Fireworks light up the skies across the U.S. as Americans endure searing heat to celebrate July Fourth
Millions of people in the U.S. celebrated and suffered under heat warnings Thursday as they flocked to beaches and traveled in droves to toast their nation’s birth with July Fourth parades, cookouts and the always anticipated fiery splashes of color in the evening sky. In Washington, neon bursts of light...
Biden heads into a make-or-break stretch for his imperiled presidential campaign
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday opened a critical stretch in his effort to salvage his imperiled reelection campaign, facing a growing sense that he may have just days to make a persuasive case that he is fit for office before Democratic support for him completely evaporates. In the...
The UK election winner only becomes prime minister when King Charles III says so
LONDON — The Labour Party has won Britain’s general election, bringing a new party to power for the first time in 14 years. But Labour leader Keir Starmer didn’t actually become prime minister until a carefully choreographed ceremony on Friday during which King Charles III formally asked him to form...
Starmer vows ‘government of service’ for national renewal as he takes power after Labour landslide
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would lead a “government of service” on a mission of national renewal in his first official remarks Friday after his Labour Party swept to power in a landslide victory after more than a decade in opposition. Starmer acknowledged in his first...
House Democrat is proposing a constitutional amendment to reverse Supreme Court’s immunity decision
WASHINGTON — A leading House Democrat is preparing a constitutional amendment in response to the Supreme Court’s landmark immunity ruling, seeking to reverse the decision “and ensure that no president is above the law.” Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, sent a...
Weather experts predict record-setting temps in U.S. heat wave
PORTLAND, Ore. — A slow-moving and potentially record-setting heat wave is spreading across the Western U.S., the National Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. The Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. also are sweltering, with oppressive heat and...
Ranger injured and armed person making threats dies at Yellowstone, park says
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — An armed person who was making unspecified threats at Yellowstone National Park died and a park ranger was hospitalized following an exchange of gunfire Thursday, authorities said. The shooting happened at Canyon Village, an area in the central part of the park that has a...
The questions about Biden’s age and fitness are reminiscent of another campaign: Reagan’s in 1984
The age question for presidential candidates is more than four decades old. President Ronald Reagan answered it with a pledge to resign if he became impaired, and later with a clever joke that reset his campaign from a stumbling debate performance to a 49-state landslide and a second term. “I...
Biden heads into a make-or-break stretch for his imperiled presidential campaign
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden opened a critical stretch on Thursday in his effort to salvage his imperiled reelection campaign, arguing the stakes extend far beyond his own political prospects to the future of the country’s economy and democracy itself. There is a growing sense that Biden may have just...
Americans shrug off searing heat to celebrate Fourth of July with parades, cookouts and fireworks
The burgers aren’t the only things sizzling this Fourth of July: Millions of people are under heat warnings as large numbers of Americans traveled to toast their nation’s birth with parades, cookouts and fiery splashes of colors against the evening sky. Travel records are projected to fall with people already...
British voters pick a new government against a backdrop of economic malaise and deep pessimism
LONDON — British voters were picking a new government Thursday in a parliamentary election widely expected to bring the Labour Party to power against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric. A jaded electorate is delivering its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi...
Hurricane Beryl churns toward Mexico after leaving destruction in Jamaica and eastern Caribbean
TULUM, Mexico — Hurricane Beryl ripped off roofs in Jamaica, jumbled fishing boats in Barbados and damaged or destroyed 95% of homes on a pair of islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines before rumbling past the Cayman Islands early Thursday and taking aim at Mexico’s Caribbean coast after leaving...
Patrick Bertoletti wins his first men’s title at Nathan’s hot dog eating contest as defending champion Miki Sudo wins women’s division
NEW YORK — Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago gobbled down 58 hot dogs to win his first men’s title Thursday at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. Bertoletti won in a tight, 10-minute race where the leader bounced back and forth. The 39-year-old Bertoletti defeated 13...
Netanyahu will dispatch negotiators to resume Gaza cease-fire talks, an Israeli official says
JERUSALEM — An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will dispatch negotiators to resume Gaza cease-fire talks. The decision on Thursday comes a day after Hamas submitted a new response a a U.S.-backed proposal for a phased cease-fire. The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal...
Vatican chief of staff testifies in UK finance trial, points finger at deputy who escaped unscathed
ROME — Pope Francis’ chief of staff became one of the highest-ranking Holy See officials to testify in a foreign court Thursday, giving a British tribunal a detailed explanation of the negotiations at the heart of the Vatican’s so-called “trial of the century” and pointing a finger at his onetime...
Thousands evacuate as Northern California wildfire spreads, with more hot weather expectedVideo
OROVILLE, Calif. — Firefighters lined roads to keep flames from reaching homes as helicopters dropped water on a growing wildfire Wednesday in Northern California that has forced at least 26,000 people to evacuate, as the state sweltered under extreme heat. The Thompson fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 70...
Man tells jury he found body but had no role in fatal attack on Detroit synagogue leader
DETROIT — A man charged with killing a Detroit synagogue leader during a violent overnight encounter denied any role Wednesday, telling jurors that he never entered her home but had discovered and touched her bloody body outdoors. Michael Jackson-Bolanos repeatedly said “absolutely not” when his attorney asked if he broke...
Longer happy hours, value meals with an adult beverage coming to Pennsylvania
Inflation-weary consumers could soon see changes coming to their favorite drinking establishments that will be gentler on their wallets. Longer happy hours and combo meals that include an adult beverage are among a number of changes to the state’s liquor code included in a bill the House approved on Wednesday...
Colorado dairy worker tests positive for bird flu, 4th person linked to outbreak
A fourth farm worker has been infected with bird flu in the growing outbreak linked to dairy cows, health officials reported Wednesday. The worker had direct contact with infected dairy cows on a northeast Colorado farm, state and federal health officials said. The man developed pink eye, or conjunctivitis, received...
Hurricane Beryl roars by Jamaica after killing at least 6 people in the southeast CaribbeanVideo
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Hurricane Beryl was roaring by Jamaica Wednesday, bringing fierce winds and heavy rain after the powerful Category 4 storm earlier killed at least six people and caused significant damage in the southeast Caribbean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Beryl’s eyewall was “brushing the south coast of...
Biden vows to keep running as signs point to rapidly eroding support for him on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON — A defiant President Joe Biden vowed Wednesday to keep running for reelection, rejecting growing pressure from Democrats to withdraw after a disastrous debate performance raised questions about his readiness to keep campaigning, much less win in November. But increasingly ominous signs were mounting for the president. Two Democratic...
Democrats in Congress are torn between backing Biden for president and sounding the alarm
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance has reverberated across the Democratic Party, forcing lawmakers to grapple with a crisis that could upend the presidential election and change the course of American history. The Democratic president has signaled he’s trying to stay in the race against Republican Donald Trump...
Israeli strike kills another senior Hezbollah commander as diplomats scramble for calm in Lebanon
BEIRUT — An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday killed a senior Hezbollah commander as tensions between the two sides continue to boil, a Hezbollah official told The Associated Press. The strike near the southern coastal city of Tyre took place as global diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent...
To save spotted owls, U.S. officials plan to kill hundreds of thousands of another owl species
To save the imperiled spotted owl from potential extinction, U.S. wildlife officials are embracing a contentious plan to deploy trained shooters into dense West Coast forests to kill almost a half-million barred owls that are crowding out their smaller cousins. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service strategy released Wednesday is...
Greensburg, Southwest Greensburg honor 43 in latest Hometown Hero banner ceremony
Although he didn’t talk about it much, Charles Galbraith was proud of the two years he served in the Army. Galbraith is one of 43 veterans, first responders and local officials who were honored Saturday evening at St. Clair Park with Hometown Hero banners in Greensburg and Southwest Greensburg. Galbraith...
