Two years after fire, West Newton’s Pizza House reopensVideo
Patrons of the popular West Newton Pizza House have patiently waited for nearly two years to taste their favorite pies again, and some are even willing to wait a day longer. Almost two years to the day that a fire caused major damage to the fourth-generation eatery, it opened for...
Body believed to be missing Utah girl ‘Lizzy’ Shelley is foundVideo
SALT LAKE CITY — A body believed to be a missing 5-year-old Utah girl was found Wednesday less than a block from her home, bringing a wide-ranging search to a grim close five days after the child was taken from her home and killed by her uncle, police said. The...
Louisiana lawmakers send ‘fetal heartbeat’ abortion bill to governor
BATON ROUGE — Louisiana lawmakers on Wednesday passed a strict new abortion ban that would prohibit the procedure before some women even know they are pregnant, joining a half-dozen conservative states with similar measures. In a 79-23 vote, the Louisiana House gave final passage to a bill barring abortion once...
Israel to hold new elections as Netanyahu fails to form a governmentVideo
JERUSALEM — In an unprecedented move, Israel will head to elections for a second time in less than six months after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government before a midnight deadline. Rather than give someone else the chance to do so, he forwarded legislation to dissolve the...
Health care industry resists White House proposal for pricing transparency
WASHINGTON — President Trump is preparing to issue an executive order to foster greater price transparency across a broad swath of the health care industry while consumer concerns about their costs for medical treatment emerge as a major issue in the leadup to next year’s presidential election. The most far-reaching...
Ethiopian pilot pleaded for training weeks before Boeing 737 Max crash
NEW YORK — Just days after a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max nosedived in Indonesia and killed all 189 people aboard, an Ethiopian Airlines pilot began pleading with his bosses for more training on the Max, warning that crews could easily be overwhelmed in a crisis and that one of...
Pennsylvania abortion law unlikely to budge
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has vowed to veto any anti-choice bill that crosses his desk as a wave of new laws limiting abortions floods the country, but his pledge is not stopping state Republicans from working to pass stricter laws. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill this month...
Mueller’s public statement fuels calls for Trump impeachmentVideo
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s first — and possibly last — public statement on the Russia investigation is fueling fresh calls on Capitol Hill to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump, a step that Democratic leaders have so far resisted. Surprising Washington with brief remarks Wednesday, Mueller indicated it’s...
Finance experts call for charter school funding reforms
Echoing complaints of school superintendents across Western Pennsylvania, public school finance experts Wednesday warned that charter school costs are reaching a breaking point for many of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts. Finance experts with the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) said lawmakers must change the way charter costs are...
‘Unexploded device’ in London is just giant Christmas ornament
Officials got a pretty serious scare in east London on Wednesday. However, the large bomb that some people had reported on the banks of the River Thames turned out to be a giant Christmas decoration. The Tower Hamlets bureau of the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the call of a...
Trump urges Roy Moore not to run for U.S. Senate in Alabama
President Donald Trump on Wednesday discouraged Alabama Republican Roy Moore from running for U.S. Senate again in 2020, saying the GOP must regain the once reliably red state and Moore “cannot win.” Moore, who contends establishment Republicans are trying to keep him from running, disputed the assertion saying, “everybody knows...
New Hampshire man bit by rabid bat hiding in iPad case
A New Hampshire man closing his iPad got a big surprise: A bat was wedged between the back of the device and its cover and bit his finger. Roy Syvertson of South Hampton tells WMUR-TV it felt like a bee sting at first. When he realized he was dealing with...
McConnell says he would fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020
When President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to consider him, blocking the nominee until after the year’s presidential election. But with his party in the White House, McConnell said Tuesday he’d try to push through any...
Travelers leave nearly $1 million in TSA bins every year
Stressed passengers cruising through airport security checkpoints are abandoning nearly a million dollars in cash each year. And the Transportation Security Administration has been claiming finders keepers. But now someone else wants that money. The Department of Homeland Security is looking to fund border security and they spotted that $3...
U.S. officials to put off oil leases near sacred tribal land
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has agreed to put off oil and gas leasing for a year on land that tribes consider sacred surrounding Chaco Canyon National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico. Officials say that will allow time to finish an updated management plan to guide...
4 dead, 8 wounded in church van crash in Virginia
FORD, Va. — Virginia state police released the identity Wednesday of a pickup truck driver who allegedly slammed into the back of a church van, killing four people and injuring eight others. Police said the van carrying 11 people was slowing down to make a right turn into a church...
Pa. State Police count 9 deaths in holiday weekend crashes
The Pennsylvania State Police investigated eight fatal crashes over the holiday weekend that killed nine people. While fatalities for the 2019 Memorial Day Holiday were three times higher than the same period in 2018, the actual number of crashes state police investigated declined from 787 last year to 755 this...
Tens of thousands in Ohio without power after twisters
DAYTON, Ohio — Tens of thousands of Ohio residents were still without power or water Wednesday in the aftermath of strong tornadoes that spun through the Midwest. Hospitals in the state reported that nearly 140 people were injured in the storms late Monday night, although only one person was killed...
Alleged $10 million people-smuggling ring busted in Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemalan officials say they have broken up a people-smuggling ring that purportedly moved 800 migrants a year through the country and took in some $10 million doing so. Wednesday’s announcement comes amid a visit by the acting U.S. Homeland Security secretary during which the two countries signed...
Pa. man pleads guilty in blowtorch break-ins, Apple thefts at Target stores
BOSTON — A Pennsylvania man authorities say used a blowtorch to break into Target stores in multiple states and steal nearly $200,000 worth of electronics has pleaded guilty to related charges. The U.S. attorney for Massachusetts says 36-year-old Elijah Aiken pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges including transporting stolen goods across...
Boeing 737 Max likely to be grounded for months
Boeing Co. has begun carefully mapping out the steps to ease its 737 Max back into commercial service once regulators lift a global grounding for its best-selling jetliner. The Chicago-based planemaker is planning the Max’s comeback with airlines in a series of meetings it’s been holding from Miami to Moscow,...
KOA fires white worker who pulled gun on black visitors
JACKSON, Miss. — A white manager of a Mississippi campground has been fired after video showed her holding a gun while telling an African American couple to leave because they did not have a reservation. Kampgrounds of America spokesman Mike Gast said Tuesday that the unidentified manager had been fired...
Snake slithers out of toilet, bites Florida man on arm
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Authorities say a ball python slithered out of a toilet and bit a South Florida man on the arm. Coral Springs police spokesman Chris Swinson said the man was treated at the scene after the 4-foot snake bit him when he lifted the toilet seat on...
Court confirms man’s custody of dog, denies ex-girlfriend
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s supreme court has upheld a ruling granting a man sole custody of his dog, denying his ex-girlfriend’s bid to take the pet. The Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday affirmed that pets are property in confirming a district judge’s decision that the Lab-boxer mix named Honey belongs...
Tornado rips through Kansas City suburbs as storm moves east
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A vicious storm tore through the Kansas City area, spawning tornadoes that downed trees and power lines, damaged homes and injured at least a dozen people in the latest barrage of severe weather that saw tornado warnings as far east as New York City. The latest...
