Author: rpnadmin

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warned U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday not to meddle in Brazil’s October presidential election after Trump made his latest criticism of Brazil over judicial moves against Lula’s political rivals. The remarks show the escalating tensions between Brazil and the U.S. after the Trump administration proposed further tariffs against the South American country and recently classified two drug-trafficking groups as foreign terrorist organizations – moves that Lula opposes. Lula has frequently defended Brazil’s sovereignty since Trump imposed tariffs on the country last year citing a “witch-hunt trial” against his…

The U.S. Labor Department told all 50 states on Wednesday that they need to get serious about fighting fraud and waste in unemployment insurance, or else they won’t get more money for those programs from the federal government. It’s the latest example of President Donald Trump’s administration scrutinizing potential theft or misuse in state programs that get funding from Washington. While the letters went to all governors, the public announcement about them focused on issues in three states where Democrats are in charge. That’s been the case for many similar announcements from the Republican administration. “We are officially putting governors…

Joshua Baer, who died when a small jet crashed in Texas, described himself as an “Austinpreneur,” a reference to the state capital and his specialty of helping people get into business. Baer’s LinkedIn page shows him wearing a black T-shirt and pointing at the message: “I help people quit jobs.” His email had a similar handle. Baer, 50, was the founder of Capital Factory, which has grown into an important Austin-based venture capital firm supporting a wide range of technology startup companies, from robots to autonomous ships. He listed his life strategy as, “Plant lots of seeds. Water everyone’s. Repeat.”…

A teenage boy was injured when a black bear attacked a group of hikers on a trail in Washington state Tuesday, and one of the other hikers was injured while fleeing. The hikers were almost three miles up the Mount Si trail, located about 28 miles southeast of Seattle, when the bear charged them at around 1 p.m. local time, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife said in a release.  The bear scratched one of the hikers, a teenage boy, before the group fled, state wildlife officials said. Eastside Fire & Rescue said on social media that first responders…

High winds drove a wildfire into an eastern Washington neighborhood, forcing the evacuation of about 1,500 people and destroying at least 15 homes, officials said Wednesday. One person was reported missing by a family member but officials were unable to go into the fire zone to search for them because the conditions remained dangerous Wednesday afternoon, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said during a press conference. “They have a location to look but it’s not safe to look there at the moment,” Nowels said. Many people living in the densely populated neighborhoods had to flee on a moment’s notice -…

On May 29th, a tour bus plowed into stopped traffic on I-95 in Virginia at 2:30 in the morning. Five people died, among them an entire family traveling home to Massachusetts. The driver, a Chinese immigrant who officials said did not speak English, was charged with five counts of involuntary manslaughter.  Investigators asked a simple question: how did this man get a license to drive a bus? The answer is more complicated than anybody expected. To learn how this happened, you have to understand something about how commercial driver’s licenses are issued in the United States. And it starts with…

A Denver French teacher was fired last month after a district investigation and an independent review found her script choices for graded classroom skits had placed female students in a position of feeling pressured to kiss one another. The Denver Public Schools board unanimously voted May 20 to dismiss Jennifer Honka, 50, who taught French Language and Culture at Northeast Early College. The board voted 7-0 following an executive session, with no public debate among members before the vote. The official grounds for termination were incompetence and neglect of duty. Ms. Honka had taught at the school for eight of…

LOS ANGELES — Military officials on Wednesday identified all eight men killed in this week’s fiery crash of a B-52 during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. The victims include four active duty airmen, one reservist and three civilians, according to a statement from the base. They were identified as: Col. Gregory Watson, 53; Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40; Maj. Alexander Davis, 34; Maj. Robert Dee, 40; Maj. Brad Hovey, 35; Jeromy Smith, 32; and Christopher Rischar, 41. “They were dedicated professionals, beloved family members and irreplaceable teammates,” Col. Thomas Tauer, commander of the 412th…

Mount Holly, New Jersey, is canceling its Independence Day events due to safety concerns. In a joint release, town officials and the Mount Holly Township Police Department said their decision came after monitoring events across New Jersey in recent months. After seeing which events were canceled due to “alarming violence” and which were held with enhanced security, officials said in the release that “we could not enact a viable, actionable solution in such a short period of time to alleviate our security concerns without incurring additional, significant costs to the Township and our residents.” Last month, two carnivals elsewhere in…

A business jet with six people on board crashed on a highway in Laredo, Texas, and caught fire Tuesday night, authorities said, killing one person and causing chaos as people left their vehicles to frantically try to smash the cockpit window and free those inside. Drivers who came upon the burning plane, which was nearly sheared in half and tipped on its side, captured dramatic rescue scenes on video or rushed toward the aircraft on foot to help. Two people came running with a sledgehammer and shovel, which they used to strike the cockpit glass and try propping open the…