The Senate voted Sunday afternoon to pass Democrats' sweeping health care and climate bill, sending it to the House of Representatives, in a significant victory for President Joe Biden and his party. The bill -- named the Inflation Reduction…
The National Weather Service has extended a flood watch for areas of eastern Kentucky ravaged by high water more than a week ago and said there’s a threat of thunderstorms in the region for much of the coming week. The weather service in Jackson said Sunday that a “persistent threat of thunderstorms” through Thursday could produce heavy rain and cause flash flooding. The forecast includes Monday, when President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are scheduled to visit eastern Kentucky to survey the damage and meet with those affected. Meanwhile, more federal aid has been promised to the region.
A former Miss America who gained attention by criticizing the organization near the end of her reign in 2018 is planning to run for Congress in North Dakota as an independent. The Bismarck Tribune reports that Cara Mund announced her candidacy Saturday and said she plans to start gathering the 1,000 signatures she needs to get on the ballot. If Mund succeeds, she will face incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong and Democrat Mark Haugen in November. Mund generated headlines by saying in 2018 that she had been bullied and silenced by leaders within the Miss America organization. Mund has said that her time as Miss America inspired her to be involved in public service.
Janice Bluestein Longone, who is credited with collecting thousands of items chronicling the culinary history of the United States, has died at age 89. Nie Family Funeral Home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, says Longone died Wednesday. The cause and location of death weren't announced. Longone collected thousands of cookbooks, menus, advertisements, diaries, letters and other items related to American cooking. That collection formed the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The university says the collection included early U.S. cookbooks, such as one printed in 1796, one published by an African American woman in 1866 and a Jewish cookbook published in America in 1871.
A Florida prosecutor is vowing to fight his suspension from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis over his promise not to enforce the state’s 15-week abortion ban and support for gender transition treatments for minors. Democrat Andrew Warren said in a Facebook video message and news release Sunday he plans a “vigorous defense” by his legal team but did not give specifics. Warren was suspended Thursday as Hillsborough County state attorney by DeSantis, a Republican who cited neglect of duty and other alleged violations by Warren because he signed statements with other prosecutors nationwide vowing not to pursue criminal cases against people who seek or provide abortions or gender transition treatments.
Sunday studio estimates say the Brad Pitt action romp “Bullet Train" arrived with a $30.1 million opening weekend as the last big movie of Hollywood’s summer recovery landed in theaters. The debut was solid but unspectacular for a movie that cost $90 million to make and was propelled by Pitt’s substantial star power. But even if it holds well in coming weeks, movie theaters have no major studio releases on the horizon for the rest of August, and few sure things to look forward to in early fall. The weekend’s other new wide release, “Easter Sunday,” struggled to catch on. It opened with $5.3 million.
Beach crews have found the first sea turtle nest on the Mississippi mainland in four years. Officials say a Harrison County Sand Beach crew that was cleaning up found what appeared to be turtle tracks just east of the Pass Christian Harbor. They protected the area and called the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, which followed the tracks to a nesting site that is now marked off with stakes and tape. Scientists say the Mississippi Sound and Gulf of Mexico are important sea turtle habitats, but the 2010 oil spill and the 2019 opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway hurt the turtle population.
Ending his most recent COVID-19 isolation, President Joe Biden has left the White House for the first time since becoming infected last month. He's settling in for a reunion with first lady Jill Biden in their home state of Delaware. The president tested negative Saturday and Sunday, according to his doctor, clearing the way for him to emerge from an isolation that lasted longer than expected because of a rebound case of the virus. “I’m feeling good,” Biden said before boarding Marine One outside the White House for the flight to Delaware. The Bidens are expected to spend the day in Rehoboth Beach. During his isolation in the White House residence, the first lady remained in Delaware.
Authorities say more human remains have been found at drought-stricken Lake Mead National Recreation Area east of Las Vegas. It’s the fourth time since May 1 that remains have been uncovered as the lake’s shoreline retreats at the shrinking reservoir between Nevada and Arizona. National Park Service officials say rangers were called Saturday morning after skeletal remains were discovered at Swim Beach. Rangers and a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police dive team went to retrieve the remains. Park Service officials say the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office will try to determine how and when the person died as investigators review records of missing people.
Democratic hopefuls in Wisconsin see abortion as the issue that will carry them to election wins in November, but efforts to reach Black voters on the topic are sparse. Several organizing groups said it's a complicated issue in the Black community, with a legacy of views long handed down from the more prominent and conservative denominations in the Black church. Polling data shows that abortion is a slightly more potent issue for white voters in the Democratic coalition than for Black voters. Most of the groups organizing in the Milwaukee area, a critical area for Democrats to win statewide races, are steering away from messaging solely on the issue.
A suspect in the shooting deaths of four people in Ohio has been arrested in Kansas. Police in Montgomery County’s Butler Township said late Saturday night that 39-year-old Stephen Marlow was taken into custody by local police in Lawrence, Kansas. Chief John Porter said Marlow will be extradited to Ohio to face charges in Friday's slayings. The Montgomery County coroner’s office on Saturday identified the victims as 82-year-old Clyde Knox, 78-year-old Eva Knox, 41-year-old Sarah Anderson and a 15-year-old girl whose name wasn’t released. All were pronounced dead at the scene. Court documents don’t list an attorney representing Marlow.
U.S. demand for grocery delivery is cooling as food prices rise. Some shoppers are shifting to less expensive grocery pickup, while others are returning to the store. Experts say grocery delivery saw five years of growth in the first three months of the pandemic. In June 2020, grocery delivery was a $3.4 billion business. But by June 2022, that had fallen 26%. Consulting firm Chase Design says it's hard to get the delivery premium below $10 because of fuel and labor costs. That premium is tough for some consumers to swallow when food cost inflation is at a four-decade high.
The prosecutor seeking to sentence Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz to death let the facts speak for themselves as he presented his case over the last three weeks. Former Broward County state attorney Mike Satz told the story of the 2018 massacre of 17 people by using terrifying accounts from witnesses. There were heartrending statements from families. There were chilling surveillance videos and gruesome photos. As a capstone, there was Thursday’s jury walk-through of the building where it happened. Bloodstains and Valentine’s Day cards still clinging to the floors. He then rested his case. The trial will determine if Cruz is sentenced to death or life in prison. The defense case starts in Aug. 22.
Many medals are issued by the U.S. government to members of the Armed Forces. But what do the medals mean, how are they earned, and where do they rank in terms of prominence and prestige?
For Boston subway riders, it seems every week brings a new tale of transit woe. There have been runaway trains, subway cars belching smoke and fire, fatal accidents, rush hour trains running on weekend schedules and brand-new subway cars pulled from service. The situation has stretched the nerves of riders, prompted a probe by the Federal Transit Administration and worried political leaders. One of the more maddening failures came in June when the MBTA temporarily sidelined all its new Orange and Red Line cars. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker says despite the troubles, the vast majority of trips end without drama.
Two people died and five were missing after a boat believed to be carrying migrants capsized off the coast of the Florida Keys. The Coast Guard said Friday that eight people were rescued. The agency described the boat as a “rustic vessel” that was making an illegal voyage with 15 migrant passengers. It was not immediately clear where the migrants were originally from. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard responded to a grounded sailing vessel that was believed to be carrying more than 100 migrants Saturday afternoon. Officials say the boat was spotted off the coast of Key Largo, near the gated community of Ocean Reef.
The Karuk Tribe says a massive wildfire burning in a remote area just south of Oregon appears to have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Klamath River fish. Tribal fisheries biologists believe a flash flood caused by heavy rains over the burn area caused a massive debris flow that entered the river and sent oxygen levels plummeting to zero. The Karuk are working with the Yurok, another Northern California tribe, and state and federal agencies to fully to understand what happened. They say the damage is likely limited to 10 or 20 miles of river.
Courts have long held that falsehoods damaging the reputation of a person or business aren't protected as free speech, but lies about subjects, like science, history or the government, are.
A young Indiana police officer killed during a traffic stop has been remembered as a man focused on a career in law enforcement. Elwood police Officer Noah Shahnavaz was shot in the head just after 2 a.m. July 31, before he could even get out of his patrol car. His mother, Laurie Shahnavaz, said in her eulogy Saturday that her 24-year-old son "destroyed any barriers that got in his way. He was singularly focused on becoming a police officer and finally achieved that dream in 2021.” WRTV-TV reports that dozens of law enforcement officers were among the more than 1,300 people who attended the funeral at ITOWN Church in Fishers, Indiana.
Everett Police in Washington state is hoping the public can help identify the man that stiffed an 11-year-old boy with a fake $100 bill to buy lemonade from his stand. "Over the summer, an 11-year-old Jeremy spent his allowance…
While Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was consoling families displaced by historic flooding in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, Republicans at the state’s premier political event on the other side of the state were campaigning to oust him from office in 2023. They bashed Beshear’s pandemic restrictions but offered support for recovery efforts that the Democratic governor is leading in the wake of historic flooding and tornadoes. While his challengers aimed zingers at him, Beshear spent Saturday consoling families displaced by the flash flooding that swamped the Appalachian region more than a week ago. He visited two state parks where some of the suddenly homeless took refuge.
The Senate took a key vote on Saturday to advance Democrats' sweeping health care and climate bill toward final passage -- putting the package on track to pass the chamber as soon as this weekend. The bill -- named…
Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is facing a hefty price tag for his lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre — $49.3 million in damages and counting — for claiming the nation’s deadliest school shooting was a hoax. The verdict is the first of three Sandy Hook-related cases against Jones to be decided and a punishing salvo in a fledgling war on harmful misinformation. But what does it mean for the larger misinformation ecosystem of election denial, COVID-19 skepticism and other dubious claims that Jones helped build? Courts have held that defamatory statements against a person or a business aren’t protected as free speech, but lies about things like science, history and the government are.
Israeli airstrikes have flattened homes in Gaza and Palestinian rocket barrages into southern Israel are persisting for a second day, raising fears of another major escalation in the Mideast conflict. Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday that 24 people had been killed so far in the coastal strip, including six children and two women. The fighting began with Israel’s targeted killing of a senior commander of the militant Islamic Jihad group on Friday. Gaza’s Hamas rulers so far appear to be staying on the sidelines, keeping the conflict's intensity somewhat contained, for now. The Israeli military says an errant rocket fired Saturday by Palestinian militants killed civilians, including children, in northern Gaza.
