People around the world are beginning to wave goodbye to 2020 and welcome 2021. The Pacific Island nations of Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati were the first to see in the new year — when it was still 5 a.m. on December 31 on the East Coast of the United States and 11 a.m. UTC (Coordinated
Continue ReadingClick here for updates on this story LITTLESTOWN, Pennsylvania (WPMT) — A second grade teacher in the Gettysburg Area School District is facing charges for sexually abusing a minor. Vincent Marfia, 40, of Littlestown, was arrested by State Police Wednesday. He is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, corruption of minors and other
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Pope Francis will not lead the Vatican’s New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations due to sciatic pain, the Vatican said in a statement on Thursday. This marks the first time the Pope has missed New Year’s Eve or Christmas celebrations, but not the first event he has skipped. On February 27, Pope Francis,
Continue ReadingAfter years of persistence and hard work, Jasmin Parks-Papadopoulos was at the peak of her professional career when the coronavirus pandemic hit: the executive chef of a well-known hotel group in Colorado. But the soaring US infection numbers soon brought challenges — including home schooling her 6- and 7-year-old children while her husband prepared for
Continue ReadingClick here for updates on this story HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (WPMT) — Do you want to have good luck this 2021? A dish in Pennsylvania could bring you that, and one ice cream shop in Harrisburg has scoops of it. Urban Churn turned sauerkraut into one of its flavors for good luck this new year. “You
Continue ReadingAfter a pair of seasons streaming on YouTube’s premium tier, “Cobra Kai” was picked up by Netflix, where those episodes found an appreciative audience. Enter season 3, which kicks up the nostalgia factor into an even higher gear while remaining every bit as soapy, playful and disarmingly funny. “The Karate Kid” might be 36 years
Continue ReadingAnother 787,000 Americans filed first-time claims for jobless benefits during the Christmas week, factoring in seasonal adjustments, the Labor Department reported Thursday. It marked a decrease from the prior week and was slightly better than economists had predicted. Even so, claims were still three-and-a-half times higher than in the same period last year. Overall, unemployment
Continue ReadingAt the end of the dank, dark tunnel that was 2020 comes light — a bright yellow, pungent light with toothpick legs and a penny in its mouth. Meet the lemon pig. Lemon pigs — edibly fashioned out of lemon rinds — were popular tabletop trinkets in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, then
Continue ReadingDr. Drew Pinsky has Covid-19. He shared the news on his Instagram but says he’s on the mend. “Thanks for checking in on me, I appreciate all the kind shout-outs,” he said in a video. “Covid is no fun. I don’t recommend it.” Previously, the doctor had called the pandemic “press-induced” but later apologized. He
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Happy New Year’s Eve, Central Oregon! Chances for rain and snow are with us in the early parts of the day, but then we can expect mostly cloudy skies the rest of Thursday. Those cloudy conditions remain to begin 2021 as well, before a new storm system hits us in the late afternoon. Around 4
Continue ReadingAll resorts are open today, and many of them are reporting several inches of new snow in the last 24 hours.
Continue ReadingCome Friday, many low-wage workers across the US are getting a pay bump. Twenty states are raising their minimum wage rates — some by pennies, others by a dollar or more — as part of previously-scheduled efforts to adjust for cost-of-living gains or to ratchet up toward goals like $15-an-hour minimum pay. In New Mexico,
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Don’t be too nervous about Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s announcement that he will object to the certification of Joe Biden as President when Congress meets on Jan. 6. His ploy won’t stop Biden from taking the oath of office on Jan. 20. But it should make everyone concerned about the long-term health of our democracy.
Continue ReadingBritain’s largest supermarket chain Tesco underpaid almost 80,000 of its workers, the UK government has revealed, as it “named and shamed” dozens of companies for not paying the minimum wage. A total of 139 companies failed to pay £6.7 million ($9.1 million) to thousands of workers, the government said Thursday. The cases were investigated between
Continue ReadingAs the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, voices all over the world will resurrect the centuries-old tradition of singing “Auld Lang Syne” to say goodbye to the passing year. “Auld Lang Syne” — which roughly translates to “times gone by”– was written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788 and is thought to
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Senators are still blocking an immediate and final vote to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, Republican leaders are grappling with a new problem on their hands: GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and his planned objection to the results of a fair and free election. The backlash is coming
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The 117th Congress opens Sunday, and it will convene in the shadow of the death of one of its own from coronavirus. Louisiana Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, 41, died from Covid-19 complications Tuesday, just weeks after being elected to Congress. His tragic passing should be a warning to Congress. If a young, otherwise healthy person could
Continue ReadingCutting the hair of another astronaut on the International Space Station is one of the most stressful things US Air Force Col. Terry Virts has ever done — even above spacewalking, flying F-16s, piloting a space shuttle and enduring multiple rounds of survival training around the world. Virts, a NASA astronaut selected in 2000, had
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President-elect Joe Biden’s inaugural committee on Thursday announced that it is hosting a national memorial to remember and honor the lives lost to Covid-19 and is asking cities and towns around the country to participate. The memorial will take place at 5:30 p.m. ET on January 19 and will include a lighting ceremony at the
Continue Reading Here’s a look at the life of Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the United Nations and former Republican governor of South Carolina. Personal Birth date: January 20, 1972 Birth place: Bamberg, South Carolina Birth name: Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Father: Ajit S. Randhawa, professor and business owner Mother: Raj Kaur Randhawa, teacher and business owner
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