Poll: Americans struggle to identify true facts
WASHINGTON — In a sharply divided country, here’s something many Americans agree on: It’s hard to know what’s a true and honest fact. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USA Facts finds that regardless of political belief, many Americans say they have a...
HUD: Homeless veteran numbers drop this year in Pennsylvania
Veteran homelessness in Pennsylvania dropped by nearly 13% in 2019, according to the annual Homeless Assessment Report by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those numbers mirror the national trend, which HUD officials say continues to decline. “In Pennsylvania, we’ve made great strides over the years in our efforts...
Trump returns to Louisiana, trying to flip governor’s seat
BATON ROUGE, La. — Leaving a Washington embroiled in an impeachment drama, President Donald Trump returns to the Louisiana governor’s race Thursday, testing his ability to sway an election by trying to oust a Democratic incumbent. Though Louisiana is a deep red state that Trump won by 20 percentage points,...
Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Patrick announces Democratic presidential bid
WASHINGTON — Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced Thursday he is running for president, making a late entry into the Democratic race less than three months before primary voting begins. In an announcement video, Patrick highlighted his poverty-stricken childhood on Chicago’s South Side, saying he’s running for the “people who...
AP: Data shows upswing in child exploitation cases
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security investigators who uncover child exploitation initiated more than 4,000 cases around the world in the 2019 budget year, resulting in thousands of arrests and the identification of more than 1,000 victims, according to new data obtained by The Associated Press. Their caseloads are growing because of...
Old dogs, new tricks: 10,000 pets needed for scienceVideo
SEATTLE — Can old dogs teach us new tricks? Scientists are looking for 10,000 pets for the largest-ever study of aging in canines. They hope to shed light on human longevity too. The project will collect a pile of pooch data: vet records, DNA samples, gut microbes and information on...
Fact check: GOP presses empty Ukraine meddling theory during impeachment hearingsVideo
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans pressed the discredited theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 U.S. election in defending President Donald Trump in Wednesday’s impeachment hearings. A look at some of the remarks in the House Intelligence Committee proceeding: REP. DEVIN NUNES, top Republican on the panel: “The Democrats cooperated in...
Doctors: Warmer world is unhealthier place for children
WASHINGTON — Children are growing up in a warmer world that will hit them with more and different health problems than their parents experienced, an international report by doctors said. With increasing diarrhea diseases, more dangerous heat waves, air pollution and increases in mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and...
As rockets rain down, Israel intensifies its strikes in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli aircraft struck Islamic Jihad targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Wednesday while the militant group rained scores of rockets into Israel for a second straight day as the heaviest round of fighting in months showed no signs of ending. The death toll rose to...
Georgia executes man for store clerk’s killing in 1994
JACKSON, Ga. — A man convicted of killing a Georgia convenience store clerk 25 years ago was put to death late Wednesday night, authorities said. Inmate Ray Jefferson Cromartie, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:59 p.m. Wednesday after an injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson, authorities said...
Venice ‘on its knees’ after second-worst flood ever recordedVideo
VENICE, Italy — The worst flooding in Venice in more than 50 years prompted calls Wednesday to better protect the historic city from rising sea levels as officials calculated hundreds of millions of euros in damage. The water reached 6.14 feet above average sea level Tuesday, the second-highest level ever...
Court rejects Trump’s appeal in fight over financial records
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court will not take up President Donald Trump’s appeal of a ruling that his accounting firm must turn over financial records to Congress. The order was handed down Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. It is almost certain...
Study: Water onboard most U.S. airlines is unsafe, refrain from washing hands
Do you opt drink coffee or hot tea while flying the friendly skies? Well, you might want to reconsider that. According to a recent study highlighted by People.com, many of the U.S.’s top airlines are not providing safe drinking water. The 2019 Airline Water Study, which was conducted by DietDetective.com...
Rescue: ‘Unicorn’ puppy doesn’t notice ‘tail’ growth on headVideo
JACKSON, Mo. — A rescued puppy is attracting a lot of attention because of his resemblance to a unicorn. The nearly 10-week-old puppy, named Narwhal, has a tail-like appendage growing from his forehead. Narwhal was rescued over the weekend and sent to Mac’s Mission in Jackson, which specializes in fostering...
U.S. government says Roger Stone ‘undermined’ Russia inquiry
WASHINGTON — Republican political operative Roger Stone undermined the effectiveness of the congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by repeatedly and deliberately lying under oath to help Donald Trump’s presidential campaign avoid embarrassment, prosecutors told jurors in closing arguments at his trial Wednesday. Defense attorneys countered that...
Florida hunter thought he would die in the swamp when gator attacked himVideo
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Hours after an alligator bit James Boyce on the leg deep inside a swamp, the avid hunter had resigned himself to dying. He made his goodbyes with his wife, Terisa. They had tightened their belts around his thigh as a tourniquet, but he was bleeding...
Dauphin County resists Pennsylvania’s push for new voting machines
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania county is signaling that it won’t go along with Gov. Tom Wolf’s insistence that counties buy new voting systems as a security measure in 2020’s election, when the state is expected to be a premier presidential battleground. Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries said Wednesday that he’s...
Maryland police identify, charge suspect in fatal Popeyes stabbing
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Police say they have identified and charged a suspect wanted in the fatal stabbing of a man outside a Popeyes restaurant in Maryland. The Prince George’s County Police Department said in news release Tuesday that 30-year-old Ricoh McClain is wanted on murder charges in the death...
People keep stealing hemp, thinking it’s weed
UPPER MAKEFIELD — People see the serrated leaves and the fuzzy buds from afar, but it’s the familiar smell wafting over the field that seals the deal. They pack a not-so-brilliant idea into their heads and scramble to yank the hardy plants right from the soil. Back home, they light...
Florida woman fails bar exam twice, starts law firm anyway
A Florida woman who failed the Bar exam twice — and has yet to pass it — was audacious enough to start her own law firm. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Roberta Guedes, 40, could end up facing prison time after federal prosecutors say that she used the name...
Diplomats describe Trump’s effort to hijack Ukraine policy for his political benefitVideo
WASHINGTON — Career U.S. diplomats delivered solemn testimony Wednesday about the Trump administration’s alleged misconduct in Ukraine — including a previously undisclosed cellphone call in which President Donald Trump appeared to personally press a senior State Department official to pressure the Eastern European nation. As the historic public impeachment proceedings...
Mt. Pleasant nurse loved volunteering, telling a great story
Patricia Miller wanted to take care of others, whether it was her medical career, volunteering at the local food bank or caring for her mother. “She went to school at Westmoreland County Community College and wanted to be a nurse because she had seen the love and care our family...
Scientists rediscover chevrotain, a mouse-deer animal, in Vietnam forestVideo
A woodland creature that has not been seen in 30 years and thought lost to science has been photographed in the wild for the first time. The silver-backed chevrotain, also called the Vietnamese mouse-deer, was last recorded in the 1990s. The animal, a deer-like species that is the size of...
FBI investigating Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration over Mariner East pipeline permits
HARRISBURG — The FBI has begun a corruption investigation into how Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration came to issue permits for construction on a multibillion-dollar pipeline project to carry highly volatile natural gas liquids across Pennsylvania, The Associated Press has learned. FBI agents have interviewed current or former state employees in...
Watch live: Diplomats testify on Trump impeachmentVideo
WASHINGTON — For the first time a top diplomat testified Wednesday that President Donald Trump was overheard asking about “the investigations” he wanted Ukraine to pursue that are central to the impeachment inquiry. William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, revealed the new information as the House Intelligence Committee...
