July 24, 2025 2:41 am
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Hulk Hogan, the mustachioed, headscarf-wearing icon in the world of professional wrestling, has died at the age of 71, Florida police and WWE said Thursday. Hogan’s real name was Terry Bollea. He was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even company chairman Vince McMahon. Hogan was also a celebrity outside the wrestling world, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, including a reality show about his life on VH1, “Hogan Knows Best.” (Photo: AP)
July 24, 2025 2:02 am
(WPXI) BRIGHTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A retired Brighton Township police captain has been charged with possessing child pornography. Peter James Benedict Jr., 68, of Beaver, is charged with 11 counts of possessing child sexual abuse material and one count of criminal use of a communication facility. According to court records, a CyberTip was received June 6 for activity with a suspected file of child pornography. Investigators subpoenaed information from an internet service provider and were able to track the activity to Benedict’s address. Police executed a search warrant at Benedict’s home, where he reportedly confessed to viewing child pornography on a home computer. Benedict is being held in the Beaver County Prison with bail set at $500,000.
July 23, 2025 3:26 pm
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations’ top court in a landmark advisory opinion says countries could be in violation of international law if they fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change, and nations harmed by its effects could be entitled to reparations. Advocates immediately cheered the International Court of Justice opinion on nations’ obligations to tackle climate change and the consequences they may face if they don’t. Notably, the court said a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a human right. That paves the way for other legal actions, including states returning to the ICJ to hold each other to account as well as domestic lawsuits.
July 23, 2025 2:15 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A doctor has pleaded guilty to illegally supplying ketamine to Matthew Perry before the overdose death of the ‘Friends’ star. On Wednesday, Dr. Salvador Plasencia admitted in federal court to providing Perry with ketamine vials, lozenges, and syringes in the weeks leading up to his death on October 28, 2023. Prosecutors say Plasencia also injected Perry with the drug and taught his assistant how to administer it. Prosecutors outlined the charges in court before the plea, and said that he did not sell Perry the dose that killed the actor. Perry had struggled with addiction for years. Plasencia faces up to 40 years in prison but has not yet been sentenced and may get a lighter sentence.
July 23, 2025 1:55 pm
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — jUDGE Steven Hippler has ordered Bryan Kohberger to serve life in prison without parole for killing four University of Idaho students. Friends and relatives delivered powerful statements of love, anguish and condemnation at the sentencing hearing Wednesday. Kohberger killed the students in their rental home. Madison Mogen’s stepdad Scott Laramie told the court Wednesday that he and his wife had extraordinary lives because they had Mogen. Roommate Dylan Mortenson sobbed as she described the loss of her friends. She called Kohberger hollow and remorseless. (Photo: AP)
July 23, 2025 5:02 am
A judge has rejected a Trump administration request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations of Jeffrey Epstein years ago in Florida. A similar request for the work of a different grand jury is pending in New York. U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach said Wednesday the request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public. Supporters of President Donald Trump believe there was a conspiracy to protect Epstein’s clients, conceal videos of crimes being committed and other evidence.
July 23, 2025 5:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s order seeking to end birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, affirming a lower-court decision that blocked its enforcement nationwide. The ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes after the push was also blocked by a federal judge in New Hampshire, and puts the issue one step closer to quickly coming back before the Supreme Court. The 9th Circuit decision keeps a block on the Trump administration enforcing the order that would deny citizenship to children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily.
July 23, 2025 4:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard this month declassified material that she claimed proved a “treasonous conspiracy” by the Obama administration in 2016 to politicize U.S. intelligence in service of casting doubt on the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s election victory. But a review by The Associated Press of reports produced by federal prosecutors and congressional committees casts doubt on that claim and others made by the nation’s top intelligence official.
July 23, 2025 4:50 am
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Investigators say a fire that killed 10 people at a Massachusetts assisted-living facility was likely caused by smoking or an oxygen machine’s electrical problem. The Massachusetts fire marshal, Jon Davine, said Tuesday that the July 13 blaze at Gabriel House spread quickly due to the presence of medical oxygen. Thomas Quinn, the county district attorney, said investigators are still collecting evidence on numerous aspects of the case, including whether the facility’s sprinkler system worked as it should. So far, investigators have remained mum on the possibility of criminal charges.
July 23, 2025 4:50 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration has announced that it will once again withdraw from the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO. The move Tuesday was expect and has the U.S. further retreating from international organizations. The decision to pull U.S. funding and participation from UNESCO comes two years after the Biden administration rejoined following a controversial, five-year absence that began during President Donald Trump’s first term. The White House cited similar concerns as it did in 2018, saying it believes U.S. involvement is not in its national interest and accusing the agency promoting anti-Israel speech. The UNESCO chief said she “deeply” regrets the U.S. decision but said the agency “has prepared for it.” She denied accusations of anti-Israel bias,
