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Charges reinstated in officer’s pepper spray use in protest

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge has granted a prosecution request to reinstate charges against a former Philadelphia police officer seen on video lowering the face covering of at least one protester before dousing a group with pepper spray as they knelt on a city interstate during a demonstration in the summer of 2020. Common Pleas Court Judge Crystal Bryant-Powell reversed a decision by another judge to throw out charges against ex-SWAT officer Richard Paul Nicoletti, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Without explaining her ruling, she ordered Nicoletti held for trial on charges ...

Rape charge dropped against district attorney

State prosecutors dropped a rape charge against an elected district attorney in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday but added new felony charges of sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault. Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Lynn Thomas waived a preliminary hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday. Thomas, 36, is accused of attacking a woman in her Windber home last month. Charges of indecent and simple assault and criminal trespassing remain pending, while a strangulation charge was changed from a misdemeanor to a felony. Charges of unlawful restraint and false ...

Bystander shot suspect in Pa. mall shooting

LANCASTER (AP) — An armed bystander intervened after gunfire broke out in a Pennsylvania mall over the weekend, shooting one of the participants, police said. Lancaster police said there was a physical altercation between two males who knew each other at the Park City Center shortly before 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Police said at least one, a 16-year-old Lancaster resident, was carrying a concealed weapon. Police said a struggle over the gun ensued, and other people joined in the altercation. The teenager fired, hitting one of the participants, and another person joined the struggle for ...

Biden taking social services, climate pitch to Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG (AP) — President Joe Biden will travel to Scranton on Wednesday, the White House said, as the Democrat works to rally support in Congress for a social services and climate change package that had been a 10-year, $3.5 trillion proposal. Biden’s visit to his birthplace in the key swing state of Pennsylvania comes just a week after first lady Jill Biden visited nearby Allentown. Biden said Friday he would prefer to cut the duration of programs in the package rather than eliminate some entirely, as Democrats aim to win support from moderate lawmakers by trimming the ...

Senate candidate loses bid to seal custody case

HARRISBURG (AP) — A judge on Thursday refused to seal records and proceedings in the ongoing custody battle involving Sean Parnell, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, or grant Parnell’s request to bar his wife from talking about past restraining orders she had sought against him. Parnell had made the requests after a rival for the Republican nomination, Jeff Bartos, and an associated super PAC attacked Parnell over the matter, calling him “unelectable.” Bartos and his allies aired the attacks in September, days after former President Donald Trump endorsed ...

Artist sues newly freed Cosby over 1990 encounter

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A prominent Bill Cosby accuser filed suit Thursday against the actor over a 1990 hotel room encounter in Atlantic City, New Jersey, before the state’s two-year window to file older sexual assault claims expires. Los Angeles artist Lili Bernard told The Associated Press she was prompted in part by Cosby’s recent release from prison. The 84-year-old Cosby has been free since June, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction in another case on procedural grounds. He had served more than two years of a potential 10-year ...