More than 20 dead, dozens missing in heavy Europe floods
BERLIN — More than 20 people have died and dozens of people were missing Thursday in Germany and neighboring Belgium after heavy flooding turned streams and streets into raging torrents, sweeping away cars and causing buildings to collapse. Storms across parts of western Europe in recent days caused rivers and...
$10 million rewards bolster White House anti-ransomware bid
BOSTON — The Biden administration will offer rewards up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of foreign state-sanctioned malicious cyber activity against critical U.S. infrastructure — including ransomware attacks — and the White House has launched a task force to coordinate efforts to stem the ransomware scourge....
Israel arrests dozens of Hamas-linked students in West Bank
JERUSALEM — Israel says it arrested “dozens” of Palestinian students in the occupied West Bank who are linked to the Hamas militant group. The military said late Wednesday that those arrested belong to a Hamas student group at Birzeit University and were “directly involved in terror activities, including money transfers,...
Child tax credit starts hitting families’ bank accountsVideo
WASHINGTON — The child tax credit had always been an empty gesture to millions of parents like Tamika Daniel. That changed Thursday when the first payment of $1,000 hit Daniel’s bank account — and dollars started flowing to the pockets of more than 35 million families around the country. Daniel,...
7-year-old Ohio boy dies in North Carolina home elevator accident
COROLLA, N.C. — A boy from Ohio died after he became trapped between an elevator car and the elevator shaft inside a vacation rental home on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, emergency workers said. Currituck Fire-EMS Chief Ralph Melton said emergency workers were sent Sunday evening to a home in Corolla...
Harrisburg is best place to live in Pennsylvania, says U.S. News
Harrisburg is one of the best places to live in the United States, according to U.S. News and World Report, but you might be surprised at what major cities it bested. ” 150 Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2021-2022 ″ is a list compiled each year by...
U.S. to begin evacuating Afghans who aided American militaryVideo
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Wednesday that it is prepared to begin evacuation flights for Afghan interpreters and translators who aided the U.S. military effort in the nearly 20-year war. The Operation Allies Refuge flights out of Afghanistan during the last week of July will be available first for...
After bad hiccups, Brazilian President Bolsonaro may need intestinal surgery
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has suffered from a 10-day bout of unshakable hiccups, was admitted Wednesday to a hospital where he was being evaluated for possible emergency surgery to clear an intestinal obstruction, his office said. Bolsonaro, 66, was admitted to the Armed Forces Hospital...
Indigenous children’s remains turned over from Army cemetery
CARLISLE — The disinterred remains of nine Native American children who died more than a century ago while attending a government-run school in Pennsylvania were headed home Wednesday to Rosebud Sioux tribal lands in South Dakota after a ceremony returning them to relatives. The handoff at a graveyard on the...
Tioga County won’t offer up voting machines to election audit
HARRISBURG — One of three counties targeted by a Pennsylvania state lawmaker for an Arizona-style “forensic investigation” of the state’s 2020 presidential election sought by former President Donald Trump will not allow third-party access to its voting machines. The three commissioners in rural Republican-controlled Tioga County announced the decision Tuesday,...
Report: Appalachian states face billions in mining cleanup
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The cleanup and reclaiming of coal mines in seven Appalachian states will cost billions, and Kentucky and West Virginia have the largest bills coming due, according to an environmental group’s new report. Total reclamation liability for the two states is between $4.1 and $5.8 billion, with less...
Ex-Tennessee health official: State backed off vaccine pushVideo
NASHVILLE — Tennessee health officials will not acknowledge that August is National Immunization Awareness Month per an order from the state’s health commissioner, emails show. The order, obtained by NewsChannel 5, was given to Tennessee’s former top vaccination chief earlier this month just days before she was fired amid Republican...
Wildfires in US West threaten parched Native American lands
BLY, Ore. — Fierce wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are threatening Native American lands that already are struggling to conserve water and preserve traditional hunting grounds amid a historic drought in the U.S. West. Blazes in Oregon and Washington state were among some 60 large, active wildfires that have destroyed...
That was fleeting: Twitter kills off ephemeral ‘fleets’
Twitter is disappearing its disappearing tweets, called fleets, after they didn’t catch on. The company began testing tweets that vanish after 24 hours last March in Brazil. Fleets were designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the public and permanent nature of normal...
Going abroad? U.S. government says passport waits top 3 months
WASHINGTON — Americans hoping to travel abroad this summer may have to delay their plans if they need new or renewed passports. The State Department said Wednesday that the wait for a passport is now between 12 weeks and 18 weeks, even if you pay for expedited processing. That’s because...
No Red Tide relief in sight as dead fish overwhelm St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Sunshine City and its sparkling waterfront parks have become the center of Tampa Bay’s Red Tide crisis. Rafts of dead fish are washing ashore more quickly than crews can gather the carcasses. Workers have picked up 477 tons of dead marine life from the coastline...
No recent covid deaths in Allegheny, Westmoreland counties; cases trending up slightly
While case numbers might be trending slightly upward, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties have gone nearly a dozen days without recording a death related to the coronavirus. With 25 new covid-19 cases reported Wednesday, the seven-day average in Allegheny County has ticked up to 19, the highest it has been in...
Explainer: Are we going to need covid-19 booster shots?
Just because Pfizer wants to offer covid-19 vaccine boosters doesn’t mean people will be lining up anytime soon — U.S. and international health authorities say that for now, the fully vaccinated seem well protected. Globally, experts are watching closely to determine if and when people might need another shot. At...
Ohio University suspends frat after anti-hazing law enacted
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A week after the state enacted an anti-hazing law in honor of an Ohio University student who died in 2018, the university suspended another fraternity for allegedly violating hazing rules. The Athens-based school sent the fraternity a notice Tuesday that it will be suspended for four years...
Family files $30M suit over deputies’ shooting of Black man
The family of an unarmed Black man who was fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina says he died because of the officers’ “intentional and reckless disregard of his life,” according to a $30 million civil rights lawsuit filed Wednesday. Andrew Brown Jr. was killed April 21 by Pasquotank...
July 4 fireworks caused 2nd-highest air pollution levels from the holiday in Southern California in a decade
LOS ANGELES — This year’s Fourth of July fireworks created the second-highest air pollution levels from the holiday in the last decade and were the highest since the Bobcat wildfire in September, the South Coast Air Quality Management District said Tuesday. The agency said that although last week’s fireworks-related air...
Lawsuit says Georgia Medicaid should cover gender-affirming surgeries
ATLANTA — Two Georgians have filed a lawsuit saying their constitutional rights were violated when the state Medicaid program declined to cover the gender-affirming surgeries they say they need to live a full life. At issue is whether the reconstructive or plastic surgeries sought by Shon Thomas and Gwendolyn Cheney...
U.S. overdose deaths hit record 93,000 in pandemic last yearVideo
NEW YORK — Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday. That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase. “This is a staggering...
North Carolina Republicans move to limit classroom race talk
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Republicans are advancing legislation to limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts inside the classroom, according to the state’s most powerful senator. GOP Senate leader Phil Berger will move forward with legislation as Republicans across the country seek to counter their understanding of “critical...
House Republicans post record fundraising ahead of 2022 race
WASHINGTON — The committee charged with helping Republicans wrest control of the House in 2022 raised $45.4 million over the past three months, a record quarterly haul during a year without a national election. That total was bolstered by $20.1 million raised in June, the highest ever monthly off-year total,...
