged Sunday with attempted murder in connection with a shooting that critically wounded a police officer after a traffic stop, police said. Ramon Rodriguez Vazquez also faces charges that include aggravated assault and home invasion, police said. The 31-year-old officer and his partner stopped a car carrying four people shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday in the Kensington neighborhood of northeast Philadelphia, the city’s police commissioner, Kevin Bethel, told reporters late Saturday night. The officers were taking inventory of the vehicle when ...

Regulators close Republic First Bank, first US bank failure this year

WASHINGTON (AP) — Regulators have closed Republic First Bank, a regional lender operating in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday it had seized the Philadelphia-based bank, which did business as Republic Bank and had roughly $6 billion in assets and $4 billion in deposits as of Jan. 31. Fulton Bank, which is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, agreed to assume substantially all of the failed bank’s deposits and buy essentially all of its assets, the agency said. Republic Bank’s 32 branches will reopen as branches of Fulton Bank ...

New charges announced against four youths arrested

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities have announced new charges against four juveniles arrested following an exchange of gunfire earlier this month between rival groups that wounded three people and sent participants in a joyful celebration of the end of Ramadan in west Philadelphia running for cover. Prosecutors said Friday that the 15- and 16-year-old youths arrested after the April 10 gunfire at Clara Muhammad Square will be charged as adults and will face aggravated assault, conspiracy, simple assault and reckless endangering charges in addition to the firearms counts they faced ...

Police officer hiring in US increases in 2023 after years of decline

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police departments across the United States are reporting an increase in their ranks for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which led to a historic exodus of officers, a survey shows. More sworn officers were hired in 2023 than in any one of the previous four years, and fewer officers overall resigned or retired, according to the 214 law enforcement agencies that responded to a survey by the Police Executive Research Forum, or PERF. Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers spurred nationwide ...

Appeals court keeps alive efforts to remove Columbus statue

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pennsylvania appeals court has kept alive an Italian heritage group’s challenge to efforts by the city of Pittsburgh to remove a statue of Christopher Columbus from a city park. The Commonwealth Court on Friday sent the dispute over the 13-foot bronze and granite Schenley Park statue back to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court for further consideration of issues raised by opponents of the removal. The Italian Sons and Daughters of America filed suit in October 2020 after the Pittsburgh Art Commission voted to remove the statue and then-mayor Bill Peduto also ...

Republicans’ defense of the ‘Biden 16’ starts with Pa.’s primary

NEW HOPE, Pa. (AP) — Mark Houck makes a potent appeal to conservative Republicans in this corner of eastern Pennsylvania when he describes his arrest and subsequent acquittal on federal charges that he pushed a Planned Parenthood volunteer outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic. The account has become a staple of Houck’s first-time bid for the U.S. House in suburban Philadelphia, a central battleground of the 2024 election, from the presidency on down. “I’m telling you this because this is how I became a target of the federal government — the weaponization of the ...