WPTF News Archives - Page 7 of 91

Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn is ending her retirement at age 40 to make a skiing comeback

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 14, 2024, 11:40 am

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Lindsey Vonn says she is coming out of retirement to rejoin the U.S. Ski Team in an attempt to race again at age 40. Thursday’s announcement comes more than six years after Vonn’s last Olympics. She is a three-time Olympic medalist, including a downhill gold and super-G bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and a bronze in the downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She is also a four-time overall World Cup champion and owns eight world championships medals. Her 82 World Cup race victories stood as the record for a woman until that total was eclipsed by Mikaela Shiffrin.… Read More

Only 8 monkeys remain free after more than a week outside a South Carolina compound

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 14, 2024, 11:13 am

YEMASSEE, S.C. (AP) — Authorities say Just eight monkeys remain free from the group who broke out of a South Carolina compound that breeds the primates for medical research. Police in Yemassee say three more Rhesus macaques were recaptured Wednesday outside the Alpha Genesis facility. Forty-three monkeys made a break for it Nov. 6 after an employee at what locals call “the monkey farm” didn’t fully lock their enclosure. Officials say they have been lured back with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and other treats. Alpha Genesis says all the recaptured monkeys have been examined and are in good health,… Read More

The Leonid meteor shower peaks as the supermoon wanes

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 14, 2024, 10:30 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — The November supermoon will still be almost full when the Leonid meteor shower peaks this weekend. Astronomers say the moonlight will likely obscure all but the brightest meteors in most locations. The Leonids are known for high-speed meteors that can travel at up to 44 miles per second. This year’s peak activity on Sunday will happen when the moon is 98% full. The shower lasts through December 2. The Leonids originate from the comet Tempel-Tuttle and may result in around 15 visible meteors per hour under ideal viewing conditions. The next big meteor shower will be the Geminids peaking in mid-December.… Read More

North Carolina offers schools $1 million to help take students on field trips

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 13, 2024, 5:22 pm

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — There’s a new $1 million pilot project to help North Carolina public schools get financial reimbursements for taking students on field trips to places like state museums, aquariums and historic sites. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and his administration’s natural and cultural resources secretary on Wednesday unveiled the new “Learning Happens Here Field Trip Fund.” K-12 schools can seek reimbursements for the cost of students visiting dozens of state-managed attractions for things like entry fees, transportation or meals. Schools with high percentages of students from low-income families will receive priority. And there will be a set-aside for western schools affected by Hurricane Helene.… Read More

Trump picks Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Marco Rubio for Secretary of State

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 13, 2024, 5:21 pm

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate Republican Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general, putting a loyalist in the role of the nation’s top prosecutor. In selecting the congressman, Trump passed over some of the more established attorneys whose names had been mentioned as being contenders for the job. “Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump said in a statement.… Read More

Infowars auction could determine whether Alex Jones is kicked off its platforms

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 13, 2024, 4:43 pm

It’s auction day for Alex Jones’ Infowars. The Infowars studio and most other assets of the conspiracy theorist’s company were expected to be sold off Wednesday. The proceeds will help pay the nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuit judgments Jones owes families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut for calling the massacre a hoax. Jones says Infowars could be shut down if opponents win the bidding. Sealed bids were scheduled to be opened Wednesday morning. There was no immediate announcement of the results. Jones says he has set up a new studio, websites and social media accounts just in case.… Read More

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts to a mixed finish after an inflation update

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 13, 2024, 4:43 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed finish after the latest inflation update boosted hopes that more help for the economy will arrive next month from another cut to interest rates. The S&P 500 ended little changed Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3%. Treasury yields were also mixed after a report said the inflation that U.S. consumers felt last month was exactly as economists expected. That strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates for a third time this year in about a month and sent short-term Treasury yields lower.… Read More

What makes walking so great for your health and what else you need to do

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 13, 2024, 4:39 pm

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Health experts say walking is an easy way to improve physical and mental health, bolster fitness and prevent disease. Getting steps in also helps lower the risk of heart problems, high blood pressure, dementia, depression and many types of cancer. Walking also improves blood sugar levels and helps people lose weight and sleep better. The well-known goal of 10,000 steps is just a guideline, which experts say people can work up to gradually. Doctors say people should also add other activities to their fitness routines, including resistance exercises like lifting weights and doing activities that keep you flexible like yoga or stretching.… Read More

Republican John Thune of South Dakota is elected the next Senate majority leader

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 13, 2024, 2:39 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John Thune has won an internal election among Republican senators to become the chamber’s next majority leader. It makes the South Dakota Republican a key partner on Capitol Hill to President-elect Donald Trump. Thune beat out two other competitors, Sens. John Cornyn and Rick Scott, by gaining majority support from GOP senators in a secret ballot vote. Republicans are replacing Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest serving Senate party leader, as they prepare to take majority control of the Senate with the 53 seats they won in last week’s elections. Like McConnell, Thune hails from the Republican Party’s traditional wing. He has held the Republican whip position since 2019.… Read More

Trump makes a victor’s return to Washington and pledges a ‘smooth’ transition of power from Biden

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 13, 2024, 1:19 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has made a victor’s return to Washington. He’s holding a lengthy Oval Office meeting Wednesday with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power. The meeting comes as the Republican president-elect is moving quickly to build out his new administration. “Donald, congratulations,” Biden said, greeting Trump with a handshake in the Oval Office and adding that he looked “forward to a smooth transition.” Trump also pledged a smooth transition and expressed thanks to Biden for the invitation — one that Trump himself had not extended to Biden after losing the 2020 election.… Read More

Insurance magnate pleads guilty as government describes $2B scheme

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 13, 2024, 11:04 am

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — An insurance magnate who was once a big political donor in North Carolina has pleaded guilty related to what prosecutors call a $2 billion scheme to defraud insurance regulators, policyholders and others. Greg Lindberg of Florida entered the plea on Tuesday in Charlotte to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The government says Lindberg and other conspirators conducted transactions through companies from which he skimmed funds for personal benefit. No sentencing date has been set. Lindberg also is awaiting sentencing after being convicted in May of attempting to bribe North Carolina’s insurance commissioner to secure preferential regulatory treatment.… Read More

Welcome to China’s underground raves, from street techno to quotes from Chairman Mao

Author: The Associated Press | Date: November 13, 2024, 10:54 am

CHANGCHUN, China (AP) — By day, Xing Long works in an office for a state-owned company in Changchun, an industrial city in the northeastern rust belt of China. By night, he’s a DJ and underground rave organizer, a side gig that offers an escape from the humdrum of reviewing corporate contracts. For a growing number of Chinese young people, techno dance parties are an escape from the intense pressure and high expectations of the society around them. In recent years, even as space for culture and creativity has been shrinking in China, underground rave culture is growing in hidden corners of the nation’s cities like air raid shelters.… Read More