WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday faced Senate Democrats skeptical about a rescue package for debt-stricken Puerto Rico, raising doubts about its fate just 10 days before the U.S. territory must make a $2 billion payment to creditors. “The question at the end of the day will be, does Congress act to … Continue reading
OAXACA, Mexico (AP) — Mexican authorities and protesters on Monday traded accusations of responsibility for weekend clashes that left eight people dead and more than 100 wounded in the restive southern state of Oaxaca. Federal Police Chief Enrique Galindo, speaking on local Radio Formula, said few teachers were involved in the violence and attributed it … Continue reading
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In a story June 8 about women who pitched their products to QVC, The Associated Press reported erroneously that entrepreneur Vanessa Chan designed headphones that look like jewelry in 2014. She designed the product in 2015. A corrected version of the story is below: 12-minute opportunity: Entrepreneurs pitch products to QVC With … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are unveiling new proposals to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law, as Speaker Paul Ryan sought to showcase a GOP governing agenda amid the tumult of the presidential campaign. The plan, revealed Wednesday, relies on individual tax credits to allow people to buy coverage from private insurers, and includes … Continue reading
CHICAGO (AP) — A new report says nearly 12 million Medicare beneficiaries received at least one prescription for an opioid painkiller last year at a cost of $4.1 billion. Federal data show how common the addictive drugs are in many older Americans’ medicine cabinets. With an overdose epidemic worsening, nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries received … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Researchers are beginning a study of up to 10,000 pregnant women in Puerto Rico, Brazil and other Zika-hit parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, to better understand the virus’ threat. The U.S. National Institutes of Health announced the study Tuesday, saying researchers will enroll participants starting in the first trimester and compare the birth … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — The Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels announced on Wednesday that they have reached a deal on a bilateral cease-fire that would be the last major step toward ending one of the world’s longest wars. Colombia’s conflict has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions since 1964. But a 15-year, U.S.-backed … Continue reading
MILAN (AP) — Strict tailoring is giving way to looser, relaxed looks during the second day of menswear previews for next spring and summer on Sunday during Milan Fashion Week. The prevalent silhouette was boxy on top with athletic cut trousers as designers courted the Millennial audience, eager to mix comfort with style. Shoes were … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Gregory Rabassa, a translator of worldwide influence and esteem who helped introduce Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Julio Cortazar and other Latin American authors to millions of English-language readers, has died. A longtime professor at Queens College, Rabassa died Monday at a hospice in Branford, Connecticut. He was 94 and died after a … Continue reading
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — A New York woman convicted of fatally poisoning her husband with antifreeze and trying to kill her daughter in similar fashion has died in prison. The Onondaga County district attorney’s office says 48-year-old Stacey Castor died Saturday morning. Castor was serving 51 years to life at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for … Continue reading
SHANGHAI (AP) — Authorities have evicted hundreds of Shanghai residents and dozens of businesses to clean up the air and make way for the newest Disney theme park, which opens Thursday. Residents were paid for lost homes but hundreds of employees of shuttered factories say they don’t know where their next jobs will be. “You … Continue reading
LONDON (AP) — Advertising that promotes an unhealthy body image will be banned on London’s subway network, in a move that signals a backlash against suggestive marketing in public places. Starting next month, Transport for London will not allow ads that cause pressure to conform to “unrealistic or unhealthy body shape,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan … Continue reading
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Lil Wayne is in stable condition in Omaha after suffering what his publicist described Tuesday as two minor seizures. TMZ has reported that the Grammy-winning rapper’s private jet was forced to make two emergency landings at an Omaha airport Monday afternoon and that he was taken to a hospital. Dennis Messina, … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Puerto Rico can’t use a local law to restructure the debt of its financially ailing public utilities as it tries to overcome a decade-long economic crisis, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The 5-2 ruling said that federal bankruptcy law bars Puerto Rico from enacting its own law to restructure about $20 billion … Continue reading
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on the shooting at an Orlando nightclub (all times local): 9:00 p.m. The ex-wife of the Orlando nightclub gunman says he was “mentally unstable and mentally ill.” Sitora Yusifiy, speaking to reporters in Boulder, Colorado, says Omar Mateen was bipolar and also had a history with steroids. She says … Continue reading
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York is poised to expand access to breast cancer screening under an agreement reached by top state lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who made combating the cancer a priority after the successful cancer treatment of his girlfriend, Food Network star Sandra Lee. Under the deal, the state will order … Continue reading
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s presidential election went down to the wire, with the final ballots trickling in from abroad and frayed nerves reaching the breaking point as the wait entered its fourth day on Thursday. With 99.5 percent of the polling stations counted, front-runner Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was topping rival Keiko Fujimori, the daughter … Continue reading
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Until recently, Julio Noguera worked at a bakery. Now he spends his evenings searching through the garbage for food. “I come here looking for food because if I didn’t, I’d starve to death,” Noguera said as he sorted through a pile of moldy potatoes. “With things like they are, no one … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — A powerful new technology holds the promise of rapidly altering genes to make malaria-proof mosquitoes, eliminate their Zika-carrying cousins or wipe out an invasive species. It’s like hijacking evolution, a way to spread genetic change through insects, animals or plants faster than nature can, but a report Wednesday says these “gene drives” … Continue reading
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City area is home to a new food pantry that aims to help lower-income people with food allergies deal with the costs of specialty foods they can safely eat. The ReNewed Health Food Pantry opened in Overland Park, Kansas, about a year ago, the brainchild of Emily Brown and a … Continue reading
CHICAGO (AP) — Would U.S. teens be any slimmer if Katy Perry hawked kale and quinoa? New research doesn’t prove a link, but its authors think music stars popular with teens may be contributing to the obesity epidemic by endorsing fatty fast food, snacks and soda. The study shows that 20 of the hottest teen-music … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is unveiling a public database for clinical data on cancer on Monday that aims to help researchers and doctors better tailor new treatments to individuals. Overseen by the National Cancer Institute outside Washington, the Genomic Data Commons starts with genomic and clinical data for 12,000 patients. The system … Continue reading
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — It will be a little while longer before final vote totals are known in Puerto Rico’s Democratic presidential primary, because the U.S. territory’s election commission has taken the day off. The island’s Democratic Party chairman tells The Associated Press the commission will resume manually counting votes on Tuesday. Roberto … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is running out of time and options to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, so officials are scrambling to release as many prisoners as possible and considering novel legal strategies that include allowing some men to strike plea deals by video-teleconference. Another option would be to send … Continue reading
TISHOMINGO, Okla. (AP) — Miranda Lambert is closing her Pink Pistol clothing boutique in the tiny Oklahoma town where she and her ex-husband, Blake Shelton, once shared a home. The country singer announced Wednesday that Pink Pistol will reopen later this summer in her hometown of Lindale, Texas. Opened in late 2012, the boutique drew tourists and shoppers … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 