More than 4,000 mail ballot applications have been challenged across 14 Pennsylvania counties, leaving election officials to decide eligibility during hearings that will extend well past Election Day.

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is advancing legislation long sought by counties seeking help to manage huge influxes of mail-in ballots during elections in the presidential battleground state.

Law enforcement agencies, civil defense officials and election administrators are meeting in Pennsylvania to coordinate against election threats with the presidential contest eight months away.

Republicans are challenging extended mail ballot deadlines in at least two states.

Security improvements are planned at a jail in Pennsylvania following the brazen escape of a murderer who eluded law enforcement for two weeks before his capture this month.

Escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante has been captured after an extensive search, Pennsylvania authorities say.

Police are reporting two more confirmed sightings of an escaped murderer on the run for more than a week in southeast Pennsylvania amid a search by hundreds of law enforcement officers.

Pennsylvania officials say a prison tower guard has been fired after letting a convicted murderer slip out on his watch in a brazen escape.

Authorities say a recently convicted murderer who escaped in suburban Pennsylvania this week was spotted on residential surveillance cameras in an area not far from the county jail.

Hundreds of law enforcement agents are searching for a man convicted of murder in Pennsylvania for the fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, a day after he escaped from a county jail.

A Republican inquiry into Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election spurred on by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud has spawned several court cases as it expands, grows in cost and shows signs it will drag well into 2022.

Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine strongly protects kids as young as 12.

The Biden administration’s call to lift patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help poor parts of the world get more doses has drawn praise from some countries and health advocates.

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)A new study raised questions about how well COVID-19 vaccines protect organ transplant recipients — and what precautions people with suppressed immune systems should take after the shots. Transplant recipients take powerful immune-suppressing drugs to prevent organ rejection, which also increases their risk from the coronavirus — but excluded them from vaccine studies. Specialists say the shots appear safe for transplant recipients and any protection is better than none. A few weeks after the first dose, 17% of the transplant recipients had developed antibodies against the coronavirus, said Dr. Dorry Segev, a Hopkins transplant surgeon who co-authored the study. Those waiting for a life-saving organ transplant might be able to get vaccinated first.

More recently, he said the spread of more contagious variants of the virus increases the need for more people to get their shots — and quickly. The poll of 1,055 adults, taken Jan. 28 through Feb. 1, provides insight into the skepticism. About the same percentage said they don’t trust COVID-19 vaccines. And 38% said they don’t believe they need a vaccine, with a similar share saying that they don’t know if a COVID-19 vaccine will work and that they don't trust the government. ___The AP-NORC poll of 1,055 adults was conducted Jan. 28-Feb. 1 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.

A prolonged vote-tallying period in swing states raises the prospect of multiple security concerns, including foreign or domestic disinformation campaigns that could sow doubt in the process as well as actual digital manipulation of vote tabulation. Even so, there have been no indications of any foreign activity that could alter the vote count or stop votes from being tallied. ___WEBSITE BREAK-INSA persistent concern from election security officials is that foreign hackers could hack websites and post misleading disinformation on them — or create spoofed websites. Election security experts say the day after polls close can be especially risky, especially if the election is close and the count protracted, as the U.S. is now facing. Matt Blaze, an election security expert at Georgetown University, said his biggest concern over possible interference is how few states require or perform post-election audits of tabulation results.

Charles Salzman Jr. and Kristen Bristow have been charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of the child. (CNN) - The parents of an 11-month-old boy were arrested after allegedly falling asleep while their son overdosed on fentanyl in the backseat of their car, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Salzman told police the two had been cleaning out Bristow's car on Wednesday after allegedly using heroin at their Chester County home, according to the criminal complaint. He was taken to the hospital, and he is expected to survive, Michael Noone, first assistant in the Chester County District Attorney's office, said. Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Kevin Kochka told CNN they see a lot of overdoses in the area, but not many involving children of that age.