Explainer: Windstorm was likely a derecho. What is that?
A long line of quick-moving thunderstorms that produced a swath of damaging wind gusts across northern Texas and Oklahoma late Sunday likely qualified the event as a derecho, although that’s not an official designation, said Nolan Meister, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “Last night we had a prolific...
‘Dilbert,’ Scott Adams lose distributor over racist remarks
“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams experienced possibly the biggest repercussion of recent racist comments when a major comics syndicator, which also operates the GoComics website, announced Sunday it would it would no longer work with the cartoonist. Andrews McMeel Universal said in a statement that the syndication company was “severing” their...
Williamson becomes Democratic primary’s 1st Biden challenger
WASHINGTON — Bestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson, who brought quirky spiritualism to the 2020 presidential race, has announced she’s running for president again, becoming the first major Democrat to challenge President Joe Biden for his party’s nomination in 2024. Williamson is formally kicking off her campaign with an event in...
Kremlin image-maker turned critic Gleb Pavlovsky dies at 71
MOSCOW — Gleb Pavlovsky, a Soviet-era dissident who served as a Kremlin political consultant helping burnish President Vladimir Putin’s image, has died, his family said Monday. He was 71. Pavlovsky worked as a top adviser for the Kremlin for 15 years and was widely seen as one of the key...
Betty Boothroyd, first female UK Commons speaker, dies at 93
LONDON — Betty Boothroyd, the first — and so far only — female speaker of Britain’s House of Commons, has died, parliamentary authorities said Monday. She was 93. Boothroyd, who presided over the Commons’ often raucous debates with no-nonsense humor between 1992 and 2000, died Sunday at a hospital in...
Supreme Court student loan case: The arguments explainedVideo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is about to hear arguments over President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan, which impacts millions of borrowers who could see their loans wiped away or reduced. So far, Republican-appointed judges have kept the Democratic president’s plan from going into effect, and it remains to...
Survey: Business economists push back U.S. recession forecasts
WASHINGTON — A majority of the nation’s business economists expect a U.S. recession to begin later this year than they had previously forecast, after a series of reports have pointed to a surprisingly resilient economy despite steadily higher interest rates. Fifty-eight percent of 48 economists who responded to a survey...
Pa. DEP to spend week testing water samples collected within mile of train derailment
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said Saturday that it has collected drinking water samples from 13 of the 16 known residential wells within a mile of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment. The DEP announced last week that it would begin systematic collection and testing of water samples in...
Millions who rely on Medicaid may be booted from program
WASHINGTON — If you get health care coverage through Medicaid, you might be at risk of losing that coverage over the next year. Roughly 84 million people are covered by the government-sponsored program, which has grown by 20 million people since January 2020, just before the covid-19 pandemic hit. But...
GOP leaders, stung by losses, plan to wade into Senate races
WASHINGTON — A football legend who held a gun to his ex-wife’s head. Rivals who nearly brawled during a televised debate. A venture capitalist who voiced sympathy for the Unabomber. And that’s just to name a few. Republican Senate primaries in several pivotal states last year exuded a carnival-like aura,...
Death toll at 62 in Italy migrant tragedy; dozens missing
STECCATO DI CUTRO, Italy — The death toll rose to 62 in the migrant tragedy off Italy’s southern coast after rescue crews recovered three more bodies Monday, driving home once again the desperate and dangerous boat crossings of people seeking to reach Europe. Dozens more were believed to be missing....
Trans people face ‘horrifying’ rhetoric at statehouses
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It was pharmacist Gwendolyn Herzig’s first time testifying before a legislative committee when she spoke to several Arkansas lawmakers in a packed hearing room this month about a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Herzig, who is transgender, spoke out against the legislation and told the...
Memories of Wounded Knee reflect mixed legacy after 50 years
MINNEAPOLIS — Tensions that had been smoldering on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota flared up 50 years ago Monday, when activists from the American Indian Movement took over the town of Wounded Knee. In the view of the protesters, Oglala Sioux tribal chairman Dick Wilson was in cahoots...
DeSantis moves toward GOP presidential bid on his own terms
NEW YORK — Republican presidential contenders typically fight for prime speaking slots at the Conservative Political Action Conference. But as conservative activists gather in suburban Washington this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be courting donors more than a thousand miles away in Texas and California. The apparent CPAC snub...
Last-minute problem halts NASA mission with North Allegheny grad
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Last-minute technical trouble has forced SpaceX to call off Monday’s attempt to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission was to be piloted by Dr. Warren “Woody” Hoburg, a 2004 North Allegheny graduate. Hoburg’s role was to be responsible...
Disneyland fan sets Guinness record for most consecutive visits that likely won’t be broken
ANAHEIM, Calif. — A hardcore Disneyland fan who visited the Anaheim theme park on a daily basis for nearly 3,000 days in a row has set a world record that will likely stand forever. Guinness World Records this week officially recognized Jeff Reitz’s mark for most consecutive visits to Disneyland...
Magnitude 5.6 quake hits Turkey; more buildings collapse
ANKARA, Turkey — A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook southern Turkey on Monday — three weeks after a catastrophic temblor devastated the region — causing some already damaged buildings to collapse, an official said. A father and daughter were reported trapped beneath the rubble of one building. Monday’s earthquake was centered...
Michigan power line work continues, California gets breatherVideo
Some Michigan residents faced a fourth straight day in the dark on Sunday as crews continued working to restore power to more than 175,000 homes and businesses in the Detroit metropolitan area following last week’s ice storm. Leah Thomas, whose home north of Detroit in the suburb of Beverly Hills...
Report: Energy Department believes lab leak was most likely the source of covidVideo
A laboratory leak was the most likely origin of the covid-19 virus, according to findings by the U.S. Energy Department, The Wall Street Journal reported. A classified intelligence report provided to the White House and key members of Congress said the virus likely spread because of a mishap at a...
Israeli settlers rampage after Palestinian gunman kills 2
JERUSALEM — Scores of Israeli settlers went on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank late Sunday, setting cars and homes on fire after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman. Palestinian medics said dozens were wounded. The deadly shooting, followed by the late-night rampage, immediately raised doubts...
Migrant boat breaks up off Italian coast, killing nearly 60
ROME — A wooden boat crowded with migrants smashed into rocky reefs and broke apart before dawn Sunday off the Italian coast, authorities said. Rescuers recovered nearly 60 bodies, and dozens more people were missing in the rough waters. Officials feared the death toll could top 100 since some survivors...
Cause sought in Arizona truck crash that killed 2 bicyclists
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — A suspect has been arrested in connection with a crash that killed two bicyclists and injured 11 others in a Phoenix suburb, authorities said Sunday. Goodyear police announced that 26-year-old Pedro Quintana-Lujan is jailed on suspicion of two counts of manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault, 18...
Borsch without a ‘t’: Kyiv chef uses food to reclaim culture
KYIV, Ukraine — Don’t tell Ievgen Klopotenko that borsch is just food. For him, that bowl of beet-and-meat soup is the embodiment of everything Ukraine is fighting for. “Food is a powerful social instrument by which you can unite or divide a nation,” said Klopotenko, Ukraine’s most recognizable celebrity chef...
‘Powder keg’ for 9/11: 1993 trade center bombing remembered
NEW YORK — Lolita Jackson was at her 72nd-floor desk in the World Trade Center, feeling like she worked at the top of the world. Then came the boom, and smoke started curling in from an elevator shaft. Unsure what was happening, she joined thousands of other office workers on...
Failing at polls, election deniers focus on state GOP posts
PARKER, Colo — In a basement event space in the Denver suburb of Parker, Tina Peters surveyed a crowd of Colorado Republicans last week and made an unusual pitch for why she should become chair of their beleaguered party: “There’s no way a jury of 12 people is going to...
