Stargazers, the Super Pink Moon is coming
Get ready, stargazers, the year’s first supermoon is set to light up the skies on Monday. And not only will it be super, but it also will be pink. Well, in name only. Traditionally, April’s full moon is called the Pink Moon. Not because it will cast a pinkish hue...
Russian’s Navalny to end prison hunger strike
MOSCOW — Imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he is ending his hunger strike after getting medical attention and being warned by his doctors that continuing it would be life-threatening. In an Instagram post on Friday afternoon, the 24th day of his hunger strike, Navalny said he will continue to...
Russian troops start pulling back from Ukrainian border
MOSCOW — Russian troops began pulling back to their permanent bases Friday after a massive buildup that caused Ukrainian and Western concerns. On Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared the sweeping maneuvers in Crimea and wide swaths of western Russia over, and ordered the military to pull the troops...
SpaceX launches 3rd crew in under year, fly on reused rocket
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched four astronauts into orbit Friday using a recycled rocket and capsule, the third crew flight in less than a year for Elon Musk’s rapidly expanding company. The astronauts from the U.S., Japan and France should reach the International Space Station early Saturday morning, following...
Albuquerque seeks $200K from Trump campaign for security
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has referred former President Donald Trump’s campaign to a collection agency over nonpayment of a bill related to security costs for a campaign rally he held in 2019. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said the bill for $211,175.94 covers security costs stemming...
Low on beds, oxygen, India adds global high 314,000 coronavirus casesVideo
NEW DELHI — India reported a global record of more than 314,000 new infections Thursday as a grim coronavirus surge in the world’s second-most populous country sends more and more sick people into a fragile health care system critically short of hospital beds and oxygen. The 314,835 infections added in...
Explosion at New Hampshire gender reveal party rocks several towns
KINGSTON, N.H. — One New Hampshire family’s gender reveal party was definitely a blast. Kingston police said they received reports of a loud explosion Tuesday that could be heard in several towns and as far away as Massachusetts. They responded to Torromeo quarry where they found people who acknowledged holding...
Man pleads guilty in fatal shootings of 8 from Ohio familyVideo
A man pleaded guilty in the murders of his child’s mother and seven other members of her family on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of when the shootings were discovered in southern Ohio. Edward “Jake” Wagner pleaded guilty to 23 counts in Pike County court in a deal with prosecutors that...
Amy Coney Barrett’s big book deal is called bad optics for Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s reported $2 million book deal is drawing criticism from legal experts who say its size and timing create bad optics for a court that is already in the political crosshairs. The advance, first reported by Politico, would be the largest ever...
Research on shaken baby syndrome helps free 15-year inmate
A California man imprisoned for 15 years in the death of his month-old son is free after prosecutors and a judge agreed that the scientific research underlying what was once called “shaken baby syndrome” has changed significantly in recent years. Clifton Jones, 45, was released this month from Soledad State...
Countering Biden, GOP pitches $568B for infrastructureVideo
WASHINGTON — A group of Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled a public works proposal with a much smaller price tag and a narrower definition of infrastructure than what President Joe Biden has proposed, highlighting the stark differences between the two sides that will be difficult to bridge in the coming...
Authorities believe remains are those of missing Amish teen Linda StoltzfoosVideo
LANCASTER — Authorities strongly believe that remains found a day earlier in a grave along railroad tracks in southern Pennsylvania are those of a young Amish woman who disappeared last summer, a county prosecutor said Thursday. Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams told a news conference that a coroner has...
Senate passes bill, 94-1, targeting hate crimes against Asian AmericansVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved a bill designed to make it easier for law enforcement to investigate hate crimes against Asian Americans, which have surged amid the covid-19 pandemic. In a rare, if fleeting, moment of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, senators approved the bill 94-1. Republican Sen. Josh...
Consumer Reports tricks Tesla to drive with no one at wheel
Consumer Reports said Thursday it was able to easily trick a Tesla into driving in the car’s Autopilot mode with no one at the wheel. Its test came just days after a Tesla crashed in Texas, killing the two men in the car. Authorities say neither of the men were...
Russia orders troop pullback but keeps weapons near Ukraine
MOSCOW — Russia’s defense minister on Thursday ordered troops back to their permanent bases following massive drills amid tensions with Ukraine, but said they should leave their weapons behind in western Russia for another exercise later this year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the Russian pullback along their border. After...
Dog accidentally highjacks car, takes ‘spin’ down the street in Canada
A dog in Canada somehow managed to highjack a car. The pooch apparently knocked the car out of park as he waited for his owner while alone in the vehicle, resulting in a very much unplanned spin down a street in Edmonton. The Edmonton Journal reports that the incident took...
Covid-19 hospitalizations tumble among U.S. senior citizens
WASHINGTON — Covid-19 hospitalizations among older Americans have plunged 80% since the start of the year, dramatic proof the vaccination campaign is working. Now the trick is to get more of the nation’s younger people to roll up their sleeves. The drop-off in severe cases among people 65 and older...
High court moves away from leniency for minors who murder
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court made it easier Thursday to sentence minors convicted of murder to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a ruling that reflects a change in course driven by a more conservative group of justices. In a dissent, a liberal justice accused her colleagues of...
D.C. statehood approved by House as Senate fight looms
WASHINGTON — A decades-long movement to reshape the American political map took a further step Thursday as the House of Representatives approved a bill to make the nation’s capital the 51st state. Voting along party lines with minority Republicans in opposition, the House approved the bill 216-208. That’s likely the...
China, Russia join U.S. vowing emission cuts at climate summit
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden convened leaders of the world’s most powerful countries on Thursday to try to spur global efforts against climate change, drawing commitments from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to cooperate on cutting emissions despite their own sharp rivalries with the United States....
Supreme Court cuts back FTC power to seek ill-gotten gains
WASHINGTON — A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday cut back the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to recover ill-gotten gains, overturning a nearly $1.3 billion award against a professional race car driver who was convicted of cheating consumers through his payday loan businesses. The high court’s ruling takes away what the...
Turkey probes cryptocurrency exchange for possible $2B fraud
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation into a cryptocurrency exchange Thursday over allegations it may have defrauded some 390,000 investors of an estimated $2 billion. The office of Istanbul’s chief prosecutor said it was probing the Thodex cryptocurrency exchange following complaints from users who could not access their...
Police: Rite Aid employee steals more than $38K in lottery tickets in Jackson Township
A 29-year-old Pennsylvania woman is facing felony theft charges after she allegedly stole more than $38,000 in lottery tickets while she was working at a Rite Aid in Jackson Township. Danielle Elaine Miller, of the first block of Lawson Court, West Manchester Township, is charged with theft by unlawful taking...
Prototype of first U.S. dollar coins going up for auction
A piece of copper that was struck by the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1794 and was a prototype for the fledgling nation’s money will go up for auction Friday. Businessman and Texas Rangers co-chairman Bob Simpson owns the item, which is known as the “No Stars Flowing Hair Dollar.”...
Woman injured when turtle crashes through windshield on Florida highway
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It’s not unusual for rocks and other debris to crash through a windshield and injure a driver or passenger — but a turtle? A 71-year-old woman riding with her daughter on Florida’s Interstate 95 suffered a gashed forehead Wednesday when a turtle smashed through the windshield...
