Zip line popularity soars along with injuries, study finds

CHICAGO (AP) – Injuries from zip line accidents have soared along with the popularity of an activity that hurtles riders through the air, sometimes at dizzying heights above ground, a study of U.S. emergency room data shows. Over 16 years, nearly 17,000 people were treated for zip line-related injuries including broken bones, cuts and sprains; […]

AP: Federal inmates escape while traveling to halfway houses

WASHINGTON (AP) – More than 240 inmates have slipped away from federal custody in the past three years while traveling to halfway houses, including several who committed bank robberies and a carjacking while on the lam, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Some of the inmates who absconded from 2012 through 2014 were […]

Student debt squeezing parents and children simultaneously

WASHINGTON (AP) – A college degree practically stamped Andres Aguirre’s ticket to the middle class. Yet at age 40, he’s still paying the price of admission. After a decade of repayments, Aguirre still diverts $512 a month to loans and owes $20,000. The expense requires his family to rent an apartment in Campbell, California, because […]

Familiar, divisive social issues on Supreme Court agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court’s new term began Monday with no cross words between the justices, although a steady stream of divisive social issues awaits them in the coming months. In their first public meeting since a number of high-profile decisions in June displayed passionate, sometimes barbed disagreement, the justices were deferential to each […]

South Carolina flood: Door-to-door searches, swamped roads

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – After a week of steady rain, the showers tapered off Monday and an inundated South Carolina turned to surveying a road system shredded by historic flooding, and in a cruel twist, thousands of residents faced the prospect of going days without running water. The governor warned communities downstream, near the low-lying […]