Memphis couple to remove references to Michael Oher being adopted as part of legal battle
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A lawyer for the Memphis couple who took in former NFL player Michael Oher when he was in high school said Wednesday that references to Oher being their adopted son will be removed from the couple’s websites and public speaking materials as part of their legal battle...
Inheritance money in dispute after death of woman who made millions off sale of T-rex remainsVideo
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — For years, the massive mostly-intact dinosaur skeleton that came to be known as Sue the T-rex was at the center of a legal battle. The latest dispute involves who inherits what’s left of the money created by the sale of Sue. Fossil hunters discovered the skeleton...
5 journalists were shot in 1 day in Mexico, officials confirm
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president said Wednesday that two of four news photographers who were shot Tuesday are in serious condition, as prosecutors confirmed that a fifth journalist was shot and wounded the same day. The four photojournalists were shot near a military barracks in the southern Guerrero state after...
6-planet solar system in perfect synchrony has been found in the Milky Way
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astronomers have discovered a rare in-sync solar system with six planets moving like a grand cosmic orchestra, untouched by outside forces since their birth billions of years ago. The find, announced Wednesday, can help explain how solar systems across the Milky Way galaxy came to be....
U.S. moves to protect wolverines as climate change melts their mountain refuges, threatens extinction
BILLINGS, Mont. — The North American wolverine will receive long-delayed threatened species protections under a Biden administration proposal released Wednesday in response to scientists warning that climate change will likely melt away the rare species’ snowy mountain refuges and push them toward extinction. Across most of the U.S., wolverines were...
Biden targets GOP Rep. Boebert in her district in a fresh political attack on Republicans
DENVER — President Joe Biden will try to turn Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado into the embodiment of Republican opposition to his agenda as he visits her congressional district Wednesday. The trip comes as Biden struggles with low approval ratings while he prepares for a likely 2024 rematch against former...
Consumer Reports: Electric vehicles less reliable, on average, than conventional cars and trucks
DETROIT — Electric vehicles have proved far less reliable, on average, than gasoline-powered cars, trucks and SUVs, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports, which found that EVs from the 2021 through 2023 model years encountered nearly 80% more problems than did vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines. Consumer...
3 dead, 1 hospitalized in explosion that sparked massive fire at Ohio auto repair shop
HILLSBORO, Ohio — An explosion at an auto repair shop in Ohio that killed three people and sent a fourth person to a hospital sparked a massive fire that burned for hours and spewed thick, black smoke into the air. The Tuesday afternoon blast at Jimbo’s Auto Repair in Hillsboro...
Gay couple in Nepal becomes the 1st to officially register same-sex marriage in the country
KATHMANDU, Nepal — A gay couple in Nepal on Wednesday became the first in the nation to receive official same-sex marriage status. The Himalayan nation is one of the first in Asia to allow it. “After 23 years of struggle we got this historic achievement, and finally Maya and Surendra...
Can Pennsylvania police search my phone during a traffic stop? Here’s what the law says
If you’re driving in Pennsylvania, you might find yourself pulled over by police for a number of reasons. But what happens if law enforcement officers try to look through your cellphone? When you’ve been pulled over, you might feel legally obligated to hand over your phone if a police officer...
Lawmaker helping lead impeachment of Philadelphia’s prosecutor will run for state attorney general
HARRISBURG — A state lawmaker who is helping lead the effort to impeach Philadelphia’s elected prosecutor on Tuesday became the newest candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general, an office that played a critical role in court defending Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the presidential battleground. Rep. Craig Williams, a Republican who...
U.S. military Osprey aircraft with 8 aboard crashes off southern Japan, at least 1 deadVideo
TOKYO — A U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed during a training mission Wednesday off of the country’s southern coast, killing at least one of the eight crew members, the Japanese coast guard said. The cause of the crash and the status of the seven others on board...
U.S. life expectancy rose last year, but it remains below its pre-pandemic level
NEW YORK — U.S. life expectancy rose last year — by more than a year — but still isn’t close to what it was before the covid-19 pandemic. The 2022 rise was mainly due to the waning pandemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said Wednesday. But even with...
Trump embraces the Jan. 6 rioters on the trail. In court, his lawyers hope to distance him from them
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has embraced the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as patriots, vowed to pardon a large portion of them if he wins a second term and even collaborated on a song with a group of jailed defendants. In his election interference case...
Israeli military says 10 Israelis, 4 Thai nationals, have been released by Hamas
JERUSALEM — Hamas released 16 hostages late Wednesday in the last swap for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel under the current Gaza truce, as international mediators raced to seal another extension to allow further exchanges and prolong the halt of Israel’s air and ground offensive. The Israeli military said a...
Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch facing deposition in Smartmatic case
Rupert Murdoch, the former chairman of Fox and News Corp., was set to be deposed Tuesday and Wednesday in connection with the $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit filed by voting technology company Smartmatic. The suit alleges Fox News and its parent company were responsible for amplifying damaging lies about the 2020...
Gas prices have fallen, remained steady 10 weeks straight
NEW YORK — It’s not just you. Across the U.S., prices at the pump have felt milder in recent months. Gas prices have fallen or remained steady since Sep. 19 — marking about a 70-day trajectory of decline, Andrew Gross, spokesperson for motor club AAA, said Tuesday. As of Tuesday,...
Former Pittsburgh man reunites with nephews held hostage by Hamas for over 50 days
It took Ziv Gome four hours to race from Israel’s Eilat to Tel Aviv — roughly the distance from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg — to reunite with his two young nephews, who were released late Monday after being held hostage by Hamas militants for more than 50 days. The trek across...
Rosalynn Carter honored by family, friends, first ladies and presidents — including husband Jimmy
ATLANTA — Rosalynn Carter was being memorialized Tuesday with classical music and beloved hymns, some of her favorite Biblical passages, and a rare gathering of all living U.S. first ladies and multiple presidents, including her 99-year-old husband Jimmy Carter in the front row. The tribute service at Glenn Memorial Church...
Snowstorm slams Erie region, shuts down PennWest Edinboro
Sure, El Niño may be poised to deliver Greater Pittsburgh another warmer-than-usual winter with less precipitation. Up north, the lake effect still rules. An intense snowstorm Tuesday off Lake Erie that is forecast to dump up to 20 inches in Erie County and surrounding areas prompted PennWest University’s Edinboro campus...
Elevator plummets at a platinum mine in South Africa, killing 11 workers and injuring 75
JOHANNESBURG — An elevator suddenly dropped around 656 feet while carrying workers to the surface in a platinum mine in South Africa, killing 11 and injuring 75 — 14 of them critically, the mine operator said Tuesday. It happened Monday evening at the end of the workers’ shift at a...
Putin accuses the West of trying to ‘dismember and plunder’ Russia in a ranting speech
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, in a ranting speech before a presidential election campaign, cast Moscow’s military action in Ukraine as an existential battle against purported attempts by the West to destroy Russia. Putin, who has been in power for more than two decades and is the...
Nikki Haley wins backing from powerful Koch network as she aims to take on Trump
NEW YORK — Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the powerful Koch network, formally endorsed Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign on Tuesday, promising to commit its nationwide army of activists — and virtually unlimited funds — to helping Haley defeat former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary contest. “AFP...
Man who wounded 14 in Pennsylvania elementary school with machete dies in prison 22 years later
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A man imprisoned since 2001 for attacking educators and students in a Pennsylvania elementary school with a machete, wounding 14, has died in prison. William Stankewicz died Monday, Pennsylvania prison officials said. He was 78. Stankewicz was found unresponsive in his cell at the State Correctional Institution...
Ukraine says spy chief’s wife is being treated for poisoning with heavy metals
KYIV, Ukraine — The wife of Ukraine’s intelligence chief has been diagnosed with heavy metals poisoning and is undergoing treatment in a hospital, a spokesperson for the agency said Tuesday as the country’s war with Russia stretched into its 22nd month. Marianna Budanova is the wife of Lt. Gen. Kyrylo...
