Marathon swimmer says he quit Lake Michigan after going in wrong direction with dead GPS
A swimmer said two lost batteries spoiled his attempt to cross Lake Michigan on the third day of the extraordinary journey. Jim Dreyer, 60, was pulled from the water last Thursday after 60 miles (96 kilometers). He said he had been swimming from Michigan to Wisconsin for hours without a...
Mini farm animals are adorable. There’s also a growing demand for them
NEW YORK — They’re adorable. They require less food and space. And without much coaxing, they might help cut the grass. Americans are showing more interest in owning miniature cows, goats, donkeys and other diminutive farm animals, a trend driven by hobby farmers looking for easy-to-manage livestock and homesteaders who...
North Dakota voters to weigh in again on marijuana legalization
BISMARCK, N.D. — A ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota has qualified for the November election, the state’s top election official said Monday. That sets up another vote on the issue in the conservative state after voters and lawmakers rejected previous efforts in recent years. North Dakota...
Tropical Storm Ernesto could form soon in the Caribbean. Here’s what the forecast says
More watches and warnings were issued across the Caribbean on Monday as hurricane hunters set out to investigate a system expected to turn into a tropical storm. The future Ernesto will bring heavy rain, flash flooding and other stormy conditions to Puerto Rico, the Virgin islands and a dozen other...
Crews begin demolishing Texas church where gunman killed 26 people in 2017
SUTHERLAND SPRING, Texas — Crews started Monday to tear down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building after some families had sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history. A...
Donald Trump is returning to X for a live interview with Elon Musk
Donald Trump is returning — at least for one night — to do a live interview Monday on X, the platform from which he was banned for nearly two years following the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol. Trump and Elon Musk, X’s owner, are slated to have...
From Biden to Gabbard, here’s what Harris’ past debates show before a faceoff with Trump
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly taunted her opponent’s seeming reluctance to debate, telling a series of raucous audiences about Donald Trump’s criticisms of her: “As the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.” After first backing out of an agreement, Trump...
Harris is pushing joy. Trump paints a darker picture. Will mismatched moods matter?
WASHINGTON — At the top of his first speech as her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz turned to Vice President Kamala Harris and declared, “Thank you for bringing back the joy.” The next day, Harris took the theme a step further, branding the Democratic ticket “joyful warriors.” Contrast that...
Democrats launch 1st paid ad campaign for Harris-Walz ticket in battleground states
With a solidified presidential ticket stumping across the country and a massive amount of money to spend, the Democratic Party is targeting seven critical battleground states with paid advertising for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The Democratic National Committee announced the Harris-Walz advertising push on Monday,...
Top Ukrainian commander says his forces now control almost 390 square miles of Russia’s Kursk region
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s top military commander says his forces now control 386 square miles of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region, the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains of the lightning incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi made the statement in a...
Americans’ refusal to keep paying higher prices may be dealing a final blow to U.S. inflation spike
WASHINGTON — The great inflation spike of the past three years is nearly spent — and economists credit American consumers for helping slay it. Some of America’s largest companies, from Amazon to Disney to Yum Brands, say their customers are increasingly seeking cheaper alternative products and services, searching for bargains...
U.S. beefs up security and orders a missile submarine to the Middle East
WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, the Defense Department said Sunday. The moves come as the U.S. and other allies push...
Fatal weekend shootings jolt growing Denver-area suburb
DENVER — Four men were fatally shot and a woman was hospitalized with gunshot wounds during a spate of weekend violence in the Denver suburb of Commerce City. A person of interest in one of the cases was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot, police said Sunday. Also in...
Mars and Jupiter get chummy in the night sky. The planets won’t get this close again until 2033
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Mars and Jupiter are cozying up in the night sky for their closest rendezvous this decade. They’ll be so close Wednesday, at least from our perspective, that just a sliver of moon could fit between them. In reality, our solar system’s biggest planet and its dimmer,...
Donald Trump’s campaign says its emails were hacked
Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said that it has been hacked and suggested Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents. The campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran’s involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to...
Biden says he dropped out because of risk he would be ‘distraction’Video
President Joe Biden said he ended his reelection bid after hearing from congressional Democrats that he’d hurt their down-ballot chances in November, providing his fullest explanation yet of his decision to drop out. Biden name-checked former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a CBS News interview that hinted at the intra-party...
Debby’s aftermath leaves thousands in the dark; threatens more flooding in the CarolinasVideo
PHILADELPHIA — The weather system previously known as Hurricane Debby was not quite done with parts of the U.S. Sunday as flood warnings remained in effect in North Carolina and thousands were without power in New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. After hitting Florida as a hurricane Aug. 5, the storm...
Israel widens evacuation orders in southern Gaza after a deadly strike on a school-turned-shelter
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military ordered more evacuations in southern Gaza early Sunday, a day after a deadly airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the north killed at least 80 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. The airstrike was one of the deadliest attacks in the 10-month war....
House explosion in Maryland kills 2, damages nearby homes
BEL AIR, Md. — Two people were killed and 12 families displaced after a Maryland house exploded Sunday amid reports of a possible gas leak, fire officials said. Neighbors described feeling and hearing the early morning blast that damaged a number of surrounding houses in Bel Air, a town about...
Early Harris-Walz rallies feature big crowds, talk of ‘joy’ and unsolicited GOP counterprogramming
LAS VEGAS — Big crowds, go-to applause lines, talk of joy — and some unsolicited Republican counterprogramming. These were common themes during the first big campaign swing for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as the new Democratic ticket barnstormed through five battleground states...
Trump reportedly used a slur against Harris in private conversations
Former President Donald Trump reportedly has used a slur often targeted at women to describe Vice President Kamala Harris during at least two private conversations. His campaign denies it. The New York Times cited two people who, on different occasions, heard Trump call Harris a “b—.” The people were granted...
Vance hails Trump’s Fed idea and pushes back against criticism over past words on American families
ATLANTA — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance used a round of Sunday news show appearances to disparage the Democratic ticket and promote Donald Trump’s record and second-term plans and defend himself from criticism over past remarks that have become a campaign issue. The Ohio senator, in a series of...
‘I don’t want to die,’ Uvalde student told 911 dispatcher during mass shooting
DALLAS — As law enforcement officers hung back outside Khloie Torres’ fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas, she begged for help in a series of 911 calls, whispering into the phone that there were “a lot” of bodies and telling the operator: “Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is...
Will Israeli-Palestinian conflict protests, encampments resurface when college resumes?
Alon Leshem, a rising senior at the University of Pittsburgh, is energized to finish his computer science degree and to take secondary field of study courses involving Israel and Palestine. But, like other Jewish students at Pitt and elsewhere, his enthusiasm is tempered by knowing fall could bring renewed pro-Palestinian...
Ferguson officer critically injured at protest on the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown’s death
FERGUSON, Mo. — A Ferguson, Missouri, police officer was critically injured outside the city’s police station during protests on the 10th anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a pivotal moment in the national Black Lives Matter movement, police said Saturday. Ferguson police chief Troy Doyle said Officer Travis...
