Officials: 2 killed in natural gas line explosion in Texas
FARMERSVILLE, Texas — Two people were killed and three injured in a natural gas pipeline explosion in Texas, officials said. The deadly blast happened around 4 p.m. Monday at an Atmos Energy facility in Collin County near Farmersville, about 35 miles northeast of Dallas. Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said...
Danny weakens to a tropical depression, heavy rain continuesVideo
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tropical Storm Danny weakened to a tropical depression hours after it made landfall Monday evening on South Carolina’s coast but the system continued to dump heavy rains on the state and portions of Georgia. At 11 p.m. Danny had top sustained wind of 35 mphand was about...
Maricopa County won’t reuse subpoenaed ballot counters
PHOENIX — Maricopa County officials said Monday they’ll never again use voting machines turned over to contractors hired by Arizona Senate Republicans to audit the 2020 election. The county’s Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors responded to Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who said in May that she would seek to...
Aid for schools, overtime rule were key trade in Pennsylvania budget deal
HARRISBURG — A key trade that sealed a budget deal between Gov. Tom Wolf and Republicans who control the Legislature was a $100 million injection of cash into Pennsylvania’s poorest public schools in exchange for the governor backing off a regulatory expansion of eligibility for overtime pay. Wolf, a Democrat,...
Study shows covid vaccines provide immunity for monthsVideo
ST. LOUIS — Washington University researchers on Monday released a study further suggesting that the Pfizer and Moderna covid-19 vaccines offer monthslong protection from the virus. No one had yet studied whether the vaccines create persistent responses in key parts of the lymph nodes, the researchers said. Their data was...
Mexico high court mandates permits for personal marijuana use
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Supreme Court ordered the government Monday to issue permits for the personal use of marijuana and for the growing of limited amounts of pot plants, after the country’s Congress took too long to approve a limited legalization law. In 2019, the court ruled that prohibiting marijuana...
California bans state travel to Florida, 4 other states
SAN FRANCISCO — California added five more states, including Florida, to the list of places where state-funded travel is banned because of laws that discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community, the state attorney general announced Monday. Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta added Florida, Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota and West...
U.S. troops in Syria attacked after airstrikes on militias
WASHINGTON — U.S. troops in eastern Syria came under rocket attack Monday, with no reported casualties, one day after U.S. Air Force planes carried out airstrikes near the Iraq-Syria border against what the Pentagon said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups to support drone strikes inside Iraq. Iraq’s military...
Trump Organization lawyers make last pitch against prosecutionVideo
NEW YORK — Lawyers for the Trump Organization met again Monday with prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in a last bid to forestall a potential indictment stemming from a long-running investigation into the former president’s company. Trump Organization lawyer Ron Fischetti told The Associated Press the meeting came...
Advocates for changes to reapportionment and the statute of limitations vow to fight on
State lawmakers left Harrisburg for the summer last week, but the advocates who clamored unsuccessfully for legislative changes say they aren’t giving up. Two of the most vocal groups — the organizations that promoted legislation on congressional and legislative reapportionment and those who pushed for the adoption of a window...
Former Gov. Tom Ridge discharged from hospital, begins rehab therapy
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who suffered a stroke on June 16, was discharged Sunday from a Washington, D.C., area hospital to begin rehabilitation therapy, according to a Ridge spokesman. In a statement Monday, Ridge spokesman Steve Aaron said the former governor had been “immediately transferred” to a rehabilitation facility...
Driven by pandemic, Venezuelans uproot again to come to U.S.
DEL RIO, Texas — Marianela Rojas huddles in prayer with fellow migrants after trudging across a slow-flowing stretch of the Rio Grande and nearly collapsing when she stepped on American soil for the first time. “I won’t say it again,” interrupts a U.S. Border Patrol agent, giving orders in Spanish...
Icebergs as tall as Eiffel Tower once flowed past Outer Banks to Florida, study finds
A series of mysterious lines carved on the seafloor off North Carolina’s Outer Banks have been identified as “highly unexpected” proof that icebergs once filled the horizon along the East Coast. It is believed the massive chunks of ice drifted up to 5,000 miles from Canada, and could be seen...
Despite warning, town deemed condo building in ‘good shape’
Despite an engineer’s warning of major structural problems, a town building official told board members their Florida high-rise condominium was in “very good shape” almost three years before it collapsed, according to minutes of that meeting released Monday. The Surfside official, Rosendo “Ross” Prieto, was quoted as making those comments...
Plea agreement hearing set for West Virginia woman in Capitol riot
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A plea agreement hearing is set next month for a West Virginia woman accused of taking a “Members Only” sign near the Senate chambers as she accompanied supporters of former President Donald Trump in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The hearing for Gracyn Dawn Courtright...
Yabba dabba dispute resolved: Flintstones house can stay
HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. — Fred Flintstone fought the law — and he won. Technically, the owner of the fanciful Flintstones house in a posh San Francisco suburb settled a lawsuit with the town of Hillsborough. But the agreement will allow Fred and his friends to remain. In a yabba dabba dispute...
Moscow court rejects appeal from imprisoned American
MOSCOW — A Moscow court on Monday rejected an imprisoned American’s appeal against his nine-year sentence for assaulting police officers. The Moscow City Court upheld the sentence issued last year by a lower court, which convicted Trevor Reed for an altercation in August 2019 in Moscow, where he was studying...
Juul to pay $40 million in North Carolina teen vaping suit settlement
DURHAM N.C. — Electronic cigarette giant Juul Labs Inc. will pay $40 million to North Carolina and take more action to prevent underage use and sales, according to a landmark legal settlement announced on Monday after years of accusations that the company had fueled an explosion in teen vaping. A...
Study nixes life in clouds of Venus, but maybe in Jupiter’s?
A new study is throwing cold water on the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus. Scientists from Europe and the U.S. reported Monday there isn’t nearly enough water vapor in the scorching planet’s clouds to support life as we know it. The team looked into the matter following...
Police rescue spooked nude sunbathers from Australian forest
Police have fined two men who had to be rescued from an Australian forest after they were startled by a deer while nude sunbathing on a beach and became lost. The men called for help about 6 p.m. Sunday after they became lost in the Royal National Park south of...
Amish put faith in God’s will and herd immunity over vaccine
When health care leaders in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country began laying out a strategy to distribute covid-19 vaccines, they knew it would be a tough sell with the Amish, who tend to be wary of preventive shots and government intervention. Early on, they posted flyers at farm supply...
Police: Philadelphia officers trying to aid shooting victim fired upon
PHILADELPHIA — Police say officers trying to load the victim of a north Philadelphia shooting into a police vehicle to take him to the hospital came under fire over the weekend. Officers responded to a report of gunshots just before 11 p.m. Sunday and found a 19-year-old man with a...
Puerto Rico to receive nearly $4B in U.S. pandemic funds
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Monday that Puerto Rico will receive nearly $4 billion in federal education pandemic relief funds to help boost the U.S. territory’s fight against covid-19. The announcement was made during Cardona’s official three-day trip to Puerto Rico, the first for...
Religion and free speech among cases justices could add
WASHINGTON — A closely watched voting rights dispute from Arizona is among five cases standing between the Supreme Court and its summer break. But even before the justices wrap up their work, likely later this week, they could say whether they’ll add more high-profile issues to what already promises to...
Polish church reports recent clergy abuse of 368 children
WARSAW, Poland — In its latest report on the sexual abuse of minors, Poland’s Catholic Church says 292 clergymen allegedly abused 368 boys and girls from 2018 though 2020. The report released Monday comes at a time when the Vatican is investigating reports of abuse and of a lack of...
