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...
UN report says nature is in worst shape in human history
Nature is in more trouble now than at any other time in human history, with extinction looming over 1 million species of plants and animals, scientists said Monday in the United Nations’ first comprehensive report on biodiversity. It’s all because of humans, but it’s not too late to fix the...
SpaceX shipment reaches space station after weekend launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX shipment arrived at the International Space Station on Monday following a weekend launch. The Dragon capsule delivered 5,500 pounds of equipment and experiments. Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques used the station’s big robot arm — also made in Canada — to capture the Dragon approximately...
Pa. agencies collect 39K pounds of medication in Take Back Day
More than 39,000 pounds of unwanted prescription medication was collected in Pennsylvania during the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Take Back Day last month. That amount was collected at 323 sites coordinated by 234 local police agencies across the state. The DEA holds National Take Back Days in the spring and...
Michael Cohen heads to prison in hush-money scheme
NEW YORK — Michael Cohen, the former lawyer, media attack dog and all-around fixer for President Donald Trump, is scheduled to begin serving a three-year prison sentence Monday for crimes including campaign finance violations related to hush-money payments made on President Donald Trump’s behalf. Cohen faces a 2 p.m. deadline...
Markets swoon after Trump threatens to hike China tariffs
BANGKOK — World markets swooned Monday after President Donald Trump threatened to increase tariffs on imports from China at a time when investors were expecting trade tensions to subside. The CAC 40 in France lost 2.2% in early trading to 5,428.65 while Germany’s DAX skidded 2.1% to 12,150.16. London’s markets...
Kraft Heinz restates earnings over period of 2+ years
PITTSBURGH — Kraft Heinz is restating its financial results for the years 2016, 2017, and for the first nine months of 2018. The company said in February that it was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission over its procurement operations. Kraft Heinz Co. said in a regulatory filing...
Another body found at Illinois factory; death toll reaches 3Video
WAUKEGAN, Ill. — Search and recovery personnel found the body of another worker Sunday in the rubble of a northern Illinois silicone factory that exploded and burst into flames two days earlier, bringing the death toll to three employees with one more body believed to be in the debris, a...
White House announces new military assets in Middle East
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is sending an aircraft carrier and a bomber task force to the Middle East, the White House said Sunday, in a show of force aimed at Iran. “In response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings, the United States is deploying the...
Texas 12-year-old charged in fatal shooting of brother, 10
CONROE, Texas — Authorities say a 12-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of his 10-year-old brother in Texas. The Montgomery County sheriff’s office says deputies on Saturday afternoon responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting in Conroe, about 40 miles north of Houston. Authorities...
Trump surprises officials with nomination of Mark Morgan to head ICEVideo
WASHINGTON — President Trump announced his choice to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sunday, tapping a former FBI official who frequently appears on cable news advocating for the president’s immigration policies. In a tweet, Trump called Mark Morgan, who briefly ran the U.S. Border Patrol under President...
North Carolina officer slain in traffic stop; suspect deadVideo
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — A police officer conducting a weekend traffic stop was fatally shot in North Carolina, authorities said Sunday, adding the suspected gunman was found dead in his nearby apartment from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officer Jordan Harris Sheldon, 32, was shot around 10 p.m. Saturday in the Charlotte...
Muslim society: ‘Disturbing’ video of children wasn’t vettedVideo
A video showing children speaking in Arabic about sacrifice and chopping off heads wasn’t vetted before being posted on the Facebook page for the Muslim American Society’s Philadelphia chapter, and it does not represent their values, the executive director of the national group said Sunday. Executive Director Ayman Hammous said...
Israel steps up strikes as Gaza rocket attacks intensifyVideo
JERUSALEM — Gaza militants fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel on Sunday, killing at least four Israelis and bringing life to a standstill across the region in the bloodiest fighting since a 2014 war. As Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes, the Palestinian death toll rose to 23, including two...
Trump reverses, now says Robert Mueller should not testify before CongressVideo
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller should not testify before Congress, reversing course from his previous position that the decision is up to Attorney General William Barr. “Bob Mueller should not testify,” Trump said in an afternoon tweet. “No redos for the Dems!” Trump also...
Pressure grows to loosen party grip on Pennsylvania primary
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania: Land of Disenfranchisement? It’s not the state slogan, but Pennsylvania is in the minority of states with closed primary elections as the number of independent voters grows quickly and sparks a debate in Pennsylvania’s Legislature for the first time in memory about opening up party primaries. It...
Longtime McKeesport Daily News sports editor covered kids, pros
For more than three decades, Norman Vargo wrote about everything from high school volleyball to Super Bowls. He was there to chronicle the Pittsburgh Steelers’ dynasty in the 1970s, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ World Series title in 1979 and the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup runs in the early 1990s. As the...
