U.S. News ranks colleges for 2020
College leaders across the country took a deep breath as they opened their email Monday, looking for something to brag about in the new 2020 America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report. The much anticipated annual report that covers about 1,900 colleges and universities purports to identify the...
Cops: Store clerk memorized 1,300 credit card numbers; went shoppingVideo
Try memorizing your credit card number, expiration date and security code. Now, try it in the time it takes to process a sale at the mall. That’s what a store clerk in Japan reportedly did 1,300 times. Then he went online and bought some things for himself. Yusuke Taniguchi, 34,...
Schools face backlash for not reporting threats to parents
RALEIGH, N.C. — When officials at a Catholic high school in South Carolina learned that a 16-year-old student made videos of himself firing a gun and using racial slurs, they alerted police, but not parents. After the videos made it into the news over the summer, the backlash came quickly....
Man dressed as Elmo accused of groping Times Square tourist
NEW YORK — A man dressed as the children’s character Elmo has been charged with groping a 14-year-old girl who posed for a photo with him in Times Square. The New York Post says the man, Inocente Andrade-Pacheco, has denied the allegations through his lawyer. The Post says the 54-year-old...
Man streams chase before Minnesota police fatally shoot him
RICHFIELD, Minn. — Police near Minneapolis shot and killed a driver following a chase after he apparently emerged from his car holding a knife and refused their commands to drop it. The chase started late Saturday night in Edina and ended in Richfield with officers shooting the man, Brian J....
Dorian death toll reaches 44 in the Bahamas as thousands wait to be rescuedVideo
As relief and evacuation efforts ramped up Saturday for the hurricane-scarred islands of Grand Bahama and the Abacos, the Bahamas health minister Duane Sands reported that at least 44 people have died in the Bahamas — though the number is expected to rise with hundreds of people still missing. Some...
Georgia: Search on for 4 missing after cargo ship overturned
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Rescuers scoured the Georgia coast on Sunday for four missing crew members of a cargo ship that overturned and caught fire, but the efforts ran into trouble amid the flames and instability of the ship, the Coast Guard said. The Golden Ray cargo ship’s problems...
Mark Sanford officially launches long-shot bid to take down Donald TrumpVideo
WASHINGTON — Mark Sanford will challenge Donald Trump for the GOP nomination for president — a long-shot bid that will pit him against the Republican establishment around the country and in his home state of South Carolina, where Trump remains extremely popular. Sanford made his decision after several weeks of...
Sheriff: California woman found dead; husband arrestedVideo
SACRAMENTO — California authorities say they have found what they believe to be the remains of a missing woman. The Sacramento Bee reported that the discovery of El Dorado County woman Heather Gumina prompted a homicide investigation by the county sheriff’s office. #Breaking @ElDoradoSheriff arrests Anthony Gumina for the murder...
Mike Pompeo: Taliban ‘overreached’ in attack that killed American soldierVideo
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that Taliban “overreached” with a car bomb attack in Kabul that killed an American soldier, leading President Donald Trump to call off closely-held Afghanistan peace talks planned for Camp David. Pompeo said the Trump administration has recalled envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who...
Man streams chase before Minnesota police fatally shoot him
RICHFIELD, Minn. — Police near Minneapolis shot and killed a driver following a chase after he apparently emerged from his car holding a knife and refused their commands to drop it. The chase started late Saturday night in Edina and ended in Richfield with officers shooting the man, Brian J....
Hospital closings hit hard on the edge of the Rust Belt
WHEELING, W.Va. — Carrie Jones is looking for work for the first time in two decades. She’s even more worried about what will happen to her psychiatric patients. “Where are they going to go?” Jones said. “We’re honestly like their family.” Jones is among nearly 1,100 employees being laid off...
UK worries Brexit could bring ‘chlorinated chicken’ from U.S.
NEW YORK — Could Brexit bring America’s “chlorinated chicken” to the United Kingdom? The European Union has long refused to import poultry from the United States that is routinely rinsed with chemical washes to kill germs. But the United Kingdom’s planned exit from the EU is putting the practice back...
Air Force disputes Alaska crew favored Trump Scottish hotel
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Military officials are disputing a report that claims a joint Air Force and Alaska Air National Guard unit on a routine mission to Kuwait went miles out of their way to spend the night at a resort in Scotland owned by President Donald Trump. Politico first reported...
CDC: Stop kissing, snuggling your chickens
Poultry owners are being advised to avoid infection during moments of affection. The Centers for Disease Control is recommending various methods to limit the spread of salmonella from backyard poultry to humans. The agency says proper hygiene is the key, such as washing hands with soap and water after handling...
Ball caps become wearable works of art for cancer patientsVideo
The trials and tribulations that come with a cancer fight are daunting. A few crafters are doing their part to make it just a bit brighter for those doing battle. Manning work stations inside a meeting room at Excela Square at Latrobe, volunteers select bright, freshly washed silk flowers, attaching...
Dorian topples crane, knocks out power in eastern Canada
TORONTO — Dorian arrived on Canada’s Atlantic coast Saturday with heavy rain and powerful winds, toppling a construction crane in Halifax and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people a day after the storm wreaked havoc on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Residents of Nova Scotia braced for heavy...
Trump calls off secret meeting with Taliban, Afghan leaders
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Saturday he canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders after a bombing this week in Kabul that killed 11 people, including an American soldier, and has called off peace negotiations with the insurgent group. Trump has been under pressure...
3 Germans die in separate incidents climbing Austrian Alps
Three German men have died in separate accidents while hiking in the Austrian Alps, authorities said Saturday. A 60-year-old man who fell while roped to two other climbers near Nassereith in western Austria died Friday, Austria’s APA news agency reported. The man, the three-man team’s lead climber, suffered fatal injuries...
Stranded North Carolinians take stock of Dorian’s damage
NAGS HEAD, N.C. — Skies cleared and floodwaters receded Saturday from North Carolina’s Outer Banks, leaving behind a muddy trail of destruction wrought by Hurricane Dorian, which still was expected to unleash powerful winds in New England and Nova Scotia. Dorian’s worst damage in the U.S. appeared to be on...
Russia and Ukraine trade prisoners, each fly 35 to freedom
MOSCOW — Russia and Ukraine conducted a major prisoner exchange that freed 35 people detained in each country and flew them to the other, a deal that could help advance Russia-Ukraine relations and end five years of fighting in Ukraine’s east. The trade involved some of the highest-profile prisoners caught...
NOAA assailed for defending Trump’s Hurricane Dorian claim
WASHINGTON — Former top officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are assailing the agency for undermining its weather forecasters as it defends President Donald Trump’s statement from days ago that Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama. They say NOAA’s action risks the credibility of the nation’s weather and science agency...
South Carolina, Kansas GOP scrap 2020 presidential preference votes
Republican leaders in South Carolina and Kansas have voted to scrap their presidential nominating contests in 2020, while party officials Nevada were deciding whether to follow suit as the GOP erects more hurdles for the long shots challenging President Donald Trump. Canceling primaries, caucuses and other voting is not an...
Derry Area grad expressed Croatian roots through song, dance
Leann Muchnok Gisvold was strongly attuned to her Croatian roots, a bond she expressed in song. Following the example of her parents, the Derry Township native spent many years performing with the Tamburitzans, a Pittsburgh-based group named after a stringed folk instrument played in Croatia and neighboring Eastern European countries....
Tyler Perry uses private plane to deliver supplies to Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian
Tyler Perry is stepping up to the plate by using his resources to assist relief efforts in the Bahamas during the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. The Category 5 storm devastated the islands, leaving at least 20 people dead, according to The Washington Post. According to TMZ, the actor is using...