DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Scotty’s Castle, a 1920s vacation home for a millionaire couple and the domain of a famous con man, was a top attraction in Death Valley National Park before it closed from a flash flood. After 10 years of repairs, the landmark is offering limited tours. The castle nestled […]
JUNO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Cheers rose from a bundled-up crowd as a loggerhead sea turtle that survived a likely shark attack trundled back into the ocean after months of rehabilitation in Florida, carrying a satellite tracker to see how she fares with only three flippers. The air on the beach was chilly, with temperatures […]
A NASA research plane malfunctioned and had to touch down in Texas without landing gear on Tuesday, sliding across the runway on its belly and sending plumes of flame behind it, a video posted to social media showed. The crew landed the plane at Ellington Airport, southeast of Houston, and are “all safe at this […]
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — It’s been no small potatoes that Rhode Islanders have been able to choose the image of Mr. Potato Head as a specialty license plate for decades. Yet with Hasbro’s decision to move its headquarters from the smallest state in the U.S. to Boston, two lawmakers say it’s time to hash out […]
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida deputy has captured a runaway emu and safely returned the large flightless bird to its home. A St. Johns County deputy responded last Friday to a rural area west of St. Augustine following reports of the bird’s escape, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post. The deputy […]
Multiple monkeys are on the loose in St. Louis, and AI-generated images are complicating the effort to find them. The Vervet monkeys were first spotted Thursday near a park in the northern part of the city, prompting “rumor after rumor,” said city Department of Health spokesperson Willie Springer. It’s unclear who owns the monkeys, how […]
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A contest that celebrates the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle will get underway Monday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. The short-in-the-front, long-in-the-back coiffure, once the province of Canadian hockey players and hair metal bands, was expected to attract dozens of competitors for the day’s “mane” attraction. Categories included children under 5, […]
ALTADENA, Calif. (AP) — A huge black bear that made its den in the crawl space under a Los Angeles area man’s house for more than a month has finally been evicted. Altadena resident Ken Johnson said the animal began denning beneath his home around Thanksgiving, twisting gas lines and toppling bricks as he came […]
Bones and skulls visible in the back seat of a car near an abandoned cemetery on Philadelphia’s outskirts led police to a basement filled with body parts, which authorities say were horded by a man now accused of stealing about 100 sets of human remains. Officers say a Tuesday night arrest culminated a monthslong investigation […]
A Detroit suburb has agreed to a $3.25 million settlement with the family of a young woman who had been declared dead at home but then gasped for air and opened her eyes when her body bag was unzipped at a funeral home. Southfield paramedics were accused of gross negligence in how they responded to […]
WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — A yellow Labrador out for a walk with his owner in Rhode Island had to be rescued by firefighters on New Year’s Day after he wandered onto a thin layer of ice covering a pond and fell through the center. According to the Misquamicut Fire Department, volunteer firefighters and other emergency […]
Christmas came early for someone who purchased a Powerball ticket at a gas station outside Little Rock, Arkansas, worth more than $1.8 billion. The lone winner in Wednesday’s Christmas Eve drawing matched all five winning numbers and the Powerball to capture the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, ending the game’s three-month stretch without a […]
MCCOMB, Miss. (AP) — Over the course of a steaming-hot Southern lunch, served family-style on a giant lazy Susan, restaurant owner Andre Davis has watched people go from perfect strangers to lifelong friends. His restaurant, The Dinner Bell in McComb, Mississippi, consists of just four tables. Large and circular, they seat upward of 15 people. […]
A former manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue in Boston was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling body parts “as if they were baubles.” Authorities said Cedric Lodge was at the center of a ghoulish scheme in which he shipped brains, skin, hands and faces to buyers in Pennsylvania and […]
To those who argue that the U.S. penny had no value: some coin collectors beg to differ. In fact, they doled out millions for the final pennies circulated in the U.S. before the government ended the cent’s production back in November. The U.S. Mint sold 232 three-cent sets for a whopping sum of $16.76 million […]
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A stray comet from another star swings past Earth this week in one last hurrah before racing back toward interstellar space. Discovered over the summer, the comet known as 3I/Atlas will pass within 167 million miles (269 million kilometers) of our planet on Friday, the closest it gets on its […]
BALTIMORE (AP) — Cyclist Barnaby Wickham has collected more than 700 lost hubcaps, mostly on bike rides around Baltimore. They have inspired a quest to turn litter into art, including Christmas wreaths, a giant fish and a large head of Snoopy. It is a hobby that developed nearly two years ago from his love of […]
Getting trapped in quicksand is a corny peril of old movies and TV shows, but it really did happen to one unfortunate hiker in Utah’s Arches National Park. The park famous for dozens of natural, sandstone arches gets over 1 million visitors a year, and accidents ranging from falls to heat stroke are common. Quicksand? […]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Self-driving Waymo taxis have gone viral for negative reasons involving the death of a beloved San Francisco bodega cat and pulling an illegal U-turn in front of police who were unable to issue a ticket to a nonexistent driver. But this week, the self-driving taxis are the bearer of happier news […]
BISHOPVILLE, S.C. (AP) — ’Twas three weeks before Christmas, and in the prison yard, a drone-dropped package was found by a guard. With steak, weed and crab legs, and cigarettes for days. And to season it all, a tin of Old Bay. The illicit meal was dropped into the Lee Correctional Institution prison yard by […]
BRIGHTON, Mich. (AP) — Ed Bambas will soon ring up his last can of corn. The 88-year-old Michigan grocery worker was handed an oversized check for $1.7 million Friday, the result of a remarkable fundraising campaign by a young Australian man with an extraordinary following on social media. “No, no,” Bambas said, wiping tears and […]
CHRISTIANA, Tenn. (AP) — At the start of a busy holiday week filled with hours of travel, Jordan Gullotta went to a place that has given her comfort and a sense of peace. At The Gentle Barn, an animal rescue organization in Tennessee that offers animal-based therapy, she can brush a friendly cow or give […]
A copy of the first Superman issue, unearthed by three brothers cleaning out their late mother’s attic, netted $9.12 million this month at a Texas auction house which says it is the most expensive comic book ever sold. The brothers discovered the comic book in a cardboard box beneath layers of brittle newspapers, dust and […]
A Michigan veterinarian was sentenced to 10 days in jail Monday for refusing to return a dog to a homeless man after finding the ailing pit bull mix tied to a truck. Amanda Hergenreder’s lawyer asked for 120 hours of community service for the misdemeanor larceny conviction. But Grand Rapids Judge Angela Ross said jail […]
