August 14, 2026 5:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — As summer fades and kids head back to school, the pressure to stand out or fit in with the right footwear is colliding with higher prices. The jump in price is straining family budgets that are already being squeezed by rising costs for food, gas and other essentials, so analysts and retailers say parents and kids are spending more time looking for deals or buying fewer pairs. Michelle Wlazlo, JCPenney’s brand chief executive officer, says families are being choosy when buying back-to-school shoes. Lisa Will, who runs the children’s outdoor footwear company Stonz Shoes, says customers are gravitating toward neutral-colored shoes that can be passed down to younger siblings.
August 14, 2026 4:57 am
HONOLULU (AP) — Forecasters say Tropical Storm Lala has formed in the Pacific Ocean and a hurricane warning has been issued for the Big Island of Hawaii. The National Hurricane Center says the storm could become a hurricane and bring rain to the Hawaiian Islands starting late Friday as well as high winds and dangerous surf. A hurricane warning is in effect for Hawaii County and a tropical storm watch is in place for Maui County including the islands of Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe. The Miami-based center said Thursday that Lala was about 530 miles east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, and about 740 miles east-southeast of Honolulu with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph while moving west-northwest.
August 13, 2026 1:22 pm
(AP) – A Powerball ticket sold in western Illinois has won a $1 billion jackpot. Lottery officials say the ticket that won the jackpot on Wednesday night was purchased at a Hy-Vee gas station in Quincy along the Missouri border. It’s not clear if the winner has come forward yet. The prize can be taken as a $1 billion annuity over 29 years or a lump sum of $450.5 million in cash. Most winners take the lump sum. This is the first jackpot win since May 2. The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292 million. The Powerball jackpot now resets to $20 million for the next drawing on Saturday. (Photo: AP)
August 13, 2026 1:29 pm
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A company that operates a vast nationwide network of automated cameras that record the license plate numbers and other characteristics of all passing vehicles every day is making changes to its platform. The changes announced Thursday by Flock Safety are intended to quell privacy concerns and address documented abuses of its system by some members of law enforcement. They will make what were once optional guardrails mandatory by Jan. 1. Among them: All law enforcement customers will have to implement an audit tool that’s intended to flag abnormal search behavior. The company is increasingly under scrutiny from lawmakers from both parties, civil liberties advocates and citizens across the U.S. (Photo: AP)
August 13, 2026 4:09 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The battle over the Kennedy Center’s future is escalating. President Donald Trump’s allies on the board voted on Thursday to add his name to the building’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” The plaza in front of the building would be named after Trump and most of the space at the venue would be closed for two years to allow for substantial renovations. But a federal judge had ruled in May that Trump’s name was added illegally to the building and the letter had to be removed. The judge also blocked a two-year closure set to take effect July 5.
August 12, 2026 8:50 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale inflation dropped last month as gas prices reversed some of their Iran war spike and other costs also cooled, a sign that consumer inflation could grind lower in the months ahead. The Labor Department’s producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 4.7% in July from a year ago, down from a much larger 5.5% increase in June. On a monthly basis, wholesale prices were unchanged from June to July, after they ticked down 0.1% the previous month.
August 13, 2026 9:44 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. applications for unemployment benefits rose last week, but layoffs remain at historically healthy levels. The Labor Department reported that 209,000 people filed jobless claims last week, up from a revised 200,000 the week before and higher than the 205,000 forecasters had expected. The four-week average of applications, which smooths out week-to-week-volatitlity, was unchanged at 199,000. Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and they’ve been at a historically low range of around 200,000 to 230,000 a week for the past year, suggesting that Americans who have jobs enjoy unusual job security. The U.S. unemployment rate is low at 4.1%.
August 13, 2026 2:43 am
Due to persistent inclement weather and unsafe playing conditions, the championship game of the 2026 PONY League World Series at Lew Hays PONY Field in Washington has been cancelled. The championship game between Taichung City, Taiwan and Washington County, Pennsylvania, has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled. Organizers say they determined that the field was unplayable and out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the players and all involved, the game was called off. Abraham Key, President and CEO of PONY Baseball said that this is the first time in the seventy-five-year history of the league that they have had to make this decision. He offered apologies to all involved and said, “Sometimes Mother Nature does not cooperate.”
August 13, 2026 4:53 am
Nicole Lane says sheriff’s deputies kept her shackled to a hospital bed throughout six hours of unmedicated labor back in 2024, when she gave birth to her daughter. According to our news partners at WPXI, she is speaking out about what happened while she was pregnant and in labor after she was rushed from the Washington County Jail to Magee-Womens Hospital during what she says was a high-risk pregnancy. Lane is now suing Washington County, the Washington County Prison Board, several sheriff’s deputies and others. At the time, Lane was pregnant and incarcerated on a misdemeanor drug charge. She was released from jail, then rearrested for what she says was a probation violation involving an address discrepancy. She alleges deputies shackled one wrist and her opposite leg to the hospital bed. She says the restraints were removed only so she could receive an epidural, then put back on after she gave birth. Lane says the handcuffs remained on for the five days she spent in the hospital postpartum. Pennsylvania law says incarcerated women shall not be restrained during any stage of labor or any period of postpartum, unless there is a substantial risk of flight or security concerns. Jackie Perlow, an attorney with the Women’s Law Project, is representing Lane. She says those exceptions did not apply in this case. Washington County leaders told Channel 11 they cannot comment due to pending litigation.
August 12, 2026 4:54 am
A new law in Pennsylvania aims to resolve a long-standing legal battle over natural gas rights, but it might have sparked more complications. The dispute involves mineral rights beneath state game lands. The Proctor family trust claims ownership based on rights acquired over a century ago. The state Supreme Court sided with the Proctors in 2025, but the legislature reversed this decision last year. The law, Act 27, has drawn support from the natural gas industry, citing clarity concerns. The Proctors argue the law is unconstitutional and continue to fight in court. The outcome could impact large landowners and state funding.
