(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook’s Instagram service is loosening its restraints on video in an attempt to lure younger viewers away from YouTube when they’re looking for something to watch on their smartphones. The expansion announced Wednesday, dubbed IGTV, will increase Instagram’s video time limit from one minute to 10 minutes for most users. Accounts with large audiences…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says states can force online shoppers to pay sales tax. The 5-4 ruling Thursday is a win for states, who said they were losing out on billions of dollars annually under two decades-old Supreme Court decisions that impacted online sales tax collection. The high court ruled Thursday to overturn those decisions. They had resulted…
WOODSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Koko, the gorilla who mastered sign language, has died. The Gorilla Foundation says the 46-year-old western lowland gorilla died in her sleep at the foundation’s preserve in California’s Santa Cruz mountains on Tuesday. Koko was born at the San Francisco Zoo, and Dr. Francine Patterson began teaching the gorilla sign language that became part of a…
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)WASHINGTON (AP) – Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is drafting an executive action for President Donald Trump that would direct DHS to keep families apprehended at the border together during detention. That’s according to two people familiar with her thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the effort before its official announcement. It’s unclear whether…
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Federal officials say a pathologist fired from an Arkansas veterans hospital for being “impaired on duty” misdiagnosed seven cases and that around 33,000 additional cases are being reviewed. The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks said Monday one error may have led to a death. Spokeswoman Wanda Shull says seven errors were found among…
(AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)UNITED NATIONS (AP) — There are over 1 billion firearms in the world today, including 857 million in civilian hands — with American men and women the dominant owners, according to a study released Monday. The Small Arms Survey says 393 million of the civilian-held firearms, 46 percent, are in the United States, which is “more than…
(REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)NEW YORK (Reuters) – Only a quarter of U.S. adults in a recent survey could fully identify factual statements – as opposed to opinion – in news stories, the Pew Research Center found in a study released on Monday. The survey comes amid growing concerns about so-called fake news spread on the internet and social media. The term generally…
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is resolving partisan redistricting cases from Wisconsin and Maryland without ruling on the broader issue of whether electoral maps can give an unfair advantage to a political party. The justices unanimously ruled against Wisconsin Democrats who challenged legislative districts that gave Republicans a huge edge in the state legislature….
DULUTH, Minn. – Coast Guard officials have confirmed the nearly 1,000 foot vessel floated free from the bottom of the harbor at roughly 10 p.m. last night. This happened because the water level rose in the harbor after torrential rains over the weekend. Around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon the vessel ran aground in the Duluth Superior Harbor. An examination…
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski) DENVER (AP) — A 12-year-old boy told police he saw a driver open fire on his family during a road rage confrontation in Colorado, killing his older brother and critically wounding his mother and younger brother, authorities said Friday. Police arrested Jeremy Webster, 23, hours after the shooting that killed a 13-year-old boy and also wounded a…
photo courtesy: CNNBATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) – The Kellogg Company is voluntarily recalling some of its Honey Smacks cereal after salmonella infected 73 people in 31 states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says most of the outbreaks were in California, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. The recall affects 15.3-ounce packages with the UPS Code 3800039103 and 23-ounce packages…
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman is going to jail. Paul Manafort was ordered into custody Friday after a federal judge revoked his house arrest, citing newly filed obstruction of justice charges. The move by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson came after prosecutors accused Manafort and a longtime associate of witnesses tampering. Prosecutors say…
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Authorities say two riders fell 34 feet to the ground when a roller coaster derailed and eight others had to be pulled to safety high above the Daytona Beach Boardwalk. Daytona Beach Fire spokeswoman Sasha Staton says the front car came off the tracks Thursday night, and two of its four passengers suffered traumatic injuries…
(AP Photo/Andy Wong)BEIJING (AP) — China’s government responded quickly to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hike on Chinese goods by announcing Friday it will immediately impose penalties of “equal strength” on U.S. products. The Commerce Ministry said it also was scrapping deals to buy more American farm goods and other exports as part of efforts to defuse a sprawling dispute…
AP Photo/Evan Vucci/newsfileNEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s foundation served as a personal piggy bank for his businesses, legal bills and presidential campaign, New York’s attorney general said Wednesday as she sued the charity, Trump and three of his children. The Donald J. Trump Foundation “was little more than a checkbook for payments from Mr. Trump or his businesses…
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) LAS VEGAS (AP) — Pimp Dennis Hof, the owner of half a dozen legal brothels in Nevada and star of the HBO adult reality series “Cathouse,” won a Republican primary for the state Legislature on Tuesday, ousting a three-term lawmaker. Hof defeated hospital executive James Oscarson. He’ll face Democrat Lesia Romanov in November, and will be…
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the government failed to meet its burden of proof in its antitrust suit against the AT&T-Time Warner merger. Leon said the government had “taken its best shot” to oppose the merger. But, he added, “the government’s evidence is too thin a reed for this court to rely on.”…
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A police sergeant is being honored for his quick actions in rescuing a young child from a busy roadway in suburban Chicago. The Naperville Police Department posted dashcam video of last month’s rescue by Sgt. Anthony Mannino on its Facebook page Monday. The department’s post says the child “escaped his mother’s watchful eye” and wandered along…
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new report is urging a culture change in U.S. colleges and universities that train scientists so women won’t be bullied out of the field. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine says science should treat sexual harassment as seriously as research misconduct. Tuesday’s report cites one university system survey that found 20 percent of female…
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) SINGAPORE (AP) — President Donald Trump rocked the region with the stunning announcement Tuesday that he was halting annual U.S.-South Korean military drills — and wants to remove the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the South as a deterrent against North Korea. Trump’s surprise, almost offhand comments, made during a news conference after his summit with North…
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)LOS ANGELES (AP) – The U.S. government agency that oversees immigration applications is launching an office that will focus on identifying Americans suspected of cheating to get their citizenship and seek to strip them of it. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna told The Associated Press his agency is hiring several dozen lawyers and…
(U.S. Geological Survey via AP)HONOLULU (AP) – Small explosions at the summit of an erupting Hawaii volcano could send ash into communities. Scientists say the blasts happened Monday, including one after a magnitude-5.4 earthquake. Ash expelled from the Kilauea volcano may cause poor visibility and slippery conditions for drivers. The Big Island volcano has been erupting for more than a…
NEW YORK (AP) — Your ability to watch and use your favorite apps and services could start to change — though not right away — following the official demise Monday of Obama-era internet protections. Any changes are likely to happen slowly, as companies assess how much consumers will tolerate. The repeal of “net neutrality” took effect six months after the…
NEW YORK (AP) – That Starbucks habit just got a little more expensive. Starbucks says it’s raising the price of a regular drip coffee by 10 cents to 20 cents this week in most U.S. stores. It says a small brewed coffee is now $1.95 to $2.15 in a majority of locations. The company said Thursday prices remain unchanged on…
(Photo by Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP, File)PARIS (AP) — American TV celebrity and food writer Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room Friday in France while working on his CNN series on culinary traditions around the world. He was 61. CNN confirmed the death, saying that Bourdain was found unresponsive Friday morning by friend and chef Eric Ripert in…
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) – A bison has gored a woman for the third animal attack in Yellowstone National Park this week. Yellowstone officials say a crowd got too close to the bison Wednesday in the Lower Geyser Basin. The bison charged the crowd, goring 59-year-old Kim Hancock of Santa Rosa, California. Hancock was taken to a hospital with…
(AP photo/Markus Schreiber, archive)BERLIN (AP) – German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG says it has completed its purchase of U.S. seed and weed-killer maker Monsanto Co. Bayer said Thursday that it is now the sole owner of the company and Monsanto shares will no longer trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Bayer has put the cost of the deal at…
BENTON, Ky. (AP) – A Kentucky district where two students were killed and 21 others were hurt in a school shooting will add police officers, install metal detectors and ban backpacks at middle and high schools. News outlets report a district safety committee approved the measures Monday in response to the Jan. 23 shooting at Marshall County High School, where…
(Villavicencio Family Photo via AP)NEW YORK (AP) — He went from delivering pizza to being detained by immigration officers. An Ecuadorean restaurant worker making a delivery to an Army garrison in Brooklyn wound up being detained June 1 after a routine background check at the gate revealed there was a warrant for his arrest for immigration law violations, officials said….
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig) WASHINGTON (AP) — Record heat returned to the United States with a vengeance in May. May warmed to a record average 65.4 degrees in the Lower 48 states, breaking the high of 64.7 set in 1934, according to federal weather figures released Wednesday. May was 5.2 degrees above the 20th century’s average for the month. Weather stations…
Carlson, a former Miss America who is head of the organization’s board of trustees, made the announcement Tuesday, June 5, 2018, on “Good Morning America.” (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File)ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -The Miss America pageant says it is dropping the swimsuit competition in favor of an interactive session between judges and contestants. The group announced Tuesday it is…
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Monday for a Colorado baker who wouldn’t make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. But the court is not deciding the big issue in the case, whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gay and lesbian people. The justices’ limited ruling turned on what…
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Apple is expected to preview new capabilities for its Siri digital assistant and showcase other upcoming software features. The peek at the new software will come Monday at a gathering in San Jose, California, for thousands of app developers and other computer programmers looking to create their own features that could in turn make iPhones,…
NEW YORK (AP) — Four more deaths have been linked to a national food poisoning outbreak blamed on tainted lettuce, bringing the total to five. Health officials have tied the E. coli outbreak to romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Arizona. The growing season there ended six weeks ago, and it’s unlikely any tainted lettuce is still in stores or people’s…
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is back on for June 12. Trump says after an Oval Office meeting Friday with North Korea’s Kim Yong Chol that he’d be making a mistake not to go forward with the on-again, off-again nuclear summit in Singapore. Trump says his meeting…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Democratic and Republican activists are preparing to gather to answer one major question: Who will the two major parties endorse in the wide-open race for governor? Endorsing conventions were set to begin Friday afternoon, with Republicans meeting in Duluth and Democrats set to gather in Rochester. The parties will also endorse candidates for a pair…
(Jeff Morehead/The Chronicle-Tribune via AP, File)WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers extended a streak of solid hiring in May, adding 223,000 jobs and pushing the unemployment to an 18-year low of 3.8 percent. The Labor Department says average hourly pay rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier, a slightly faster annual rate than the previous month. But wage gains remain below…
(Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger via AP, File) PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A Philadelphia Eagles fan accused of punching a police horse and a mounted officer before the Eagles’ NFC championship victory is suing the team and police, claiming he didn’t strike the horse and he was beaten for no reason. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the lawsuit Andrew Tornetta filed Wednesday alleges assault…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will pardon conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud. Trump tweeted Thursday: “Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!” D’Souza was sentenced in 2014 to five years of probation after he pleaded guilty to violating federal election…
NEW YORK (AP) – Sears is closing another 72 stores after reporting a first-quarter losses and plunging sales. The struggling retailer said Thursday that it has identified about 100 stores that are no longer turning profits, and 72 of those locations will be shuttered soon. The list of store closings is due to be announced mid-day Thursday. Sears Holdings Corp.,…
(AP Photo/Francois Mori)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is announcing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico. The move is sure to raise worries of a trade war with American allies. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says there will be a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum….
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is suing an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company alleging that it illegally marketed a painkiller made from the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses drugmaker Insys Therapeutics of encouraging physicians to prescribe the painkiller Subsys at higher doses than recommended. The drug is used to manage pain for cancer patients,…
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart is offering its employees a new perk: affordable access to a college degree. America’s largest private employer, which in the past has helped its workers get their high school or equivalency degrees, hopes the new benefit will help it recruit and retain higher quality entry-level employees in a tight U.S. labor market. The company is…
(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein declined Wednesday to testify before the New York grand jury that is weighing whether to indict him on rape and other sex charges, with his lawyers saying there wasn’t enough time to prepare and “political pressure” made an indictment unavoidable. A statement issued through a Weinstein spokesman said the former movie mogul…
(AP Photo/Alexander Baroshin) MOSCOW (AP) — Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko turned up at a news conference in the Ukrainian capital Wednesday less than 24 hours after police reported he had been shot and killed at his Kiev apartment building. The country’s security services said Babchenko’s death was faked to foil a plot to take his life. Ukrainian police said Tuesday…
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. is announcing that it will impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods containing “industrially significant technology.” The White House said Tuesday that the tariff will cover goods related to the “Made in China 2025” program. The full list of imports that will be covered will be…
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)(AP) – Starbucks is closing more than 8,000 U.S. stores for a few hours Tuesday to conduct anti-bias training in the company’s latest effort to deal with the fallout over the arrest of two black men at one of its shops in Philadelphia. After the incident last month, the coffee chain’s leaders apologized and met with the men…
(AP PHOTO)WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says President Donald Trump “continues to actively prepare” for the president’s “expected summit” with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on June 7. She says Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s…
INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. (AP) – Voyageurs National Park and the U.S. Mint will hold festivities next month to mark the release of a commemorative quarter honoring the park on Minnesota’s northern border. The Voyageurs quarter is part of a series of 56 commemoratives highlighting America’s national parks. It shows a loon with a rock cliff in the background. The Mint…
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)WASHINGTON (AP) – Newly released emails show senior Environmental Protection Agency officials collaborating with a conservative group that dismisses climate change to rally like-minded people for public hearings on science and global warming, counter negative news coverage and tout Administrator Scott Pruitt’s stewardship of the agency. The emails were obtained by the Environmental Defense Fund and the…
