Car fire ignites Catawba County home, fire officials say

Yahoo Finance
This week in Bidenomics: No stag, no 'flation, just consternation
Investors cheered weaker-than-expected job numbers, which suggest inflation is abating. Voters will be harder to please.
Associated Press
Three groups are suing New Jersey to block an offshore wind farm
Three anti-wind power groups are suing New Jersey to overturn a key environmental approval for a wind energy farm planned off the coast of Long Beach Island. Save Long Beach Island, Defend Brigantine Beach and Protect Our Coast NJ filed suit in appellate court on April 26 challenging a determination by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that the Atlantic Shores wind farm project meets the requirements of a federal coastal protection law. Atlantic Shores is one of three proposed wind farms off New Jersey's coast that have preliminary approval.
Associated Press
Zebra remains on the loose in Washington state as officials close trailheads to keep people away
A zebra that escaped from a trailer east of Seattle last weekend remained on the lam Friday, as authorities closed off trailheads at a nature area in hopes of keeping people away and easing her capture. The driver had taken the Interstate 90 exit for North Bend, in the Cascade mountain foothills about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Seattle, to secure the trailer, when the zebras got loose, surprising residents and drivers as they galloped into a rural neighborhood. There have been several more realistic sightings, most recently on Thursday, according to Regional Animal Services of King County.
Associated Press
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers
Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment. Under the deal announced Friday, the insurer will make coverage of artificial insemination standard for all customers nationally and work to ensure that patients have equal access to more expensive in-vitro fertilization procedures, according to the National Women’s Law Center, which represented plaintiffs in the case. Aetna, the health insurance arm of CVS Health Corp., covers nearly 19 million people with commercial coverage, including employer-sponsored health insurance.
AFP
'Get this done', WHO chief urges pandemic accord talks
The WHO chief on Friday begged countries negotiating a global agreement on handling future pandemics to "get this done", as they prepare for one final week of last-ditch talks.Five days in, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged that for some, the agreement is either too specific, not specific enough, too strong, or too weak.
NBC News
Hope Hicks, a top former Trump aide, takes the stand in his hush money trial
Former White House communications director Hope Hicks took the stand on Friday in Donald Trump's New York criminal trial, a tense reunion for the former president and a woman who was once one of his closest aides.
Associated Press
Colorado school bus aide shown hitting autistic boy faces more charges
A school bus aide shown on surveillance video hitting a nonverbal autistic boy has been charged with 10 more counts of abuse involving two children, prosecutors said Friday. Kiarra Jones, 29, was arrested last month and initially charged with one felony count of third-degree assault on an at risk person. Eight additional charges of third-degree assault on an at-risk person and two misdemeanor counts of child abuse have been filed against her, Eric Ross, a spokesperson for 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner said.
Associated Press
Troops fired on Kent State students in 1970. Survivors see echoes in today's campus protest movement
Dean Kahler flung himself to the ground and covered his head when the bullets started flying. The Ohio National Guard had opened fire on unarmed war protesters at Kent State University, and Kahler, a freshman, was among them. Four Kent State students were killed and Kahler and eight others were injured when National Guard members fired into a crowd on May 4, 1970, following a tense exchange in which troops used tear gas to break up an anti-war demonstration and protesters hurled rocks at the guardsmen.
Reuters
Factbox-What led to Canada's arrests over killing of Sikh separatist?
Canadian police on Friday charged three people linked to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the province of British Columbia in June 2023, a source directly familiar with the matter said. The following is a timeline of key events leading up to the arrests in a killing that has frayed relations between Canada and India. June 18, 2023: Nijjar, 45, is shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population.
Time
Trump Media's Accounting Firm Charged With Massive Fraud
The SEC charged BF Borgers, the accounting firm for former President Donald Trump’s social media company, with “massive fraud.”
TODAY
Bryan Kohberger’s legal team says prosecution is withholding key evidence in Idaho murders case
Bryan Kohberger, suspected of killing U of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, offered an alibi in new court docs.
CNN
CIA Director Burns visits Cairo as Gaza ceasefire and hostage negotiations continue
CIA Director Bill Burns is in Cairo amid intensive negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage deal, a person familiar with the matter says.
CNN
Metal detectors. No banners, flags or large bags. Expect heightened security at university commencements after protests
An important personal milestone for many young adults will be reached against a backdrop of police barricades, increased law enforcement presence and other security measures.
Reuters
Aetna will cover fertility treatments for LGBTQ people under court settlement
Aetna will pay $2 million and update its coverage policies to settle a lawsuit claiming the health insurer required LGBTQ beneficiaries to pay more out of pocket for fertility treatments than heterosexual people, according to a Friday court filing. Lawyers for four people who in 2021 sued Aetna, a subsidiary of CVS Health Corp, asked a Manhattan federal court to approve the settlement, in which the company agreed to establish a new standard health benefit plan that covers artificial insemination regardless of sexual orientation. Previously, Aetna required heterosexual couples simply to represent that they had tried for six or 12 months to get pregnant before covering fertility treatments.
Reuters
Hamas confirms its delegation to visit Cairo on Saturday, official says
A delegation from Palestinian militant group Hamas will visit Cairo on Saturday, a Hamas official told Reuters, amid expectations that they will deliver a written response to an Israeli proposal on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release. The Hamas official, who declined to be identified, spoke on Friday after CIA Director William Burns arrived in the Egyptian capital for meetings about the conflict in Gaza, according to an Egyptian security source and three sources at Cairo airport. Egypt made a renewed push to revive negotiations late last month.
Associated Press
Judge says gun found in car of Myon Burrell, sentenced to life as teen, can be evidence in new case
A judge ruled that the arrest of a Minnesota man on a gun charge was justified in a case that has drawn attention because he was sentenced to life in prison as a teen in an high-profile murder case and spent 18 years in prison before his sentence was commuted. Myon Burrell was charged after police in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale said they found a handgun and drugs during the stop Aug. 29. The officer testified that he saw Burrell driving erratically, and that when he stopped Burrell, smoke came out of the window and that he smelled a strong odor of burnt marijuana.
Associated Press
Court appearance for country star Morgan Wallen in chair-throwing case postponed until August
An initial hearing for country music star Morgan Wallen was postponed Friday until August in a case in which he's accused of throwing a chair from the rooftop of a six-story bar and nearly hitting two police officers. Wallen's attorney, Worrick Robinson, told reporters that the case is “very complicated” and promised that the singer, who had waived his right to be there Friday, would be at the postponed hearing on Aug. 15. The “One Thing at a Time” singer has been charged with three felony counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
CBS News
Trump Media's auditor is charged with "massive fraud" by the SEC
Audit firm BF Borgers allegedly failed to comply with accounting standards and fabricated audit documentation, regulators claim.
The Conversation
W.E.B. Du Bois’ study ‘The Philadelphia Negro’ at 125 still explains roots of the urban Black experience – sociologist Elijah Anderson tells why it should be on more reading lists
Over a century ago, white Philadelphia elites believed the city was going to the dogs – and they blamed poor Black inner-city residents instead of the racism that kept this group disenfranchised.
Reuters
Exclusive-Southwest pilots face reduced hours, pay due to Boeing delivery delays
Southwest Airlines plans to offer its pilots reduced hours and, in effect, monthly pay, two people familiar with the matter said, as it grapples with higher costs and overstaffing due to delays in aircraft deliveries from Boeing. The Dallas-based airline, which operates an all-Boeing fleet, has been reeling from the U.S. planemaker's ongoing safety crisis. Last week it warned of a hit to earnings as it expected to receive just 20 Boeing aircraft this year, less than one-fourth of its original plans.

Latest Stories