October 12, 2024 8:47 am
(AP) A Texas sheriff says two workers at a Houston-area oil refinery were killed after hydrogen sulfide leaked at the plant. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says nearly three dozen other people were either transported to hospitals or treated at the scene. Thursday’s leak set off urgent warnings for residents in the Houston suburb of Deer Park to stay indoors before authorities later determined that the public was not in danger. The plant is operated by Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company. Gonzalez says that the gas release happened during work on a flange at the facility,
October 12, 2024 7:52 am
(AP) Investigators were trying to figure out Friday what led to an elevator accident at a former Colorado gold mine that killed a tour guide. The Teller County sheriff says the elevator door was broken. Four people were injured and 12 people from a second group were trapped for hours at the bottom of the tourist attraction 1,000 feet (305 meters) beneath the surface. The elevator was descending into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near the town of Cripple Creek in the mountains near Colorado Springs. It had a mechanical problem about halfway down.
October 12, 2024 7:21 am
(AP) A military investigation has concluded that two U.S. Navy SEALs drowned as they tried to climb aboard a ship carrying illicit Iranian-made weapons to Yemen because of glaring training failures and a lack of understanding about what to do after a fall into deep, turbulent waters. The review obtained by The Associated Press said the drownings in January could have been prevented. Both men sank quickly in the high seas off the coast of Somalia because of the heavy equipment they were carrying. They didn’t know or disregarded concerns that their flotation devices could not compensate for the additional weight. Both were lost at sea.
October 12, 2024 5:47 am
(AP) The recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize is a fast-dwindling group of atomic bomb survivors. They’re increasingly worried about their old age and the limited time to convey the firsthand horror they witnessed 79 years ago. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo for its activism against nuclear weapons. The Japanese organization of survivors, or hibakusha, see the prize and the international attention as their last chance to get their message out to younger generations. The Nobel committee noted that there is hope, and a youth movement is starting.
October 12, 2024 5:38 am
(AP) Vice President Kamala Harris’ doctor says she is in “excellent health” and “possesses the physical and mental resiliency” to serve as president. Dr. Joshua Simmons is the physician to the vice president. He wrote in a two-page letter released Saturday that the 59-year-old vice president maintains a healthy, active lifestyle and that her most recent physical last April was “unremarkable.” Harris’ advisers hope to use the moment to draw a contrast with Republican Donald Trump and raise questions about his fitness to serve. The 78-year-old former president has released only limited information about his health over the years.
October 12, 2024 5:23 am
(AP) The latest solar storm has triggered northern lights farther south than normal including into parts of Germany, the United Kingdom, New England and New York City. Locally we witnessed the stunning display as well. Social media lit up as residents from across Washington county flooded Facebook and X with dazzling pictures of the pink and purple sky. There were no immediate reports of disruptions to power and communications from Thursday’s storm. The weekend forecast shows continued higher-than-normal activity, but the chances for another overnight show are slim farther south of Canada and the northern Plains states. The sun is near the peak of its current 11-year cycle, sparking all the recent solar activity. In May, Earth got slammed by severe solar storms, the strongest in more than two decades.
October 11, 2024 5:13 am
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 22 people have been killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit two areas in central Beirut. An Associated Press photographer who went to the scene Thursday evening said the first strike, in Ras al-Nabaa, appeared to have hit the lower half of an apartment building and explosions were ongoing inside the building. The second strike, in Burj Abi Haidar, collapsed an entire building, which was engulfed in flames. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported strikes. Earlier in the day, a strike on a central Gaza school-turned-shelter killed 27 people.
October 11, 2024 5:11 am
Hurricane Milton brought powerful winds, storm surge and flooding to much of Florida after making landfall along the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm. It weakened as it plowed through Florida late Wednesday into Thursday. In its wake, it has left widespread power outages and caused at least eight deaths. The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph when it roared ashore in Siesta Key, south of the populated Tampa Bay region. A storm surge affected a long stretch of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
October 11, 2024 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A pair of unwelcome and destructive guests named Helene and Milton have stormed their way into this year’s presidential election. The unprecedented back-to-back hurricanes have jumbled the schedules of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, both of whom devoted part of their Thursdays to tackling questions about the storms. The two hurricanes are forcing basic questions about who as president would best respond to deadly natural disasters. And just weeks before the Nov. 5 election, the storms have disrupted the mechanics of voting in several key counties and forced the candidates to alter their plans.
October 11, 2024 5:07 am
PITTSBURGH — Former President Barack Obama made his first campaign stop in the City of Pittsburgh, rallying the vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. Joined by top state leaders like Gov. Josh Shapiro, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, and Senator Bob Casey, his visit comes as the race for the White House remains close. “We are ready for a better story Pennsylvania, we are ready for a President Kamala Harris,” Obama said. Thursday night was Obama’s first visit to the city since 2022, his stop a part of a nationwide swing through battleground states – rallying support for Harris. During his speech, the former president laid out what he said is the stark contrast between Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump. “Donald Trump is a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems,” Obama said. He continued by addressing the crowded auditorium, “What I cannot understand is why anyone would think that Donald Trump would shake things up in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania,” he questioned. This visit marks the first of several stops for the former president who is expected to make visits in other battleground states ahead of the election, while Harris will visit Erie on Monday.
