Ex-Rep. Joe Walsh to challenge Trump in 2020 GOP primaryVideo
WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Joe Walsh, once a backer of President Trump, said Sunday he would mount a Republican primary challenge to the president because “we can’t take four more years of Donald Trump.” Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” the former Illinois congressman, now a radio talk-show host, called Trump...
Authorities: Los Angeles deputy Angel Reinosa lied about sniper assaultVideo
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles County deputy lied when he said he was shot in the shoulder while standing in a sheriff’s station parking lot last week and will face a criminal investigation, authorities said. “The reported sniper assault was fabricated” by Deputy Angel Reinosa, Assistant Sheriff Robin Limon...
Gas explosion in Maryland badly damages shopping centerVideo
COLUMBIA, Md. — A powerful natural gas explosion badly damaged a Maryland office complex and shopping center Sunday morning, ripping away part of the facade and exposing twisted metal, authorities said. No injuries were reported in the thundering blast, which occurred at about 8 a.m. It came after authorities said...
Astronomer: ‘Magic’ nights make Hawaii best telescope site
HONOLULU — When starlight from billions of years ago zips across the universe and finally comes into focus on Earth, astronomers want their telescopes to be in the best locations possible to see what’s out there. Despite years of legal battles and months of protests by Native Hawaiian opponents, the...
Extinction bites: countries agree to protect sharks and rays
GENEVA — Countries have agreed to protect more than a dozen shark species at risk of extinction, in a move aimed at conserving some of the ocean’s most awe-inspiring creatures who have themselves become prey to commercial fishing and the Chinese appetite for shark fin soup. Three proposals covering the...
White House says Trump regrets not raising tariffs higher
BIARRITZ, France — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he had second thoughts about escalating the trade war with China, but the White House later reversed that message saying the president was misinterpreted and that his only regret in hiking tariffs is that he didn’t raise them higher. Trump faced...
Westmoreland County veteran’s death at VA hospital ruled a homicide
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — West Virginia politicians are calling for answers after a Vietnam veteran’s death at a VA hospital was ruled a homicide. U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito vowed Friday to investigate after a news report on the death of retired Army Sgt. Felix Kirk McDermott at...
Police: 7 adults hurt in shooting at child’s birthday party
CAMP SPRINGS, Md. — A Maryland police chief says seven adults were injured when shots were fired at a child’s birthday party a few miles southeast of the nation’s capital. Prince George’s County police Cpl. Nicholas Clayton tells The Associated Press the shooting occurred Saturday night near the Camp Springs...
Lightning strike at Tour Championship causes fan injuries
ATLANTA — Five people were injured Saturday when lightning struck a 60-foot pine at the Tour Championship, showering the area with debris, Atlanta police said. The third round of the season-ending PGA Tour event had been suspended for about 30 minutes because of storms in the area, and fans were...
8-year-old killed, 3 others injured in St. Louis shooting
ST. LOUIS — Police say an 8-year-old girl has been killed and three others injured in a shooting near a high school in St. Louis. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the shooting happened about 8 p.m. Friday outside Harold’s Chop Suey restaurant in the city’s Academy neighborhood. Police Chief John...
Powerful, obscure law is basis for Trump ‘order’ on trade
President Donald Trump is threatening to use the emergency authority granted by a powerful but obscure federal law to make good on his tweeted “order” to U.S. businesses to cut ties in China amid a spiraling trade war between the two nations. China’s announcement Friday that it was raising tariffs...
3rd locally transmitted dengue fever case confirmed in Miami-Dade County
MIAMI — The third locally transmitted case of dengue fever this year has been confirmed in Miami-Dade County, the Florida Department of Health announced Friday. The first case of the mosquito-borne ailment was confirmed in March. The second came earlier this month. The three cases don’t seem to be related,...
Russian capsule carrying robot fails space station docking
A Russian space capsule carrying a humanoid robot has failed to dock as planned with the International Space Station. A statement from the Russian space agency Roscosmos said the failure on Saturday was because of problems in the docking system. It said the space station itself and the six-person crew...
Football victory a salve for devastated California town
PARADISE, Calif. — It’s hard to recognize Paradise. It is heaps of melted metal. It is scorched pine trees. It is a place where things used to be, before a fire destroyed nearly 19,000 structures and killed 86 people last November. But on Friday night, Paradise looked like home again....
Virginia marks 400th anniversary of slave ship arrival
HAMPTON, Va. — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Saturday a new state commission to review educational standards for teaching black history in the state, as officials observed the arrival of enslaved Africans to what is now Virginia 400 years ago. Northam, who noted “we are a state that for too...
WPXI’s Damany Lewis moving on to Charlotte
After almost five years in Pittsburgh, WPXI reporter Damany Lewis is headed south. The veteran news man posted the announcement on Facebook on Saturday morning stating that he will become a Monday through Friday anchor for WSOC, an ABC affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. It wasn’t immediately clear when his last...
‘Red flag laws’ offer tool for preventing some gun violence
After a white supremacist discussed plans on Facebook for a mass shooting at a synagogue, police in Washington used a new law to quickly seize his 12 firearms, long before he was convicted of any crime. But when a Tennessee father became alarmed about his son after receiving a suicidal...
Tourist may have brought measles to Southern California
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A New Zealand teenager who visited Disneyland and other Southern California tourist spots last week brought along more than just her luggage. She brought measles. Public health officials in Los Angeles and Orange counties issued a warning Friday that people may have been exposed to the...
Florida man convicted in parking lot shooting of black man
A white Florida man who told detectives he had a “pet peeve” about illegal parking in handicapped spots was convicted late Friday of manslaughter for the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man outside a convenience store. Six jurors deliberated for six hours before convicting Michael Drejka for the July...
Matriarch of The Driftwood made it the place to be in Ligonier Township
Growing up with Eliza Bacher as one’s mother was a little like growing up with one’s boss. Mrs. Bacher owned and operated The Driftwood in Ligonier Township with her husband, Fred, for more than 60 years. Together, they attracted a following of faithful local customers, as well as travelers on...
Penn State’s new weather data collection system to gather localized information
When it comes to Western Pennsylvania’s recent weather woes, forewarned is forearmed. Those warnings might get a little more accurate and timely with a new Penn State project to install a series of mini weather stations across the state. The Pennsylvania Mesonet — short for mesoscale network — will eventually...
Report finds Pennsylvania entry-level teachers fare well
That first day of school may have been rough, but chances are new teachers are doing comparatively better in Pennsylvania than just about anywhere else in the nation. A study by business.org that looked at average teacher starting salaries across the nation and then calculated the pay gap between that...
Schools look to novel strategies to fill substitute teacher needs
Low pay, an economy approaching full employment and dramatic decreases in enrollment in teacher education programs at colleges have produced something few ever thought they’d see in Pennsylvania: a teacher shortage, specifically a shortage of substitute teachers. Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, said the...
More than 40 wild burros slaughtered in the Southern California desert
LOS ANGELES — More than 40 wild burros have been found shot and killed along the Interstate 15 near the California-Nevada border, federal officials said on Friday, and they’ve offered a reward of up to $18,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. It is one...
Former Houston police officer charged with murder over raid
HOUSTON — A former Houston police officer has been charged with murder in connection with the deadly January drug raid of a home that killed a couple who lived there and injured five officers, prosecutors announced Friday. Former Officer Gerald Goines, who was shot in the ensuing gunfight during the...
