Author: DispatchTimes News Desk

Oceans Calling has cancelled the opening day of its 2026 festival in Ocean City, Maryland, after a nor’easter caused beach erosion and left organisers unable to complete the site safely. The Friday programme, scheduled for September 25, will not go ahead. Organisers said the decision was taken to protect fans, artists, crew and the wider community as severe weather continued to affect the festival grounds. “The impacts of this week’s continued weather, including beach erosion that affected the festival site, have made it impossible to safely complete the build in time for Friday,” the festival said in an update issued…

A preview has offered a glimpse inside Terror Vault, the immersive Halloween attraction staged at San Francisco’s historic Mint. The experience transforms the former mint building into a theatrical horror setting, with visitors taken through elaborately designed rooms and corridors as live performers bring its dark storyline to life. This year’s production, Slashed – Return to Hellville, draws on the conventions of 1980s slasher films. Organisers describe it as a fully immersive experience featuring cinematic sets, live actors and interactive scares. The attraction is being presented at the San Francisco Mint, an 1874 landmark at 88 Fifth Street. Visitors can…

More than 500 homes remain under evacuation orders in La Verne, California, as emergency crews continue cooling two lithium-ion battery storage units at the Metropolitan Water District’s F.E. Weymouth Water Treatment Plant. The original fire, which began after a minor explosion on Tuesday, 22 September, has been extinguished. However, officials say the batteries could heat up again, reignite or release hazardous vapours if cooling efforts are reduced. Firefighters are maintaining a continuous flow of water over both units while monitoring their temperatures. When cooling was eased on Wednesday, the first battery rose to about 300F (149C), while the neighbouring unit…

Heavy rain and thunderstorms swept across Phoenix and south-central Arizona on Thursday, September 24, with forecasters warning that tropical moisture from Hurricane Polo could bring another spell of unsettled weather early next week. Morning storms were expected to ease by mid-morning, leaving behind humid and warm conditions. Cloud cover was forecast to linger, while further showers and thunderstorms remained possible in southern and northern parts of the state. The National Weather Service said a disturbance moving across Arizona could trigger another round of storms during Thursday afternoon or evening. Phoenix may see fewer storms after the wet start, although communities…

One person has been killed and four seriously injured in a knife attack at a Benedictine convent in Poland, local authorities said. The attack was carried out by a Ukrainian man, according to the authorities. The victims’ identities and the circumstances of the stabbing were not immediately disclosed.

A man found dead after poisoning himself with cyanide in an Idaho church in 1982 has been identified as Dr Mathew Francis Betkouski, an organic chemist whom investigators believe may have been connected to the unsolved Chicago Tylenol murders. The Ada County Sheriff’s Office announced the breakthrough in Boise on Wednesday, ending a 43-year mystery surrounding the man known as the “Unknown Wanderer”. However, investigators stressed that they have not formally named Betkouski as a suspect in the killings. Betkouski was found dead on 4 December 1982 inside Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He was carrying no identification and had left…

A priest has died and four other people have been injured after a knife attack at a Benedictine abbey in Jaroslaw, southern Poland. The suspected attacker, a 31-year-old Ukrainian national, has been arrested. Prosecutor Bozena Harasz-Woloszyn said the man had entered Poland from Germany earlier that day and had taken the knife from a kitchen on the premises. He allegedly attacked four men and one woman at the Benedictine Sisters monastery on the abbey grounds, including a priest who was in a confessional. Three of the victims were clergy members and two were laypeople. “One person has died,” Ms Harasz-Woloszyn,…

More than four decades after an unidentified man was found dead in a Boise church, Idaho investigators have identified him as Dr Mathew Francis Betkouski and said he may be connected to the unsolved 1982 Tylenol murders. Betkouski, an organic chemist, was found beneath a pew at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on 4 December 1982 after ingesting cyanide. He was carrying a note signed with the false name “Wm. L. Toomey” and had no identification. For years, he was known only as the “Unknown Wanderer”. The case was reopened in 2019 by the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, after a detective…

The White House blocked journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from attending Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, despite a judge ordering that the ban be temporarily lifted. The three news organisations have sought an emergency court hearing, saying their reporters were still denied access to the White House complex for the high-stakes summit. Their filing said Secret Service agents had also “confiscated the hard passes of journalists whose hard passes had not previously been confiscated”. CNN reporter Betsy Klein, whose pass was taken at the weekend, was allegedly refused entry when she asked for it to…

Tampa Bay is set for a brief taste of autumn as brisk north-easterly winds push down humidity and bring clearer skies, with overnight temperatures expected to fall into the 60s over the weekend. FOX 13 meteorologist Dave Osterberg said Thursday would remain hot and breezy, with a high of about 90°F and only a very isolated chance of a storm. The more noticeable change will come after sunset as drier air moves across the region. Dry air brings cooler Tampa nights Dew points are forecast to drop into the 50s, reducing the muggy feel that has dominated much of the…