Looking back: 2015 in news
A look back at the top news stories from 2015:
PA. ATTORNEY GENERAL KANE INVESTIGATED, LOSES LICENSE
Attorney General Kathleen Kane started her third year in office under the shadow of a grand jury investigation.
“I did nothing illegal, period,” she said. <br/>“… This seems to me to be another political attack on my attempt to clean up Harrisburg and its political culture.”
But by fall she would be held for trial on 12 criminal counts, including felony perjury, in Montgomery County. Prosecutors say she masterminded a leak of secret material from a 2009 grand jury investigation in an attempt to embarrass a former state prosecutor and then lied to cover her actions.
A judge convicted Kane's former driver and bodyguard, Patrick Reese, of indirect criminal contempt for combing emails for information about the grand jury that investigated her.
Kane diverted public attention from her legal woes by talking about offensive emails found on the agency's computer system, including some shared by a sitting Supreme Court justice.
In October, she lost her law license indefinitely. Critics urged her to resign. The Senate began exploring whether to remove her from office.
Kane, 49, of Scranton vowed to expand her investigation of offensive emails exchanged on state-owned computers, though she fought the release of emails to a newspaper.
SEX SCANDAL ROCKS PLUM
The Plum School Board met for the first time with four newly elected members and discussed hiring a firm specializing in criminal law to guide it through the trials of three teachers charged with having sex with students and an Allegheny County grand jury investigation into what, if anything, school officials knew about the matter.
The district formed a Safe & Supportive Schools Committee in August and, a month later, set up an anonymous tip line for people to report issues related to student-teacher conduct or general concerns.
The committee suggested assigning district email addresses to coaches and sponsors, and said the district should have a social media policy covering adult-student contact.
Teachers Joseph Ruggieri, 40, and Jason Cooper, 38, were arrested in February on charges of having sex with female students. Both later were charged with witness intimidation, accused of contacting the victims.
Teacher Drew Zoldak, 40, was charged with witness intimidation when police said he identified Ruggieri's accuser in class.
Substitute teacher Michael Frank Cinefra, 29, was charged in September with swapping booze for sex from a 15-year-old girl.
PENNSYLVANIA BUDGET IMPASSE DRAGS ON
Pennsylvania's state budget impasse became the third-longest since the 1950s. First-year Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's inability to reach agreement with Republican lawmakers held back money for schools, nonprofits, municipalities, universities and student scholarship programs, and drained voter confidence in elected officials. Some money was released to schools and other programs after 180 days, but the impasse continues over a remaining $7 billion — including money for schools and prisons — that Wolf line-item vetoed.
TRUMP MAKES HEADLINES
Incendiary comments from billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump dominated the run-up to the 2016 presidential primary. Trump led the large field of GOP candidates and, many days, controlled the daily news cycle.
TERROR STRIKES, U.S., FRANCE
Terror attacks in France and the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 rattled the countries and emphasized the need to counter the ability of terrorists to execute complex, planned attacks.
Terror in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries led to a refugee crisis of more than 750,000 people seeking asylum.
On Jan. 7, two brothers carrying assault rifles entered offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, where they killed 11 people and injured 11 others. One of the gunmen killed a police officer outside the building.
On Nov. 13, suicide bombings and mass shootings in Paris and a suburb of the city killed 130 people and injured 368. Seven attackers died.
In the United States, a Dec. 2 attack in San Bernardino, Calif., exposed security gaps.
Syed Rizwan Farook, an American of Pakistani descent, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani-born legal U.S. resident, killed 14 people and injured 22 in the shootings inspired by Islamic extremism at a San Bernardino County Department of Public Health training event.
Authorities said the two were radicalized and had discussed jihad and martyrdom online. Malik's social media postings were not reviewed during an immigration screening process.
