USPS’ long-awaited new mail truck makes its debut to rave reviews from carriers
ATHENS, Ga. — The Postal Service’s new delivery vehicles aren’t going to win a beauty contest. They’re tall and ungainly. The windshields are vast. Their hoods resemble a duck bill. Their bumpers are enormous. “You can tell that (the designers) didn’t have appearance in mind,” postal worker Avis Stonum said....
Gallery: Photos from Sept. 12
A look at what’s going on in the world....
Share of foreign-born in the U.S. at highest rate in over a century, says survey
MIAMI — The percent of U.S. residents who were foreign-born last year grew to its highest level in more than a century, according to figures released Thursday from the most comprehensive survey of American life. The share of people born outside the United States increased in 2023 to 14.3% from...
Tech billionaire pulls off 1st private spacewalk high above Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A tech billionaire performed the first private spacewalk hundreds of miles above Earth on Thursday, a high-risk endeavor reserved for professional astronauts — until now. Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman teamed up with SpaceX to test the company’s brand new spacesuits on his chartered flight. The daring...
U.S. filings for unemployment benefits inch up slightly but remain historically low
Slightly more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain at historically low levels despite two years of elevated interest rates. Jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 230,000 for the week of Sept. 7, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That number matches the number of new filings that...
Debate was an ‘eye opener’ in suburban Philadelphia and Harris got a closer look
BRISTOL, Pa. — The presidential debate this week was the final affront to Rosie Torres’ lifelong Republicanism. She said her allegiance to Donald Trump, already strained by his stand on abortion, snapped in the former president’s “eye opener” encounter with Kamala Harris. It’s time to put “country before party,” Torres,...
An Ohio city reshaped by Haitian immigrants lands in an unwelcome spotlight
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Many cities have been reshaped by immigrants in the last few years without attracting much notice. Not Springfield, Ohio. Its story of economic renewal and related growing pains has been thrust into the national conversation in a presidential election year — and maliciously distorted by false rumors...
From Chinese to Italians and beyond, maligning a culture via its foods is a longtime American habit
NEW YORK — It’s a practice that’s about as American as apple pie — accusing immigrant and minority communities of engaging in bizarre or disgusting behaviors when it comes to what and how they eat and drink, a kind of shorthand for saying they don’t belong. The latest iteration came...
Young women are increasingly likely to identify as liberal, a Gallup analysis finds
WASHINGTON — Young women are more liberal than they have been in decades, according to a Gallup analysis of more than 20 years of polling data. Over the past few years, about 4 in 10 young women between the ages of 18 and 29 have described their political views as...
Wildfires in Southern California torch dozens of homes, force thousands to evacuateVideo
WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. — Three major wildfires in Southern California’s mountains east of Los Angeles torched dozens of homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate, officials said Wednesday. At least a dozen people, mainly firefighters, were treated for injuries that were mostly heat-related, authorities said. One person from Orange County...
Speaker Johnson postpones vote on bill to avoid a partial government shutdown
WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson postponed a vote Wednesday on a temporary spending bill that would keep federal agencies and programs funded for six months as opposition from both parties thwarted his first attempt at avoiding a partial government shutdown in three weeks. The legislation to continue government funding when...
Judge disqualifies Cornel West from running for president in Georgia
ATLANTA — A Georgia state court judge on Wednesday disqualified independent presidential candidate Cornel West from running for president in the state, ruling that West’s electors didn’t file the proper paperwork. For now at least, the decision means votes for West won’t be counted in Georgia, although his name will...
Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating petsVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday amplified false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets, repeating during a televised debate the type of inflammatory and anti-immigrant rhetoric he has promoted throughout his campaigns. There is no evidence that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio...
WCCC, Penn State expand transfer options for students
Westmoreland County Community College students pursuing two-year degrees in 11 high-demand fields could have an easier path to a bachelor’s degree under an agreement inked with Penn State University. Specifically, the pact outlined this week by Penn State and WCCC covers 14 of the university’s 19 Commonwealth campuses statewide, a...
Pittsburgh drew highest TV rating in Trump-Harris debate
An estimated 65 million viewers tuned in to watch the debate between former President Trump and Vice President Harris, preliminary overnight television ratings revealed Wednesday. The estimate, based on results in the nation’s major TV markets, is 28% bigger than the number of viewers who saw Trump face off against...
Election officials warn that widespread problems with the mail system could disrupt voting
TOPEKA, Kan. — State and local election officials from across the country on Wednesday warned that problems with the nation’s mail delivery system threaten to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election, telling the head of the U.S. Postal Service that it hasn’t fixed persistent deficiencies. In an alarming letter,...
Mississippi man found not guilty of threatening Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker
OXFORD, Miss. — A jury has cleared a Mississippi man on a charge of threatening to kill Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker during a confrontation with one of Wicker’s relatives. Six women and six men deliberated about an hour and a half Tuesday before unanimously finding William Carl Sappington not...
A Philadelphia officer has died of his injuries from a June shooting
PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia police officer has died of his wounds, nearly three months after being shot in the neck after stopping a vehicle while on duty, city officials said. Officer Jaime Roman, 31, who spent 80 days in intensive care without regaining consciousness, died Tuesday night. Roman leaves behind...
Francine weakens moving inland from Gulf Coast after hurricane winds cause power outagesVideo
MORGAN CITY, La. — Francine weakened Thursday after striking Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, sent storm surge rushing into coastal communities and raised flood fears in New Orleans and beyond as drenching rains spread over the northern...
What to know about Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Music superstar Taylor Swift has officially launched her Kamala Harris era. Shortly after the Democratic nominee and former President Donald Trump finished their first, and likely only, presidential debate Tuesday evening, Swift, who is nearing the end of her “Eras Tour,” released a lengthy Instagram post announcing...
Kamala Harris, gun owner, talks firearms at debate
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris surprised some viewers during her debate with Donald Trump when she said that she’s a gun owner, raising the fact to counter her Republican opponent’s accusation that she wants to confiscate firearms. “Tim Walz and I are both gun owners,” Harris said, referencing her...
Gallery: Photos from Sept. 11
A look at what’s going on in the world....
U.S. inflation reaches a 3-year low as Federal Reserve prepares to cut interest ratesVideo
WASHINGTON — The post-pandemic spike in U.S. inflation eased further last month as year-over-year price increases reached a three-year low, clearing the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and likely shaping the economic debate in the final weeks of the presidential race. The report, released Wednesday by...
A look at false and misleading claims made during Trump and Harris’ debate
In their first and perhaps only debate, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris described the state of the country in distinctly different ways. As the two traded jabs, some old false and misleading claims emerged along with some new ones. Here’s a look. Trump inflates numbers around...
To pumped-up Democrats, Harris was everything Biden was not in confronting Trump in debate
WASHINGTON — To many Democrats, Kamala Harris was everything Joe Biden was not in confronting Donald Trump on the debate stage: forceful, fleet of foot, relentless in going after her opponent. In a pivot from Biden’s debate meltdown in June, Democrats who gathered in bars, watch parties and other venues...
