U.S./World category, Page 448
The American flag wasn’t always revered as it is today. At the beginning, it was an afterthought
PHILADELPHIA — In the bedroom of the Betsy Ross House, a reconstruction of where the upholsterer worked on her most famous commission, a long flag with a circle of 13 stars hangs over a Chippendale side chair and extends across the floor. Over the weeks in 1776 needed to complete...
Harvard legacy admissions targeted after Supreme Court ruling on affirmative actionVideo
Harvard University was accused by minority groups of violating federal law by giving preferential treatment in the admissions process to children of alumni and wealthy donors, days after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of race-based affirmative action policies. The long-standing practice of legacy admissions flouts a provision...
Maternal deaths in the U.S. more than doubled over two decades. Black mothers died at the highest rate
Maternal deaths across the U.S. more than doubled over the course of two decades, and the tragedy unfolded unequally. Black mothers died at the nation’s highest rates, while the largest increases in deaths were found in American Indian and Native Alaskan mothers. And some states — and racial or ethnic...
Fright over crack on North Carolina ride serves as reminder of risks at amusement parksVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A visible crack in the support beam of a North Carolina roller coaster served as a reminder of the risks that sometimes arise with amusement park rides, particularly as families and adrenaline junkies flock to the attractions throughout the summer. Video footage of the Charlotte-based Carowinds’ popular...
A Texas man who went missing as a teen in 2015 has been found alive, his family and police say
HOUSTON — A Texas man who went missing as a teenager in 2015 after last being seen walking his dogs in Houston has been found alive, his family and police said Monday. Police and firefighters found Rudolph “Rudy” Farias IV around 10 p.m. Thursday after getting a call of a...
The aftermath of mass shootings infiltrates every corner of survivors’ lives
CHICAGO — More than a year after 11-year-old Mayah Zamora was airlifted out of Uvalde, Texas, where she was critically injured in the Robb Elementary school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers, the family is still reeling. Knocks on the door startle Mayah into a panic. The family...
A year of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians just escalated. Is this an uprising?
TEL AVIV, Israel — Airstrikes targeting Palestinian militants in a crowded residential area. Armored bulldozers plowing through narrow streets, crushing cars and piling up debris. Protesters burning tires. A mounting death toll. Israel’s large-scale military raid into the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Monday had undeniable...
Leon Gautier, last member of French D-Day military commando unit, dies at 100
PARIS — Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of an elite French unit that joined U.S. and other Allied forces in the D-Day invasion to wrest Normandy from Nazi control, has died. He was 100. The death was announced Monday by Romain Bail, the mayor of Ouistreham, an English Channel...
Kevin Spacey’s accuser describes Oscar-winning actor as ‘slippery, snaky, difficult person’
LONDON — One of Kevin Spacey ‘s accusers described the Oscar-winning actor in a London court Monday as a “slippery, snaky” predator whom good-looking young men were warned to avoid. The man, who worked with Spacey when he came to the British capital’s Old Vic Theatre in the early 2000s,...
Car crashes into New Hampshire restaurant, injures dozens, pins man in bathroom
LACONIA, N.H. — A car crashed into a busy New Hampshire restaurant and injured more than a dozen patrons inside, authorities said. The vehicle struck the Looney Bin Bar & Grill a little after 12:40 p.m. Sunday and came to a stop well inside, pinning one man inside the bathroom,...
Saudi Arabia, Russia cut oil supply again in bid to boost prices
LONDON — Saudi Arabia and Russia are extending cuts to the amount of oil they pump to the world in a bid to prop up prices, showing how two of the world’s largest oil producers are scrambling to boost income from the fossil fuel even as demand has weakened with...
6 dead, 1 hurt after South Carolina house fire, authorities charge man with attempted murder
GREEN POND, S.C. — Six people were found dead after a South Carolina house fire and authorities said they charged a man with the attempted murder of the lone survivor of the Sunday morning blaze. Authorities found the deceased victims and one person in critical condition at a home in...
New study finds that night owls’ unhealthy habits may lead to early deaths
According to a May 2023 study published in Chronobiology International, night owls — people who go to bed later and wake up later — possibly die earlier than those who operate during the earlier portions of the day. That mainly because those who are up late are more at risk...
Explosion in downtown Tokyo injures 4, media reports
TOKYO — An explosion at a building in Tokyo’s Shimbashi commercial district on Monday shattered windows and spewed smoke, injuring four people, department officials said. Tokyo Fire Department said the explosion occurred at an eatery on the second floor of an eight-story building, injuring two people inside and two pedestrians...
Wait for U.S. passports creates travel purgatory, snarls summer plans
WASHINGTON — Seeking a valid U.S. passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveler, for a very different journey before you step anywhere near an airport. A much-feared backup of U.S passport applications has smashed into a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide travel rebounds toward record pre-pandemic levels...
Amazon Indigenous are leaving rainforest for cities, and finding urban poverty
ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil — In 1976, Binan Tuku ventured to meet a Brazilian government’s expedition on the banks of the Itui River in a remote area of the western Amazon rainforest. After some initial suspicion, he and his father accepted machetes and soap in what was the beginning of...
Judge awards Black church $1 million after BLM banner burned by Proud Boys during protest
WASHINGTON — A judge on Friday awarded more than $1 million to a Black church in downtown Washington, D.C. that sued the far-right Proud Boys for tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter banner during a 2020 protest. Superior Court Associated Judge Neal A. Kravitz also barred the extremist...
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is making a long-awaited trip to China
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel Thursday to Beijing as part of an ongoing Biden administration effort to thaw U.S.-China relations, a senior Treasury official said Sunday. Yellen, who has called the notion of an economic decoupling from China “disastrous,” has frequently said in the past year that...
Excessive heat warnings remain in many areas of US through MondayVideo
Excessive heat warnings remain in place in many areas across the U.S. and are expected to last at least through Monday. In Arizona’s largest metro area, Phoenix and surrounding communities flirted with a high of 115 degrees on Sunday. The National Weather Service in Phoenix is forecasting 116 degrees for...
At least 1 person is dead in a fiery small plane crash in South Carolina beach resort
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — A single-engine plane carrying five people crashed Sunday near a golf course in the South Carolina coastal resort community of North Myrtle Beach, killing at least one person, police and federal officials said. The Piper PA-32 went down northwest of the city’s Grand Stand Airport...
Prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case denies retaliating against IRS agent who talked to House GOP
WASHINGTON — The federal prosecutor leading the investigation of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is pushing back against claims that he was blocked from pursuing criminal charges in Los Angeles and Washington and denies retaliating against an IRS official who disclosed details about the case. In a two-page letter to...
Web designer in Supreme Court gay rights ruling cited client who denies making wedding site request
DENVER — A Colorado web designer who the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday could refuse to make wedding websites for gay couples cited a request from a man who says he never asked to work with her. The request in dispute, from a person identified as “Stewart,” wasn’t the basis...
Kansas nightclub shooting leaves 9 hurt; police capture one of multiple suspected shooters
A shooting in a Kansas nightclub early Sunday morning left seven people with gunshot wounds and two more people hospitalized after being trampled in a rush for the exits, police said. Wichita Police Lt. Aaron Moses said investigators believe several shooters opened fire inside the City Nightz club just before...
Hungry ticks can use this static trick to land on you and your pets
NEW YORK — Hungry ticks have some slick tricks. They can zoom through the air using static electricity to latch onto people, pets and other animals, new research shows. Humans and animals naturally pick up static charges as they go about their days. And those charges are enough to give...
Climate change keeps making wildfires and smoke worse. Scientists call it the ‘new abnormal’
It was a smell that invoked a memory. Both for Emily Kuchlbauer in North Carolina and Ryan Bomba in Chicago. It was smoke from wildfires, the odor of an increasingly hot and occasionally on-fire world. Kuchlbauer had flashbacks to the surprise of soot coating her car three years ago when...
