At least 20 hurt as explosion rocks South Florida shopping center
PLANTATION, Fla. — An explosion at a Plantation shopping center injured 15 to 20 people, before noon Saturday, in a loud blast that could be felt for miles around. “We did find a ruptured gas line under the rubble but I can’t tell you exactly where it came from,” Plantation...
Royal baby Archie christened at private Windsor ceremony
LONDON — The youngest member of Britain’s royal family, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was christened at Windsor Castle on Saturday in a private ceremony — too private for some royal fans. The 2-month-old son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was baptized in a private chapel at the castle west...
Intensifying downpours threatening America’s biggest estuary
CONOWINGO, Md. — When the Conowingo Dam opened to fanfare nearly a century ago, the massive wall of concrete and steel began its job harnessing water power in northern Maryland. It also quietly provided a side benefit: trapping sediment and silt before it could flow miles downstream and pollute the...
Mackenzie Lueck’s body has been found, police say
Investigators have discovered the body of Mackenzie Lueck, the 23-year-old El Segundo, Calif., woman who was presumed dead after she was reported missing in Salt Lake City last month. Authorities had initially believed that the man arrested in connection with Lueck’s death, 31-year-old Ayoola Ajayi, had burned her body in...
Explosion causes partial collapse of dorm at Nevada university
LAS VEGAS — A utilities explosion Friday at the University of Nevada, Reno caused the partial collapse of a dormitory building and at least minor injuries, authorities said. Photos posted to social media showed extensive damage spanning multiple floors of the dormitory. Windows were blown out and debris appeared to...
San Francisco: More homeless living in vehicles in the city
SAN FRANCISCO — Most homeless people in San Francisco sleep in parks and on sidewalks but a growing number are living out of their vehicles, helping fuel an overall 17% increase in homelessness in the last two years, according to a report released Friday. San Francisco tallied about 8,000 homeless...
Texas police identify ice cream licker as juvenile girl
LUFKIN, Texas — Police in East Texas say a teenager from San Antonio is suspected of taking a tub of ice cream from a Walmart freezer, removing the top to lick the ice cream and then returning it to the freezer. Blue Bell Creameries said in a statement that it...
Grandpa accidentally gives nurses cannabis cake as ‘thank you’
It’s the thought that counts, right? An elderly man brought a group of nurses at a hospital in England a ‘thank you’ present for caring for a relative. However, what he didn’t know was the cake he presented them with was laced with cannabis, the BBC News reports. It turns...
Fungus that causes deadly disease in bats detected in California
The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats has now spread to California, although officials caution that the disease itself is not affecting bat populations there. White-nose syndrome, a disease that affects bats while they’re hibernating, was first detected in a single cave in New York in 2006 and was...
Trump weighs executive order to add census citizenship query
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday he is “very seriously” considering an executive order to try to force the inclusion of a citizenship question as part of the 2020 Census. Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House for a weekend in New Jersey, Trump said the idea...
Authorities: Woman sprays would-be car thief with gasoline
CONYERS, Ga. — Authorities say a Georgia woman at a gas station doused a man in gasoline as he tried to steal her car. WSB-TV reports the woman was pumping gas in her car Thursday outside Atlanta when the man approached the passenger door undetected. The woman noticed the man...
Gunfire ignites fireworks in family car, injuring children
HOUSTON — Two young Houston-area children are in critical condition following an argument between their father and another motorist who fired into their family car and ignited fireworks that caused the car to be engulfed in flames. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says a “road rage incident” led to the...
Man with knife stabs 3 people inside Virginia plasma center
PETERSBURG, Va. — A man stabbed three people at a Virginia plasma center while patrons were donating blood, according to authorities. News reports said one person suffered life-threatening injuries after an unidentified man with a machete attacked people inside the Octapharma Plasma center in Petersburg, Va., on Thursday. “The suspect...
Aftershocks following Southern California earthquake
LOS ANGELES — The strongest earthquake in 20 years shook a large swath of Southern California and parts of Nevada on the July 4th holiday, rattling nerves and causing injuries and damage in a town near the epicenter, followed by a swarm of ongoing aftershocks. The 6.4 magnitude quake struck...
Coast Guard searching for man who fell from Carnival ship
MIAMI — The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a 37-year-old man who apparently fell overboard from the cruise ship Carnival Victory. The agency says it was notified Thursday that a Carnival cruise ship crewmember fell overboard about 30 miles northwest of Cuba. The Coast Guard sent an airplane crew...
Police: More than dozen trampled in Chicago July 4 stampede
CHICAGO — Police said a false report of gunfire set off a stampede that trampled more than a dozen people at Chicago’s annual July 4 fireworks display Thursday at Navy Pier, where thousands of revelers had crowded the Lake Michigan shore. Three others were stabbed when a fight broke out...
PETA finds name of rural road in Idaho distasteful, asks for change
BOISE, Idaho — Chickens are friends for some people, dinner for others. Sometimes both. But one animal rights group feels that the name of a rural road in the Treasure Valley region isn’t kind to poultry. PETA sent out a news release this week alerting Idaho media that it has...
Boy rescued after falling into Indiana drain during fireworks
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Authorities say a young boy watching fireworks in Indiana was rescued after failing more than 20 feet into a water-filled drain pipe. A crowd watched as rescuers in Evansville lowered a swing-set seat into the pipe and pulled him up Thursday night. TV station WFIE reports that...
Police: Fisherman finds human leg with sneaker on in river
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia police say a fisherman found part of a human leg with a sneaker on it in the Delaware River. The leg was discovered around 8 p.m. Thursday. But it’s not clear how it got into the river or how long it had been in the water. Authorities...
1 dead, several injured when lightning strikes near South Carolina river
GEORGETOWN, S.C. — Authorities say lightning struck at a popular river gathering spot in South Carolina on Independence Day, killing a man and injuring as many as a dozen other people. Resident Edward Williams tells WCSC-TV that a group of people had been boating on the Black River near Lawshe...
Agriculture, Pennsylvania’s No. 1 industry, supported through new state farm bill
Whether it’s an experienced farmer who wants to get into hemp production or a young farmer who needs access to farmland, there’s seemingly something for everyone in the new Pennsylvania Farm Bill. Gov. Tom Wolf’s signing of the $23.1 million farm bill — a series of legislative initiatives within the...
Bahamas police: 7 Americans killed in helicopter crash
NASSAU, Bahamas — A helicopter carrying seven Americans to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., crashed Thursday off Grand Cay island in the Bahamas, killing everyone on aboard, Bahamian police said. A statement from the Royal Bahamas Police Force said the helicopter went missing shortly after leaving Big Grand Cay and authorities and...
Trump sticks to patriotic themes at Fourth of July event
WASHINGTON — President Trump celebrated “the greatest political journey in human history” Thursday in a Fourth of July commemoration before a soggy, cheering crowd of spectators, many of them invited, on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial. Supporters welcomed his tribute to the U.S. military while protesters assailed him for...
Best way to fight climate change? Plant a trillion trees
WASHINGTON — The most effective way to fight global warming is to plant lots of trees, a study says. A trillion of them, maybe more. And there’s enough room, Swiss scientists say. Even with existing cities and farmland, there’s enough space for new trees to cover 3.5 million square miles,...
Michigan Rep. Justin Amash quitting Republican Party
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, the only Republican in Congress to call for impeachment proceedings against President Trump, said Thursday he is leaving the GOP because he has become disenchanted with partisan politics and “frightened by what I see from it.” In an opinion article published...
