Author: Associated Press

Missouri school to close after radioactive waste report

Source: KMOV via CNN Newsource.FLORISSANT, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri school board has decided to shut down a grade school that sits near a contaminated creek after a study funded by law firms involved in a class-action lawsuit found high levels of radioactive material inside the school. Contamination was found in classrooms, the playground and elsewhere at Jana Elementary School…

Radioactive waste found at Missouri elementary school

Source: KMOV via CNN Newsource.FLORISSANT, Mo. (AP) — Environmental investigation consultants have found significant radioactive contamination at an elementary school in suburban St. Louis where nuclear weapons were produced during World War II. The report by Boston Chemical Data Corp. has confirmed fears about contamination at Jana Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District in Florissant. The report is expected…

Biden kicks off student loan relief application season

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has officially kicked off the application process for his student debt cancellation program. He announced Monday that 8 million borrowers had already applied for loan relief during the federal government’s soft launch period over the weekend. Biden is encouraging the tens of millions eligible for potential relief to visit studentaid.gov and touting the application…

Kanye West to buy conservative social media platform Parler

Source: CNN, POOL via CNN Newsource.The rapper formerly known as Kanye West is offering to buy right-wing friendly social network Parler shortly after being booted off Twitter and Instagram for antisemitic posts. West, who is legally known as Ye, was locked out of Twitter and Instagram a week ago over antisemitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies….

Beshear: Death toll from eastern Kentucky flooding now 43

File PhotoFRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear says the death toll from historic flooding that swamped portions of eastern Kentucky this summer has risen to 43. The governor on Thursday announced two additional fatalities. He says the latest two deaths were caused by health conditions arising directly from the flooding,. Beshear didn’t provide additional details about the deaths. He…

Actor Robbie Coltrane, Harry Potter’s Hagrid, dies at 72

Source: CNN via CNN NewsourceLONDON (AP) — Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, who played a forensic psychologist on TV series “Cracker” and Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” movies, has died. He was 72. Coltrane’s agent Belinda Wright said he died Friday at a hospital in Scotland. She did not give a cause. Coltrane came to fame as a hard-bitten detective in…

Kroger seeks to create grocery giant in $20B Albertsons bid

Two of the nation’s largest grocers have agreed to merge in a deal that would help them better compete with Walmart, Amazon and other major companies that have stepped into the grocery business. Kroger on Friday bid $20 billion for Albertsons Companies Inc., or $34.10 per share. Kroger will also assume $4.7 billion of Albertsons’ debt. Kroger operates 2,800 stores…

Police: Teen kills 2 in neighborhood, 3 along walking trail

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Police say a 15-year-old boy fatally shot two people in the streets of a neighborhood in North Carolina’s capital city, then fled toward a walking trail, where he killed three more people and wounded two others. Raleigh police Chief Estella Patterson on Friday said the suspect is hospitalized in critical condition following the shootings late Thursday…

Social Security benefits to jump by 8.7% next year

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Social Security recipients will get an 8.7% boost in their benefits in 2023. That’s a historic increase and welcome news for American retirees and others — but it’s tempered by the fact that it’s fueled by record high inflation that’s raised the cost of everyday living. That means the average recipient will receive more than…

Parkland school shooter to get life sentence for killing 17

Source: LOCAL POOL via CNN NewsourceFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 massacre of 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That sentence comes after the jury announced Thursday that it could not unanimously agree that Cruz should be executed. The decision ends a three-month…