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

Famed ’60s anti-war activist Tom Hayden, whose name became forever linked with the celebrated Chicago 7 trial, Vietnam War protests and his ex-wife actress Jane Fonda, has died. He was 76. He died on Sunday after a long illness, said his wife, Barbara Williams, noting that he suffered a stroke… Read More

With a mix of euphoria, relief and disbelief, long-suffering Chicago Cubs fans are shaking off superstitions and setting their sights on the team’s first World Series in 71 years. Loyal fans as far south as San Antonio, Texas, and as far west as Washington state restructured their worldviews to include… Read More

Tropical Storm Seymour is strengthening not far from Mexico’s coast and forecast to become a hurricane on Monday. The National Hurricane Center said Sunday night that the storm is centered about 370 miles (595 km) south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, and has maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph). Seymour… Read More