Black lawmaker: White man said ‘Go back where you came from’
MABLETON, Ga. — A pregnant African American lawmaker in Georgia said she was verbally attacked in a supermarket Friday by a middle-aged white man who used profanity, called her vulgar names and told her to “go back where you came from” as her 9-year-old daughter looked on. Rep. Erica Thomas,...
What to do about suspicious orders is focus in opioid case
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two Ohio counties are asking a judge to find that drugmakers and distributors were not allowed to ship suspicious orders of controlled substances to pharmacies. If a judge sides with the request from Cuyahoga and Summit counties, it would clear the way for their governments to assert...
Pocket-sized shark squirts glowing clouds from pockets
NEW ORLEANS — A pocket-sized pocket shark found in the Gulf of Mexico has turned out to be a new species. And the mysterious pouches that it’s named for, up near its front fins? Scientists say they squirt little glowing clouds into the ocean. Researchers from around the Gulf and...
Plan to slow Western wildfires would clear strips of land
SALT LAKE CITY — The Trump administration is proposing an ambitious plan to slow Western wildfires by bulldozing, mowing or revegetating large swaths of land along 11,000 miles of terrain in the West. The plan that was announced this summer and presented at public open houses, including one in Salt...
Pilot whales strand on Iceland beach in group of 50 or more
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Tourists and a pilot on a helicopter sightseeing tour of Iceland have found dozens of dead whales on a remote beach in Iceland. David Schwarzhans, a pilot for Reykjavík Helicopters, said he and his passengers counted 50 long-finned pilot whales washed up on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in...
Labor dispute escalates as Pitt declines to comply with subpoena
Relations between officials at the University of Pittsburgh and the leaders of a faculty union drive deteriorated this week after Pitt officials refused to comply with a sweeping subpoena from the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Pitt faculty representatives filed for a union election in January, following a lengthy organizing drive...
Iran says it seized British oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz
Iran said Friday it seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, a fresh escalation in the strategic waterway that has become a flashpoint in tensions between Tehran and the West. The tanker “Stena Impero” was taken to an Iranian port because it was not complying with “international...
Pa. parents told they could lose kids over unpaid school lunches
KINGSTON — A Pennsylvania school district is warning that children could end up in foster care if their parents do not pay overdue school lunch bills. The letters sent recently to about 1,000 parents in Wyoming Valley West School District have led to complaints from parents and a stern rebuke...
Ex-Giants offensive lineman Mitch Petrus dies of heat stroke
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Offensive lineman Mitch Petrus, a walk-on at Arkansas who went on to a three-year NFL career that included a Super Bowl win with the New York Giants, has died. He was 32. Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs said Petrus died of heat stroke Thursday night at...
2 workers die after being trapped in grain silo in Ohio
TOLEDO, Ohio — A shipping business in Ohio says two workers died after they were trapped in a silo filled with grain. The workers became trapped Friday morning inside the silo operated by The Andersons in Toledo. A Toledo fire department spokesman says rescue crews spent nearly two hours trying...
Penn State holds the line on tuition
It may be hot outside, but there’s a slight breeze blowing for thousands of Pennsylvania families awaiting tuition bills from Penn State. Trustees Thursday voted to freeze tuition at its main campus for an unprecedented second consecutive year . The vote called for holding base undergraduate tuition for Pennsylvania residents...
Trump marks Apollo 11 anniversary by meeting its astronauts
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is marking the 50th anniversary of the first human steps on the moon at an Oval Office meeting Friday with former Apollo 11 astronauts. The group includes Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and the family of mission commander Neil Armstrong. They are being briefed on the...
Trump campaign selling plastic straws as alternative to ‘liberal paper straws’
You can now show your support for the president and how you feel about environmental policy while also slurping a cold beverage. Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is offering plastic Trump-branded drinking straws as an alternative to “liberal paper straws” that “don’t work.” They are described as BPA-free, reusable, recyclable and...
Giant Hawaii telescope to focus on big unknowns of universe
Is there life on planets outside our solar system? How did stars and galaxies form in the earliest years of the universe? How do black holes shape galaxies? Scientists are expected to explore those and other fundamental questions about the universe when they peer deep into the night sky using...
Deepfake videos pose a threat, but ‘dumbfakes’ may be worse
Sophisticated phony videos called deepfakes have attracted plenty of attention as a possible threat to election integrity. But a bigger problem for the 2020 U.S. presidential contest may be “dumbfakes” — simpler and more easily unmasked bogus videos that are easy and often cheap to produce. Unlike deepfakes, which require...
Pennsylvania homicide rates flare in July
When tempers flare as the mercury climbs, homicide rates in Pennsylvania do likewise. When the number crunchers at the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts began analyzing statistics for criminal homicide they found the highest percentage of those convicted of the offense between 2014 and 2018 — 11% — were...
Painting, stolen by Nazi soldier, is back in Florence museum
FLORENCE, Italy — A Dutch still-life painting, stolen by retreating Nazis and sent by a German soldier as a present to his wife, came back to a Florence museum on Friday, thanks largely to a relentless campaign by the Uffizi Galleries’ director, a German. The foreign ministers of German and...
Riders stuck for 2 hours on Six Flags coaster in Maryland
BOWIE, Md. — Roller coaster riders were stuck atop a hill for nearly two hours at a Six Flags amusement park in Maryland when the ride malfunctioned. News outlets quote Six Flags America spokeswoman Denise Stokes as saying the ride came to a stop at the top of the lift...
Explosion occurs at gas factory in central China
BEIJING — An explosion Friday evening at a gas factory in central China left two people missing and multiple people injured, state media said. State broadcaster CCTV reported the blast occurred in Henan province around 5:50 p.m. Windows were shattered within 1.9 miles of the blast, and some doors inside...
Man scales down Philadelphia high-rise to escape smoky fireVideo
PHILADELPHIA — A man scaled several floors down the side of a 19-story building in Philadelphia to escape a fire that injured four residents and three police officers. The fire at the Holden Tower apparently began in a trash chute about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, causing flames to shoot out and...
Explosion outside Kabul University kills 8, wounds 33
KABUL, Afghanistan — A powerful bomb exploded outside the gates of Kabul University in the Afghan capital on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding 33, according to police and health officials. Several of the wounded were in critical condition, they said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the...
Trump seeks to disavow ‘send her back’ chant as Democrats call for more securityVideo
WASHINGTON — The morning after chants of “Send her back” rang across one of his campaign rallies, President Donald Trump sought to disavow it, insisting that he “was not happy with it.” Trump made no effort to stop the chanting during his rally Wednesday night in North Carolina. The crowd...
Trump administration has gutted programs aimed at detecting weapons of mass destruction
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has quietly dismantled or cut back multiple programs that were created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to help detect and prevent terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, a Times investigation has found. The retreat has taken place over the last two years at the...
Democratic presidential candidates revealed for upcoming debates
The Democratic National Convention has announced the candidates who have made the cut for debates later this month. CNN will provide live coverage for the debates, which will be held on July 30 and 31 in Detroit. Here’s who will grace the stage: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, former Vice President...
Navy warship sunk by German sub in WWII finally located
CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine — A private dive team has located the last U.S. Navy warship to be sunk by a German submarine in World War II, just a few miles (kilometers) off the coast of Maine. The sinking of the USS Eagle PE-56 on April 23, 1945, was originally blamed...
