Author: News Desk

For the Stars and Stripes Pie in my cookbook, “50 Pies, 50 States,” I wanted something that would be a showstopper at any Fourth of July barbecue. I got fancy, using foil as a divider when filling the pie to mimic the color blocking of the flag. I used two fillings – strawberry and blueberry – which breaks my personal rule of making sure everyone gets the same slice. Channeling my inner Betsy Ross, I cut the crust into lattice for the stripes, and pressed the stars out with a cookie cutter, “sewing” a flag of my own to kick…

Health officials are encouraging people to use bug spray and mosquito-control efforts as West Nile virus season is off to its earliest and worst start in over two decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that it had confirmed at least 48 cases – 38 of them severe – as of June 30. Since 2004, the average number of cases reported to the CDC by the end of June is around 10. Federal health officials said 23 states have reported finding West Nile virus, the most in 10 years. “These findings serve as an important reminder that…

As the nation celebrates its 250th birthday, some historians say President Trump’s emphasis on states’ rights, national self-sufficiency, “America First” foreign policy and a revival of manufacturing harks back to the vision of America’s Founding Fathers. The comparison can be hotly debated because the United States has evolved dramatically since 1776, and the Founders themselves were not unified on a specific agenda. In fact, they fought bitterly over some of the issues that divide Americans today. Still, historians see much of the Founding Fathers in Mr. Trump’s agenda, including Alexander Hamilton’s economic nationalism, John Jay’s fear of overreliance on foreign…

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A Rochester, New York, man says Homeland Security Investigations agents tracked him down at his home and later at an airport hotel about five months after he sent a scathing email to then-acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, in a case that civil liberties advocates say reflects an effort by the Department of Homeland Security to intimidate government critics. David Streever, 45, was vacationing in Finland with his 7-year-old daughter last week when his doorbell camera captured two law enforcement officers in blue jackets waiting on his porch, according to an NPR report published Wednesday. His wife, the Rev. Hilary Streever,…

NPR’s Scott Detrow talks with Bernard Condon of the AP about how President Trump and his family raked in more than a billion dollars last year through crypto ventures.

Universal Orlando El resort celebrará a lo grande el 250 cumpleaños de Estados Unidos este 4 de julio, con festividades patrióticas planificadas en múltiples ubicaciones a lo largo del destino. Desde entretenimiento especial y música en vivo hasta encuentros y saludos con personajes, fuegos artificiales y ofertas festivas del hotel, los huéspedes pueden disfrutar de un día completo de diversión del Día de la Independencia en Universal. Universo épicoUniversal Studios Florida, Universal CityWalk y hoteles selectos de Universal Orlando Resort. Lo que está sucediendo: En Universal Epic Universe, la celebración comienza a las 5:00 pm en Celestial Park, donde patrióticos…

Although The Verge notes that Microsoft could follow Sony’s lead by removing physical disks from its Xbox consoles, the company is testing a way to ensure users can digitize their physical video game collections. According to The Verge’s Tom Warren, Xbox employees recently started testing the new feature after references to “enable Disc2Digital” were spotted within the Xbox PC app’s code back in May. Microsoft’s disc-to-digital feature will reportedly work only with Xbox One and Series X/S discs, excluding Xbox 360 and original Xbox discs. It is also noted that the feature will work with discs bundled with a console and with multi-disc titles,…

Tom Hanks has taken Hanks Coffee to one of the biggest retail stages in the country. The Oscar-winning actor’s coffee brand is now available on Walmart.com, according to a post on his Instagram account this week. The announcement was brief. Tom tagged @hanks and @walmart in his caption, added the hashtags #GiveHanks and #HanksCoffee, and let the news do the talking. Walmart.com serves tens of millions of shoppers. Landing on its platform is a genuine step up in visibility for any consumer brand. For Hanks Coffee, it means the product is now one click away for customers who might never…

SpaceX, the newly-public satellite internet company that also dabbles in rockets and CSAM-generating chatbots, might be building its own AI hardware. The Wall Street Journal reports that ahead of its initial public offering, SpaceX demoed a handheld AI device to investors that could put the company in the same rarified air as Rabbit, or some day, OpenAI. Update, July 1 2026, 4:20PM ET: Well, that was fast. In the minutes since our article published, Elon Musk has replied to a post on X to say that the WSJ report is “utterly false.” The rest of this story below covers what the…