Author: rpnadmin

The global barbecue seasoning market will surge past $9 billion this year, fueled by a massive consumer appetite for international flavors. Home cooks are rapidly shifting away from predictable salt-and-pepper rubs, favoring complex, globally inspired profiles. While exciting flavors represent a thrilling new frontier for Western backyards, most of them are ancient, time-tested foundations of open-flame cooking in cultures around the world. North America dominated the barbecue seasoning market in 2025 with a value of $3.8 billion, with the United States driving much of the growth. Analysts credited America’s strong grilling culture and consumers’ appetite for bold, authentic flavors supported…

NEW YORK — Bill Gates and the staff of his charitable foundation met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein more than two dozen times even as employees expressed concerns about the reputational risk of working with him, an external review commissioned by the Gates Foundation found. The conversations appeared to focus on a public health fund that never materialized and a grant to the International Peace Institute, which was run by an associate of Epstein. The roughly 30 meetings, which took place from 2011 to 2014, included several visits to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and one meeting on the Gates Foundation…

Federal immigration authorities said they lodged a detainer for the Salvadoran man accused of gunning down a 71-year-old military veteran at his Utah home this year. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they’re looking to arrest Axel Eduardo Chavez-Marroquin, who entered the country illegally in 2021 and was charged with murder in the killing of James Randell Witten. “This monster is charged with murdering a 71-year-old Army and Air Force veteran in Utah. California sanctuary politicians released this criminal from jail twice after arrests for domestic violence,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. Local police said Witten…

The Supreme Court may have crushed President Trump’s plans to restrict birthright citizenship, but congressional Republicans are seeking legislative alternatives that could restrict it in certain cases. Some of the bills seek to maneuver at the edges of the high court’s ruling, clamping down on women who enter the U.S. on legal visas to engage in “birth tourism” or stripping automatic citizenship from children born to noncitizens in U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico. Other legislation amounts to a frontal attack on the justices’ reasoning by attempting to establish Congress’ right to define citizenship. The result is a cottage industry…

NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Storm Bertha strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico and was moving slowly toward the Florida Panhandle and Alabama, causing a tropical storm warning and storm surge watches, forecasters said. The storm was about 110 miles (177 kilometers) south of Panama City, Florida, and 170 miles (274 kilometers) southeast of Mobile, Alabama, and moving northwest at 5 mph (8 kph) with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph), the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning. The wind speed increased by 10 mph (16 kph) since Bertha formed Monday night. A tropical storm warning, meaning the…

PORTLAND, Ore. — A 19-year-old bought a warmup jacket worn by Wilt Chamberlain during the 1972 NBA finals for $3.07 at an Oregon thrift store. Now it could fetch over $150,000 at auction. Quinn Brown had been eyeing a massive bin of clothes at a Goodwill store outside Portland in January when he saw someone toss a Lakers jacket with Chamberlain’s name on it back on the pile. Brown, who resells used clothes online, quickly grabbed it. The jacket is now on auction at Sotheby’s. Bidding closes on Monday. Described on Sotheby’s website as an “extraordinary piece of memorabilia,” the…

We love the lively heat and distinctive smokiness from cooking over a bed of glowing red and white-hot coals any time of the year, which is why we have a whole chapter on grilling in our cookbook “Canal House: Cook Something.” We are partial to charcoal grilling in a kettle grill, but if we are short on time or feeling a little lazy, we’ll fire up the gas barbie (less fun, less flavor, but more controllable). Either way we follow a few basic tenets when we get our grill on. Stick by the grill and pay close attention. Flare-ups happen…

The number of 6-3 ideologically split decisions at the Supreme Court rose this term with rulings on transgender athletes, the Voting Rights Act, campaign finance and several immigration decisions all being won by the conservative majority, according to a prominent court scholar. More than 20% of cases were decided with the six GOP appointees all in the majority and the three Democratic picks in the minority. That’s roughly double the average from recent years. Still, Adam Feldman, creator of Legalytics.com, said 42% of the court’s cases are 9-0 decisions, suggesting that a consistent unanimity still underpins the justices. “If we…

DETROIT — A state appeals court on Monday set aside convictions for two men involved in a 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Pete Musico and Paul Bellar were convicted of providing material support for an act of terrorism. They, along with co-defendant Joe Morrison, were accused of having secondary roles in the scheme. Morrison’s conviction was thrown out in June in a precedent-setting decision. A different panel at the Michigan Court of Appeals said it was obligated to apply that ruling to Musico and Bellar as well. The convictions were overturned on technical grounds. The appeals court…

BICKNELL, Utah — Five family members who had set out for a day of hiking were killed after a flash flood swept through canyons of southern Utah on Friday, law enforcement officials said. The victims were a captain in the Provo, Utah, fire department, his wife and their sons, according to fire officials. A daughter who was not on the trip survived. The family arrived Friday at Sunglow Campground in a scenic red rock canyon near Bicknell, Utah for their day excursion, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office said. “It is believed the family fell victim to flooding caused by heavy…