Author: rpnadmin

United Airlines said Friday that customers can’t change their destination for free simply because they’re upset at an airport’s name. “United customers are able to make changes to a ticket without a fee for many reasons. However, our policy doesn’t allow for changes because of an airport’s name or three-letter code,” United told travel news site TravelPulse. The clarification was prompted by an internal memo referring to potential discontent from travelers over the name change of Palm Beach International Airport to President Donald J. Trump International Airport, an anger leaked to aviation blog Live and Let’s Fly. “If a customer…

UVALDE, Texas — More heavy rains in storm-weary Texas sent first responders rushing to people trapped in high waters Friday, widening the danger caused by floods that have killed at least two people and left hundreds more in need of rescue. A relentless week of punishing downpours in Texas – dumping more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) in some areas – was expected to begin tapering off Friday. But another round of showers worsened already swollen rivers and flooded rural communities near the border with Mexico that had largely been spared major damage. Near Ozona, a small town about 200…

Memorial services for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham will be held in South Carolina and the District at the end of this month. The “life and legacy” of the South Carolina Republican will be celebrated in Washington on July 28, and two more services will be held the next day in Columbia and Pickens County, South Carolina, Communications Director Taylor Reidy announced Friday. Mr. Graham, 71, died Saturday night after emergency workers were dispatched to his Capitol Hill home. The D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office issued a preliminary finding of “aortic dissection due to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.” “The death certificate will…

The D.C. region jumped onto the list of the world’s most polluted major cities overnight as smoke billowing south from Canadian wildfires quickly contributed to Friday morning’s smog. A Code Purple Air Quality Alert is in effect for the District as of Friday morning, meaning that air pollution concentrations within the region are “very unhealthy for the general population,” according to the National Weather Service. “The risk of health effects is increased for everyone,” the alert reads. “The effects of air pollution can be minimized by avoiding strenuous activity or exercise outdoors.” This is up from Code Yellow in the…

NEW YORK — Heavy, pungent wildfire smoke darkened skies in the U.S. on Thursday from the Great Lakes to parts of the East Coast, reducing visibility and prompting warnings that breathing the air outside could be dangerous. Officials in many cities urged residents to stay inside or wear masks outside as air quality reached unhealthy to hazardous levels, meaning it’s unhealthy for anyone, regardless of health conditions. The smoke is coming from fires that are burning primarily in Canada but also in northern Minnesota. A lingering high pressure system has trapped the smoke close to the ground, said Steven Freitag,…

The Trump Justice Department has sued to end Maryland’s law that allows illegal immigrants to get in-state tuition rates, saying it violates a federal law that limits states’ ability to grant that benefit to those in the country illegally. Maryland’s law, enacted in 2011, allows illegal immigrants who graduated from a school in the state, who attend a state college and whose parents have been paying taxes in the state to pay the same rates as legal state residents. Justice Department officials said that amounts to discrimination against U.S. citizens from other states — and it breaks a federal law…

National Guard personnel deployed in the nation’s capital to stop crime will remain through the 2029 inauguration, Pentagon officials said. National Guard troops were first deployed in August 2025 “to support local and federal law enforcement efforts aimed at restoring order in the District of Columbia,” according to the Guard’s website. A Pentagon official told WJLA-TV last Friday that the department “remains committed supporting the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and our Federal law enforcement partners until law and order are fully restored in our Nation’s Capital. The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Mission has been extended to Jan. 20, 2029, or…

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The sister of a Tennessee death row inmate whose execution was halted because of problems inserting an IV has filed a complaint against the doctor who was involved. The complaint filed Wednesday with the Tennessee Department of Health by Tonya Hervey says Tony Carruthers suffered excruciating pain during the May 21 attempt to administer a lethal injection and the family believes he now has partial paralysis that they attribute to a stroke. It does not specifically say how or when they believe the stroke occurred, and Hervey declined an interview request. During the attempted execution, the IV…

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is sticking to encouraging low-altitude military flyovers after a fighter jet buzzed a Florida beach during a show this week, raising new scrutiny after the Pentagon has dismissed a series of safety reviews of such flights. In the latest maneuver, video spreading widely on social media shows a jet from the Navy’s demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels, flying so low over a crowded beach in Pensacola on Wednesday that chairs and tents went flying, sand kicked up and children held their hands over their ears. The U.S. Navy said in a statement shortly afterward…

PONTIAC, Mich. — A Michigan woman accused of leaving three children alone for years in a house of squalor pleaded no contest Thursday to child abuse in an agreement that carries a six-year prison sentence, authorities said. Conditions at the Pontiac home were so offensive that police evidence specialists wore hazmat suits when the children were discovered in February 2025. The kids, ages 15, 13 and 12, had lived on their own since 2020 or 2021, with occasional food drops on the porch and amid trash and feces, police said. Sheriff’s deputies entered when a landlord said he hadn’t been…