Alexandra Petri

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Alexandra Petri |Daniel E. Slotnik

Jay Waverly North Jr. was born on Aug. 3, 1951, in Los Angeles, and grew up there. Mr. North began acting at around age 5 after begging his mother to help him get on "The Engineer Bill Show," a popular children's program during the 1950s also known as "Cartoon Express.""The kids were used as a participating stage audience, and I asked her to help me get on the show," Mr. North told The New York Times in 1993.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Alexandra Petri

Multiple tornadoes were reported to have touched down across parts of the South and the Midwest on Wednesday, knocking down trees, disrupting power and damaging homes and businesses, as the regions braced for a powerful storm system over the next several days. The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings on Wednesday across an area that stretched from northeastern Arkansas to Central Illinois. "TAKE COVER NOW!" the Weather Service said in its tornado warning alerts.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Yan Zhuang |Amy Graff |Alexandra Petri

Bone-dry winds tore across parts of Texas and New Mexico, kicking up dust storms and causing dangerous driving conditions, as forecasters said the risk of fires breaking out in the parched region would persist into Wednesday. Blowing dust reduced visibility to near zero around Lubbock, Tex., as it moved into southwest Oklahoma on Tuesday night, the National Weather Service said. Parts of the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma were under blowing dust warnings until early Wednesday.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Alexandra Petri

A school bus with at least 30 passengers on board overturned on the Garden State Parkway near Montvale, N.J., on Monday evening, injuring 13 people, the authorities said. According to the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the bus overturned on the northbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway north of Exit 171 at around 7:40 p.m. Monday, temporarily closing all lanes near the area. The bus was traveling from Lakewood, N.J., to Rockland County, N.Y., according to officials.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Alexandra Petri

Strong winds dislodged a U.S. Customs and Border Protection surveillance blimp in South Padre Island, Texas, this week, sending it on an unplanned journey of nearly 600 miles across the state until it crashed into power lines outside Dallas, the authorities said. The blimp, which was about 200 feet long, broke free from its tether just after 3 p.m. Monday during a "severe wind event," the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine Operations division said in a statement.