Ralph Puckett Jr., a retired Army colonel awarded the Medal of Honor seven decades after he was wounded leading a company of outnumbered Army Rangers in battle during the Korean War, has died at age 97.Puckett died peacefully Monday at his home in Columbus, Georgia, according to the Striffler-Hamby Mortuary, which is handling funeral arrangements.President…

Benchmark U.S. crude oil for May delivery rose 98 cents to $86.21 per barrel WednesdayBenchmark U.S. crude oil for May delivery rose 98 cents to $86.21 per barrel Wednesday. Brent crude for June delivery rose $1.06 to $90.48 per barrel.Wholesale gasoline for May delivery rose 2 cents to $2.78 a gallon. May heating oil rose…

Track and field is set to become the first sport to introduce prize money at the Olympics, with World Athletics saying Wednesday it would pay $50,000 to gold medalists in Paris.The move is a symbolic break with the amateur past of the Olympics in one of the games’ most-watched events.The governing body of athletics said…

NEW YORK — Scrabble is getting a bit of a makeover, at least in Europe.Mattel has unveiled a double-sided board that features both the classic word-building game and Scrabble Together, a new rendition designed to be accessible “for anyone who finds word games intimidating.”This new version, which is now available across Europe, is advertised as…

NEW YORK — Scrabble is getting a bit of a makeover, at least in Europe.Mattel has unveiled a double-sided board that features both the classic word-building game and Scrabble Together, a new rendition designed to be accessible “for anyone who finds word games intimidating.”This new version, which is now available across Europe, is advertised as…

The voting hasn’t taken place yet, though it’s fairly obvious that Denver’s Nikola Jokic will be the NBA’s MVP this season and therefore extend the record streak to six consecutive years in which a foreign-born player wins that trophy.That’s not the only international trend that will be continuing in award season.Unless New York’s Jalen Brunson…

BEIJING — Ever since she ate mushrooms that can have psychedelic effects in Beijing last July, Janet Yellen has united Americans and Chinese in wanting to know what she will eat next. And now that the U.S. Treasury secretary is back in China this week, having stopped in Guangzhou and Beijing, many people are less…