Father John Ubel has been collecting baseball cards for 50 years. Now, he is stepping up to the plate and auctioning off his most valuable cards to raise money for grade school scholarships in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ubel, a lifelong Minnesota Twins fan and the rector at St. Paul’s Cathedral, began collecting baseball cards in
Continue ReadingAttorney General nominee Merrick Garland fought back tears on Monday during his confirmation hearing when he explained to senators on his panel why this role is important to him. “I come from a family where my grandparents fled anti-Semitism and persecution. … I feel an obligation to the country to pay back for protecting us,”
Continue ReadingThe confirmation of Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management and Budget is on the brink of collapse after two key Republicans announced Monday that they will vote against her nomination, citing her past social media behavior. Tanden’s nomination in the evenly split Senate was jeopardized late last week when Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin
Continue Reading The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has struck a deal with Iran that will give its inspectors continued access to verify and monitor nuclear activity in the country for the next three months, potentially laying the ground work for Washington and Tehran to kick-start nuclear talks. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said Sunday that the two
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This time a year ago, thousands gathered for Japan’s annual Hadaka Matsuri — also popularly known as the “Naked Festival”– in Okayama prefecture in the southern part of Honshu island. In today’s climate of social distancing, the video highlights from last year’s event (see above) are a surreal reminder of how much has changed since
Continue ReadingThe Supreme Court on Monday denied an appeal from Republicans challenging a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that allowed ballots received up to three days after Election Day to be counted to accommodate challenges by the coronavirus pandemic. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a forceful dissent. Read it here: cnn.com/2021/02/22/politics/thomas-dissent-in-pa-election/index.html
Continue Reading Israeli authorities are trying to locate the source of a suspected oil spill that has been described as one of the most severe ecological disasters to hit the country, threatening wildlife, forcing beaches to close and prompting a mass cleanup. Blobs of sticky tar started washing up on the country’s Mediterranean shores last week. Images
Continue Reading Click here for updates on this story PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — Thousands of Oregonians are still in the dark, and for many, they’ve been without power for more than a week. Those affected are demanding answers from Portland General Electric. There are still about 38,000 customers without power because of that historic winter storm. PGE’s
Continue ReadingThe US economy is still at the mercy of the pandemic. But for policy makers to help the recovery along, we must first get the virus under control, said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. “Success on the public health front is a key metric that we will be watching,” Yellen said during an interview with the
Continue ReadingPresident Joe Biden’s nominee for the nation’s top health position Xavier Becerra will stress his upbringing as a son of a Mexican immigrant, his father’s recent passing and his history expanding health care access during his time as a longtime congressman and California’s attorney general, in a pitch to senators at his confirmation hearing on
Continue Reading Ten people became stranded on floating sheets of ice in Lake Erie on Sunday, requiring rescue from the local Coast Guard. The group became stuck on two ice floes near a waterfront park in Cleveland, Ohio, the Coast Guard’s Great Lakes unit said. Six of the people stranded were rescued with the Coast Guard’s ice
Continue Reading Click here for updates on this story PHOENIX, Arizona (KCTV/KSMO) — Phoenix parents received quite the surprise as they were cleaning a new toy they had recently bought for their baby. The parents bought a glow worm from a thrift store in El Mirage and made the startling discovery Friday afternoon. According to Phoenix Police
Continue ReadingMicrosoft is joining forces with publishers in Europe to call for an Australia-style system that would force tech platforms such as Google and Facebook to pay news organizations for content. The company said Monday that it would team up with media industry groups like the European Publishers Council to lobby for such a policy, which
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The United States will within hours record its unfathomable 500,000th death from Covid-19 paradoxically at a moment of rare hope in the pandemic. Yet the tragic landmark will occur with the White House loath to predict when the crisis may ease as it balances critical political and epidemiological risks. A warning from Dr. Anthony Fauci
Continue ReadingThe Biden administration announced several changes Monday to the Paycheck Protection Program in an effort to reach minority-owned and very small businesses that may have previously missed out on accessing loans to help weather the coronavirus pandemic. Starting Wednesday, small businesses with fewer than 20 employees will have a two-week exclusive window to apply for
Continue ReadingElectricity and gas provider Just Energy warned that the financial impact of the Texas winter storms could force it out of business. Just Energy said Monday that it could lose about $250 million from Texas’ deep freeze that left millions without power last week. The hit “could be materially adverse to the Company’s liquidity and
Continue Reading Click here for updates on this story ATLANTA, GA (WGCL) — Killer Mike, a popular Atlanta rapper, songwriter, actor, and activist is pleading for an end to gun violence after someone shot up a barbershop he owns. Killer Mike, whose real name is Mike Render, posted to his Instagram page the shooting happened over the
Continue Reading Click here for updates on this story KANSAS CITY, Kansas (KCTV/KSMO) — As districts start the process of returning to in-person learning, more teachers are asking for the COVID vaccine. Starting Monday, elementary students who have major connectivity issues, and those at-risk of not completing the grade level will be learning from the classrooms. It
Continue Reading A spacecraft named for the famed NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson has arrived at the International Space Station with about 8,000 pounds of cargo in tow. The S.S. Katherine Johnson, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft, launched on Saturday from a NASA facility in Virginia and made it to the space station early Monday morning. It
Continue Reading Click here for updates on this story MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — The tragedy in the Happy Hills community is also impacting victims Tony and Leila Lewis’ neighbors. That horrific fire Wednesday night — spread to the house next door, which is also a total loss. Pearlie Howard, known to most as “Miss Pearl,” and her
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