U.S. judge rejects bankrupt coal operator’s new financing plan
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal judge has rejected a proposed new financing agreement for a West Virginia coal operator that filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week. News outlets report a bankruptcy judge in Charleston said in a ruling released Wednesday that Blackjewel LLC must explore more alternatives in its...
Reptile invasion: Florida agency encourages killing iguanas
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Non-native iguanas are multiplying so rapidly in South Florida that a state wildlife agency is now encouraging people to kill them. A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission news release says people should exterminate the large green lizards on their properties as well as on 22...
Trump insists he’s not dropping citizenship question effort
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is insisting that he is not dropping efforts to include a citizenship question on the upcoming 2020 census, even as the U.S. Census Bureau has started the process of printing the questionnaire without the controversial query. Trump says in a tweet Wednesday that, “News Reports...
Show of hands on immigrant health care belies a thorny issue
WASHINGTON — In one unanimous show of hands, Democratic presidential candidates moved the idea of full health insurance for people who are not legally in the United States into the political mainstream. That debate night moment last week symbolized the party’s move to the left heading a primary in which...
Suspicious substance mailed to Boston Straight Pride planners was glitter
Three letters sent to organizers of Boston’s Straight Pride Parade raised red flags with their recipients. Boston.com reports Massachusetts police responded to the homes of the men — John Hugo, Mark Sahady, and Samson Racioppi. The letters contained no return address and, according to Racioppi, something inside that rattled. “I...
Airstrike hits Libyan detention center, killing 44 migrants
BENGHAZI, Libya — An airstrike hit a detention center for migrants near the Libyan capital early Wednesday, killing at least 44 people and wounding more than 130, the U.N. mission to the war-torn country said. The airstrike raises further concerns about the European Union’s policy of partnering with Libyan militias...
Trump touts July 4 military ‘salute’; critics see politics
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is marshaling tanks, bombers and other machinery of war for a Fourth of July celebration that traditionally is light on military might, while critics accused him of using America’s military as a political prop. Under White House direction, the Pentagon was scrambling to arrange for...
Man sentenced for importing scorpions, giant millipedes
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey man who illegally imported scorpions, giant millipedes and other invertebrates, some of which escaped inside a postal delivery truck, has been spared a prison term. Wlodzimie Lapkiewicz instead was ordered Tuesday to serve six months of home confinement and four years of probation. The...
Gov. Tom Wolf signs bill to clarify armed school security options
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf is signing legislation that his office says clarifies the options for who school districts and private schools can hire as armed security guards, although Wolf’s administration says it bars districts from allowing teachers to be armed. The bill Wolf signed Tuesday also expands training requirements...
Lee Iacocca, father of the Ford Mustang who later rescued Chrysler, dies at 94
Lee A. Iacocca, an ambitious immigrant’s son and salesman extraordinaire whose blunt and swaggering persona dominated the automobile industry like nobody since Henry Ford, died Tuesday. He was 94. Iacocca, who spent his last years living in Los Angeles, hacked out a spectacular career, punctuated by his role as father...
Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher acquitted of murder in killing of captive in Iraq
SAN DIEGO — A decorated Navy SEAL was acquitted Tuesday of murder in the killing of a wounded Islamic State captive under his care in Iraq in 2017. The verdict was met with an outpouring of emotion as the military jury also cleared Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher of attempted...
Judge blocks Trump policy keeping asylum-seekers locked up
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday blocked a Trump administration policy that would keep thousands of asylum-seekers locked up while they pursue their cases, saying the Constitution demands that such migrants have a chance to be released from custody. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled Tuesday that...
Ligonier man devoted to family and faith
For James E. McCracken of Ligonier, it was truly love at first sight when he saw Hazel Braden at a playground and knew that, one day, he was going to marry that girl. It did not matter that James was only 11 years old and the pretty girl was only...
Trump administration abruptly gives up fight over census citizenship question
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration, abruptly switching course, has decided to give up its fight to add a question about citizenship to next year’s census. Word of the decision to give up the fight came initially in an email from a Justice Department attorney to the lawyers who had challenged...
Dept. of Health issues cease and desist order to medical marijuana grower
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has ordered a Greene County medical marijuana grower/processor to discontinue most of its operations after a surprise inspection found numerous violations. The state told AGRiMED Industries of Carmichaels to cease and desist harvesting, cutting or destroying marijuana plants without a department inspector present. During the...
Hickenlooper urged to swap White House bid for Senate run
DENVER — John Hickenlooper has refused to yield to pressure from his team to scrap his presidential campaign and instead run for a Senate seat in Colorado. The former two-term Colorado governor is struggling to break through a crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates. He’s in the bottom tier of...
Man, 86, charged with shooting death in retirement community
MANCHESTER TOWNSHIP, N.J. — An 86-year-old man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a 71-year-old Florida man at a retirement community in New Jersey, prosecutors said Tuesday. Thomas Hatchett also faces a weapons charge stemming from the shooting at the Leisure Village West community in Manchester...
Mexico buses home 70 asylum seekers who returned from U.S.
MEXICO CITY — Dozens of Central Americans who had been returned to the border city of Juarez to await the outcome of their U.S. asylum claims were being bused back to their countries Tuesday by Mexican authorities, a first for the program commonly known as “remain in Mexico.” An official...
Disney cafe shut down over mouse sighting
Well, it’s the House of Mouse for a reason, right? A Disney-themed cafe inside a new clothing store in Birmingham, U.K., was temporarily shut down for — of all things — a mouse sighting. Of course, this wasn’t Mickey. Two customers, according to ITV.com, witnessed an actual rodent scurrying across...
Arctic fox walks more than 2,700 miles from Norway to Canada
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norwegian researchers say an arctic fox walked from northern Norway to Canada’s far north, a distance of 2,737 miles, in four months. The Norwegian Polar Institute says the young female fox left her birthplace on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago on March 1, 2018 and reached Canada’s Ellesmere Island...
7 arrested in vandalism of Chicago’s ‘Bean,’ memorial garden
CHICAGO — Charges were pending Tuesday against seven people suspected of spray-painting graffiti on two downtown Chicago landmarks including the popular giant metallic sculpture known as “The Bean,” police said. The sculpture in Millennium Park was vandalized late Monday and the suspects were arrested a short time later, Chicago police...
House committee files lawsuit for Trump tax returns
WASHINGTON — A House committee sued the Trump administration in federal court Tuesday for access to President Donald Trump’s tax returns, setting up a legal showdown over the records. The House Ways and Means Committee said it needs the documents for an investigation into tax law compliance by the president,...
Study: E-cigarettes may damage brain stem cells
Puffing on electronic cigarettes can damage neural stem cells important to brain function, a new study says. E-cigarettes produce a stress response in neural stem cells, researchers at the University of California at Riverside reported in a study published in the interdisciplinary open-access journal iScience. E-cigarette users may think they’re...
Blue Bell responds after video appears to shows woman licking a tub of ice cream, then putting it back on shelf
A video on social media of a woman appearing to lick a tub of ice cream and then putting it back on the shelf has drawn a response from the ice cream company. The video posted on Twitter by user Optimus Primal on Saturday shows a woman holding a tub...
Ex-Scranton mayor admits to shaking down businesses for bribes while in office
WILLIAMSPORT — The former mayor of Scranton has pleaded guilty to charges he shook down businesses for bribes and campaign contributions throughout his term and a half in office. Bill Courtright’s plea in federal court Tuesday to bribery, extortion and conspiracy came less than 24 hours after he resigned as...
