By Aileen Graef and Elisa Raffa, CNN (CNN) — The cherry blossoms lining the National Mall in Washington, DC, have hit “peak bloom,” bursting open in an early spring display after a warm winter, the National Park Service announced Sunday. “PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! Did we say PEAK BLOOM?! The blossoms are opening
Continue ReadingPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Family members of people killed by record-breaking heat in the Portland area three years ago gathered over the weekend to plant trees across Multnomah County in honor of its 72 victims. Three consecutive days of extraordinary temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, which usually experiences mild summers, shattered all-time records. Temperatures in
Continue ReadingCNN By Christian Edwards, CNN (CNN) — President Vladimir Putin has tightened his grip on the country he has ruled since the turn of the century, winning Russia’s stage-managed election by an overwhelming majority in a result that was a foregone conclusion. Putin won 87.3% of the vote on a record turnout of 77.5%, the
Continue ReadingBy HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters Monday morning, the South Korean military said, days after the end of the South Korean-U.S. military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff gave no further details,
Continue ReadingBy DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press Russian President Vladimir Putin says he supported an idea to release opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a prisoner exchange just days before the man who was his biggest foe died. In his first comments to address Navalny’s death, Putin said of the dissident’s demise: “It happens. There is nothing you
Continue ReadingLEVITTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a man faces murder charges in Pennsylvania and carjacking and weapons charges in New Jersey after allegedly killing three family members and evading law enforcement for hours as police mobilized in two states. Court documents indicate that 26-year-old Andre Gordon Jr. has been charged in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with
Continue ReadingBy NICK INGRAM and JIM SALTER Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The memory of the deadly shooting at the last month’s Super Bowl rally in Kansas City, Missouri, was still on the minds of many at the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday. But this time a big mass gathering went off without
Continue ReadingBy EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer Even before the brackets came out Sunday, March Madness was a muddled mess. About the closest thing to a sure thing: UConn. The defending champion Huskies earned the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, joined by Houston,Purdue and North Carolina as No. 1 seeds in a bracket that started
Continue ReadingWKBW, HERD PRODUCTIONS, TONY CAVALLARO, NYS DEC, CNN By Zoe Sottile, CNN (CNN) — An upstate New York man was forced to say “see you later, alligator” to his unusual pet after local authorities determined he was keeping the reptile illegally. Environmental Conservation police officers seized the 11-foot, 750-pound pet alligator from a Hamburg home
Continue ReadingBy W.G. RAMIREZ Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jack Eichel scored his 21st goal of the season and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the New Jersey Devils 3-1 on Sunday. After the Devils took a 1-0 lead 38 seconds into the third period, the Golden Knights scored the next two goals with Eichel’s being
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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Iga Swiatek flinched when the celebratory streamers shot into the sky. It was the only thing that bothered the world’s top-ranked woman. “I just thought it’s going to happen a little bit later,” she said, laughing. She beat Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0 in just over an hour to win the
Continue ReadingThe Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — While some American cities celebrated St. Patrick’s Day a day early this weekend, Boston, one of the most Irish cities in the country, held its parades and festivities on Sunday, or March 17. Crowds of green-clad revelers lined the streets for the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which
Continue ReadingBy NICK INGRAM and JIM SALTER Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The memory of the deadly shooting at the last month’s Super Bowl rally in Kansas City, Missouri, was still on the minds of many at the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday. But this time a big mass gathering went off without
Continue ReadingBy Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration is welcoming six new countries to a US-led pact to crack down on phone-hacking spyware as US officials tell CNN that the administration continues to find new cases of American government personnel being targeted by a technology that is deemed a national security and counterintelligence threat. “We are
Continue ReadingBy Zoe Sottile, CNN (CNN) — An upstate New York man was forced to say “see you later, alligator” to his unusual pet after local authorities determined he was keeping the reptile illegally. Environmental Conservation police officers seized the 11-foot, 750-pound pet alligator from a Hamburg home on Wednesday, according to a Facebook post from
Continue ReadingBy PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer Joey Votto sure knows how to make an instant impression, going deep on the first pitch he faced as a member of his hometown Toronto Blue Jays. The veteran first baseman lined a 392-foot homer to left-center off Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler in the first inning Sunday in
Continue ReadingBy The Associated Press A drone strike at a military installation in Moldova’s breakaway republic of Transnistria has destroyed a helicopter and ignited a fire. The area’s pro-Russia authorities blamed Ukraine for the strike on Sunday. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in Transnistria nominally as peacekeepers. They guard huge Soviet-era weapons and ammunition stockpiles at
Continue ReadingBy JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Byron Janis, a renowned American concert pianist and composer who broke barriers as a Cold War era culture ambassador and later overcame severe arthritis that nearly robbed him of his playing abilities, has died. He was 95. Janis passed away Thursday evening at a hospital in
Continue ReadingBy EMMA BURROWS and DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon Sunday on the last day of a presidential election, apparently heeding an opposition call to protest against President Vladimir Putin in a vote that offered them no real alternatives after he ruthlessly cracked down on dissent. Shortly after the last
Continue ReadingOAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A juvenile suspect in the January killing of a liquor store owner is a 13-year-old boy who allegedly committed another armed robbery 40 minutes later in Oakland, California, police said. The unnamed boy, an Oakland resident who turns 14 in July, is charged with murder and attempted robbery in the Jan.
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