Author: rpnadmin

DES MOINES, Iowa — Summer camp and other outdoor activities were canceled or delayed Monday as a heat wave held its grip on the Midwest and spread eastward. Communities opened cooling centers and urged people to take it easy and stay hydrated. “Overall, we’re looking at just a really hot and humid pattern. It’s going to be with us through most of the week,” Andrew Ansorge, a meteorologist in Des Moines, Iowa, said of the first prolonged period of heat this summer. Much of Iowa and big chunks of the Midwest were under an extreme heat warning through at least…

The Supreme Court declined Monday to take up President Trump’s appeal in a defamation dispute with former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. Without comment, the justices refused to hear Mr. Trump’s appeal of a $5 million dollar defamation ruling in favor of Ms. Carroll, who accused the president of sexual assault during the 1990s during his first term in office. “Carroll waited more than 20 years to falsely accuse Donald Trump, who she politically opposes, until after he became the 45th President, when she could maximize political injury to him and profit for herself,” read a petition from Mr. Trump’s…

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a major election dispute next term regarding whether Arizona can require proof of citizenship when registering people to vote. After the 2020 election, Arizona required applicants to provide proof of citizenship on the state voter registration form.  Part of that supervision requires state election officials to review voter rolls and remove noncitizens from the list. Immigration advocacy groups challenged the state’s move. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided against the state, reasoning the National Voter Registration Act banned state officials from requiring proof of citizenship. That decision prompted the Republican National…

FORTUNA, Calif. — The remains of at least 117 dogs were found on the grounds of a California “no-kill” animal shelter, many of them with gunshot wounds, authorities said. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that it also discovered 21 canine skulls, hundreds of bones and other remains during searches at Miranda’s Rescue Animal Sanctuary, a 50-acre facility in Fortuna, California. Investigators combing the site on Thursday located an area in a barn where they believe dogs were likely killed, the sheriff’s office said. More than 600 dog collars were found nearby, the office said. Sheriff William Honsal called…

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — A mix of rescue teams and civilians on Sunday peered at a mountain of rubble almost indistinguishable from the other ruins lining swathes of the northern Venezuelan coast following two devastating earthquakes. In the days since Wednesday’s devastating 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, search teams and locals had believed that there were no signs of life under the concrete mass in La Guaira state, one of the hardest-hit areas. Then on Sunday came a burst of movement. A pair of dust-coated legs was pulled out of a hole by rescue teams from Virginia, France and Venezuela. Teams…

For America at large, the idea of delivering packages by drone is relatively new and exciting. For prison officials, however, it’s long been a reality — and a dangerous one at that. Smugglers have kept some prisons supplied with a steady stream of drugs, cell phones and, in some instances, escape tools such as saw blades. Federal authorities struck back last week, busting what they said was the most sophisticated prison drone operation on record, charging a dozen people with smuggling into at least 10 federal prisons. Drone smuggling at prisons, particularly in Georgia, has gotten so bad that the…

Amy Neville describes Kristin Bride as her “soulmate.” But the day that forged their bond – June 23, 2020 – was the worst of each of their lives. Both Bride and Neville lost their teen sons that day. Their kids lived a thousand miles apart and never met, but they both died from harms related to their social media use. When the two mothers met, early in their advocacy work to protect other kids, Bride said she had felt “totally alone.” But they have since seen the online child safety movement blossom, with scores of other parents who lost kids…

A long and dangerous heat wave will blast a large swath of the United States this week, the National Weather Service said, with temperatures rising ahead of the July Fourth holiday and feeling even hotter because of the high humidity that’s arriving with it. Several days of high temperatures will settle in across the lower Great Lakes, the mid-Atlantic and the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, the weather service said. A number of big cities could see their highest temperatures of the year so far as they host World Cup matches. Feeling the heat will be the East Coast cities…

BEAVER, Utah — Three firefighters died and two were injured while tackling fires on the Colorado-Utah border, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service reported Sunday. The agency – created earlier this year to streamline firefighting and fire reduction across public lands – said the firefighters had been part of an interagency response to the Knowles and Gore fires on Saturday. “The U.S. Wildland Fire Service stands united with the USDA Forest Service in grief and in our unwavering support for the loved ones left behind. Their bravery, dedication, and sacrifice will never be forgotten,” it said in a statement on Facebook.…

DALLAS — Texas’ education board on Friday approved a required reading list for more than 5 million public school students that includes Bible stories, widening conservative efforts to bring Christian teachings into U.S. classrooms. The state-mandated list of assigned reading – which includes Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” and excerpts from the New Testament – appeared to be among the first of its kind of the nation and will take effect starting in 2030. The State Board of Education, which is controlled by Republicans, approved the list on a 9-5 vote following weeks of contentious debate that again put Texas at…