Trump’s invective at John McCain dismays some Republicans
WASHINGTON — Casting aside rare censure from Republican lawmakers, President Donald Trump aimed new blasts of invective at the late John McCain , even claiming credit for the senator’s moving Washington funeral and complaining he was never properly thanked. By the time the president began his anti-McCain tirade in Ohio...
Migrants encounter snafus with new U.S. asylum policy
SAN DIEGO — Scheduling glitches led an immigration judge to deny the Trump administration’s request to order four Central American migrants deported because they failed to show for initial hearings Wednesday in the U.S. while being forced to wait in Mexico. The judge’s refusal was a setback for the administration’s...
‘Full House’ to big house in college scheme? Experts differ
BOSTON — Could Aunt Becky be headed to prison? It could go either way, experts say. Some of the wealthy parents accused of paying bribes to get their kids into top universities may get short stints behind bars, if convicted, to send a message that the privileged are not above...
Forecasters: ‘Potentially historic’ flooding threatens South
Scientists are warning that historic flooding could soon deluge parts of several Southern states along the lower Mississippi River, where floodwaters could persist for several weeks. The flood threat in the South will be discussed Thursday, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases its 2019 spring outlook. Experts plan...
Pennsylvania lawmakers attempt to head off transportation funding problems
A state lawmaker announced Wednesday that she will lead an effort to address Pennsylvania’s looming transportation crisis and the possible $50 million annual revenue loss for the next three decades. Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee Chair Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, said during a news conference at the Capitol that the funding challenges...
Anti-vaxxers attacked Western Pa. pediatricians. Study shows how they fought back.
When Dr. Todd Wolynn published a YouTube video on his Kids Plus Pediatrics Facebook page touting the HPV vaccine as a cancer prevention tool, he had no idea he was opening the floodgates to a world of anti-vaccine internet warriors. Wolynn, a pediatrician and the CEO of the practice with...
On heels of scandals, USC announces new president
LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California on Wednesday announced a new school president to usher “a new era” following a series of high-profile scandals that culminated last week with a massive college admissions bribery case. Carol Folt, former chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,...
Minnesota’s famed winter isn’t what it used to be
MINNEAPOLIS — Bundled up against the icy cold and drifting snow, Don Olson has tended the trail of a popular cross country ski race in Minnesota for years. Fixing problem spots on the Vasaloppet’s route often meant braving the freezing temperatures and frigid winds that have always defined this state....
AP PHOTOS: Remembering the Exxon Valdez oil spill
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — It was just after midnight on March 24, 1989, when an Exxon Shipping Co. tanker ran aground outside the town of Valdez, Alaska, spewing millions of gallons of thick, toxic crude oil into the pristine Prince William Sound. The world watched the aftermath unfold: scores of herring,...
New Zealand bans sales of assault weapons
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced an immediate ban Thursday on semi-automatic and automatic weapons like the ones used in the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch that killed 50 worshippers. The man charged in the attack had purchased his weapons legally using a standard firearms license...
As Southern California cougars near ‘extinction vortex,’ a radical rescue plan emerges
LOS ANGELES — The future is looking increasingly bleak for some Southern California mountain lions. Urban encroachment, inbreeding, vehicle strikes, rat poison and wildfire have all taken their toll on cougars living in the Santa Monica and Santa Ana mountains. Now, research published Wednesday suggests there’s an almost one-in-four chance...
European, Canadian regulators plan own reviews of Boeing 737 Max
Boeing’s grounded airliners are likely to be parked longer now that European and Canadian regulators plan to conduct their own reviews of changes the company is making after two of the jets crashed. The Europeans and Canadians want to do more than simply take the Federal Aviation Administration’s word that...
Acting Pentagon chief’s links with Boeing under investigation
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department’s independent watchdog has opened an investigation into allegations that acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan violated ethics rules by taking actions to promote Boeing after leaving the aerospace company and accepting a top job at the Pentagon. The Department of Defense inspector general, in a statement...
Dolphins poisoned by algae showed signs of Alzheimer’s-like brain disease
MIAMI — Toxins produced by blue-green algae that have increasingly polluted Florida waters have been found in dead dolphins that also showed signs of Alzheimer’s-like brain disease, according to a new study led by University of Miami researchers. The study, published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, is the...
Smallest and farthest worlds ever explored by NASA are really weird
HOUSTON — In recent months, NASA has explored the smallest object ever orbited and the most distant body ever encountered — and found that both worlds are weirder than anyone could have imagined. The 800-foot-wide asteroid Bennu, which is being studied by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, produces strange plumes of dust...
Federal judge blocks 2nd Kentucky abortion law within days
FRANKFORT, Ky. — For the second time in days, a federal judge on Wednesday issued an order temporarily blocking a new Kentucky law aimed at imposing more restrictions on abortion. U.S. District Judge David J. Hale granted another temporary restraining order sought by the American Civil Liberties Union in its...
Pa. mother describes role in daughter’s murder, dismemberment
PHILADELPHIA — In a calm, emotionless voice, Sara Packer described watching her boyfriend murder her 14-year-old daughter, Grace, in 2016. She admitted to participating in the crime — the kidnapping, rape, killing, dismemberment and disposal of an adopted child she said she thought of as “a nonentity.” Packer said she...
Jimmy Carter gets new title: Oldest living former president
ATLANTA — When Jimmy Carter left office in 1981, the return home to Plains, Ga., was not easy. His once-flourishing farming business was more than $1 million in debt, and he faced the prospect of selling the land his family had been on for 150 years. Then a friend pointed...
Militant groups use New Zealand mosque shootings to spread hate
Militant groups are using the attacks at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, to spread a message of hate, pushing a narrative that says the West is at war with Islam and Muslims worldwide, security officials and experts say. Al-Qaida, the Islamic State and other groups have cited the massacre,...
One dead in officer-involved shooting at State College apartment complex
A State College police officer shot and killed a man Wednesday at the Marvin Gardens apartment complex on Old Boalsburg Road in the borough, authorities said. The name of the deceased wasn’t immediately released. Borough and Pennsylvania state police rushed to the residential property around 2 p.m. as nearby public...
Trump says Islamic State territory in Syria nearly eliminated
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Wednesday the last pocket of the Islamic State’s land in Syria will be liberated by U.S.-backed forces “by tonight.” Trump has previously announced the defeat of the group, but sleeper cells of fighters have re-emerged. With no signs of fighting Wednesday, however, the long-running battle...
Stranded seafaring raccoon rescued by police, wildlife officialsVideo
BRADENTON, Fla. — A seafaring Florida raccoon found itself in a predicament Wednesday. The plucky little land mammal became stranded on a channel marker in Sarasota waters, according to the Sarasota Police Department. The department’s marine patrol unit received a request for help from Mote Marine Lab workers who noticed...
Reading Eagle files for bankruptcy protection, seeks buyer
READING — The family-owned company that has published the Reading Eagle newspaper for more than 150 years is filing for bankruptcy protection and seeking a buyer. The Reading Eagle Co., whose other properties include news-talk radio station WEEU and a weekly newspaper, said Wednesday it will continue to publish and...
Trump attacks John McCain again, saying he didn’t get ‘thank-you’ for approving funeral
WASHINGTON — President Trump continued Wednesday to attack the late Sen. John McCain, even as a growing number of Republican senators rose to McCain’s defense, calling him a war hero and a patriot — although most were careful not to criticize the president directly. During a White House event at...
Britain’s Theresa May asks EU for 3-month Brexit delay
LONDON — One thousand days after British voters said they wanted to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May conceded Wednesday that she now must ask EU leaders to delay Brexit for three months — because Parliament has failed to pass her unloved deal for departure. Standing in the...
