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The heroin epidemic that has plagued the nation’s urban and rural communities alike had not spared West Virginia, but nothing prepared Cabell County officials for 26 overdoses in a four-hour span last week. The wave of misery was focused in a Huntington public housing complex, where victims injected from a batch of the drug believed to have been laced with Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid up to 100 times more potent than morphine. Investigators believe two fatalities that occurred during the same time period could be related. “We have never seen anything like this before to this magnitude,” said Gordon Merry, Emergency Management Service director for Cabell County. Related Imag...

Close-up on canopy of Grumman Hellcat fighter aircraft seen in USS Independence aircraft elevator hatch (OET/Nautilus Live). Scientists have released incredible pictures of sunken light aircraft carrier USS Independence that were taken by underwater robots exploring the wreck. The historic ship, which served in World War II and was used in the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, was intentionally sunk off Califoia in 1951. The 622-foot-long Independence sits in 2,600 feet of water in the Greater Farallones National Maritime Sanctuary. Related Image Expand / Contract Bow of USS Independence (OET/Nautilus Live). Experts on the research vessel E/V Nautilus are using two Remote...

Fireworks explode during the closing ceremony for the Summer Olympics at Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Shaking to samba and sharing reflections in uniquely Brazilian ways, Olympians and fans said goodbye to the Rio Games with one last big bash that was both revelatory and a sigh of relief. The Rio Games, the first in South America, were a 16-day spectacle that combined numerous highlight reel moments with ugly and even bizarre episodes that sometimes overshadowed the competitions. And Rio residents, known as Cariocas, were not about to let sporadic rains and strong wind gusts get in the way of a final hurrah. "These were marve...

Elizabeth Smart in Sandy, Utah, in 2015. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) SALT LAKE CITY – Kidnapping survivor ElizabethSmartsays poography led to her captor raping her more than he already did in the nine months she was held. Smartmade the remarks in a video posted Friday by Fight the New Drug, an anti-poography advocacy group. Smart, who was taken from her Salt Lake City home in 2002 at the age of 14, recounts how Brian David Mitchell showed her magazines containing hardcore poography. She says he then wanted to mimic what he saw. Smartsays she caot say that looking at poography caused Mitchell to kidnap her but that "poography made my living hell worse." Smartdescribes herself as an advocate ag...

U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte has admitted he "let my team down" when he falsely claimed that he and three of his USA Swimming teammates were robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro last week. In an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer that aired Saturday night, Lochte said he was "taking full responsibility for" the furor that overshadowed the final week of the Summer Games. Initially, Lochte claimed that he, Feigen, Jack Conger and Guar Bentz were robbed at gunpoint by theives posing as police officers early Sunday moing. Local authorities claimed that the swimmers had vandalized a gas station bathroom while intoxicated after attending a party with fellow athletes. "I over-exaggerated t...

The State Department admitted Thursday it postponed a $400 million payment to Iran in January until a group of Americans held in the country was released -- but not all media outlets apparently saw it as a top story. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that the negotiations to retu the money – originally from a 1979 failed military equipment deal made between Iran and the U.S. – were conducted separately from negotiations to free the four prisoners. However, Kirby also said that the U.S. withheld the cash delivery until Iran made good on its promise to release the prisoners on January 17. The story was given prominence on most news sites and in newspapers. The New Yor...

A two-page letter from Hillary Clinton's doctor a year ago, declaring the former first lady, senator and secretary of state "fit to serve" as president has done little to quell doubts about her health amid a gruelling campaign. Photos of the Democratic presidential nominee being helped up stairs, frequent coughing bouts on the campaign trail and rumors that a 2012 concussion was worse than revealed have made the 68-year old's fitness a campaign issue. “Hillary Clinton lacks the judgement, the temperament and the moral character to lead this nation," Donald Trump said in a recent foreign policy speech. "Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS, and a...

(Biadasz Farms on Facebook) A coroner revealed Tuesday that a Wisconsin farmer and more than a dozen cows died when they became overcome by fumes from a huge manure holding tank. According to WAOW-TV, Michael Biadasz, 29, was found by other farmers early Monday when they arrived at Biadasz Farms near Amherst to haul away manure from the football field-sized tanker. Portage County Coroner Scott Rifleman said that the deaths of Biadasz and at least 16 cows are under investigation, but that they were probably overcome by methane or sulfur oxide. Rifleman said the farmer agitated the tank and that this, along with warm upper air temperatures, created a deadly dome of air. Bob Biadasz, the fa...

(Biadasz Farms on Facebook) A coroner revealed Tuesday that a Wisconsin farmer and more than a dozen cows died when they became overcome by fumes from a huge manure holding tank. According to WAOW-TV, Michael Biadasz, 29, was found by other farmers early Monday when they arrived at Biadasz Farms near Amherst to haul away manure from the football field-sized tanker. Portage County Coroner Scott Rifleman said that the deaths of Biadasz and at least 16 cows are under investigation, but that they were probably overcome by methane or sulfur oxide. Rifleman said the farmer agitated the tank and that this, along with warm upper air temperatures, created a deadly dome of air. Bob Biadasz, the fa...

The New York Times published an extensive report Monday examining Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s work for a pro-Russian party in Ukraine – but despite pointing to it as a “rising issue” in the presidential campaign, glossed over its own past reporting on the Clintons’ Russian coections. The latest article detailed ledgers purportedly showing more than $12 million earmarked for Manafort by the pro-Russian party. According to the Times, investigators claim they were part of an illicit off-the-books operation, though Manafort denies ever getting such payments. The Times noted that Manafort’s “involvement with moneyed interests in Russia and Ukraine” has been reported bef...

United States' Simone Manuel celebrates wiing the gold medal in the women's 100-meter freestyle during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP) Simone Manuel leaned her head into her hands and broke down in tears when she recognized her historic achievement. With her victory in the 100-meter freestyle, she became the first African-American woman to capture an Olympic gold medal in swimming. The 20-year-old Manuel upset world-record holder Cate Campbell and tied with Pey Oleksiak of Canada at the Rio Games on Thursday. "I hope that I can be an inspiration to others so this medal is for the people who come behind me and g...

A armed guard walks past a blast-proof 25-ton steel door protecting the Cheyee Mountain complex, home of NORAD. Picture taken October 14, 1999. (REUTERS/Rick Wilking) The sun, not the Soviets, was a provocateur during a little-known Cold War event, a new study reveals. A solar storm of historic proportions in May 1967 interfered with American radar installations and raised tensions, leading to aircraft being prepared for launch, according to the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The AGU is the publisher of the joual Space Weather, which will featurethe study. The solar storm was so powerful it disturbed Ballistic Missile Early Waing System sites in Alaska, Greenland, and the U.K. on May ...

The 2016 battleground map is tilting in Hillary Clinton's favor, according to the latest ratings from the Fox News Decision Team -- as recent polling shows the Democrat widening her lead over Donald Trump in a handful of states likely to decide the White House race. The latest Fox News "2016 Scorecard" was released Tuesday, and reflects polling conducted after the party conventions in July. While the Democratic presidential nominee’s contest with Trump remains tight in most of the battleground states, surveys show her lead widening in New Hampshire, Pesylvania and Virginia. As a result, the Fox News Decision Team has moved the states from the “toss-up” to the “lean Democrat” category. ...

The 2016 battleground map is tilting in Hillary Clinton's favor, according to the latest ratings from the Fox News Decision Team -- as recent polling shows the Democrat widening her lead over Donald Trump in a handful of states likely to decide the White House race. The latest Fox News "2016 Scorecard" was released Tuesday, and reflects polling conducted after the party conventions in July. While the Democratic presidential nominee’s contest with Trump remains tight in most of the battleground states, surveys show her lead widening in New Hampshire, Pesylvania and Virginia. As a result, the Fox News Decision Team has moved the states from the “toss-up” to the “lean Democrat” category. ...

June 8, 2016: Opponents of a proposed sugary drink tax demonstrate outside City Hall in Philadelphia. (AP) Local govements are always thirsty for revenue – and their taste for a soda tax keeps getting stronger, fueling a new battle this fall with America's beverage industry. Boosted in part by anti-soda warrior and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, proponents are trying to get a tax on sugary drinks approv...

A Rhode Island ex-cop who killed himself after leading New Jersey troopers on a brief chase had his dead wife in the trunk, according to reports Sunday. The chase began when a trooper spotted Franklin Osgood, 61, on the New Jersey Tupike in Bergen County Saturday night and tried to pull him over, NJ.com reported. Osgood then shot himself, lost control of his 2007 Dodge Charger, struck a metal guardrail and then crashed into a trooper’s patrol car, according to the media outlet. The trooper involved in the crash sustained injuries that were not life-threatening. Osgood later died. A search of the Charger led to the discovery of his deceased wife Mary Jo Osgood, 55. Cops said Osgood put ...

LOCKHART, Texas – A hot air balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas, killing all 16 on board, according to federal authorities investigating the worst such disaster in U.S. history. A power line was tripped at 7:42 a.m. Saturday, and the first call to 911 came a minute later, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said during a news conference. The crash site was near a row of high-tension power lines, and aerial photos showed an area of scorched land undeeath. "There is physical evidence to indicate that the balloon, or some component of the balloon, hit the physical wires themselves and not the tower," Sumwalt said. The...

LOCKHART, Texas – A hot air balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas, killing all 16 on board, according to federal authorities investigating the worst such disaster in U.S. history. A power line was tripped at 7:42 a.m. Saturday, and the first call to 911 came a minute later, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said during a news conference. The crash site was near a row of high-tension power lines, and aerial photos showed an area of scorched land undeeath. "There is physical evidence to indicate that the balloon, or some component of the balloon, hit the physical wires themselves and not the tower," Sumwalt said. The...

LOCKHART, Texas – It appears a hot air balloon made contact with high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas, killing all 16 on board, according to federal authorities who are investigating the worst such disaster in U.S. history. A power line was tripped at 7:42 a.m. Saturday, and the first call to 911 came a minute later, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said during a news conference. The crash site was near a row of high-tension power lines, and aerial photos showed an area of scorched land undeeath. One witness described to The Associated Press seeing a "fireball" near the power lines. TheNTSBwill look at all factors that might...