Kansas hiking group overwhelmed in Arizona heat
APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. — A group of fitness coordinators from Kansas became overwhelmed while climbing a mountain trail near metro Phoenix in sweltering temperatures and two members had to be airlifted to safety, authorities said Friday. The two who were flown by helicopter Thursday off the trail near Apache Junction...
Lawyer calls ex-Peruvian president’s US detention ‘inhumane’
SAN FRANCISCO — Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo has been kept in solitary confinement and only allowed to go outdoors once in the month he has been in U.S. custody while fighting extradition to his native country, his defense attorney said. Federal Public Defender Graham Archer argued in court papers...
Flax Scutching Festival attracts new generation of families
Carrie Hood will be at the Flax Scutching Festival again this year, just like she has been since she was 6 years old. Hood grew up at this event selling hayride tickets and watching generations before her commit to making it a fun and educational experience. And she wants to...
Putin orders Russia to respond after U.S. missile test
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military on Friday to work out a quid pro quo response after the test of a new U.S. missile banned under a now-defunct arms treaty. In Sunday’s test, a modified ground-launched version of a U.S. Navy Tomahawk cruise missile accurately struck its...
Former Tic Toc waitress from Jeannette loved travel, family
Joan Silvis worked as a waitress in the Tic Toc Restaurant in Kaufmann’s at the Westmoreland Mall from the day it opened until the day it closed, and when she was working, she was all business. That is, until the day her longtime friend, Jackie Chandler of Greensburg, sent a...
Pennsylvania House wins appeal in atheist prayer-policy suit
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal appeals court is reversing a lower court decision and ruling that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ policy barring atheists from delivering invocations doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution. Friday’s decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the House’s policy of limiting prayers at...
Supreme Court: Ginsburg treated for tumor on pancreas
WASHINGTON — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has completed radiation therapy for a cancerous tumor on her pancreas and there is no evidence of the disease remaining, the Supreme Court said Friday. It is the fourth time that the 86-year-old justice has announced that she has been treated for cancer and...
Boy takes mom’s car for German autobahn joyride — again
An 8-year-old boy got a stern talking-to earlier this week when he took his mom’s Volkswagen for a joyride on the German autobahn, but after pulling the stunt again — hitting speeds of 112 m.p.h. — he’s been put into psychological counselling. Dortmund police said Friday the grade-schooler stole the...
Illinois patient’s death may be first in U.S. tied to vaping
Illinois health officials said Friday that a patient who contracted a serious lung disease after vaping has died, which could make it the first death in the United States linked to the smoking alternative that has become popular with teens and young adults. The Illinois Department of Public Health said...
Billionaire David Koch dies at age 79
WASHINGTON — David H. Koch, executive vice president of KochIndustries Inc. and a long-time philanthropist, has died at age 79. His older brother, Charles, announced the death on Friday, saying, “It is with a heavy heart that I now must inform you of David’s death.” David Koch, a billionaire who...
West Virginia man accused of aiming airsoft gun at officer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Police say a West Virginia man who pointed a realistic-looking airsoft gun at a police officer has been charged with threatening a terroristic act. The Charleston Police Department says Charles Norman Miller was arrested Thursday after officers received a report of an armed man outside a house...
Lawsuit: Ex-Citadel staffer drugged, sexually abused cadet
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A lawsuit has accused a former Citadel instructor of entrapping a student at the South Carolina school in “quid pro quo” sexual abuse. The State newspaper reports Lt. Col. Kenneth Boes was accused Wednesday in federal court of sexually abusing a cadet over a six-month span. The...
Moscow court extends arrest for American charged with spying
MOSCOW — A Moscow court has ruled to keep an American man suspected of spying in prison for two more months. The court ruled on Friday to keep Paul Whelan behind bars at least until late October. Whelan, who is reportedly kept in cramped conditions at a Moscow detention facility,...
Shoplifters locked into California store by employee
CAMARILLO, Calif. — Authorities say shoplifters trying to boost thousands of dollars’ worth of sunglasses from a Southern California store found themselves locked inside by a quick-thinking employee. KNBC-TV reports that four people began stealing from a store at Camarillo Premium Outlets Saturday night when an employee locked them inside...
Serial killer who preyed on gay men executed in Florida
STARKE, Fla. — Gary Ray Bowles, a serial killer who preyed on older gay men during an eight-month spree that left six dead, was executed by lethal injection Thursday at Florida State Prison. The sentence was carried out at 10:58 p.m., according to the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Bowles...
Huge cat — 26 pounds — on adoption list in Philly goes viral
An animal shelter in Philadelphia tweeted Thursday about “big boi Mr. B” being up for adoption and boy, they weren’t joking. BeeJay — a 26-pound cat — is on the adoption list at the Morris Animal Refuge. Apparently the folks at Morris want to shed light on the fact that...
Web debate: Is this a raven or a rabbit?
Here we go again. Is the dress blue or white? Is the voice saying “yanny” or “laurel”? Another question is plaguing mankind. Scientist Dan Quintana shared an optical illusion video on Twitter last week that went viral while simultaneously sending many users ranting “raven” and down the rabbit hole trying...
Cheap combo pill cuts heart, stroke risks, study finds
LONDON — A cheap daily pill that combines four drugs cut the risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure in a large study, suggesting it could be a good way to help prevent heart problems especially in poor countries. The pills contained two blood pressure drugs, a cholesterol medicine...
Construction on Arizona replacement border barrier begins
PHOENIX — Construction on a 2-mile portion of replacement fencing funded thanks to President Trump’s national emergency declaration has begun in southern Arizona, one of several projects that will build hundreds of miles of mostly replacement barriers. Crews broke ground on the project Thursday and plan on installing 30-foot (9-meter)...
Students welcomed to Penn Trafford school with inspirational sayingsVideo
Students at Penn Trafford’s Sunrise Elementary School were greeted with inspirational sayings written in bright colors for their first day of school Thursday. Taking about three weeks to complete over the summer, parents and Principal Karin Coiner worked to paint the stalls of four hallway bathrooms in the Sunrise Drive...
Report: New Jersey spends most on roads, doesn’t get results
NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey spends more per mile on its highway system than any other state in the country but isn’t getting its money’s worth, according to a report released Thursday by a nonpartisan public policy group. The report by the Reason Foundation ranked New Jersey’s highways dead last...
Walmart to revamp, reopen El Paso store after mass shooting
EL PASO, Texas — Walmart plans to reopen the El Paso store where 22 people were killed in a mass shooting earlier this month, the retail giant said Thursday, but the entire interior of the building will first be rebuilt. The renovated store will include an on-site memorial honoring the...
S. Korea cancels Japan intelligence deal amid trade dispute
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said Thursday it will terminate an intelligence-sharing deal with Japan that focused on classified information about North Korea, a surprise announcement that is likely to set back U.S. efforts to bolster security cooperation with two of its most important allies in the Asian region....
Lightning strikes kill 5, injure 100 in Tatra Mountains
Lightning struck across the Tatra Mountains in southern Poland and neighboring Slovakia on Thursday, killing five people and injuring over 100 others in an area popular with hikers and families, authorities said. Witnesses said the thunderstorm came suddenly on a day that began with clear weather. Four people were killed...
North Dakota court overturns life term in cut from womb case
FARGO, N.D. — A judge overstepped by giving a life prison sentence to a man whose girlfriend cut the baby from the womb of an unsuspecting neighbor, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, ordering that the man be resentenced. William Hoehn, of Fargo, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit...
