Sorted by date Results 101 - 118 of 118
HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 20 this week to 809. A year ago, 464 rigs were active. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 652 rigs sought oil and 155 explored for natural gas this week. Two were listed as miscellaneous. Texas increased by eight rigs and Oklahoma added seven. New Mexico rose by three while Alaska, California, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and West Virginia gained one each. Louisiana declined by two and Wyoming by one. Arkansas, C...
SEATTLE (AP) — When the mighty orca breaks to the surface and exhales, the whale sprays an array of bacteria and fungi in its his breath, scientists said, some good, and some bad such as salmonella. The findings in a new study raises concerns about the potential role of infectious diseases as another major stress factor for the struggling population of endangered Puget Sound orcas. Those orcas' breath samples revealed microbes capable of causing diseases. Some were resistant to multiple antibiotics frequently used by people and animals, suggest...
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Ranchers in the Dakotas are helping colleagues in the Southern Plains who are dealing with the aftermath of devastating wildfires. The North Dakota Stockmen's Association and its Stockmen's Foundation each have pledged $15,000 to help affected ranchers in Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado, and the groups are encouraging others to donate. "We want them to know that they are not alone," said North Dakota Stockmen's President Warren Zenker. "The cattle-ranching community is here for them." The South Dakota Cattlemen's A...
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a humiliating failure, President Donald Trump and GOP leaders yanked their bill to repeal "Obamacare" off the House floor Friday when it became clear it would fail badly — after seven years of nonstop railing against the health care law. Democrats said Americans can "breathe a sigh of relief." Trump said Obama's law was imploding "and soon will explode." Thwarted by two factions of fellow Republicans, from the center and far right, House Speaker Paul Ryan said President Barack Obama's health care law, the GOP's No. 1 tar...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Once again, "Obamacare" has survived a near-death experience. It won't be the end of the political debate, but House Speaker Paul Ryan acknowledges, "We're going to be living with 'Obamacare' for the foreseeable future." Ryan pulled the "repeal and replace" bill drafted by House Republican leaders and blessed by President Donald Trump after it failed to muster enough support. It was the latest attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act, which already beat two Supreme Court challenges. Trump blamed Democrats for the failure and r...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The old and the poor made out great when House Republicans failed Friday to dismantle Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. The rich and the almost rich didn't do so well. The measure would have repealed major parts of Obama's health law, capping future funding for Medicaid and cutting tax increases for high-income families, health insurance companies and drugmakers. The bill would have repealed tax credits that people can use to purchase health insurance and replace them with a new tax credit that would have been less g...
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Video poker machines are commonplace in Las Vegas and can be found in bars, supermarkets and even high-end restaurants. Now you can add hospitals to that list. The HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Henderson treats people who are recovering from a number of issues, including traumatic injuries, strokes, amputations, spinal cord issues and neurological disorders. Against one wall of the facility's busy 7,400-square foot gym, alongside the weights and exercise machines typically found in physical therapy rooms, sit two...
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An advertising boycott of YouTube is broadening, a sign that big-spending companies doubt Google's ability to prevent marketing campaigns from appearing alongside repugnant videos. PepsiCo, Wal-Mart Stores and Starbucks on Friday confirmed that they have also suspended their advertising on YouTube after the Wall Street Journal found Google's automated programs placed their brands on five videos containing racist content. AT&T, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, Volkswagen and several other companies pulled ads earlier this w...
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple said purported hacking vulnerabilities disclosed by WikiLeaks this week have all been fixed in recent iPhones and Mac computers. The documents released by the anti-secrecy site Thursday morning pointed to an apparent CIA program to hack Apple devices using techniques that users couldn't disable by resetting their devices. The iPhone hack was limited to the 3G model from 2008. In a statement late Thursday, Apple said the flaw was fixed with the release of the iPhone 3GS a year later. Apple also said the Mac v...
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Spacewalking astronauts prepped the International Space Station on Friday for a new parking spot reserved for commercial crew capsules. The 250-mile-high complex already has one docking port in place for the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner, which should start carrying up astronauts as early as next year. Friday's spacewalk set the stage for a second docking location. A new docking device will fly up late this year or early next. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough disconnected all four cables from an old d...
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — They took an eight-hour flight just to look out the airplane's window, but it was an extraordinary view. A charter plane that left Dunedin, New Zealand, late Thursday flew close to the Antarctic Circle to give the eager passengers an up-close look at the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights. Otago Museum Director Ian Griffin came up with the idea. An astronomer, Griffin said he was inspired after seeing the Southern Lights while flying as a guest on a NASA observatory plane. He says the 134 seats on the c...
ORONO, Maine (AP) — A mechanical engineer at the University of Maine will receive more than a half million dollars to study human voice production. The National Science Foundation is giving Xudong Zheng (ZOO'-dong JANG) the grant, which will help him lead a project to use computer models to look at sound production. The university says Zheng's long-term goal is to understand the mechanism responsible for the range, complexity and uniqueness of the human voice. That will aid in personalized voice care. The National Institutes of Health says n...
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — A Canadian provincial government has withdrawn a man's eponymous personalized vehicle license plate, saying Lorne Grabher's surname is offensive to women when viewed on his car bumper. Grabher said Friday that he put his last name on the license plate decades ago as a gift for his late father's birthday, and says the province's refusal to renew the plate late last year is unfair. Grabher says the Nova Scotia government is discriminating against his name. Transport Department spokesman Brian Taylor says while the d...
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A joke about Newark, New Jersey, on "The Mindy Project" led to dinner plans between U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and star Mindy Kaling. Her character joked after hearing that Booker had come to her colleague's event that "I guess anything to get out of Newark, huh?" Booker tweeted "Ouch!" at Kaling on Thursday. He added that he still loved her, though. She responded that if her character "shades" it, "it means we know it's cool," and said the love was mutual. Booker then asked her to dinner in Newark. She asked for a train s...
CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Zoo says its premature baby hippo, Fiona, is getting more independent and now tops 100 pounds (45.36 kilograms), meaning her days of napping on her human caretakers' laps are dwindling. She was born at the zoo in January and weighed just 29 pounds, far below the typical weight. The zoo says caretakers raising Fiona are beginning to scale back their time with her, leaving her alone for a few hours at night. It's the beginning of a transition in how much contact they have as they move toward eventually i...
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — The Eastern Sierra town of Mammoth Lakes got so much snow this winter that it had to get removal help from the California National Guard. Faced with more than 40 feet (12 meters) of snow, the Mono County community declared a state of emergency and a request for snow removal assistance was sent to the state Office of Emergency Services, which called in the Guard earlier this month. The Guard sent 10 heavy trucks and 17 troops who hauled away 4,000 tons (3,629 metric tons) of snow. Capt. Will Martin tells the Los A...
STOW, Ohio (AP) — Authorities in Ohio are still on the hunt for a Humvee swiped from an Ohio National Guard Armory. The State Highway Patrol says someone cut through a fence at the Ohio National Guard Armory in Stow southeast of Cleveland and made off with the sand-colored Humvee. A guard spokeswoman says they think the Humvee was stolen either late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Troopers say the Humvee was secured at the time, but someone managed to disable its locking mechanism. The patrol says the sand-colored Humvee is marked with bumper n...
PATERSON, N.J. (AP) — Authorities in New Jersey say they captured a large exotic cat that was wandering Paterson streets. Officials say residents called Animal Control to report the cat Thursday morning. Animal Control says officers arrived and were forced to tranquilize the animal because it was out of control. The cat was later identified as a Savannah cat. The felines are a hybrid that is bred by crossing a domestic cat with an African serval. Experts say the exotic pets are difficult to breed and can cost more than $20,000. The cats can w...
