Video: Tractor trailer narrowly misses crushing several first responders at Texas highway pileupVideo
Talk about a near miss. A tractor trailer narrowly missed crushing several first responders at the scene of a major pileup on Highway 84 in Lubbock County, Texas on Friday. Video captured by NBC-affiliate KCBD, which happened to be on the scene, shows crew wearing neon vests scrambling for their...
Texas sheriff: 2 dead, multiple shot in music video ‘ambush’
HOUSTON — Two people were shot and killed and multiple others were wounded when a group filming a music video was “ambushed” near Houston, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. After holding a media briefing in which he said two people were killed and four wounded, Gonzalez in a tweet...
US judge calls for retrial of 1 count in Texas attack
PHOENIX — A U.S. judge refused to toss out the entire case against a Phoenix man convicted of providing guns and training two friends who attacked a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest outside Dallas but said he should be retried on a a single count of transporting weapons across state lines....
Man who made 27,000 crosses for shooting victims is retiring
AURORA, Ill. — An Illinois man who made more than 27,000 crosses to commemorate victims of mass shootings across the country is retiring. Greg Zanis came to realize, after 23 years, his Crosses for Losses ministry was beginning to take a personal and financial toll on him, according to The...
Philly refinery, a big polluter, shut down 6 months ago. So, do we have cleaner air?
PHILADELPHIA — The vast Philadelphia Energy Solutions refining complex was the single largest stationary source of air pollution in the city before it shut down after a catastrophic June 21 fire. So it would be reasonable to assume the city’s air quality has improved in the six months since the...
DJ Don Imus, made and betrayed by his mouth, dead at 79
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Disc jockey Don Imus, whose career was made and then undone by his acid tongue during a decades-long rise to radio stardom and an abrupt public plunge after a nationally broadcast racial slur, has died. He was 79. Imus died Friday morning at Baylor Scott and...
Active Greensburg retiree set pace for her family
Sidonia Peruzzi had an independent spirit and a drive that was seemingly boundless. “She was a very energetic person,” said daughter Victoria Waugaman of Hempfield. “She had more stamina than I do.” In her 80s, Mrs. Peruzzi was no longer able to drive her yellow Volkswagen Beetle, but that didn’t...
Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls increasing for 12th straight year
Motorists using the Pennsylvania Turnpike will pay more in tolls starting Jan. 5, marking the 12th straight year the Turnpike Commission has raised prices to help it cover state-mandated payments to PennDOT. The commission said tolls are going up 6% next year, but they’re actually increasing more because the commission...
Man in ‘I Believe’ hat swipes $250, tip jar on Christmas in Philadelphia
Police in Philadelphia are looking for a thief who sported a hat that said “I Believe” as he swiped a tip jar stuffed with $250 on Christmas Day. Yalli Avitan at first thought an employee had moved the jar to empty it during the Christmas dinner rush at her family’s...
Prosecutors in day spa prostitution sting turn up the heat on Patriots owner Robert Kraft
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida prosecutors just raised the stakes in New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s fight against prostitution charges. It’s been nearly a year since the 78-year-old part-time Palm Beach resident paid for sex acts at a Jupiter massage parlor likened to a brothel. But now lawyers for...
GPS tool to help restore dwindling Pa. ruffed grouse populationVideo
As the population of the state bird collapses, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced a new GPS tool to identify prospective locations to restore numbers of ruffed grouse. Population decline has been blamed on West Nile virus killing the birds and the scarcity of young forests, according to the Game Commission....
Tina Turner mural defaced at North Carolina record store
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Employees at a record store in North Carolina say a mural of pop star Tina Turner has been defaced with a red swastika. The Citizen Times reported Thursday that the mural is outside Static Age Records in downtown Asheville. Store owner Jesse McSwain said someone unconnected to...
Berks County crash kills 81-year-old man, his adult daughter
A crash on a highway in Berks County killed an 81-year-old man and his adult daughter. The crash on Route 422 in Heidelberg Township occurred around 12:30 p.m. Thursday, when a car driven by Richard Raihl was trying to turn onto Route 422 West. The vehicle and a pickup truck...
About a dozen hurt in blast at Beechcraft plant in Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. — More than a dozen people were injured Friday when a nitrogen line ruptured at the Beechcraft aircraft manufacturing facility in Wichita, Kansas, causing part of the building to collapse, authorities said. Daniel Wegner, deputy fire chief for Sedgwick County, said the explosion happened at around 8 a.m....
‘Tough year’ for measles and other infectious diseases in U.S.
NEW YORK — This year, the germs roared back. Measles tripled. Hepatitis A mushroomed. A rare but deadly mosquito-borne disease increased. And that was just the United States. Globally, there was an explosion of measles in many countries, an unrelenting Ebola outbreak in Africa and a surge in dengue fever...
Man demands money from bank teller — then gives it back, North Carolina cops say
RALEIGH, N.C. — A 66-year-old man who demanded money from a North Carolina bank isn’t being charged with a crime, officials say. The man was at a Wells Fargo in Wilmington on Thursday when he handed a teller a note with his request, according to police spokeswoman Linda Thompson. But...
Wawa facing lawsuits over data breach at all of its storesVideo
PHILADELPHIA — The Wawa convenience store chain is facing a wave of lawsuits over a data breach that affected its 850 locations along the East Coast. Wawa Inc. discovered malware on its payment processing servers this month before stopping the breach Dec. 12, the company has said. Officials with the...
12 killed, dozens hurt after jetliner crashes in Kazakhstan
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — A jetliner with 98 people aboard struggled to get airborne and crashed shortly after takeoff Friday in Kazakhstan, killing at least 12 people, authorities said. The Bek Air jet, identified as a 23-year-old Fokker 100, hit a concrete wall and a two-story building soon after departing from...
Disney characters say tourists inappropriately touched them
ORLANDO, Fla. — Walt Disney World employees who portray Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck each filed police reports this month claiming they were inappropriately touched by tourists. The woman inside the Mickey Mouse costume went to the hospital with neck injuries caused by a grandmother patting the character’s...
Remains of 6 people found after Hawaii helicopter crashVideo
HONOLULU — The remains of six people have been found after a helicopter heading to one of the most rugged and remote coastlines in Hawaii crashed at the top of a mountain on the island of Kauai, authorities said. Officials said Friday that there are no indications of survivors and...
EU chief warns that new Brexit delay might be necessary
BRUSSELS — The European Union and Britain will struggle to seal an agreement on trade and other aspects of their future ties after Brexit next year and should consider extending the negotiations beyond 2020, a top EU official said in an interview published Friday. The U.K. is scheduled to leave...
Another executive departs as Boeing tries to correct course
A close adviser to Boeing’s ousted CEO will also leave the company. Mike Luttig was Boeing’s general counsel from 2006 until this spring. Shortly after the crash of a second Boeing 737 Max, the companies premiere aircraft, he was assigned to head the company’s legal strategy and to advise the...
India clamps down on marches, internet after deadly protests
NEW DELHI — A group of protesters in New Delhi was beaten and shoved into buses by police on Friday as they attempted to demonstrate against a new citizenship law that has triggered nationwide protests in recent weeks. About two dozen people gathered near an Uttar Pradesh state government building...
Russia commissions intercontinental hypersonic weapon
MOSCOW — Russia’s defense minister reported to President Vladimir Putin that a new hypersonic weapon of intercontinental range became operational Friday following years of tests. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered combat duty, the Defense Ministry said....
California Supreme Court allows therapists to challenge law on child porn reporting
SAN FRANCISCO — Psychotherapists have spent years fighting a 2014 California law requiring them to report patients who confided having looked at child pornography, complaining that it deters people with sexual compulsions from seeking treatment and forces therapists to call the police on patients they do not believe pose a...
