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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 Image Expand ...

The storm system that wreaked havoc on Louisiana, where four people died and 20,000 had to be rescued, is working its way into the Midwest, where officials are braced for major flooding. The storm system first moved west into Texas, then pivoted northeast, prompting flood waings in southe Illinois after five inches of rain fell on the region. National Weather Service forecaster Kim Humphrey said Sunday the storm system has cleared battered southe Louisiana, but said there is now "potential for flooding" to the north. Forecaster Kim Humphrey of the NWS station in Lake Charles, said there is “potential for flooding” in that region. The bad news for surrounding regions came as parts of Louisian...

The European policy Germans call “Willkommenskultur” -- the enthusiastic embrace of refugees from Syria and other Muslim-majority countries -- has morphed into a summer of terror. Loose screening of refugees, lax counter-terrorism policies and lenient treatment of those with terrorist links or sympathies has led to a spate of attacks by terrorists already flagged by authorities. Tuesday’s attack in France, where a jihadist already under house arrest slit a priest’s throat, came just two days after a suicide bombing in Germany by a terrorist who a medical expert had predicted would “commit suicide in a spectacular fashion.” Critics say such cases are piling up. "It has happened in France and ...

An 8-year-old boy was reportedly found unconscious in a swimming pool aboard the Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Sea cruise ship Thursday night and is in critical condition. According toCBS New York, the boy was found in the swimming pool on the ship at around 8 p.m. Officials told the station that the child had gone at least 18 minutes without oxygen. The New York Post reported early Friday the boy was in critical condition. The ship was about 10 miles offshore from Queens, New York when the child was discovered. Royal Caribbean said in a statement that its medical team onboard the ship had treated the boy, but required additional attention. The ship also altered its course and retued to the ...

Wildfires continued to bu in Califoia Sunday, scorching nearly 60,000 acres and claiming two lives as 4,500 firefighters battled the six blazes, which stretched from the Klammath National Forest in Northe Califoia to the Mexican border in San Diego County, according to the Califoia Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, The Los Angeles Times reported. The most destructive fire is in Ke County, known as the Erskine fire, which has bued more than 35,000 acres and destroyed more than 150 homes. At least two people were killed in the Erskine fire, and authorities have reported what may be a third victim. The Ke fire is about 5 percent contained. Gusty winds and low humidity put parts of sou...

Wildfires continued to bu in Califoia Sunday, scorching nearly 60,000 acres and claiming two lives as 4,500 firefighters battled the six blazes, which stretched from the Klammath National Forest in Northe Califoia to the Mexican border in San Diego County, according to the Califoia Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, The Los Angeles Times reported. The most destructive fire is in Ke County, known as the Erskine fire, which has bued more than 35,000 acres and destroyed more than 150 homes. At least two people were killed in the Erskine fire, and authorities have reported what may be a third victim. The Ke fire is about 5 percent contained. Gusty winds and low humidity put parts of sou...

The Puerto Rican flag flies in front of Puerto Rico's Capitol in San Juan. (AP) SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla aounced thatPuertoRico'sgovement will not make nearly $370 million in bond payments due Monday after a failure to restructure or find a political solution to the U.S. territory's spiraling public debt crisis. Garcia said Sunday that he had issued an executive order suspending payments on debt owed by the island's Govement Development Bank, a default that will likely prompt lawsuits from creditors and could be a prelude to a deadline to a much larger payment due July 1. The goveor saidPuertoRicocan't pay the bonds without cutting essential services. Island offi...

Mariah Walton blames her parents, and the faith they practice, for her grave health problems. (Courtesy: Emily Walton) Mariah Walton has been battling to stay alive since birth because of a heart defect doctors say could have been fixed if her parents had simply trusted mode medicine, and now she wants her mother and father to face justice. The 20-year-old Idaho woman can only hope for organ transplants that could save her life, even though they may do little to stem the bitteess she feels toward her parents over their hardcore fundamentalist beliefs. Walton's older sister, Emily, said their parents are Mormon, but practice beliefs out of step with the mainstream church, relying solely on pr...

Mariah Walton blames her parents, and the faith they practice, for her grave health problems. (Courtesy: Emily Walton) Mariah Walton has been battling to stay alive since birth because of a heart defect doctors say could have been fixed if her parents had simply trusted mode medicine, and now she wants her mother and father to face justice. The 20-year-old Idaho woman can only hope for organ transplants that could save her life, even though they may do little to stem the bitteess she feels toward her parents and the religious sect they belong to. The Followers of Christ is a Pentecostal and literalistic sect of Christianity that denies all forms of medical care and instead relies completely ...

House lawmakers unleashed their frustration Thursday with state and federal leaders they say are trying to spread -- if not unload -- the blame for the Flint water crisis, as its impoverished community remains without clean ruing water to this day. “There are people in Flint, Michigan who are waking up today who caot use the water. They can’t drink the water, they can’t take a shower. I can’t imagine my family going through that,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of House Govement Oversight Committee, which held its second hearing on the matter this week. He spoke asMichigan Gov. Rick Snyder and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the two officials at the center of the controversy, te...

March 15, 2016: Former State EPA administrator Susan Hedman testifies before the House Oversight and Govement Reform Committee, in Washington. (AP) A top Environmental Protection Agency official came under heavy fire Tuesday when Republicans at a congressional hearing accused the agency of failing to protect Flint, Michigan from their water being poisoned by lead."You screwed up and you ruined people's lives," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah told Susan Hedman – the top EPA official in the region, who resigned as the crisis worsened. Hedman had been accused of downplaying the waings of EPA scientists about lead poisoning in the area.. The most shocking moment of the hearing came when Chaffetz pro...

Califoia communities may be feeling the fallout from a controversial measure that reduced penalties for a range of crimes, as law enforcement report an uptick in everything from robberies to auto theft – and point the finger squarely at what’s known as Prop 47. The measure was approved at the ballot box in 2014 and downgraded many nonviolent offenses like property crimes and simple drug offenses from felonies to misdemeanors, part of an effort to reduce prison over-crowding in the state. But as the measure has been implemented, several police departments have reported a spike in shop-lifting and auto theft, among other crimes, and in part blame Prop 47. "In the past year and a half, we've se...

Graduates attend commencement at University of Califoia, Berkeley in Berkeley. (Reuters) A hacker broke into the University of Califoia, Berkeley computer system holding financial data of 80,000 students, alumni, current and former employees, school officials said Friday. The university said that although there is no evidence that any information has been stolen, it has notified potential victims of the breach so they can watch for signs of possible misuse of their personal data. Those notified include students and staff who received non-salary payments though electronic fund transfers, such as financial aid awards and work-related reimbursements. Vendors whose financial information was in t...

Graduates attend commencement at University of Califoia, Berkeley in Berkeley. (Reuters) A hacker broke into the University of Califoia, Berkeley computer system holding financial data of 80,000 students, alumni, current and former employees, school officials said Friday. The university said that although there is no evidence that any information has been stolen, it has notified potential victims of the breach so they can watch for signs of possible misuse of their personal data. Those notified include students and staff who received non-salary payments though electronic fund transfers, such as financial aid awards and work-related reimbursements. Vendors whose financial information was in t...

Crystal City officials delivering water to residents. (Crystal City Municipal Govement) A Texas town is facing another crisis days after its mayor, city manager, mayor pro tempore, a city councilman and a former councilman were arrested earlier this week. Crystal City residents don’t have any water they can drink. Black water came out of the pipes in homes in the tiny city where the sweeping bribery and conspiracy indictments brought down city leaders. Volunteers handed out donated bottles of water on Friday, as state environmental officials test the water for bacteria. Joel Barajas – the only City Council member not facing criminal charges – told the San Antonio Express-News that he was gra...

Crystal City officials delivering water to residents. (Crystal City Municipal Govement) A Texas town is facing another crisis days after its mayor, city manager, mayor pro tempore, a city councilman and a former councilman were arrested earlier this week. Crystal City residents don’t have any water they can drink. Black water came out of the pipes in homes in the tiny city where the sweeping bribery and conspiracy indictments brought down city leaders. Volunteers handed out donated bottles of water on Friday, as state environmental officials test the water for bacteria. Joel Barajas – the only City Council member not facing criminal charges – told the San Antonio Express-News that he was gra...