Michael Rubinkam

Stay informed with Michael Rubinkam’s coverage and analysis.

27 September 2024, Saxony, Leipzig: A man shows a SIG Sauer P320 DH3 pistol at the stand of a hunting gun dealer at the “Jagd & Angeln 2024” trade fair at Agra. From September 27 to 29, 2024, around 250 exhibitors will be showcasing everything for hunters and anglers. In addition to a wide range of weapons, optics and equipment, there will also be numerous demonstrations such as air shows, shooting practice and back horses. Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa (Photo by Jan Woitas/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Gunmaker Sig Sauer ordered to pay $11 million to Philadelphia man wounded by pistol that went off by itself

By Michael Rubinkam and The Associated Press

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Trump dubs Madison Square Garden rally where Puerto Rico was called a ‘floating island of garbage’ an ‘absolute lovefest’

By Adriana Gomez Licon, Michelle L. Price, and others

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy thanks workers in visit to Pennsylvania ammunition plant—and asks for more supplies

By Michael Rubinkam, Tara Copp, and others

William Bortz, left, stands alongside his daughter, Ave Williams, at his senior living center, Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Diego. Bortz said criminals stole his family’s nest egg of almost $700,000 in an elaborate scheme. Sophisticated overseas criminals are stealing tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year, a crime wave that’s projected to get worse as the U.S. population ages and technology like AI makes it easier than ever to perpetrate fraud and get away with it. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Personal Finance

Fraud has reached a ‘crisis level’ as overseas criminals use romance schemes and grandparent scams to steal life savings

By Michael Rubinkam and The Associated Press

Rising sophomore Cyrus Nasib, 18, stands outside Dorrance Hamilton Hall at the University of the Arts, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. The closure of the university has left some 1,300 other students scrambling to find somewhere to go or something to do. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)

Philadelphia university shuts without warning, leaving 1,300 students with nowhere to go: ‘It kind of just saps your motivation to do anything’

By Michael Rubinkam, Maryclaire Dale, and others

Joe Biden

Snack-shop chain sued over alleged racial discrimination in hiring of Black, mixed-race and Native American employees

By Michael Rubinkam and The Associated Press

Gas station prices.

‘They lied to all of us’: Big Oil hit with climate change lawsuit from suburban Philadelphia county

By Michael Rubinkam and The Associated Press

$File – This file photo shows a Cabot Oil Gas Corp. wellhead in Dimock, Pa. A year after pleading no contest to criminal charges, Coterra Energy Inc., one of Pennsylvania’s biggest natural gas companies, is poised to drill and frack in the rural community where it was banned for a dozen years over accusations it polluted the water supply. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)$

Drilling is coming back after ban in Pennsylvania ‘Gasland’ town where residents could light their tap water on fire

By Michael Rubinkam and The Associated Press

This 2018 photo released by Federal Bureau of Investigation shows the FBI’s 2018 dig for Civil War-era gold at a remote site in Dents Run, Penn., after sophisticated testing suggested tons of gold might be buried there. (Federal Bureau of Investigation via AP)

Metal detectorist suing the FBI for secretly stealing Civil War-era gold finds 2 witnesses: ‘I can hear some machines, or something, clanging and banging and roaring and all that stuff’

By Michael Rubinkam and The Associated Press

A scene from West Palm Beach, Florida.

‘Flaunting his wealth’: Fraudster who escaped prison found on Florida’s Gold Coast wearing Rolex, driving Mercedes

By Michael Rubinkam and The Associated Press

FILE – Emergency personnel work at the site of a deadly explosion at a chocolate factory in West Reading, Pa., March 25, 2023. Natural gas leaked from a defective fitting at the Pennsylvania chocolate factory where a powerful explosion leveled one building, heavily damaged another and killed seven people, federal safety investigators said on Tuesday, July 18, as they sought to pinpoint a cause. (Ben Hasty/Reading Eagle via AP, File)

Pennsylvania chocolate factory explosion that leveled a building and killed 7 in March caused by bad gas fitting

By Michael Rubinkam and The Associated Press

FILE – Emergency personnel work at the site of a deadly explosion at a chocolate factory in West Reading, Pa., March 25, 2023. According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, April 11, a Pennsylvania candy-maker ignored warnings of a gas leak at its chocolate factory and bears responsibility for a subsequent explosion that killed seven workers. (Ben Hasty/Reading Eagle via AP, File)

Family of worker who died in Pennsylvania chocolate factory explosion that killed 7 sues over ignored gas leak warnings: Company ‘did nothing’

By Michael Rubinkam and The Associated Press

Patricia Borges

‘When I began to burn, I thought it was the end for me’: Factory worker saved as vat of liquid chocolate extinguishes her flaming arm

By Michael Rubinkam, Acacia Coronado, and others

FILE – In this photo taken with a drone, portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed the previous night in East Palestine, Ohio, remain on fire at mid-day on Feb. 4, 2023. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a package of reforms to improve safety Tuesday, Feb. 21 — two days after he warned the railroad responsible for the derailment, Norfolk Southern, to fulfill its promises to clean up the mess just outside East Palestine, and help the town recover. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

The Ohio train crew didn’t get a critical warning about overheating until just before it derailed, according to a new report

By John Seewer, Michael Rubinkam, and others

Michael Regan

‘Let me be clear: Norfolk Southern will pay’: EPA arrives in Ohio for the big toxic clean-up

By John Seewer, Michael Rubinkam, and others