Breaking News

Uncategorized

You can give old batteries a new life by safely recycling them

NEW YORK (AP) — When household batteries die, it’s hard to know what to do with them. So they get shoved into a junk drawer or sheepishly thrown into the trash. But dead batteries aren’t quite finished. They can leak heavy metals like cadmium and nickel into soil and water once they reach the landfill. Some of them can also overheat and cause fires in garbage trucks and recycling centers. The good news is, safely disposing of your batteries takes just a few steps. They’ll get shipped to recycling centers that break down their contents to make new things. Battery recycling ...

Hints From Heloise

When planning a scavenger hunt Dear Heloise: My 4-year-old grandson and I enjoy playing scavenger hunts together, but sometimes we can’t remember exactly what he has hidden outside. To make things easier, we now line up seven or eight items that we’ve chosen to hide — usually his toys — and I take a quick photo of them on my phone before we start. As one of us finds an item, we line them up again and compare them to the photo to see which ones we’ve found and which are still missing. It keeps the game fun, avoids frustration, and helps ensure that nothing is left behind. ...

Trump’s ‘Good Cop’

My first reaction to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech, delivered on Valentine’s Day, at the Munich Security Conference, was, “Last year, President Donald Trump sent the bad cop, Vice President JD Vance. This year, he sent the good cop, Rubio. Progress.” In February 2025, the audience at Munich took Vance’s comments as insults. In February 2026, the audience, as evidenced by its standing ovation, took Rubio’s as compliments. Yet, as even journalists writing on deadline quickly discerned, Rubio’s words were no less critical than Vance’s of what have been European ...

Police search former Prince Andrew’s home after arrest

LONDON (AP) — Police searched the former home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor again on Friday, a day after he was arrested and held in custody for nearly 11 hours on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Following one of the most tumultuous days in the modern history of Britain’s royal family, the former Prince Andrew is back at his new residence on the Sandringham estate, King Charles III ‘s private retreat, which is around 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of London. Police have concluded their ...

Virginia Democrats pass map that could flip 4 U.S. House seats

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrats passed a new congressional map through the Virginia legislature on Friday that aims to help their party win four more seats in the national redistricting battle. It’s a flex of state Democrats’ political power, however hurdles remain before they can benefit from friendlier U.S. House district boundaries in this year’s midterm elections. A judge in Tazewell, a conservative area in Southwest Virginia, has effectively blocked a voter referendum on the redrawn maps from happening on April 21 by granting a temporary restraining order, issued ...

Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s sweeping tariffs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs on Friday, handing him a stinging loss that sparked a furious attack on the court he helped shape. Trump said he was “absolutely ashamed” of some justices who ruled 6-3 against him, calling them “disloyal to our Constitution” and “lapdogs.” At one point he even raised the specter of foreign influence without citing any evidence. The decision could have ripple effects on economies around the globe after Trump’s moves to remake post-World War II trading alliances by ...