Diversify or die: San Francisco’s downtown is a wake-up call for other cities
SAN FRANCISCO — Jack Mogannam, manager of Sam’s Cable Car Lounge in downtown San Francisco, relishes the days when his bar stayed open past midnight every night, welcoming crowds that jostled on the streets, bar hopped, window browsed or just took in the night air. He’s had to drastically curtail...
Arrest of suspect in Long Island serial killings brings both pain and relief to victims’ families
NEW YORK — The trail had gone cold as clues suddenly dwindled. For a time, doubts swirled about whether a killer who dumped the remains of his female victims along remote stretches of coastline on New York’s Long Island would ever be caught. Then finally, after more than a dozen...
Powerball prize grows to $900 million after no jackpot winner drawn
Another Powerball drawing ended with no winner Saturday night, sending the jackpot soaring to an estimated $900 million. No ticket for Saturday’s drawing matched the winning combination: white balls 2, 9, 43, 55, 57 and red Powerball 18. The jackpot was estimated at $875 million. Ticket buyers for Monday’s drawing...
Children, relatives of alumni no longer have admissions edge at Carnegie Mellon, Pitt
For decades, Carnegie Mellon University viewed whether a student applicant was related to alumni as an “important” or “considered” factor in admissions decisions. But it appears that legacies, as children or relatives of alumni are called, no longer have an edge in admissions decisions at the highly selective university. In...
Pennsylvania jail escapee Michael Burham captured
YOUNGSVILLE — Looking dirty, wet and “worn out” from living in the wilderness to evade arrest, a homicide suspect who used bedsheets to escape a northern Pennsylvania jail has been captured, authorities said. Michael Burham, 34, fled the Warren County jail in the late evening hours of July 6 by...
U.S. Rep. George Santos repays himself $85K raised from lackluster reelection fundraising
NEW YORK — Embattled freshman U.S. Rep. George Santos, a Republican from New York charged with a host of financial crimes, including embezzling money from his campaign, withdrew $85,000 from his campaign to help repay hundreds of thousands of dollars he loaned himself to get elected in 2022. Congressional campaign...
U.S. Southwest swelters under dangerous heat wave, with new records on track
PHOENIX — A dangerous heat wave threatened a wide swath of the Southwest with potentially deadly temperatures in the triple digits on Saturday as some cooling centers extended their hours and emergency rooms prepared to treat more people with heat-related illnesses. “Near record temperatures are expected this weekend!” the National...
NASA’s 1st new wind tunnel in 40 years will turn science fiction to fact
NORFOLK, Va. — Flying cars. Space tourism. Safe reentry for astronauts coming back from Mars. These technologies are still science fiction, but some won’t be for much longer, according to Charles “Mike” Fremaux, NASA Langley Research Center’s chief engineer for intelligent flight systems. To test these concepts, particularly in regard...
Alaska volcano spews ash cloud high enough to draw weather service warning for pilots
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An erupting volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands sent a towering cloud of ash into the air Friday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue an inflight warning to pilots. The Shishaldin Volcano began erupting July 11, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. A U.S. Coast Guard overflight...
In quiet Georgia subdivision, neighbor says he saw man accused of killing 4 shoot man in street
HAMPTON, Ga. — A neighborhood south of Atlanta crawled with police on Sunday as Georgia authorities hunted for a man suspected of gunning down three men and a woman in the subdivision before fleeing. Andre Longmore, 40, is accused of fatally shooting the victims Saturday morning before driving away from...
1 North Dakota officer killed, 2 injured in shooting that left suspect dead
FARGO, N.D. — One police officer was killed and two others were critically injured in a shooting that also left the suspect dead on a busy street in Fargo, North Dakota, police said. A civilian also was seriously wounded in the shooting that happened just before 3 p.m. Friday, police...
Efforts to deceive are a top concern among state election officials heading into 2024
WASHINGTON — Efforts to deceive the public about voting and elections remain a top concern for state election officials as they dig into preparations for the 2024 election. Misinformation and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools to create false and misleading content were cited in interviews with several secretaries...
DeSantis makes play for evangelical voters to chip away at Trump
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said signing a law restricting abortion in his state had cost him donors and support, defending the decision as he sought to burnish his credentials with evangelical voters in Iowa. “I lost a lot of really big supporters — some of them just aren’t pro- life,...
Mexico files border boundaries complaint over Texas’ floating barrier plan on Rio Grande
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s top diplomat said Friday her country has sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. government expressing concern that Texas’ deployment of floating barriers on the Rio Grande may violate 1944 and 1970 treaties on boundaries and water. Foreign Relations Secretary Alicia Bárcena said Mexico will send...
U.S. sending F-16 fighter jets to protect ships from Iranian seizures in Gulf region
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is beefing up its use of fighter jets around the strategic Strait of Hormuz to protect ships from Iranian seizures, a senior defense official said Friday, adding that the U.S. is increasingly concerned about the growing ties between Iran, Russia and Syria across the Middle East....
House Republicans push through defense bill limiting abortion access, halting diversity efforts
WASHINGTON — The House passed a sweeping defense bill Friday that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with Republicans add-ons blocking abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care that deeply divided the chamber. Democrats voted against the package,...
How DOJ made different death penalty decisions in the Pittsburgh synagogue and Texas mall massacres
CHICAGO — Two separate shootings 2,000 miles apart. One killed 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The other killed 23 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Both were motivated by hate. Both involved gunmen who later claimed mental illness. But earlier this year, the Justice Department authorized the death penalty...
Trump asks top Georgia court to disqualify election probe prosecutor and toss grand jury report
ATLANTA — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are asking Georgia’s highest court to prevent the district attorney who has been investigating his actions in the wake of the 2020 election from prosecuting him and to throw out a special grand jury report that is part of the inquiry. Fulton...
Jesse Jackson to step down as head of civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH
CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse Jackson plans to step down from leading the Chicago civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition he founded in 1971, his son’s congressional office said Friday. A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson confirmed the long-time civil rights leader would be retiring from the organization. The...
New Jersey gambling revenue up nearly 14%, but most casinos still trail pre-pandemic levels
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — New Jersey’s casinos, horse tracks that take sports bets, and the online partners of both those types of gambling won more than $457 million in June, an increase of nearly 14% from a year earlier. But the key metric for Atlantic City’s nine casinos — the...
GOP White House hopefuls face mounting pressure to stop Trump in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa — As the six-month sprint to the Iowa caucuses begins, the sprawling field of Republican presidential candidates is facing growing pressure to prove they can become serious challengers to former President Donald Trump. The urgency is particularly acute for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who entered the race...
Disney asks judge to toss a lawsuit from board of DeSantis appointees
ORLANDO, Fla. — Disney asked a Florida judge on Friday to toss out a lawsuit against the company’s efforts to neutralize a takeover of Disney World’s governing district by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees. The case in state court in Orlando is one of two stemming from the takeover,...
Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, a key witness at Jan. 6 hearings, has book deal
NEW YORK — A former White House aide to President Donald Trump who became a prominent congressional witness against him and his allies in the wake of the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol has a book deal. Cassidy Hutchinson’s “Enough” will be released Sept. 26 by Simon &...
Biden and Democrats raised $72 million-plus for his 2024 race
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $72 million for his reelection in the 10 weeks since he announced his 2024 candidacy, his campaign announced Friday, in a strong but not record performance by an incumbent. That is all the money raised between April...
The term ‘unalive’ is a way that kids can safely discuss and understand serious matters
When Emily Litman was in middle school, kids whose parents grounded them would blithely lament: “I just want to die.” Now she’s a middle school teacher in New Jersey, and when her students’ phones and TikTok access are taken away, their out-loud whining has a 21st-century digital twist: “I feel...
