October 6, 2023 4:51 am
NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of rescuers dug through slushy debris and fast-flowing, icy water Friday in a search for survivors after a glacial lake burst through a dam in India’s Himalayan northeast, a disaster that many had warned was possible for years. The flood began in the early hours of Wednesday, when a water from a lake high in the mountains broke through the concrete of the dam, rushing down the valley below and killing at least 31 people. 100 are still missing, officials said, while thousands of people have had to flee their homes. It wasn’t clear what triggered the flood. The deadly flood was the latest to hit northeast India in a year of unusually heavy monsoon rains.
October 6, 2023 4:49 am
WEST READING, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania chocolate factory was fined more than $44,000 by the federal workplace safety agency on Thursday for failing to evacuate before a natural gas explosion that killed seven people. R.M. Palmer Co. did not heed warnings from employees about a natural gas leak. That is according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which issued multiple citations to the company. Palmer denied it violated any workplace safety standards and said it would contest the OSHA citation. Employees in both buildings have told federal investigators they could smell gas before the March 24 explosion in West Reading.
October 6, 2023 4:48 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats who control Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives are making another attempt to send hundreds of millions of dollars to four Pennsylvania universities and get around a partisan dispute that has stalled the money from passing. The funding was part of a flurry of tying up loose ends for the state’s $45 billion budget, which has dragged three months into the fiscal year without all of the elements of the spending plan in place. The bills now go on to the state Senate. The House adjourned after a busy week, and both chambers are scheduled to return to session on Oct. 16.
October 5, 2023 6:49 am
PINEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $1.4 billion after no players matched all six numbers and hit it rich. The winning numbers announced Wednesday night are: 9, 35, 54, 63, 64 and the Powerball 1. Players will next have a shot at the Powerball jackpot Saturday night. No matter how large the prize grows the odds stay the same. It’s those odds of 1 in 292.2 million that make the jackpot so hard to win. The $1.4 billion jackpot is for a sole winner who takes an annuity, paid annually over 30 years. Winners choosing the cash option would receive an estimated $643.7 million.
October 5, 2023 5:09 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are taking to picket lines in multiple states over wages and staff shortages. Unions representing the workers who walked off the job Wednesday approved a strike for three days in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and one day in Virginia and the District of Columbia. Doctors are not participating, and the company says it will keep its 39 hospitals open. Kaiser union members say understaffing is boosting the hospital system’s profits but hurting patients, while Kaiser say they offer better compensation than competitors. There have been work stoppages within multiple industries this year in the U.S.
October 5, 2023 5:08 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The trial that could block former President Donald Trump from doing business in New York is drilling down on a major question: Was it his company or was it hired accountants that bore responsibility for financial statements that the state calls fraudulent. Accountants were on the witness stand Wednesday, with Trump at the defense table for part of a third day. Lawyers for state Attorney General Letitia James are seeking to show that the accountants relied entirely on information supplied by Trump and his company. His attorneys are trying to pin blame on accounting firms for any problems with the statements. Outside the courtroom, Trump’s lawyers appealed a key pretrial ruling that he engaged in fraud by puffing up the values of prized assets. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
October 5, 2023 5:04 am
Ask Americans what their religion is, and nearly 1 in 3 say this — none. That’s according to the U.S. adults surveyed by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. They’re called the “nones” – not religious sisters, but N-O-N-E-S. Other surveys show they’ve been growing steadily for the past 30 years. Half of the nones call themselves atheists of agnostics, but another half just say they’re “nothing in particular.” Many believe in God, heaven, prayer, astrology, karma or reincarnation. But the nones really, really don’t like organized religion. They span class, gender, race, ethnicity and age. More than 4 in 10 young adults are nones. Researchers say that’s a sign they’ll continue to grow.
October 5, 2023 5:01 am
After a record-smashing hot summer, Earth’s warming somehow got even worse in September. The European climate agency says temperatures last month set a new mark for how far above normal they hit. The month’s average temperature was 0.93 degrees Celsius (1.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above its average from 1991-2020. That’s the warmest margin above average for a month in 83 years of records kept by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Copernicus officials say 2023 is now on track for the hottest year on record, about 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times.
October 5, 2023 4:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some in the GOP are wondering if anyone can take Kevin McCarthy’s place as a fundraising dynamo and party builder. His ouster as House speaker also leaves a void atop the groups that raise tens of millions of dollars to elect Republicans. McCarthy spent years raising mountains of campaign cash, recruiting top candidates, and painstakingly building political relationships. Says one of his supporters, Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota: “Nobody can raise money like him.” Already, the national committee raising money for House Republicans has postponed a fundraiser McCarthy was to headline.
October 5, 2023 4:56 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania lawmakers are advancing legislation to authorize the Department of Revenue to go after the lottery winnings and income tax returns of turnpike toll scofflaws. The bill was passed unanimously by the Senate Wednesday and now goes to the House of Representatives. The Associated Press reported in 2021 that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission found that $104 million in tolls went uncollected over a 12-month period. An audit said that amount grew to $155 million over a subsequent 12-month period, or 10% of what was expected. Under the bill, the Department of Revenue could divert money from someone’s lottery prize of more than $2,500 or their income tax return.
