Means’ surgeon general nomination is stalled as senators question her experience and vaccine stance
NEW YORK — Wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means’ nomination to be U.S. surgeon general is stalled a month after senators of both major political parties grilled her on vaccines and other health topics during a tense confirmation hearing, deepening doubts about her ability to secure the votes she needs for...
World Food Prize goes to food safety scientist for preventing millions of cases of foodborne illness
DES MOINES, Iowa — A scientist who pioneered the modern food processing safety standards used around the world was awarded this year’s World Food Prize, the organization announced Wednesday, crediting his work for averting millions of cases of foodborne illness and reducing food waste. Huub Lelieveld of the Netherlands earned...
The lines, the prices, the anxiety: Can air travel get any worse?
War is raging in the Middle East, passengers are waiting in four-hour security lines, airfares are spiking and, now, a deadly runway collision at LaGuardia Airport has renewed questions about the safety of U.S. air traffic control. All this comes at one of the busiest travel periods of the year....
Beneath Lake Erie, a vast salt mine works overtime to meet winter road demands
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Below Cleveland, in a subterranean world many surface dwellers don’t know exists, miners extract a crucial winter mineral — salt. The Whiskey Island salt mine, owned by food giant Cargill, helps supply road salt across the Northeast and Great Lakes, where a colder, snowier-than-usual winter has driven...
Seconds before LaGuardia crash, controller cleared the fire truck to cross the runway, NTSB says
NEW YORK — One of only two air traffic controllers on duty at LaGuardia Airport cleared a fire truck to cross a runway just 12 seconds before an Air Canada flight touched down, leaving little time to avoid the collision that killed both pilots, federal investigators said Tuesday. The National...
Jewish communities boost security and continue observances amid rise in hateful incidents
Law enforcement officials on Tuesday said they are taking steps to monitor and counter threats to Jewish and Muslim communities nationwide since the onset of war in the Middle East, multiple hate crimes and an attempted terror attack prompted increased security measures at places of worship and investigations into extremist...
Perfect homework, blank stares: Why colleges are turning to oral exams to combat AI
The assignment involves no laptop, no chatbot and no technology of any kind. In fact, there’s no pen or paper, either. Instead, students in Chris Schaffer’s biomedical engineering class at Cornell University are required to speak directly to an instructor in what he calls an “oral defense.” It’s a testing...
Trump showed off a classified map during a 2022 plane trip, a Democratic lawmaker allegesVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump showed off a classified map on a 2022 flight to his New Jersey golf club and held onto a record from his first term that was so sensitive only six people would have had access to it, according to a letter released Wednesday by a...
TSA officers describe tears, tough choices and dwindling savings from working without pay
A woman in Indiana who put off dental surgery because she doesn’t know if she can afford the copay. A Florida couple with young children who are depleting their savings. A grandmother in Idaho who plans to sell her car to pay the rent. They are among the tens of...
Iran rejects U.S. ceasefire plan, issues its own demands as strikes land across the Mideast
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran on Wednesday dismissed an American plan to pause the war in the Middle East and launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, including strikes that hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire. Iran’s defiance came as Israel launched...
The U.S. said it helped bomb a drug camp. It was a dairy farm
As President Donald Trump prepared to welcome conservative Latin American leaders to a summit in Florida in early March, U.S. officials released a video of a massive explosion — capturing the destruction of what they said was a drug trafficker’s training camp in rural Ecuador. The video was meant to...
The ferocity of downpour that brought the latest Hawaii flooding surprised even meteorologistsVideo
HONOLULU — Crews on Tuesday began evaluating damage from a surprise downpour that sent floodwaters raging through a neighborhood near downtown Honolulu — the latest bout in a series of storms and flooding that have pummeled the state over the past two weeks. Residents along Oahu’s North Shore, famous for...
Democrat flips seat in special election for Florida district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort
WASHINGTON — Democrat Emily Gregory won a Florida special election on Tuesday, flipping a district that is home to Mar-a-Lago, the West Palm Beach estate that President Donald Trump counts as his residence. The Republican president had endorsed Gregory’s rival, Jon Maples. In a social media post Monday, he urged...
North Carolina Senate leader, conservative architect Phil Berger concedes primary loss
RALEIGH — North Carolina government’s most influential politician, Republican state Senate leader Phil Berger, conceded the primary race for his seat to Sam Page on Tuesday, shaking the power structure in the ninth-largest state and likely soon ending Berger’s preeminence as the state’s top conservative architect. Berger trailed Page, the...
High oil and gas prices could outlast Trump’s war with Iran
WASHINGTON — As the war with Iran began to send oil and gas prices soaring around the world, President Donald Trump shrugged off the fallout as a temporary setback for the U.S. economy. “When this is over,” he told reporters this month, “oil prices are going to go down very,...
Trump says the U.S. is in talks with Iran as diplomatic efforts pick up
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — President Donald Trump said for a second day that the U.S. was in talks with Iran to end the war as diplomatic efforts picked up Tuesday and Iran issued a newly defiant statement. Airstrikes battered the Islamic Republic while Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel...
Pa. House votes to boost state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029
The state House voted Tuesday afternoon to boost Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029. Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. “If you work hard, you shouldn’t have to worry about your next meal or having a roof over your head. Pennsylvania needs a...
Record-smashing heat spreads: ‘Basically the entire U.S. is going to be hot’Video
After smashing March heat records in 14 states and the U.S. as a whole, the gigantic heat dome that’s baked the Southwest is creeping eastward and may end up being one of the most expansive heat waves in American history, meteorologists and weather historians said. And it’s not going away...
Supreme Court considers letting Trump administration revive restrictive immigration asylum policy
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court grappled Tuesday with whether the Trump administration should be able to revive an immigration policy that has been used to turn back migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. Some conservative justices seemed receptive to the Justice Department’s push to overturn a lower-court ruling against...
Fire truck in LaGuardia crash lacked equipment needed to trigger runway warning system, NTSB saysVideo
NEW YORK — A runway warning system failed to sound an alarm moments before an Air Canada jet and a fire truck collided while the plane was landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, federal investigators said Tuesday. National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference that...
Minnesota sues Trump administration over shootings, including deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good
WASHINGTON — Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for access to evidence they say they need to independently investigate three shootings by federal officers, including the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The lawsuit claims that the federal government reneged on its promise to cooperate with state...
Young graduates face the grimmest job market in years
In January, an administrator from the career center at the University of Delaware posed a question on a private message board for educators: “Has anyone else noticed a decrease in employer fair registration for their spring events?” Responses came swiftly. “We are definitely seeing similar issues!” “It seems the current...
Thomas Massie thinks being hated by Trump is ‘worth it.’ Will voters agree?
CYNTHIANA, Ky. — Rep. Thomas Massie was wedged in the back of a pickup truck careening through the hills and hollers of his district back to his off-the-grid farm here in Kentucky, scrolling on his phone through the litany of memes his legion of online fans have created on his...
It’s a bad time to hunt for new jobs, most U.S. workers say in new Gallup poll
WASHINGTON — Americans’ outlook on the job market has turned increasingly pessimistic, a surprisingly negative shift given the low unemployment rate but one that likely reflects an ongoing hiring drought. Just 28% of workers in a quarterly Gallup survey conducted late last year said now is a “good time” to...
GOP state House candidate in North Hills ruled ineligible to appear on primary ballot
A McCandless Republican has been ruled ineligible to appear on the May 19 primary ballot as a candidate for state House because he doesn’t meet Pennsylvania’s residency requirement. Ehab Akkary was the lone Republican to file paperwork to seek the GOP nomination in the 30th state House District, which includes...
