AP

By Metro Creative According to the ASPCA, the number of dogs and cats euthanized in United States animal shelters has declined significantly since 2011. The ASPCA reports that approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized each year. That number is high, but it marks an improvement over 2011, when roughly 2.6 million dogs and cats

By Associated Press BEIRUT | Lebanon’s Hezbollah has new weapons and intelligence capabilities that could help it target more critical positions deeper inside Israel in case of an all-out war, the militant group’s leader warned on Wednesday. Hassan Nasrallah’s comments came as the monthslong cross-border conflict simmering between Hezbollah and Israel appears to be reaching

By Associated Press TAMPICO, Mexico | Tropical Storm Alberto formed on Wednesday in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, the first named storm of what is forecast to be a busy hurricane season. Alberto, which is bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall and some flooding along the coasts of Texas and Mexico, is expected to make landfall

By Associated Press DALLAS — NASA’s Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, is sending science data again. Voyager 1’s four instruments are back in business after a computer problem in November, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said this week. The team first received meaningful information again from Voyager 1 in April, and recently commanded

By Associated Press LONDON — Inflation in the U.K. returned to the Bank of England’s target rate of 2% for the first time in nearly three years, official figures showed Wednesday, a development that was seized on by the governing Conservative Party as evidence that its economic plan is “working” ahead of the July 4

By Wealth of Geeks via AP Nearly one-quarter of recent home buyers say they regret spending too much on their purchase, reports a Clever Real Estate study. Of 1,000 recent and future home buyers asked, 43% admit it’s a struggle to make their mortgage payment on time. Historically high mortgage rates and skyrocketing home prices

By Associated Press Dollar Tree failed to effectively recall lead-tainted applesauce pouches linked to reports of illness in more than 500 children, leaving the products on some stores shelves for two months, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. The FDA sent a warning letter to Dollar Tree this month and placed Negasmart, the Ecuadorian

By Chris Fortune Buchanan County will need to bring in some heavy machinery if they hope to move forward with restoring a community asset. Scott Critchfield owns Critchfield Crane and dredges ponds and small lakes in the Kansas City area. Critchfield’s father introduced him to the profession as a teenager, and he has dredged for

By Associated Press MOSCOW — A court in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok on Wednesday convicted a visiting American soldier of stealing and making threats of murder, and it sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city to see his girlfriend

By Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas legislators have approved major tax cuts and ended a political stalemate with Gov. Laura Kelly. Yet some of them sounded frustrated as they were doing it. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved a bill Tuesday to cut income and property taxes by a total of $1.23 billion over the next

By Associated Press NEW YORK — The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker has been hailed as one of the preeminent voices of her generation, but the movies have long lingered in her mind and in her work. In her play, “The Flick,” a trio of workers clean up between showings at a smalltown arthouse theater.

By Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Lily Gladstone knows the gravity stories about what she calls the “epidemic” of missing and murdered Indigenous people have. But she also values humor in telling those stories. In “Fancy Dance,” set for a limited theatrical release Friday and streaming release on Apple TV+ June 28, Gladstone plays Jax,

By Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida coach Paul Maurice sat behind a microphone again on Wednesday, giving his daily news conference even though basically nothing new had happened in the 13 hours between then and the last time he spoke to reporters. He took a bunch of questions. He also had one to

By Associated Press NEW YORK — As a city kid, Amy Attas had big dreams of roaming the countryside, healing animals a la James Herriot’s classic “All Creatures Great and Small.” How did it go? Well, the veterinarian made it from Queens to Manhattan, spending the last 32 years traversing the streets of her hometown

By Associated Press CROMWELL, Conn. — No hard feelings, Rory. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said he understands why Rory McIlroy withdrew from the Travelers Championship — the final signature event on the calendar — to recover from a late-Sunday meltdown at the U.S. Open. “Sometimes you just need to focus on what you need,”

By Associated Press CROMWELL, Conn. — PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said Wednesday the difficulty in finalizing a deal with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf isn’t a reason for concern. “With complexity comes opportunity,” he said before the start of the Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands. “There are a lot of different

By Associated Press The debut of “Echoes,” a sequel series to “Orphan Black,” and the documentary “Bread & Roses” looking at how Afghan women’s lives were impacted after Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021 are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming

By Associated Press BOSTON — A blistering heat wave Wednesday extended from the Midwest to New England, leaving millions of people sweltering through the Juneteenth holiday, including in places like northern Maine where they rarely experience such conditions this early in the year. The city of Caribou, Maine, just 10 miles from the Canadian border,

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — It was the middle of the night in the summer of 2021 when I finally found the missing piece of my family history. My great-great-great-great grandfather Hewlett Sands, born into slavery in Oyster Bay, New York in 1820, was one of the more than 200,000 names listed on the African

By Associated Press ROSWELL, N.M. — Cooler weather — and the chance of rain — could bring some relief but also the risk of danger this week to firefighters battling blazes in southern New Mexico that killed at least one person, damaged hundreds of structures and forced thousands to evacuate. Strong wind pushed the larger

By Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam — Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement Wednesday that pledges mutual aid if either country faces “aggression,” a strategic pact that comes as both face escalating standoffs with the West. Details of the deal were not immediately clear, but it could mark

By Associated Press At what age should kids be on social media? Should they be on it at all? If they aren’t, will they be social pariahs? Should parents monitor their conversations? Do parental controls work? Navigating social media as a parent — not to mention a child — is not easy. Using social media

By Jane Lilly López Brigham Young University The Conversation via AP Rodrigo Salazar is a man who entered the U.S. without a visa and has been living in the country without legal status ever since. Because of this, Rodrigo, who asked that we not use his or his wife’s real names in order to protect

By My Courier-Tribune DEAR DR. ROACH, I am wondering what the best treatment is for sciatic pain. Would a steroid shot help? The pain is behind my knee, down the outside of my leg, and now on my foot. — J.F. ANSWER: “Sciatica” is a general term for a process that compresses the nerve roots,