Authorities: Woman pulls gator from pants during stop – May 7, 2019
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Sheriff’s officials say a Florida woman pulled a small alligator from her yoga pants during a traffic stop. The Charlotte County sheriff’s deputy stopped a pickup truck Monday afternoon after it ran a stop sign and 22-year-old driver Michael Clemons told him he and his 25-year-old...
Stories sought about lives affected by opioid use disorder
A website started by a Penn State University professor is seeking stories from those whose lives have been affected by an opioid addiction. The story can be about a person’s own substance abuse or from another person’s perspective, such as a family member or friend. The website, ShareYourOpioidStory.com, is a...
Art therapy helps people explore and resolve many issues
Larry Beaver of Jeannette is known in area art circles as the creator of beautiful pastels. His work is showing in “Trance,” a solo retrospective exhibition running through June 9 at You Are Here Gallery in Jeannette. He’s also been featured in shows in the Latrobe and Greensburg art centers,...
Build more activity into your day using the NEAT way
While writing this paragraph, I stood up and sat back down five times, swiveled in my chair, walked to the kitchen to make a pot of tea, brushed my dog, made my bed and performed at least six seated leg crisscrosses with my feet raised a good 12 inches off...
Avocados are ‘nutrient dense’ with healthy fat, B-vitamins
I laugh when I remember what George Burns, in his role as God in a 1997 film, said about avocados: “Made the pits too big.” Probably not a mistake at all, say those who muse on such things. Native avocado trees in South America had to compete with larger trees...
Art therapy professionals receive master’s level training
“Art therapy is a master’s level training program used in mental health counseling and social work,” says Dana Elmendorf, program director of the Seton Hill University Graduate Art Therapy Program. Art making is a technique used by some mental health professionals in working with their clients, but art therapy is...
Denver voters to decide legalizing ‘magic mushrooms’
DENVER — Voters decide this week whether Denver will become the first U.S. city to decriminalize the use of psilocybin, the psychedelic substance in “magic mushrooms.” A citizen-led initiative appearing on ballots Tuesday follows a path that led to marijuana’s legalization in Denver and later in Colorado. Campaign organizers, though,...
Philadelphia commission probing ‘disturbing’ video
A Philadelphia city commission said Monday it’s investigating an event last month at which Muslim children were captured on video speaking in Arabic about beheadings and the liberation of Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site. The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations launched a probe into the April 17 gathering at the...
IUP professor named as a Fulbright scholar, headed to Honduras
An Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor has been named a Fulbright scholar and will spend the upcoming academic year seeking out new species of amphibians and reptiles and supporting conservation efforts in Honduras. Josiah Townsend, an associate professor at IUP, was chosen as a 2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant recipient....
Hundreds of former federal prosecutors: Trump would’ve been charged if not presidentVideo
More than 500 former federal prosecutors who worked in Republican and Democratic administrations have signed on to a statement asserting special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings would have produced obstruction charges against President Trump — if not for the office he held. The statement — signed by myriad former career government...
Mnuchin rejects Democrats’ demand to hand over Trump’s tax returns, all but ensuring legal battleVideo
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday told House Democrats he would not furnish President Trump’s tax returns despite their legal request, the latest move by Trump administration officials to shield the president from congressional investigations. Mnuchin, in a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal,...
Gun rights activists fill state Capitol for Second Amendment rally
HARRISBURG — Gun rights advocates packed the rotunda of the Pennsylvania Capitol on Monday for an annual Second Amendment rally, pushing their legislative priorities and cheering a call for the Pittsburgh mayor’s impeachment. Gun owners roared when the event’s organizer, Republican Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, announced that he will ask fellow...
Democrats set to hold AG Barr in contempt over Mueller reportVideo
WASHINGTON — A House committee is poised to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress — the opening salvo in what could be a lengthy, acrimonious court battle between House Democrats and President Trump’s administration over special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler scheduled...
Survey shows ongoing rebound for Chesapeake’s blue crabs
BALTIMORE — Blue crabs are rebounding in the Chesapeake Bay, with an annual survey showing the highest estimates of the clawed critters in seven years. The dredging survey released Monday is the latest sign of a healthy crab population and welcome news for fisherfolk in America’s largest estuary and those...
Trump again falsely claims Puerto Rico received billions more in federal disaster aid than it actually did
President Trump again falsely inflated the amount of federal disaster Puerto Rico has received since Hurricane Maria struck in 2017, saying the island “should be very happy” about the federal response. In two tweets Monday, Trump wrote, “Puerto Rico has been given more money by Congress for Hurricane Disaster Relief,...
Prom night slayings lead to life terms for suburban Philadelphia man
BRISTOL — A man has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms without possibility of parole in the murders of two men during a prom night altercation last spring in suburban Philadelphia. Nineteen-year-old Joseph Williams was convicted of killing Zyisean McDuffy and Tommy Ballard, both 19, during an argument in...
Meet the T. rex cousin who you could literally look down on
WASHINGTON — History’s most frightening dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurus rex, came from a long line of pipsqueaks. Scientists have identified a new cousin of the T. rex as a dinosaur that only reached the 3-foot height of a toddler. If it stretched its duck-billed head, an adult human maybe “would be...
Pickup flattens California trailer home: 3 killed, 1 hurt
KNIGHTS LANDING, Calif. — Police say three family members sleeping in their trailer home have died and a girl was seriously injured after a suspected drunk driver plowed his pickup truck into the home. The California Highway Patrol says 33-year-old Ismael Huazo-Jardinez was driving “at a high rate of speed”...
Spain rescues over 400 migrants at sea in 3 days
MADRID — Spain’s maritime rescue service says that it has saved hundreds of migrants during the last three days trying to make the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. The service says on Monday that it pulled 416 people from 10 different boats its rescue craft intercepted starting on Saturday....
Microsoft offers software tools to secure elections
Microsoft announced an ambitious effort it says will make voting secure, verifiable and more transparent with open-source software. Two of the three top U.S elections vendors have expressed interest in potentially incorporating the software into their voting systems. The software kit is being developed with Galois, an Oregon-based company separately...
Alexa has been eavesdropping on you this whole time
Would you let a stranger eavesdrop in your home and keep the recordings? For most people, the answer is, “Are you crazy?” Yet, that’s essentially what Amazon has been doing to millions of us with its assistant Alexa in microphone-equipped Echo speakers. And it’s hardly alone: Bugging our homes is...
Democrats set contempt vote for Barr over Mueller report
WASHINGTON — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler on Monday scheduled a vote this week to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress, escalating the battle between the Democrat-led House and President Donald Trump over special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Nadler is proposing to hold Barr in contempt...
U.S. warns China, Russia over Arctic amid environmental shifts
ROVANIEMI, Finland — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the Trump administration is moving to assert America’s presence in the Arctic. He’s warning China and Russia that the U.S. won’t stand for aggressive moves into the region that’s rapidly opening up to development and commerce as temperatures warm and...
Showers again are part of colorful scenes at Kentucky Derby
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Funny how the threat of rain changes priorities for Kentucky Derby spectators. For sure, scores of women wearing big, colorful hats dotted the landscape at Churchill Downs on Saturday. Men in straw hats sported brightly hued suits they bring out once a year, sipping the Bluegrass...
At least 55 dead after fuel tanker truck explodes near crowd
NIAMEY, Niger — Authorities in the West African nation of Niger say at least 55 people are dead after a tanker truck filled with fuel exploded near the country’s main airport. President Issoufou Mahamadou called the explosion a “national tragedy” after visiting a hospital where dozens were wounded, some with...
