Three police officers were fatally shot and two others injured while serving a warrant before the gunman killed himself, authorities in York County said Sept. 17.
Gov. Josh Shapiro went to the scene after the tragedy.
"This is an absolutely tragic and devastating day," Shapiro told reporters. "We grieve for the loss of life for the three precious souls who served this commonwealth, served this county and this county."
Shapiro also asked that people keep in mind the families of the victims of the shooting.
"I hope, as this community comes together, that we think not just about those who wear the uniform, but those behind them," Shapiro said. "These families are extraordinary and I hope you'll join me in prayer for them."
3 officers fatally shot, 2 wounded in Pennsylvania while apparently serving warrant, sources say
Jerry quits Ben & Jerry’s, saying its independence on social issues has been stifled
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield is leaving the ice cream brand after 47 years, saying that the independence it once had to speak up on social issues has been stifled by parent company Unilever.
In a letter that co-founder Ben Cohen posted on social media platform X on Greenfield’s behalf, Greenfield said that he felt the independence the brand had to speak on social issues and events was lost to Unilever.
“For more than 20 years under their ownership, Ben & Jerry’s stood up and spoke out in support of peace, justice and human rights, not as abstract concepts, but in relation to real events happening in our world,” he wrote. “That independence existed in no small part because of the unique merger agreement Ben and I negotiated with Unilever, one that enshrined our social mission and values in the company’s governance structure in perpetuity. It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone.”
Greenfield said that the loss of independence was coming “at a time when our country’s current administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women and the LGBTQ community.”
“Standing up for the values of justice, equity, and our shared humanity has never been more important, and yet Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power,” he said. “It’s easy to stand up and speak out when there’s nothing at risk. The real test of values is when times are challenging and you have something to lose.”
Israeli military begins its ground offensive in Gaza City as thousands of Palestinians flee
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, vowing to overwhelm a city already in ruins from nearly two years of war as thousands of Palestinians fled in vehicles strapped with mattresses and other belongings that clogged a coastal road.
The operation into the largest Palestinian city escalated a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushed any ceasefire with Hamas farther out of reach. The military would not offer a timeline for the offensive that aims to crush the militant group’s ability to fight, but Israeli media suggested it could take months.
“Gaza is burning,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared as the operation began. Heavy bombardment pounded the city, and troops began moving in from the outskirts after weeks of airstrikes and buildup toward the renewed assault.
The offensive began the same day that independent experts commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the allegation, calling the report “distorted and false.”
Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says
A new report says there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out since the start of the war with Hamas in 2023: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births.
It cites statements by Israeli leaders, and the pattern of conduct by Israeli forces, as evidence of genocidal intent.
Israel's foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as "distorted and false".
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
At least 64,964 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen as reliable by the UN.
Most of the population has also been repeatedly displaced; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and UN-backed food security experts have declared a famine in Gaza City.
Russian oil system struggling under Ukrainian attacks – report
Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has warned producers they may have to cut output following Ukraine’s drone attacks on critical export ports and refineries, Reuters has reported, citing industry sources. Ukrainian drones have frequently hit Russia’s oil plants, cutting refining capacity by up to a fifth, and damaged ports including Ust-Luga and Primorsk, Ukrainian military officials and Russian industry sources have said. Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday it had struck the Saratov oil refinery in Russia during an overnight attack.
Transneft, which handles more than 80% of all the oil extracted in Russia, has in recent days restricted oil firms’ ability to store oil in its pipeline system, two industry sources close to Russian oil firms told Reuters. Transneft has also warned producers it may have to accept less oil if its infrastructure sustains further damage, the two sources said. Transneft dismissed Reuters’ reporting as “fake news”. The Russian government relies heavily on oil and gas revenue. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, has said attacks on Russian oil infrastructure are “the sanctions that work the fastest”.
The European Commission will propose speeding up the phase-out of Russian fossil fuel imports, the EU executive’s head, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Tuesday after a call with the US president, Donald Trump. “Russia’s war economy, sustained by revenues from fossil fuels, is financing the bloodshed in Ukraine,” she said. Von der Leyen announced the commission would soon present its 19th package of sanctions aimed at Russia’s war effort – targeting crypto, banks, and energy.
Catholic nuns, missing babies, a mass grave — and a reckoning with Ireland's past
Anna Corrigan thought she was an only child.
It wasn't until she was in her 50s, researching her family tree, that she discovered a family secret: Corrigan found documents showing her mother, Bridget Dolan, had given birth to two boys in 1946 and 1950, in a home for unwed mothers.
It was an era when the Roman Catholic Church dominated Irish life. There was no sex education. Birth control and abortion were illegal, and pregnancy outside marriage brought shame.
Dolan died in 2001 without ever speaking about her sons.
"I never knew what she was going through," says Corrigan, 69, paging through black-and-white photos of her First Communion. "See the grip my mother has holding me? What was going through her mind, after losing two children? [Were they] taken away, dead, adopted?"
Throughout the 20th century, the Irish government and Catholic Church ran facilities called mother and baby homes, where single women who got pregnant could go to give birth. Mothers typically stayed about a year, while breastfeeding, but were then forced out — without their babies. These were similar to Ireland's Magdalene Laundries, Catholic-run, all-female workhouses where women who were considered disgraced often lived indefinitely, doing unpaid or underpaid labor, usually as laundresses.
Jews and Israel are not the same. Equating them is a propaganda technique
More than nine months after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued reports that concluded Israel was committing genocide – and more than a month since key Israeli human rights groups asserted the same – the American political establishment remains in rigid denial while horrors continue nonstop in Gaza. Virtually all Republicans and most Democrats in Congress still support massive US arms shipments to Israel, so they certainly can’t admit that the weaponry is making genocide possible.
Central to rationales for arming Israel is the claim that it is the nation of “the Jewish people”.
When the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke via video to a conference in Jerusalem three months ago, he declared: “There can be no nuanced separation of hatred of Israel and hatred of the Jewish people.” Rubio added: “Those who call for the destruction of Israel are calling for the destruction of the Jewish people.” Last month, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, reinforced the same message while visiting Israel, where he reportedly said that the West Bank was “the rightful property of the Jewish people”.
Such rhetoric – equating Israel with all Jews and Israel’s future with theirs – is an effort to sanctify Israel and shield it from criticism by brandishing the charge of antisemitism.
Fusing Israel with “the Jewish people” is a key propaganda technique. The fact that it’s so ubiquitous makes it no less ridiculous, or dangerous. A comment attributed to Voltaire applies: “As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.”
Minneapolis police say more than a dozen hurt in homeless encampment shootings
Minneapolis police have said over a dozen people have been hurt in two separate shootings at homeless encampments across the city on the same day.
The first shooting at a transit station wounded five people, and happened in an area that had seen two prior shootings in the past month.
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara rued the shootings as disturbingly commonplace.
“Here we are yet again in the aftermath of a mass shooting. This is not normal,” O’Hara said.
The second shooting, which wounded eight, happened just two miles away, in a site that has been a topic of controversy in the Minneapolis area. Private landlord Hamoudi Sabri, who has been involved in homeless activism since 2021, has allowed the encampment on his property because he does not believe the city is addressing the root causes of homelessness.
University of California students and faculty sue the Trump administration
The Trump administration is using civil rights laws to wage a campaign against the University of California in an attempt to curtail academic freedom and undermine free speech, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday by faculty, staff, student organizations and every labor union representing UC workers.
The lawsuit comes weeks after the Trump administration fined the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) $1.2bn and froze research funding after accusing the school of allowing antisemitism on campus and other civil rights violations. It was the first public university to be targeted by a widespread funding freeze. The administration has frozen or paused federal funding over similar allegations against elite private colleges, including Harvard, Brown and Columbia.
According to the lawsuit, the Trump administration has made several demands in its proposed settlement offer to UCLA, including giving government access to faculty, student and staff data; releasing admissions and hiring data; ending diversity scholarships; banning overnight demonstrations on university property and cooperating with immigration enforcement.
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