PHILADELPHIA

Pope Francis confirms visit to the City of Brotherly Love

A pontiff who has long championed humble acts is coming to the City of Brotherly Love.

Pope Francis confirmed Monday that he will make his first papal visit to the United States with a trip to Philadelphia next September for the World Meeting of Families, a conference held every three years in a different city to celebrate the importance of family.

Francis’ announcement ended months of lobbying and speculation. It will be the second papal visit to Philadelphia – John Paul II celebrated Mass in the city in 1979 – and the first papal visit to the United States in eight years.

BERNALILLO, N.M.

Middle school teacher faces charge of threatening boy

A New Mexico middle school teacher faces charges that he threatened a student with a knife for talking during a pop quiz, police said Monday.

Bernalillo Police Chief Tom Romero said Benjamin Nagurski was arrested Friday after school officials took him out of the classroom following the bizarre exchange.

According to a criminal complaint, the 63-year-old math teacher threatened a student with the knife and told him to stop talking to another student. Nagurski was jailed on $10,000 bail.

WASHINGTON

China, Saudi Arabia fuel surge in foreign students

Foreign students are entering U.S. colleges and universities in surging numbers, according to a report released Monday, with China and Saudi Arabia helping to fuel an 8 percent annual increase in international enrollment.

There were 886,052 foreigners enrolled in U.S. higher education in the 2013-2014 school year, the Institute of International Education and the State Department said in a report called “Open Doors.” The total rose more than 66,000 compared with 2012-2013, the eighth straight year of growth.

FCC head urges spending more on Internet in schools

The United States should spend $1.5 billion more a year to make sure every child has access to high-speed Internet connections at school, the head of the Federal Communications Commission said Monday. The proposal, endorsed by the Obama administration, would increase slightly the fees consumers pay each month on their phone bills.

If approved by the commission next month, the FCC would be allowed to spend as much as $3.9 billion a year to wire schools and libraries in low-income or rural areas with broadband connections that educators say are crucial to modern classrooms.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler estimates the average consumer or business would pay roughly $1.90 extra a year per phone line.

NEW YORK

Police hunting suspect who shoved man into train’s path

Police on Monday hunted for the man who shoved a stranger off a subway platform to his death Sunday and released surveillance footage of the suspect walking calmly away from the station.

Wai Kuen Kwok, 61, was standing with his wife on the platform at the Grand Concourse and East 167th Street station in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx when he was pushed from behind. Kwok was struck by a southbound D train about 8:40 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene.

There was no indication that Kwok knew the man or had had any interaction with him before he was pushed, police said. His wife said she did not recognize the man. The suspect fled the station and hopped on a city bus, police said..

—From news service reports

Copy the Story Link