Officials with the Ohio zoo where a gorilla was shot and killed when a 3-year-old got into its enclosure say they’ve improved the exhibit’s barrier. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the new barrier at the Cincinnati Zoo has mesh fencing from top to bottom and stands 42 inches high. That’s 6… Read More

A surfer says he’s grateful to be recovering in a Maui hospital after a shark bit him — even though the attack forced him and his wife to postpone their honeymoon. Federico Jaime was surfing Friday at a beach about two blocks from his Paia home when he felt a… Read More

Four people were killed Tuesday after a river rapids ride malfunctioned at a popular theme park on Australia’s east coast, officials said. Two men and two women died while on the ride at Dreamworld, a park on Queensland state’s Gold Coast, Queensland police officer Tod Reid told reporters. The Thunder… Read More

Pop idol Bobby Vee, the boyish, grinning 1960s singer whose career was born when he took a Midwestern stage as a teenager to fill in after the 1959 plane crash that killed rock ‘n’ roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, has died. He was… Read More

Jim Beam ended a nearly weeklong strike at two bourbon distilleries in Kentucky on Friday, toasting a labor settlement that answers the workers’ key demand with a commitment to hire more full-time staff. Union members picketing since last Saturday approved the company’s latest contract offer on a 204-19 vote and… Read More

Classes have resumed for more than 100,000 students who attend Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities. Classes resumed Monday after the union representing more than 5,000 faculty members and coaches reached a tentative contract agreement Friday with the State System of Higher Education. The new contract provides raises for all employees but… Read More

They have heard the stories of floating orbs and disembodied voices, and officials at the University of Connecticut say they really shouldn’t have to tell people that the abandoned mental institution the school owns is not actually haunted. “As far as I know, we have no confirmed ghost sightings,” said… Read More

Smithsonian officials are “over the rainbow” after reaching their fundraising goal to help preserve the ruby slippers from “The Wizard Oz.” The Smithsonian launched a Kickstarter campaign last week to raise $300,000 to help preserve the slippers that whisked Dorothy back to Kansas at the end of the movie. Officials… Read More