Miniature poodle named Sage wins Westminster Kennel Club dog show
NEW YORK — It was a Sage bet. A miniature poodle named Sage won the top prize Tuesday night at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, an event that often has proven to be a poodle’s realm. It was the 11th triumph for poodles of various sizes in the United...
GOP advances Senate candidates in West Virginia, Maryland who could flip Democratic seats
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Republican voters advanced strong Senate contenders in Maryland and West Virginia on Tuesday, giving the GOP a big boost in its push to claim control of Congress’ upper chamber. At the same time, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump sought to project strength in...
Wong will be sworn in as Singapore’s prime minister, as Lee Hsien Loong bows out after 20 years
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Singapore’s deputy leader Lawrence Wong is set to be sworn in Wednesday as the nation’s fourth prime minister in a carefully planned political succession designed to ensure continuity and stability in the Asian financial hub. A U.S.-trained economist, Wong, 51, succeeds Lee Hsien Loong, 72, who...
California to make $3.3B available for mental health, substance use treatment centers
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Hammered by mounting pressure to address the growing homelessness crisis in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday his administration will make $3.3 billion available ahead of schedule for counties and private developers to start building more behavioral health treatment centers as part of his efforts to fund...
Israelis mark a subdued Independence Day under the shadow of war in Gaza
TEL AVIV, Israel — The grills were fired up, the blankets were spread across the grass, the smoke was pungent from sizzling slabs of meat. As in previous years, Israelis marked Independence Day with barbecues in parks across the country. Usually, parties crush so close that not even a tuft...
Cargo ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse had power blackouts hours before leaving port
BALTIMORE — The cargo ship Dali experienced an electrical blackout about 10 hours before leaving the Port of Baltimore and yet again shortly before it slammed into the Francis Key Bridge and killed six construction workers, federal investigators said Tuesday, providing the most detailed account yet of the tragedy. The...
Whistleblower questions delays and mistakes in way EPA used sensor plane after fiery Ohio derailment
The U.S. government has a specialized plane loaded with advanced sensors that officials brag is always ready to deploy within an hour of any kind of chemical disaster. But the plane didn’t fly over eastern Ohio until four days after the disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment there last year. A whistleblower...
Boat that fatally struck a 15-year-old girl in Florida has been found, officials say
MIAMI — Investigators believe they’ve found the boat that fatally struck a 15-year-old girl off a South Florida beach, officials said Tuesday. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation and other law enforcement agencies had been searching for the vessel since Saturday, when Ella Adler was killed and the boat operator...
If it seems like more tornadoes are striking Western Pa. — they are
A spate of tornadoes have spun up in Western Pennsylvania with unprecedented frequency this spring. The National Weather Service in Moon’s coverage area, which includes Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and Northern West Virginia, has already seen 14 tornadoes in 2024, which is more than double the annual average of six...
Stormy Daniels wore bulletproof vest to Trump trial, lawyer says
NEW YORK — Stormy Daniels wore a bulletproof vest under her outfits while she was testifying at former president Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan, her lawyer said Monday. The former adult film star was “paralyzed” with fear ahead of the proceedings, attorney Clark Brewster said on CNN’s “AC360.”...
‘Deeply concerned’ with China doping allegations, U.S. drug czar sends letter to anti-doping agency
The U.S. drug czar sent a pointed letter to world anti-doping officials, saying leaders in governments across the globe “remain deeply concerned” about the response to allegations of Chinese doping before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Rahul Gupta, who holds a position on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s executive committee, sent...
FBI, Homeland Security warn of possible threats to LGBTQ events, including Pride Month activities
WASHINGTON — Foreign terrorist organizations or their supporters might target LGBTQ-related events and venues as part of June’s Pride Month, federal agencies warned in a recent public announcement. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued the announcement May 10 to raise awareness of “foreign terrorist organizations (FTOS) or...
Military hearing officer deciding whether to recommend court-martial for Pentagon leaker
BEDFORD, Massachusetts — A Massachusetts Air National Guard member who pleaded guilty in March to federal crimes for leaking highly classified military documents appeared Tuesday before a military hearing officer who will recommend whether the guardsman should face a court-martial. Jack Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, is facing three charges...
Tennessee governor OKs bill allowing death penalty for child rape convictions
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved legislation allowing the death penalty in child rape convictions, a change the Republican-controlled Statehouse championed amid concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court has banned capital punishment in such cases. Lee, a Republican, quietly signed off on the legislation last week without...
German court convicts prominent far-right politician for using a Nazi slogan, imposes a fine
HALLE, Germany — A court on Tuesday convicted one of the best-known figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany party of using a Nazi slogan in a speech and ordered him to pay a fine. The verdict in Björn Höcke’s trial comes months before a regional election in the eastern...
Judge rejects Hunter Biden’s bid to delay his June trial on federal gun charges
WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden’s federal gun case will go to trial next month, a judge said Tuesday, denying a bid by lawyers for the president’s son to delay the prosecution. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected Hunter Biden’s request to push the trial until September, which the defense said...
Appeals court upholds gag order in Trump hush money trial
NEW YORK — A New York appeals court on Tuesday upheld the gag order in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, finding that the judge “properly determined” that Trump’s public statements “posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case as well.”...
Pa. Treasury has $4.5B in unclaimed property — how to find out if some belongs to you
Are you still missing any belongings after searching for years? You might be owed part of the billions of dollars’ worth of unclaimed property held by the Pennsylvania Treasury. According to a news release published Monday, the state treasury holds more than $4.5 billion worth of unclaimed property as of...
IUP prepares for academic overhaul with proposed college name changes
Indiana University of Pennsylvania is poised to undergo an academic restructuring that would include name changes for three of its five colleges, discontinuing low-enrolled programs and identifying areas for future growth. Those moves and others will be reviewed by the State System of Higher Education in Harrisburg in the coming...
Appeals court upholds ruling requiring Georgia county to pay for a transgender deputy’s surgery
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that a Georgia county illegally discriminated against a sheriff’s deputy by failing to pay for her gender-affirming surgery. In its ruling Monday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was tasked with determining whether a health...
Driver of truck that hit farmworker bus in Florida, killing 8, arrested on DUI charges
OCALA, Fla. — The Florida Highway Patrol has arrested the driver of a pickup truck that crashed into a farmworker bus early Tuesday, killing eight, on charges of driving under the influence-manslaughter. Bryan Maclean Howard faces eight counts of DUI-Manslaughter, the FHP said in a statement. No further details were...
Hot history: Tree rings show that last northern summer was the warmest since year 1
The broiling summer of 2023 was the hottest in the Northern Hemisphere in more than 2,000 years, a new study found. When the temperatures spiked last year, numerous weather agencies said it was the hottest month, summer and year on record. But those records only go back to 1850 at...
Check stubs, fake receipts, blind loyalty: Michael Cohen offers inside knowledge in Trump’s hush money trial
NEW YORK — It wasn’t until after a decade in the fold, after his family pleaded with him, after the FBI raided his office, apartment and hotel room, Michael Cohen testified Tuesday, that he finally decided to turn on Donald Trump. That decision led to a 2018 guilty plea to...
Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession as a potentially even larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza
JERUSALEM — Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. Palestinians refer to it...
Primaries in Maryland and West Virginia will shape the battle this fall for a Senate majority
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Voters across Maryland and West Virginia will decide key primary elections Tuesday with big implications in the fight for the Senate majority this fall. At the same time, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump hope to project strength in low-stakes presidential primaries, while further...
