Biden heads into a make-or-break stretch for his imperiled presidential campaign
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden opened a critical stretch on Thursday in his effort to salvage his imperiled reelection campaign, arguing the stakes extend far beyond his own political prospects to the future of the country’s economy and democracy itself. There is a growing sense that Biden may have just...
Americans shrug off searing heat to celebrate Fourth of July with parades, cookouts and fireworks
The burgers aren’t the only things sizzling this Fourth of July: Millions of people are under heat warnings as large numbers of Americans traveled to toast their nation’s birth with parades, cookouts and fiery splashes of colors against the evening sky. Travel records are projected to fall with people already...
British voters pick a new government against a backdrop of economic malaise and deep pessimism
LONDON — British voters were picking a new government Thursday in a parliamentary election widely expected to bring the Labour Party to power against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric. A jaded electorate is delivering its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi...
Hurricane Beryl churns toward Mexico after leaving destruction in Jamaica and eastern Caribbean
TULUM, Mexico — Hurricane Beryl ripped off roofs in Jamaica, jumbled fishing boats in Barbados and damaged or destroyed 95% of homes on a pair of islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines before rumbling past the Cayman Islands early Thursday and taking aim at Mexico’s Caribbean coast after leaving...
Patrick Bertoletti wins his first men’s title at Nathan’s hot dog eating contest as defending champion Miki Sudo wins women’s division
NEW YORK — Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago gobbled down 58 hot dogs to win his first men’s title Thursday at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. Bertoletti won in a tight, 10-minute race where the leader bounced back and forth. The 39-year-old Bertoletti defeated 13...
Netanyahu will dispatch negotiators to resume Gaza cease-fire talks, an Israeli official says
JERUSALEM — An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will dispatch negotiators to resume Gaza cease-fire talks. The decision on Thursday comes a day after Hamas submitted a new response a a U.S.-backed proposal for a phased cease-fire. The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal...
Vatican chief of staff testifies in UK finance trial, points finger at deputy who escaped unscathed
ROME — Pope Francis’ chief of staff became one of the highest-ranking Holy See officials to testify in a foreign court Thursday, giving a British tribunal a detailed explanation of the negotiations at the heart of the Vatican’s so-called “trial of the century” and pointing a finger at his onetime...
Thousands evacuate as Northern California wildfire spreads, with more hot weather expectedVideo
OROVILLE, Calif. — Firefighters lined roads to keep flames from reaching homes as helicopters dropped water on a growing wildfire Wednesday in Northern California that has forced at least 26,000 people to evacuate, as the state sweltered under extreme heat. The Thompson fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 70...
Man tells jury he found body but had no role in fatal attack on Detroit synagogue leader
DETROIT — A man charged with killing a Detroit synagogue leader during a violent overnight encounter denied any role Wednesday, telling jurors that he never entered her home but had discovered and touched her bloody body outdoors. Michael Jackson-Bolanos repeatedly said “absolutely not” when his attorney asked if he broke...
Longer happy hours, value meals with an adult beverage coming to Pennsylvania
Inflation-weary consumers could soon see changes coming to their favorite drinking establishments that will be gentler on their wallets. Longer happy hours and combo meals that include an adult beverage are among a number of changes to the state’s liquor code included in a bill the House approved on Wednesday...
Colorado dairy worker tests positive for bird flu, 4th person linked to outbreak
A fourth farm worker has been infected with bird flu in the growing outbreak linked to dairy cows, health officials reported Wednesday. The worker had direct contact with infected dairy cows on a northeast Colorado farm, state and federal health officials said. The man developed pink eye, or conjunctivitis, received...
Hurricane Beryl roars by Jamaica after killing at least 6 people in the southeast CaribbeanVideo
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Hurricane Beryl was roaring by Jamaica Wednesday, bringing fierce winds and heavy rain after the powerful Category 4 storm earlier killed at least six people and caused significant damage in the southeast Caribbean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Beryl’s eyewall was “brushing the south coast of...
Biden vows to keep running as signs point to rapidly eroding support for him on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON — A defiant President Joe Biden vowed Wednesday to keep running for reelection, rejecting growing pressure from Democrats to withdraw after a disastrous debate performance raised questions about his readiness to keep campaigning, much less win in November. But increasingly ominous signs were mounting for the president. Two Democratic...
Democrats in Congress are torn between backing Biden for president and sounding the alarm
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance has reverberated across the Democratic Party, forcing lawmakers to grapple with a crisis that could upend the presidential election and change the course of American history. The Democratic president has signaled he’s trying to stay in the race against Republican Donald Trump...
Israeli strike kills another senior Hezbollah commander as diplomats scramble for calm in Lebanon
BEIRUT — An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday killed a senior Hezbollah commander as tensions between the two sides continue to boil, a Hezbollah official told The Associated Press. The strike near the southern coastal city of Tyre took place as global diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent...
To save spotted owls, U.S. officials plan to kill hundreds of thousands of another owl species
To save the imperiled spotted owl from potential extinction, U.S. wildlife officials are embracing a contentious plan to deploy trained shooters into dense West Coast forests to kill almost a half-million barred owls that are crowding out their smaller cousins. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service strategy released Wednesday is...
Greensburg, Southwest Greensburg honor 43 in latest Hometown Hero banner ceremony
Although he didn’t talk about it much, Charles Galbraith was proud of the two years he served in the Army. Galbraith is one of 43 veterans, first responders and local officials who were honored Saturday evening at St. Clair Park with Hometown Hero banners in Greensburg and Southwest Greensburg. Galbraith...
Harris tries to hold the line for Biden as Democrats panic over election
WASHINGTON — By the time Vice President Kamala Harris stepped into her third fundraiser since President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate last week, she had her routine down. Yes, she conceded to a few dozen donors in San Francisco, the president’s performance was “not his finest hour.” However, she said, “the...
Anti-settlement group says Israel has made largest West Bank land seizure in 3 decades
JERUSALEM — Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, an anti-settlement watchdog group said Wednesday, a move that could further worsen already soaring tensions linked to the ongoing war in Gaza. Peace Now said authorities recently approved the appropriation of...
Sierra Leone outlaws child marriage, and even witnesses to such weddings will be punished
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — A bill that bans child marriage in Sierra Leone has been signed into law, President Julius Maada Bio said late Tuesday, in an effort to protect girls in the West African nation where about a third are married before adulthood. The law is being celebrated widely....
Mosaics by an artist accused of abusing women will stay on the Lourdes shrine, for now
ROME — A French bishop has put off any decision on whether to remove mosaics by an ex-Jesuit artist accused of abusing women, saying that they’ll stay for now on the Lourdes shrine but that eventually they should be removed. The mosaics will no longer be lit up each night...
Taliban and U.S. envoys have discussed the release of 2 American prisoners at third Doha meeting
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban’s delegation to the third United Nations-led Doha meeting on increasing engagement with Afghanistan met with U.S. envoys on the sidelines and discussed the two Americans imprisoned in the central Asian country. Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters in Kabul Wednesday that the meeting aimed at “finding a solution.”...
1 man hurt when home in rural Wisconsin explodes, authorities say
LAFAYETTE, Wis. — A house in southeastern Wisconsin exploded Tuesday, injuring one man who was found trapped in rubble in the basement, authorities said. Calls to 911 reported the explosion about 2:15 p.m. in Lafayette, the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies arrived about 15 minutes later and saw that...
Somerset County soldier 1 of 2 Civil War heroes set to posthumously receive medal-of-honor at White HouseVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will award the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry on Wednesday to two Union soldiers who stole a locomotive deep in Confederate territory during the Civil War and drove it north for 87 miles as they destroyed railroad tracks and telegraph lines. U.S. Army Pvts....
Bill taking Pennsylvania’s same-sex marriage ban off the books clears state House
A bill that would repeal Pennsylvania’s same-sex marriage ban passed the state House of Representatives Tuesday on a bipartisan vote, with proponents saying the change was necessary to protect marriage equality if federal case law was overturned. The measure passed 133-to-68 in the final vote, with all but one member...
