U.S. investigates seizure risk with electronic cigarettes
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials are investigating whether electronic cigarettes may trigger seizures in some people who use the nicotine-vaping devices. The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it has reviewed 35 reports of seizures among e-cigarettes users, particularly young people. Regulators stressed it’s not yet clear whether vaping is...
Thousands of chickens killed in Pa. barn fire
UPPER BERN, Pa. — Thousands of chickens have died after a fast-moving fire ripped through a barn in Pennsylvania. Authorities say the fire at A&L Farms in Upper Bern broke out around 7 p.m. Tuesday and tore through a 300-foot-long chicken house. It’s believed that roughly 28,000 chickens died in...
Woman buys out Payless shoe store for Nebraska flood victims
HAYS, Kan. — A Kansas woman donated 204 pairs of shoes to Nebraska flood victims after buying everything that was left at a closing Payless store. The Hays Post reports the shoes were part of a flood relief shipment taken to farmers in Nebraska by Fort Hays State’s agriculture sorority,...
Alabama bill would outlaw abortion as lawmakers aim at Roe
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama is the latest Republican-leaning state seeking to enact a strict abortion ban as conservatives take aim at the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Energized by new conservatives on the Supreme Court, abortion opponents in multiple states hope to ignite new legal battles that...
Trump urges even more defense spending by NATO allies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump praised NATO countries for increasing their financial contributions to the Western alliance, but he hounded them to pay even more, saying America still shoulders a disproportionate share of the cost of protecting Europe. The president met Tuesday with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who was in...
Trump pivots on pledges, exploring the art of the climb-down
WASHINGTON — His border shutdown went from imminent to uncertain. A major health care push was declared and then delayed. Funding cuts were inserted in his proposed budget and just as quickly taken out. President Donald Trump has been exploring the art of the climb-down. Trump pivoted on two big...
‘Obamacare’ repeal off the table for GOP until after 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — “Not any longer.” And with that, a triumphant Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to close the book Tuesday on a divisive Republican debate, convincing President Donald Trump to shelve plans to replace the Affordable Care Act until after the 2020 election. “I made it clear to...
Lori Lightfoot will be Chicago’s 1st black, female mayor
Former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot defeated a longtime political insider Tuesday to become Chicago’s next mayor, the first black woman and openly gay person to lead the nation’s third-largest city. Lightfoot, who had never been elected to public office, easily defeated Toni Preckwinkle, who served on the City Council for...
Police: Mom says she might have misjudged man who touched child
BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. — Police in West Virginia say a woman now says she might have misinterpreted an incident when she reported that a man was trying to abduct her 5-year-old daughter at a mall. News outlets report the woman told police Monday that she stopped the man by pulling out...
Kentucky judge rules against unvaccinated student in lawsuit
WALTON, Ky. — A Kentucky judge has ruled against a student who sued after he wasn’t allowed to play basketball because he wasn’t vaccinated for chickenpox. In the lawsuit against the Northern Kentucky Health Department, 18-year-old Jerome Kunkel claimed the vaccine is against his religious beliefs. WXIX-TV in Cincinnati reports...
Pennsylvania reform school to lay off about 250 amid abuse allegations
PHILADELPHIA — The oldest reform school in the country has announced plans to lay off about 250 staff members at the Pennsylvania campus amid multiple state probes into allegations of child abuse. Glen Mills Schools spokeswoman Aimee Tysarczyk said the school and its board of managers made what she called...
Reports: Avocados would run out in 3 weeks if border shuts down
Americans could run out of avocados in three weeks, if President Trump follows through on a threat to shut down the U.S./Mexico border, according to the head of the largest avocado distributor and grower in the world. Steven Barnard, president and chief executive of Mission Produce, claims shutting down the...
Trump team, China resume uphill effort to end trade rift
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Wednesday will resume negotiations with China toward ending a trade war that has deepened uncertainty for businesses and investors and dimmed the outlook for the global economy. The two sides are to meet for the ninth time, with analysts expressing optimism that the world’s two...
South Greensburg cancer survivor was devoted to family
South Greensburg’s Pat Urda didn’t let obstacles stand in the way of being an active supporter of her family and her community. “She was resilient,” said her daughter, Karen Peltz. “She showed perseverance in the face of adversity. She was a fabulous role model.” Mrs. Urda survived a battle with...
Police: Suspected killer of rapper Nipsey Hussle arrested
LOS ANGELES — Police on Tuesday arrested the man suspected of fatally shooting rapper Nipsey Hussle, authorities said. Eric Holder, 29, had been on the run for two days before he was captured in Bellflower, a Los Angeles-area city about 20 miles southeast of where Hussle was gunned down two...
Venezuelans storm border as Colombia warns Russia
BOGOTA, Colombia — Hundreds of Venezuelans desperate for food and services stormed the Colombian border on Tuesday, while Bogota indirectly warned Russia against a military deployment in support of Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolas Maduro. Parliament speaker Juan Guaido, whom dozens of countries have recognized as the country’s interim president, is...
April storm to sock the Northeast, has even brought snow to North Carolina
No, April’s not fooling. A powerful bomb cyclone will develop off the Carolina coast Tuesday, skirting the Eastern seaboard with wind, heavy precipitation and even some late-season snow. Flakes were flying in Charlotte on Tuesday morning, where the local National Weather Service office hoisted a statement cautioning “snow showers through...
Chinese woman carrying malware allegedly got into Mar-a-Lago
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A woman carrying two Chinese passports and a device containing computer malware lied to Secret Service agents and briefly gained admission to President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club over the weekend during his Florida visit, federal prosecutors allege in court documents. Yujing Zhang, 32, approached a Secret Service...
Trump defers push for health plan as a result of GOP resistance
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned President Trump to hold off action in Congress to replace the Affordable Care Act, telling him to instead take it on the road as a 2020 campaign issue. The two spoke Monday ahead of Trump’s evening tweets suggesting he had moved off...
Ex-governor candidate found guilty in Oklahoma murder-for-hire plot
OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal jury on Tuesday convicted a former Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate and zookeeper in an attempted murder-for-hire plot. Jurors returned the guilty verdict following six days of testimony in the trial of Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, 56, who was accused of trying to arrange the killing of Florida...
Democrats reject Trump’s domestic spending cuts
WASHINGTON — Democrats controlling the House are proposing to cut back President Trump’s budget hikes for the Pentagon while significantly increasing spending on the domestic programs they favor. Tuesday’s move ramps up a battle with Trump and puts the Democratic House on a collision course with the GOP-held Senate as...
More condoms, fewer cigarettes found in annual beach cleanup
SANDY HOOK, N.J. — Volunteers cleaning up New Jersey beaches last year found everything but the kitchen sink. Oh wait, they found one of those, too. Unsurprisingly, nearly 82% of the trash removed during Clean Ocean Action’s beach sweeps last spring and fall was plastic, including beverage bottles, shopping bags,...
Lithuanian man discovers he’s sole passenger on huge jetliner to Italy
VILNIUS, Lithuania — A Lithuanian man flying to Italy got a pleasant surprise when he boarded the plane: He was the only passenger on the Boeing 737-800. Skirmantas Strimaitis, who was flying from capital Vilnius to the northern Italian city of Bergamo for a skiing holiday March 16, had the...
Lawmakers, rapper Meek Mill urge Pa. probation law changes
PHILADELPHIA — State lawmakers, criminal justice reform advocates and rapper Meek Mill joined forces Tuesday to push for an overhaul of Pennsylvania’s probation system. House Democratic Whip Jordan Harris said at an event in downtown Philadelphia that he will soon introduce a bill designed to put fewer people on parole...
128K kids in Tennessee cut from low-income Medicaid programs
NASHVILLE — At least 128,000 children in Tennessee have been cut from the state’s low-income health insurance programs over the past two years. The Tennessean reports that one in every eight children in TennCare were unenrolled between December 2016 and this January. State officials say the purge is due to...
