Fallingwater, 7 other Wright homes now World Heritage sites
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The iconic Fallingwater home built over a western Pennsylvania waterfall by Frank Lloyd Wright has been designated a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
UNESCO announced it added Fallingwater and seven other U.S. buildings designed by Wright in the first half of the 20th century to its World Heritage List during a World Heritage Committee meeting Sunday in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“These buildings reflect the ‘organic architecture’ developed by Wright, which includes an open plan, a blurring of the boundaries between exterior and interior and the unprecedented use of materials such as steel and concrete,” the organization said. “Each of these buildings offers innovative solutions to the needs for housing, worship, work or leisure.”
Besides Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, the buildings include the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, UNESCO said.
Wright designed Fallingwater in 1935 for Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar Kaufmann Sr. and his family, placing the home on top of Bear Run, a mountain stream and one of the family’s favorite picnicking destinations. Its nearly four-year construction was completed in 1939. Edgar Kaufmann Jr., the Kaufmanns’ only child, inherited Fallingwater in 1955 and used it as a retreat until 1963. He donated the building and hundreds of acres to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which opened it to the public in 1964, and it now has about 180,000 visitors per year.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Lynda Waggoner, Fallingwater’s director emerita who led the team that wrote the revised 369-page nomination, said she’s convinced that without Wright “our architecture today would be very different.”
She said the eight buildings “sum up modern architecture in their open plans, abstraction of form, use of new technology, connection to nature and ability to adapt to modern living.”
Fallingwater director Justin Gunther called the designation “a tremendous honor, one reserved for the world’s most treasured places.”
“Equally as meaningful is the profound influence buildings like Fallingwater can have in enhancing our understanding of the environments we live in today, and the ones we are planning for the future,” he said.
Fallingwater and Philadelphia’s Independence Hall are the only two World Heritage sites in Pennsylvania out of more than 1,000 such sites around the world.

Stevie Wonder says he’s getting a kidney transplant in fall
By GREGORY KATZ Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Stevie Wonder surprised concertgoers in London Saturday night by announcing that he will take a break from performing so that he can receive a kidney transplant this fall.
The 69-year-old music legend made the announcement after performing “Superstition” at the end of a packed British Summer Time concert in London’s sprawling Hyde Park.
He said he was speaking out to quell rumors and sought to reassure fans that he would be okay.
“I’m going to be doing three shows then taking a break,” he said. “I’m having surgery. I’m going to have a kidney transplant at the end of September this year.”
He said a donor has been found and that he would be fine, drawing cheers from a devoted crowd of tens of thousands that stretched out from the stage as far as the eye could see.
“I came here to give you my love and to thank you for yours,” he said. “You ain’t gonna hear no rumors about us. I’m good.”
He did not provide additional information about his kidney illness. There had been a recent report that Wonder was facing a serious health issue.
A representative for Wonder didn’t immediately respond to a request Saturday for details about his health. He has kept an active schedule, including performing recently at a Los Angeles memorial service for slain rapper Nipsey Hussle.
Wonder, who has received more than two-dozen Grammy Awards, has produced a string of hits over a long career that began when he was a youngster who performed as Little Stevie Wonder. His classic hits include “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Living for the City.”
Wonder seemed in top form throughout the concert, performing a series of his hits and paying tribute to musical heroes including Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and John Lennon, performing a stirring rendition of the latter’s “Imagine” near the end of the show.
It was a joyous event, with his fans reveling in the warm summer night — though a light drizzle fell near the end — and the career-spanning retrospective that evoked Wonder’s early days as a young Motown star.
He did seem less ebullient than in the past and made his health announcement in a somber tone with a severe look on his face. But he was smiling as he left the stage with the band playing the memorable conclusion of “Superstition” one final time.
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Associated Press television writer Lynn Elber in Los Angeles contributed.

21 hurt in shopping plaza blast: Gas lines found ruptured
By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press
PLANTATION, Fla. (AP) — A vacant pizza restaurant exploded Saturday in a thundering roar at a South Florida shopping plaza, injuring more than 20 people as large chunks of concrete flew through the air.
The blast flung debris widely along a busy road in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant was destroyed, and nearby businesses and cars were damaged. Though firefighters found ruptured gas lines afterward, authorities said it was too early to determine a cause.
“We thought it was thunder at first, and then we felt the building shake and things started falling. I looked outside and it was almost like the world was ending,” said Alex Carver, a worker at a deli across the street from the explosion. “It was nuts, man. It was crazy.”
The explosion hurled large pieces of concrete up to 50 yards (45 meters) away and sent pieces of metal scattering as far as 100 yards (90 meters) across the street. Carver said two of his co-workers’ cars were destroyed.
At least 21 people were injured though none of the injuries was life-threatening, Police Sgt. Jessica Ryan said.
The explosion demolished the building, leaving behind only part of its metal frame. The restaurant, called PizzaFire, had been out of business for several months. The blast also blew out the windows of a popular fitness club next door at the shopping plaza in Broward County.
Jesse Walaschek had just left the fitness club with his wife and three children, ages 4, 6 and 8. They were parked near the restaurant and had just driven about 50 yards (45 meters) away when they heard the blast.
“It was a massive explosion like I have never experienced,” he said.
Walaschek said dust and debris filled the air.
“Everything just stopped. You didn’t see anybody. I just wanted to get these guys safe,” he said, pointing to his children. “If this had happened a minute before when we were getting the kids in the car, it would have been really bad.”
Dozens of firefighters responded and could be seen picking through the rubble with dogs sniffing through the debris to make sure people weren’t trapped underneath. There were no known fatalities immediately after the explosion.
Fire department Battalion Chief Joel Gordon said there were ruptured gas lines when firefighters arrived, but he couldn’t say for certain that it was a gas explosion.
“At this point, nobody was killed. Thank goodness for that. As bad as it is, it could have been a lot worse,” Gordon said.

Woman sought in shooting in Walmart; victim critical
NORTH VERSAILLES, Pa. (AP) — Authorities are seeking a woman in a shooting in a western Pennsylvania Walmart.
Allegheny County police say 22-year-old Rojanai Alston of Penn Hills is being charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault.
Detectives say a 25-year-old woman was critically wounded when she was shot multiple times at about 9:30 p.m. Friday in the electronics section of the North Versailles (Vuhr-SAYLZ’) store.
Detectives say the victim and another woman got into a fight with the suspect before the shooting.
Walmart said it was cooperating with investigators and “Our thoughts are with the victim and her family.”
The reason for the altercation and the motive for the shooting weren’t immediately known.
Court documents don’t list a defense attorney; a message left at a number listed for Alston’s address wasn’t immediately returned Saturday.

Voting machines bill vetoed in fight over election changes
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s governor vetoed legislation Friday that carried $90 million to help counties in the state buy new voting machines before the 2020 presidential election, but the bill also ordered changes to election laws that the Democrat said wouldn’t help improve voting security or access.
In a statement, Gov. Tom Wolf said he remained committed to helping counties pay for voting machines, but he did not say how he might come up with the money without approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Wolf began pressing counties last year to replace their voting machines after federal authorities warned Pennsylvania and at least 20 other states that Russian hackers targeted them during 2016’s presidential election.
More than half of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties have moved to replace their voting systems to the kind that Wolf wanted: systems that include voter-verifiable paper backups that are widely embraced by election integrity advocates and computer scientists.
Wolf’s administration has warned lawmakers that failing to replace its roughly 25,000 voting machines by next year’s election could leave Pennsylvania as the only state without voter-verifiable paper systems, and certainly the only presidential swing state in that position.
“National security and cybersecurity experts, including the Trump administration, are urging Pennsylvania and other states to have new voting systems with advanced security and a paper trail,” Wolf said in the statement.
The bill authorized Wolf’s administration to borrow up to $90 million to help counties underwrite a tab expected to exceed $100 million. It passed the Legislature last week, barely hours after Republicans unveiled the borrowing provision and combined it into one bill carrying several changes to election laws.
It passed without veto-proof majorities, and just seven Democrats voted for it.
One of the bill’s provisions eliminates the straight-party ticket voting option on ballots. Wolf said eliminating it could lead to voter confusion and longer lines at polls, while Democrats had argued that it is designed to benefit down-ballot Republican candidates.
The provision emerged as Republicans worry that waves of moderate suburban voters inflamed by President Donald Trump could punish down-ballot Republican candidates in the 2020 election.
Republicans acknowledge that Democratic anger in moderate suburban districts is a concern. But they insisted it did not motivate the legislation, and characterized the change as a bipartisan effort to encourage voters to vote for candidates, not parties.
Wolf criticized another provision in the bill as weakening the ability of the state and counties to quickly mount a large-scale replacement of voting machines by requiring it to be studied by a commission for 180 days.
Until last week, Republicans had not promised financial support for the voting machines.
Instead, they had criticized the move as coming at considerable taxpayer expense when there are logistical hurdles and no legitimate example of an election irregularity in the state.
In statements Friday, Republicans made no promises about supporting money for voting machines, free of other changes to election laws that Democrats oppose. Instead, they accused Wolf of blocking money for counties and insisted that eliminating straight-party ticket voting is good policy.
“Governor Wolf’s veto will allow the status quo to remain in order to attempt to retain an election advantage for Democrats,” Senate Republican leaders said.
Eight other states allow straight-party ticket voting, although one, Texas, is eliminating it after this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. About a dozen states have eliminated it over the past quarter-century, according to the NCSL, although voters in one state, Michigan, restored it by ballot referendum last year after the state’s Republican-controlled government enacted a law in 2016 to eliminate it.
In testimony cited in a federal court decision last year, Michigan’s former Republican Party chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, said she had advocated for eliminating straight-party ticket voting in the state because — other than being good policy — she believed it would help Republicans win elections.
McDaniel now chairs the Republican National Committee.
Douglas Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, said discussions with Wolf’s administration about getting state aid to help pay for voting machines could resume as early as next week.
As many as two-thirds of Pennsylvania’s counties could have new voting systems rolled out in this November’s election, and they are paying for it in the meantime with the property taxes that fund their operations, Hill said.

TV is over the moon with specials recounting 1969 landing
By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 1969 moon landing turned an achievement seen only in the imagination and sci-fi movies into a most improbable television event, a live broadcast starring Neil Armstrong and a desolate landscape.
The astounding images from more than 200,000 miles away mesmerized viewers, a feat TV hopes to replicate leading up to the Apollo 11 mission’s 50th anniversary on July 20.
There’s a galaxy of programs about the science, the people and the sheer wonder of the voyage, including documentaries with footage and audio not made public before and, of course, modern special effects to make it all the more vivid.
Among the highlights (all times EDT):
— “Apollo: Missions to the Moon,” National Geographic, 9 p.m. Sunday. The two-hour film by Tom Jennings uses a mix of TV and radio news accounts, home movies, NASA footage and previously unaired mission control audio recordings to revisit all the manned Apollo missions.
— “The Day We Walked on the Moon,” 9 p.m. Sunday, Smithsonian Channel. A by-the-minute description of the day of the moon mission by those who were part of it, including astronaut Michael Collins, and those who viewed it from afar, such as Queen guitarist and scientist Brian May.
— “American Experience: Chasing the Moon,” PBS and pbs.org, 9 p.m. July 8-10 (check local listings). Robert Stone’s six-hour documentary, narration-free and using only archival footage, tracks the space race from its start to the lunar landing and beyond, examining the scientific innovation, politics, personal drama and media spectacle that propelled it.
— “From the Earth to the Moon,” HBO platforms starting July 15. The 1998 miniseries is back with its original visual effects replaced by computer-generated ones based, according to HBO, on NASA reference models. The cast includes Sally Field, Gary Cole and Tom Hanks, who also produced the drama available on HBO Go, HBO Now and HBO On Demand. A HBO channel marathon airing of all 12 episodes begins at 8:45 a.m. July 20.
— “8 Days: To the Moon and Back,” PBS, 9 p.m. July 17 (check local listings). Co-produced by PBS and BBC Studios, the new film tracks the mission from countdown to splashdown with a combination of recently declassified audio, interviews with the Apollo 11 crew, mission re-enactments, archival TV news footage and photographs.
— “NASA’s Giant Leaps: Past and Future,” NASA TV and Discovery Science Channel, 1 p.m. July 19. A salute to the Apollo astronauts and to the space agency’s future missions, broadcast from the Kennedy Space Center and with segments from the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Museum of Flight in Seattle, where the Apollo 11 command module is on display.
— “Apollo: The Forgotten Films,” Discovery, 8 p.m. July 20. Footage from NASA, the National Archives, news reports and other sources provides a behind-the-scenes look at how engineers, scientists and astronauts achieved the moon landing goal set earlier in the decade by President John F. Kennedy.
— “The National Symphony Orchestra Pops presents Apollo 11: A Fiftieth Anniversary,” PBS, 9 p.m. July 20. NASA, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the symphony collaborated for this musical and visual tribute to the moon landing, with appearances by Pharrell Williams, Natasha Bedingfield and LeVar Burton. Meredith Vieira and Adam Savage host.
— “Apollo 11,” CNN, 9 p.m. July 20. The documentary film from director-producer Todd Douglas Miller recounts the mission from the Saturn V rocket’s transport to its launch pad to the astronauts’ return to Earth, using newly discovered 70mm footage, extensive audio recordings and other digitized and restored material from the National Archives and NASA.
— “Moon Landing Live,” BBC America, 9 p.m. July 20. News archives from around the world and NASA footage are used to recount the mission’s ambition and achievement and how it captured international attention.
— “Confessions from Space: Apollo,” Discovery, 10 p.m. July 20. The program with the tabloid-sounding title gathers six astronauts who took part in Apollo program missions to jointly share their memories and insights. Among them are Apollo 11’s Collins and Buzz Aldrin and Charles Duke of Apollo 16.
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Online:
https://apnews.com/Apollo11moonlanding
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Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber@ap.org and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lynnelber.