Trump family to get red-carpet royal treatment on UK visit
LONDON — It’s a unique odd couple: A 93-year-old sovereign who has made a point of keeping her opinions to herself during her long reign is hosting a 72-year-old reality TV star-turned-president who tweets his uncensored thoughts daily to 60 million followers. For Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s unflappable monarch, the...
Virginia Beach attacker notified boss of plans to leave job
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The gunman who opened fire inside a Virginia Beach government building, killing 12 people, had notified a superior of his intention to leave his job, officials said Saturday. The assailant, who worked as a civil engineer, was an employee “in good standing” in his department, said...
Huge cruise ship plows into tourist boat, dock in Venice
VENICE, Italy — A towering, out-of-control cruise ship rammed into a dock and a tourist river boat on a busy Venice canal on Sunday morning. Italian media reported that at least five people were injured in the crash. The collision happened about 8:30 a.m. on the Giudecca Canal, a major...
Pa. minimum-wage hike may be big horse trade in Capitol
HARRISBURG — June in Harrisburg is when mayflies swarm from the Susquehanna River and the state Capitol teems with lobbyists and politicians horse-trading over the tens of billions of dollars that will keep Pennsylvania ticking for another year. This year, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage might be the biggest horse traded. Raising...
White House: Trump ‘deadly serious” about Mexico tariffs
WASHINGTON — A top White House official said Sunday that President Donald Trump is “deadly serious” about slapping tariffs on imports from Mexico but acknowledged there are no concrete benchmarks being set to assess whether the U.S. ally was stemming the flow of migrants enough to satisfy the administration. “We...
Rare color footage brings D-Day memories alive, 75 years onVideo
WASHINGTON — Seventy-five years ago, Hollywood director George Stevens stood on the deck of the HMS Belfast to film the start of the D-Day invasion. The resulting black-and-white films — following Allied troops through Normandy, the liberation of Paris, Battle of the Bulge, the horror of the Dachau concentration camp...
Did ‘silencer’ make a difference in Virginia Beach carnage?
The shooter who killed 12 people in a government office building in Virginia Beach used a firearm equipped with a suppressor that muffles the sound of gunfire. It’s the nightmare scenario that gun-control advocates have warned about amid efforts in recent years to ease restrictions on the devices, which they...
China vows military action if Taiwan, sea claims opposed
SINGAPORE — China’s defense minister is warning its military will “resolutely take action” to defend Beijing’s claims over self-ruled Taiwan and disputed South China Sea waters. Speaking at an annual security conference in Singapore on Sunday, Wei Fenghe says: “Should anybody risk crossing the bottom line, the PLA will resolutely...
It took 66 million years, but ‘Nation’s T. rex’ is home
FORT PECK RESERVOIR, Mont. - A long time ago, in a part of this state that is now arid desert but was then humid swampland, an egg hatched. It was the beginning of an epoch-spanning life story that continues still, beginning a new chapter this week in the nation’s capital....
Exhibits, panels, opera, more for Stonewall 50th anniversary
NEW YORK — If it’s Pride Month, there’s gotta be a parade. And there will be — in New York City and places around the country and world. But this year, the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising that fueled the fire for a global LGBTQ movement, there’s also a...
Trump’s trade wars with China, Mexico signal turning point for U.S. policy
President Trump’s plan to slap new tariffs on Mexican imports, weeks after escalating his trade war with China, leaves the United States fighting a multifront campaign that threatens more instability for manufacturers, consumers and the global economy. The president’s bombshell announcement that he would impose 5% tariffs on Mexican imports,...
Woman taking photos dies in plunge off California waterfall
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A woman plunged to her death down a Northern California waterfall after she slipped and lost her footing while taking photos, authorities say. The woman died Friday at Eagle Falls, the North Tahoe Fire Protection District said in a statement. Water cascades 150 feet (45...
Rillton woman turned passion for cooking, baking into profession
Alice Ogg loved to cook, bake and make candy — so much so she turned her passion into a profession. She operated her candy and catering business, Alice’s Candy, from her Rillton home in the 1970s and 80s. “She made the candy during the holidays — Christmas and Easter. She...
Hogan will not challenge Trump, leaving president’s GOP critics with limited options
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who was considering an insurgent White House bid that would have championed traditional GOP values, will not challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican Party’s 2020 nomination. “I’m not going to be a candidate for president in 2020,” Hogan said in an interview. Hogan’s choice dashes...
Catfish, rice, Navy ships: Cochran spending leaves legacy
JACKSON, Miss. — Former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran was a master of the federal budget process, quietly shrugging off criticism about pork-barrel spending while directing billions of dollars back to his home state of Mississippi. Cochran died Thursday at age 81. He was the 10th longest-serving senator in U.S. history...
Texas struggles to keep pace as thirst for water intensifies
DALLAS — About 1,000 people arrive in Texas each day, drawn by jobs, newly built homes and other opportunities. But in a state where prolonged drought is a regular occurrence, officials are struggling to ensure they can sate everyone’s thirst. Water experts are trying to determine how “resilient” the state’s...
Voter surge in 2018 prompts voting reforms, restrictions
ATLANTA — New York voters for years have experienced some of the longest wait times in the nation on Election Day. Attempts to fix the problem routinely became casualties of the divided politics of the state Legislature. That dynamic changed last November, when Democrats won majorities in both legislative chambers,...
A list of the 12 killed in a shooting in Virginia Beach
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Twelve people were killed in a shooting Friday at a Virginia Beach municipal building. On Saturday, city officials named them, showed their photos, and gave details of their lives during a news conference. Eleven of the twelve were city employees; one was a contractor. The victims...
Arrest in 43-year-old murder case stuns Wisconsin town
LAKEWOOD, Wis. — Word of the arrest — via a friend’s text message — hit Wayne Sankey like a thunderbolt. “I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me,’” Sankey recalled. “And then I told the wife and she couldn’t believe it. ‘There’s no way,’ she said. ‘Ray down the road?’” Ray...
Officials ID Virginia Beach gunman as city employee
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The gunman who killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal building was identified by police Saturday as a 15-year city employee who had served in the military and was described by neighbors as quiet and rarely smiling. Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera identified the...
Defense chief calls out China on tech theft, South China Sea
SINGAPORE — U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Saturday denounced China’s efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarize man-made outposts in the South China Sea as a “toolkit of coercion,” saying activities by Beijing the U.S. perceives as hostile must end. In his first major speech on...
Record floods breach Arkansas levee, overtop 2 in Missouri
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Relentless flooding in the central U.S. on Friday inundated communities and damaged or spilled over levees on three major rivers in two states, and authorities discovered the body of a drowning victim at a Missouri lake. The fast-flowing Arkansas River smashed a 40-foot hole in a...
Frank Lucas, druglord portrayed in ‘American Gangster,’ dies
NEW YORK — Frank Lucas, the former Harlem drug kingpin whose life and lore inspired the 2007 movie “American Gangster,” has died, a relative said Friday. Lucas, who was 88, died Thursday in New Jersey, nephew Aldwan Lassiter said. Lucas had been in declining health, according to his former lawyer....
LA Times seeks access to grand jury transcripts in Nipsey Hussle murder case
LOS ANGELES — A public defender representing the man accused of killing rapper Nipsey Hussle is seeking to keep transcripts from his grand jury hearing secret until after his trial. In a motion filed late Thursday, Deputy Public Defender Lowynn Young sought an immediate hearing, arguing that unsealing the transcripts...
Pilgrim shutdown ends nuclear power era in Massachusetts
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth has permanently shut down after 47 years of generating electricity, bring to a close the era of nuclear power in Massachusetts. The final shutdown occurred at 5:28 p.m. Friday. Entergy announced in 2015 it would retire Massachusetts’ only remaining reactor,...
