UTFO’s Kangol Kid dies after battle with cancer at 55

By Jonathan Landrum FILE - Kangol Kid attends the "Black Nativity" premiere on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013, in New York. Kangol Kid, a member of the legendary hip-hop group UTFO, has died after a battle with colon cancer at age 55. The family of Kangol Kid — whose real name is Shaun Shiller Fequiere -- said in a statement that he died peacefully early Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, at a

Typhoon deaths in Philippines top 100, mayors plead for food

By JIM GOMEZ Residents stand amid damaged homes following Typhoon Rai in Talisay, Cebu province, central Philippines on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021. The strong typhoon engulfed villages in floods that trapped residents on roofs, toppled trees and knocked out power in southern and central island provinces, where more than 300,000 villagers had fled to safety before the onslaught, officials said. (AP Photo/Jay Labra) The governor of an island province in

Fire damages huge QVC distribution center in North Carolina

Firefighters work on cleanup after a fire ripped through a distribution center for the QVC home-shopping television network in Rocky Mount, N.C. on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021. More than 300 employees were working at the facility when the fire was reported shortly after 2a.m. No injuries were immediately reported. (AP Photo/Tom Copeland) A fire ripped through a distribution center in North Carolina for the QVC home-shopping television network early Saturday,

Hits ‘keep coming’: Hospitals struggle as COVID beds fill

By ED WHITE Natalie Balli, 71, and her twin sister, Linda Calderon, background right, watch TV as they rest in their beds in a COVID-19 unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, Friday, Dec. 17, 2021. The sisters were admitted to the hospital on the same day, a few days after their Thanksgiving gathering. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Hospitals across the country are struggling to cope with

Court allows Biden employer vaccine mandate to take effect

By GEOFF MULVIHILL and ANDREW DeMILLO FILE - President Joe Biden talks about the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 from the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. On Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, a federal appeals court panel allowed President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for larger private employers to move ahead. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) A federal appeals court

Pfizer says results disappointing in 2 to 5 year olds- testing an additional shot

By LAURAN NEERGAARD Pfizer said Friday it was changing plans and testing three doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in babies and preschoolers after the usual two shots didn’t appear strong enough for some of the children. Pfizer announced the change after a preliminary analysis found 2- to 4-year-olds didn’t have as strong an immune response as expected to the very low-dose shots the company is testing in the youngest children. 

Suspected arson in downtown Osaka building leaves 24 dead

By CHISATO TANAKA and MARI YAMAGUCHI OSAKA, Japan (AP) — A fire that spread from a fourth-floor mental clinic in an eight-story building in downtown Osaka in western Japan on Friday left 24 dead in what police were investigating as a possible case of arson and murder.  Police were searching for a man in his 50s to 60s who witnesses saw carrying a paper bag from which an unidentified liquid

5 men arrested for posing as police officers at motel

Five men have been arrested and accused of posing as police officers looking for someone at a North Carolina motel, police said. Gastonia police officers responded to a report at 1:10 a.m. of a possible burglary at a motel in the 1400 block of East Franklin Avenue involving five suspects who claimed to be law enforcement, The Charlotte Observer reported. The officers determined the men weren’t officers and arrested them. The men

Blacks Contributing to Biden’s Sinking Poll Numbers

By now you have seen the daily reports of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ sinking poll numbers. This is not some isolated occurrence from one poll: there have been a series of polls that are all coming to the same conclusion. The Biden-Harris administration is missing the mark and letting down the American people. Their support is eroding rapidly as a result. A recent poll from HIT Strategies highlighted

After fire’s containment, NC state park reopening to public

The wildfire at Pilot Mountain State Park caused damage to over 1,000 acres by Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Pinnacle, N.C. (Allison Lee Isley/The Winston-Salem Journal via AP) Nearly all of a northwestern North Carolina state park is reopening after a wildfire burned over 1,000 acres before it was contained earlier this month.  The Yadkin River section of Pilot Mountain State Park reopened Saturday. Most of the rest of the park will