Man traveling from Colombia ingests 246 bags of cocaine, dies midflight
A passenger of Japanese origin died midflight from Colombia to Japan after ingesting hundreds of bags of cocaine, authorities said. The man, identified only as Udo N., 42, began suffering seizures Friday on the flight, prompting an emergency landing in Hermosillo, a city in Sonora, Mexico, authorities said. Upon landing,...
Service members wear ‘Make Aircrew Great Again’ patches at Trump rally
President Donald Trump visited service members abroad the USS Wasp docked in Japan on Tuesday at the end of his 4-day trip to the country. He wished “Happy Memorial Day” to 1,000 sailors and Marines and service members from other branches at the address. “I have to wish you all...
Chicago officer recorded asking teen for sex is fired
CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer who allegedly asked a 17-year-old girl for sex in return for getting her mother’s impounded car released by the city has been fired. The Chicago Tribune reports that the city’s police board agreed with Superintendent Eddie Johnson’s recommendation to fire Officer Darius Alexander in...
Petition launched to bring back Heinz ketchup to Kennywood
Sometimes, you just have to take a stand. In an effort to get Heinz ketchup back at Kennywood Park, Will Koz — at least that’s the username — is doing just that. Koz launched a Change.org petition to restore the park’s condiment situation. “In the past few months Kennywood Park...
Michigan State chooses Stony Brook president as next leader
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr., a medical researcher who has led Stony Brook University in New York for nearly a decade, was named Tuesday as the next president of Michigan State University in the wake of the most extensive sexual abuse scandal in sports history. Stanley was...
MacKenzie Bezos pledges half her fortune to charity
NEW YORK — MacKenzie Bezos, who finalized her divorce from Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos earlier this year, is pledging to give away half her fortune to charity. The novelist said Tuesday that she signed The Giving Pledge, a campaign to get the ultra-wealthy to pledge at least half...
Court details woman’s spending spree: $20M at Harrods, $38K on chocolates
LONDON — Court documents reveal that a woman suspected by British authorities of having ill-gotten wealth spent $760,000 in one day at upmarket department store Harrods and once forked out $38,000 on chocolates. Zamira Hajiyeva is the first person subject to an Unexplained Wealth Order, which allows British authorities to...
Supreme Court declines to review Pennsylvania policy supporting transgender students
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a Pennsylvania school district’s policy letting transgender students use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities. Without comment, the court declined to review an opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit that upheld the...
Supreme Court upholds Indiana abortion law on fetal remains
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is upholding an Indiana law that requires abortion providers to dispose of aborted fetuses in the same way as human remains. But the justices are staying out of the debate over a broader, blocked provision that would prevent a woman in Indiana from having an...
Heat forces South Carolina bridge to close for several hours
SULLIVANS ISLAND, S.C. — The extreme heat that’s been scorching the Deep South prompted the closure of a swinging bridge to a South Carolina beach town for several hours. The state Department of Transportation says the heat caused the steel in the Ben Sawyer Bridge to Sullivans Island to expand,...
3 people die in Pennsylvania ATV wrecks over holiday weekend
ALLENTOWN — Three people died in accidents involving all-terrain vehicles over the Memorial Day weekend in Pennsylvania. A 45-year-old North Wales man died early Monday when his ATV overturned on a road in Foster Township, Luzerne County. On Sunday, a 54-year-old man and a 52-year-old man died in Triumph Township,...
Report: Pennsylvania must do more to help Chesapeake Bay
NORFOLK, Va. — A nonprofit that tracks pollution in the Chesapeake Bay is once again lambasting Pennsylvania for not doing enough to protect the nation’s largest estuary. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation released a report Tuesday that says Pennsylvania’s plan to reduce pollution is “woefully inadequate.” States are tasked with keeping...
City Hall for sale? Scranton might sell municipal building
SCRANTON— Everyone complains that City Hall is for sale but it might soon be the case in a Pennsylvania city. City Hall in Scranton needs a renovation, and the mayor’s administration is considering putting the 130-year-old structure up for sale rather than footing the nearly $11 million bill to fix...
‘Unacceptable state of affairs’ as at least 42 shot in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend
CHICAGO — At least 42 people were shot, five fatally, in Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend even as severe storms kept people indoors and 1,200 extra officers patrolled the streets. The toll was slightly higher than last year’s Memorial Day weekend, when 39 people were shot, seven of them...
While you’re sleeping, your iPhone stays busy
It’s 3 a.m. Do you know what your iPhone is doing? Mine has been alarmingly busy. Even though the screen is off and I’m snoring, apps are beaming out lots of information about me to companies I’ve never heard of. Your iPhone probably is doing the same - and Apple...
Commentary: UFOs exist, and everyone needs to adjust to that fact
The term “UFO” automatically triggers derision in most quarters of polite society. One of Christopher Buckley’s better satires, “Little Green Men,” is premised on a George F. Will-type pundit thinking that he has been abducted by aliens, with amusing results. UFOs have historically been associated with crackpot ideas like Big...
Is climate change to blame for booming tick population? Will diseases increase?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the number of tick-borne diseases is increasing at a record pace while the geographic range of ticks continues to expand. Lyme disease is the most commonly-known tick-borne disease, but other diseases, such as ehrlichiosis and STARI, have been discovered and the...
Thousands of kindergartners unvaccinated without waivers
COLUMBUS, Ohio — States are heatedly debating whether to make it more difficult for students to avoid vaccinations for religious or philosophical reasons amid the worst measles outbreak in decades, but schoolchildren using such waivers are outnumbered in many states by those who give no excuse at all for lacking...
Normandy tries to keep alive ‘infinite gratitude’ for D-Day
SAINTE-MERE-EGLISE, France — At 10 years old, Henri-Jean Renaud watched U.S. paratroopers landing through the window of his Normandy home in the early hours of D-Day. Like other French who lived through the war, he’s trying to pass on to younger generations the gratitude he feels. With fewer veterans and...
Trump wishes ‘happy Memorial Day’ to U.S., Japanese troops
ABOARD THE USS WASP — President Donald Trump on Tuesday wished “Happy Memorial Day” to U.S. service members aboard an American assault ship docked in Japan. They shouted “U.S.A. U.S.A.” Trump called them a “tough bunch of people” and dubbed them “daring and mighty warriors in the Pacific.” The president...
Overnight Ohio tornadoes leave trail of destruction
BROOKVILLE, Ohio — A rapid-fire line of apparent tornadoes tore across Indiana and Ohio overnight, packed so closely together that one crossed the path carved by another. There were no immediate reports of any deaths or serious injuries in the twisters, among 52 tornadoes that may have touched down Monday...
More younger women are having heart attacks — steps to minimize risk
Younger women are experiencing an alarming increase in heart attacks. According to research published last fall in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, women ages 35 to 54 accounted for 31% of the hospitalizations for heart attacks in 2014, up from 21% in 1995. Though heart disease is often seen...
Prevent illness by preventing tick bites
Ready or not, ticks are out. Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness, but it’s not the only concern, says Dr. Bobbi Pritt, a parasitic diseases expert at Mayo Clinic. “There are other tick-borne diseases like anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Powassan virus and Borrelia miyamotoi infection, and those are just diseases...
Brain health app is helping workers stay focused
John Ciferno constantly worries about the safety of his employees. The majority of the 60 or so workers at Ciferno Well Services in Rostraver are truck drivers, some of whom work over-long shifts. “It’s easy for drivers to get fatigued,” said Ciferno, who has owned the company for almost two...
Judge rules attacker of Brazil’s Bolsonaro is mentally ill
RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazilian judge ruled Monday that the man charged with nearly killing far-right President Jair Bolsonaro during a campaign event last year should not be punished because he is mentally ill. Adelio Bispo de Oliveira was charged with stabbing the then presidential candidate in September at...
