Climate change may force more farmers and ranchers to consider irrigation — at a steep cost
The Texas ranch where Gilda Jackson trains and sells horses has been plagued by grasshoppers this year, a problem that only gets worse when the hatch quickens in times of heat and drought. Jackson watched this summer as the insects chewed through a 35-acre pasture she badly needs for hay;...
Prosecutors say witness in Trump’s classified documents case retracted false testimony
WASHINGTON — A witness in the criminal case against Donald Trump over the hoarding of classified documents retracted “prior false testimony” after switching lawyers last month and provided new information that implicated the former president, the Justice Department said Tuesday. The statements from the witness, a Trump staffer identified in...
Spotless arrival: Rare giraffe without coat pattern is born at Tennessee zooVideo
A giraffe without spots at a Tennessee zoo may be plain, but she’s definitely not ordinary. The female reticulated giraffe was born July 31 at the family-owned Brights Zoo in Limestone, a rural community in northeastern Tennessee. David Bright, one of the zoo’s owners, said the plain brown animal is...
Tropical Storm Franklin nears Dominican Republic and Haiti, bringing ‘life-threatening flooding’Video
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Authorities in the Dominican Republic shut schools and government offices Tuesday as Tropical Storm Franklin took aim at the island of Hispaniola that it shares with Haiti and threatened to unleash landslides and heavy floods. The storm was expected to make landfall on the island...
Woman gets 15 years to life in deaths of boyfriend, friend after 100 mph car crash into brick wall
CLEVELAND — An Ohio woman convicted of murder in the death of her boyfriend and a friend after authorities said she deliberately slammed her car into a brick wall at 100 mph has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Mackenzie Shirilla, 19, who was 17 at the...
A day after protest, West Virginia University announces 1 administrator’s retirement, HR restructuring
West Virginia University says it intends to restructure a large administrative unit on the Morgantown campus as part of its continuing review and transformation efforts. It was not known if or how many jobs would be impacted, beyond a vice president who is retiring and will not be replaced. Changes...
Tropical Storm Harold makes landfall in South Texas, bringing welcome rain and cooler temperaturesVideo
McALLEN, Texas — Thousands of homes and businesses in the South Texas city of Corpus Christi are without power Tuesday after the state’s first tropical storm of the hurricane season made landfall, bringing strong wind, welcome rain and cooler temperatures following months of hot, dry weather. Tropical Storm Harold, which...
1 in 5 moms belittled, abused or ignored during pregnancy or birth, CDC reports
One in five U.S. mothers reported mistreatment while receiving maternity care with their most recent pregnancy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in a new study Tuesday. Mothers said health care providers shouted at or scolded them, ignored requests for help or threatened that their treatment would be...
Sheriff: Suspect who killed store owner had ripped down Pride flag and shouted homophobic slursVideo
CEDAR GLEN, Calif. — A 27-year-old man killed by California sheriff’s deputies over the weekend after he fatally shot a store owner had ripped down an LGBTQ+ Pride flag outside the business and shouted homophobic slurs at the woman, authorities said Monday. When deputies confronted Travis Ikeguchi on foot about...
Pennsylvania court says state police can’t hide how it monitors social media
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state police can’t hide from the public its policy on how it monitors social media. Advocates for civil liberties cheered the decision. The law enforcement agency had argued that fully disclosing its policy for using software to monitor online postings may...
Who’s in, who’s out, who’s boycotting: The 8 candidates expected on-stage for the first GOP debate
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Donald Trump won’t be on the Republican debate stage Wednesday. But the former president is driving the conversation on and off the debate stage anyway. Trump supporters including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will be in Milwaukee. There are questions about how many of his campaign surrogates will...
Ukraine media say Kyiv saboteurs were behind drone attacks on air bases deep inside Russia
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian saboteurs coordinated by Kyiv’s military intelligence services carried out a pair of recent drone attacks that hit parked bomber aircraft at air bases deep inside Russia, Ukraine media claimed Tuesday. The attacks on Russian airfields on Saturday and Monday destroyed two Russian bombers and damaged two...
Rescuers save 8 people trapped in cable car dangling above canyon in Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Army commandos using helicopters and a makeshift chairlift rescued eight people from a broken cable car dangling hundreds of meters (feet) above a canyon Tuesday in a remote part of Pakistan, authorities said. The six children and two adults became trapped earlier in the day when one...
‘Get out of my house!’ Video shows 98-year-old mother of Kansas newspaper publisher upset amid raidVideo
MARION, Kan. — Newly released video shows the 98-year-old mother of a Kansas newspaper publisher confronting police officers as they searched her home in a raid that has drawn national scrutiny, at one point demanding: “Get out of my house!” Video released by the newspaper Monday shows Joan Meyer shouting...
Attorney John Eastman surrenders on charges in Trump’s Georgia 2020 election subversion case
ATLANTA — John Eastman, the conservative attorney who pushed a plan to keep Donald Trump in power, turned himself in to authorities Tuesday on charges in the Georgia case alleging an illegal plot to overturn the former president’s 2020 election loss. Eastman was booked at the Fulton County jail and...
FDA approves RSV vaccine for moms-to-be to guard their newborns
WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators on Monday approved the first RSV vaccine for pregnant women so their babies will be born with protection against the scary respiratory infection. RSV is notorious for filling hospitals with wheezing babies every fall and winter. The Food and Drug Administration cleared Pfizer’s maternal vaccination to...
California mountain and desert towns dig out of the mud from 1st tropical storm in 84 years
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — Crews in mountain and desert towns worked to clear away mud and debris Tuesday in the aftermath of the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years. The system was dissipating as it moved over the Rocky Mountains. Hilary dumped record rainfall over California’s...
Trump’s decision to back out of debate tests Fox News’ ability to pivot again
NEW YORK — If 2023 has taught anything to the people running Fox News Channel, it’s the importance of being able to pivot. The decision by former President Donald Trump to skip Wednesday’s first debate of the 2024 presidential primary season likely deprives Fox of a huge late-summer audience. Even...
How Trump’s attacks on prosecutors build on history of using racist language and stereotypes
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s aggressive response to his fourth criminal indictment in five months follows a strategy he has long used against legal and political opponents: relentless attacks, often infused with language that is either overtly racist or is coded in ways that appeal to racists. The early Republican...
‘It’s a small number of people who are very loud’: Local libraries grapple with book challenges, bans
Over the past few years, Librarian Sharon Coronado has been tested by select patrons who oppose the presence of certain voices in books at Ligonier Valley Library, particularly the voices of people of color and LGBTQ individuals. In one instance, Coronado recalls, a group of parents came into the library...
Pa. trooper charged with vehicular manslaughter in crash that killed teacher
Prosecutors charged an off-duty Pennsylvania state trooper with homicide by vehicle for causing a fiery head-on crash that killed a woman earlier this year. Attorney General Michelle Henry announced the charges Monday in connection with the Feb. 11 crash in Sullivan Township in Tioga County. Tioga County is in northern...
Georgia state senator eyes new panel as way to punish Fulton DA Fani Willis over Trump indictments
ATLANTA — Several Republican lawmakers are seeking ways to sanction Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she brought criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and 18 allies. Trump backers are going after Willis using a new state law approved by Gov. Brian Kemp that creates a state commission...
Man facing more charges in kidnapping case and Pennsylvania prison escape that led to manhunt
WARREN — A man who was the subject of a manhunt in two states last month after his escape from a northern Pennsylvania jail is facing more charges in the escape and in the original case alleging he kidnapped a couple and forced them to accompany him on his cross-country...
Biden sees devastation wrought by Hawaii wildfire during visit to LahainaVideo
LAHAINA, Hawaii — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Monday viewed the devastation wrought by the flames that ripped through the western part of the Hawaiian island, seeing for themselves the hollowed homes, structures and singed trees left behind by the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than...
Hershey Company employee who refused covid shot sues over being fired
A senior manager within The Hershey Company who refused to be vaccinated at the height of the covid-19 pandemic is now suing the company for laying him off despite applying for a religious exemption. Thomas Szeltner, a nearly 30-year veteran of the company, said he should have been given a...
