Month: August 2021

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A wildfire in the Superior National Forest of northeastern Minnesota has grown to 5 square miles as hot, dry and windy conditions persist. Crews have been fighting the fire from the air and on the ground since it was spotted Sunday afternoon near Greenwood Lake. The fire

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press U.S. Census Bureau computer servers were exploited last year during a cybersecurity attack, but it didn’t involve the 2020 census. A watchdog report released Wednesday says the hackers’ attempts to keep access to the system were unsuccessful. The attack took place in January 2020 on the bureau’s remote access servers.

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A high-ranking Catholic cardinal who has COVID-19 is in serious condition and has been sedated. Cardinal Raymond Burke tweeted on Aug. 10 that he had caught the coronavirus. Officials at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which Burke founded in La Crosse, Wisconsin, issued a

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press Documents in the New Hampshire criminal case of rocker Marilyn Manson allege that he spit and blew snot at a videographer during a 2019 concert. Last month, Manson, whose legal name is Brian Hugh Warner, surrendered to police in Los Angeles in connection with a 2019 arrest warrant in the

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Gap’s low-price division Old Navy is overhauling its approach to how it designs and markets to plus-size women. It’s a demographic that many analysts say has been underserved. Starting Friday, Old Navy will be offering every one of its women’s styles in all sizes with

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A new film out this week, shortly before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, exposes disputes that went into construction of the memorial and museum at the World Trade Center. “The Outsider” depicts a philosophical dispute between a creative director who wanted

By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Searching for a way to honor Texas teacher Zelene Blancas after her death late last year from COVID-19, a fellow educator over 2,000 miles away relied on the kindness of others to get a painted, heart-shaped rock to her school. It was a fitting tribute to the

MADRID (AP) — Authorities in Gibraltar have seized 2.6 tons of cannabis resin with an estimated street value of $18 million after a high-speed boat chase at sea. A Gibraltar government statement said on Wednesday that police spotted the “suspicious” boat at sea off the British territory on Spain’s southern tip. A Marine Police vessel

By ALEX DANIELS of The Chronicle of Philanthropy Chronicle of Philanthropy Two of the nation’s wealthiest foundations have created a new $7.5 million fund to help give tenants more say in housing matters, as millions of Americans struggle to make rent and face possible eviction as a result of the pandemic. The HouseUS Fund, supported

BELFAST, Maine (AP) — The appearance of a giant rubber duck in a Maine harbor is a whimsical whodunit that has defied sleuths. The large yellow waterfowl emblazoned with the word “joy” appeared in Belfast Harbor over the weekend. Harbor Master Katherine Given says it’s a mystery who put it there. It’s attracting attention for

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police say that one man was killed and another injured when a ferry smashed into a small boat entering the port of the island of Ibiza at night. Spain’s Civil Guard said the man who perished was decapitated in the crash that occurred late Tuesday. The survivor was taken to the

NEW YORK (AP) — A wood stork typically seen in tropical and subtropical regions migrated to New York City but died 10 days after it was first spotted on Staten Island. Researchers say the bird apparently ate a large piece of hardened foam that was found in its stomach. The Staten Island Advance reports that

By KATHERINE ROTH Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — For years, advocates of urban gardening have said that growing fresh food empowers residents of poorer neighborhoods, as well as improving their health. Those efforts gained momentum during the pandemic as worries about food insecurity grew. Areas with little access to healthy, fresh food tend to

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer The names, Social Security numbers and information from driver’s licenses or other identification of just over 40 million people who applied for T-Mobile credit were exposed in a recent data breach, the company said Wednesday. The same data for about 7.8 million current T-Mobile customers who pay for phone

BANGKOK (AP) — A human rights group says more than 1,000 people have been killed by security forces in Myanmar since the military seized power about six months ago. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors protest-related arrests and deaths, says it confirmed two more deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,001. There

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press The Taliban’s top political leader has made a triumphal return to Afghanistan. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar battled the U.S. and its allies for decades but then signed a landmark peace agreement with the Trump administration. Baradar is now expected to play a key role in negotiations between the Taliban and

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Home construction fell a sharp 7% in July as home builders struggled to cope with a variety of headwinds. The decline in July put home construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.53 million units, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Applications for building permits, which

By KEVIN SCHEMBRI ORLAND Associated Press VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Malta’s attorney general has indicted a leading Maltese businessman in connection with the 2017 murder of an investigative journalist on the island nation. Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed when a car bomb blew up as she drove near her home. After a long process of

By BRYAN ANDERSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Tropical Depression Fred has blown into the northeastern U.S. as a post-tropical cyclone, unleashing heavy rains and threatening mudslides and flash floods in upstate New York. Fred closed interstate highways in the lower Appalachians, and the National Weather Service says tornadoes are still possible as the

BERLIN (AP) — American and German officials held a ceremony to commemorate a U.S. Army helicopter crash that killed 37 soldiers in Bavaria 50 years ago. The accident over the town of Pegnitz occurred during a training flight close to what was then the Iron Curtain. Among the victims was the son of Walter Lorain

By LORNE COOK and LIUDAS DAPKUS Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is condemning Belarus for what it says is an attempt to destabilize the bloc by deliberating sending scores of migrants across its borders. The EU presidency says this “is unacceptable and amounts to a direct attack.” Movements of people from Belarus