COLU @ CONCEPTS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Opening a new era in cancer care, the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the first treatment that genetically engineers patients’ own blood cells into an army of assassins to seek and destroy childhood leukemia. The CAR-T cell treatment developed by Novartis and the University of Pennsylvania is the first type of gene therapy to hit the U.S. market — and one in a powerful but expensive wave of custom-made “living drugs” being tested against blood cancers and some other tumors, too. FDA called the approval historic. “This is a brand new way of treating cancer,” said Dr. Stephan Grupp of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who treated the first child with CAR-T cell therapy — a girl who’d been near death but now is cancer-free for five years and counting. “That’s enormously exciting.” CAR-T treatment uses gene therapy techniques not to fix disease-causing genes but to turbocharge T cells, immune system soldiers that cancer too often can evade....

BANGKOK (AP) — Several hundred Buddhist nationalists, including monks, rallied in Myanmar’s largest city on Wednesday to urge stronger action against insurgents from the Muslim Rohingya minority for attacks on police last week. The attacks in Rakhine state in western Myanmar have spiraled into chaotic violence, with more than 100 dead and villages torched. At least 18,000 Rohingya have fled the violence and crossed into Bangladesh in less than a week, with hundreds stranded in a no man’s land at the countries’ border, the International Organization for Migration said Wednesday. The army, responding to last Thursday’s attacks, launched what it called clearance operations against the insurgents, but advocates for the Rohingya say they are attacking and burning Rohingya villages, shooting civilians and causing others to flee. The government blames Rohingya insurgents and their sympathizers for the continuing violence. Government figures put the death toll since last week at a...

HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on Tropical Storm Harvey (all times local): 9:35 a.m. An official says it’s too early to say if the thousands of Houston-area homes flooded by Harvey’s torrential rains can be rebuilt. Jeff Lindner of the Harris County Flood Control District says: “When water sits in a house for several weeks, the house begins to degrade.” About 4,000 homes in the areas near the Addicks and Barker reservoirs have been flooded, some with 3 to 6 feet (90 to 180 centimeters) of water. Linder says some of those will remain flooded “for an extended period of time.” He says it’s unclear what condition those properties will be in when those residents return. Lindner says controlled water releases from the two reservoirs continue to flow into Buffalo Bayou, and that some homes in the area could be flooded again. But he expects no additional homes to take on water in the area. ___ Sign up for AP’s daily newsletter showcasing our best all-formats reporting on Harvey...

HOUSTON (AP) — The Texas community of Port Arthur found itself increasingly isolated Wednesday as Harvey’s rains flooded most major roads out of the city and swamped a shelter for victims fleeing the storm that ravaged the Houston area. The crisis deepened in the coastal city after Harvey rolled ashore overnight for the second time in six days, this time hitting southwestern Louisiana, about 45 miles from Port Arthur. Jefferson County sheriff’s Deputy Marcus McLellan said he wasn’t sure where the 100 or so evacuees at the civic center in Port Arthur would be sent. Most were perched on bleacher seats to stay dry, their belongings left mostly on the floor under about a foot (30 centimeters) of water, he said. “People started coming to the shelter on Monday,” McLellan said. “And now it’s just all the rainfall that’s coming in, and there’s a canal by there also that’s overflowing.” In the Houston area, meanwhile, some sunshine was finally in the forecast after five straigh...

BOSTON (AP) — A good roasting hasn’t caused a meltdown at Boston’s new wax museum. Officials at the Dreamland Wax  Museum  say they’re embracing the extra attention brought by waves of online hecklers who have lampooned some of its less-than-flattering likenesses. “It’s absolutely been a blessing to have all of that controversy,” said Michael Pelletz, the museum’s vice president of sales. “Even if it’s negative press, it’s working wonderfully.” Photos of the museum’s life-sized wax figures have been circulating online since it opened its doors in July, in some cases inspiring scorching ridicule. It started with a wax portrayal of President Donald Trump that some say looks more like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. Then it was a statue of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady that some called “creepy,” with  one  online critic saying it looks like someone who “would murder you and hide the body.” Now it’s a figure of former Boston Celtics fo...

TALKEETNA, Alaska (AP) — The presence of a marijuana retail store has caused a deep divide in this quirky tourist town, where hundreds of visitors roam the streets daily browsing in art galleries and souvenir shops housed in historic cabins. Most of Talkeetna’s stores line the two long blocks that make up its Main Street, where tourists ? many who arrive in Alaska on cruise ships and are bused about two hours north from Anchorage ? wander into storefronts like Nagley’s General Store for ice cream or slip through its back door for a cold one at the West Rib Bar and Grill. At Main Street’s opposite end, near a river park where visitors snap photos of the continent’s largest mountain, is Talkeetna’s newest venture into the tourism trade. The High Expedition Co. is a nod to the rich mountain climbing history of the eclectic community purported to be the inspiration for the 1990s television series “Northern Exposure.” Talkeetna’s first marijuana retail store is causing a rift not...

With a new school year dawning, education officials are grappling with whether to remove the names, images and statues of Confederate figures from public schools — especially since some are now filled with students of color. The violence at a white nationalist rally over a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, is giving school officials a new reason to reconsider whether it’s appropriate for more than 100 schools to be named after Confederate generals and politicians from the Old South. “It does not make sense to have schools named after individuals who were directly connected to that dark past, and force kids in Dallas, a majority minority population, to walk into these schools every day and have to face this past every single day,” said Miguel Solis, former board president and current board member of the Dallas Independent School District. Dallas, along with other cities, began moving to change Confederate names and imagery after white nationalist and Confed...

HOUSTON (AP) — With its flood defenses strained, the crippled city of Houston anxiously watched dams and levees Tuesday to see if they would hold until the rain stops, and meteorologists offered the first reason for hope — a forecast with less than an inch of rain and even a chance for sunshine. The human toll continued to mount, both in deaths and in the ever-swelling number of scared people made homeless by the catastrophic storm that is now the heaviest tropical downpour in U.S. history. The city’s largest shelter was overflowing when the mayor announced plans to create space for thousands of extra people by opening two and possibly three more mega-shelters. “We are not turning anyone away. But it does mean we need to expand our capabilities and our capacity,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said. “Relief is coming.” The rescues went on. Federal and local agencies said they had lifted more than 13,000 people out of the floodwaters in the Houston area and surrounding cities a...

NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Federer already has dropped two more sets at the U.S. Open than he did during his entire two weeks en route to the title at Wimbledon. Worried about a recent back problem that kept him from getting ready the way he usually does for a Grand Slam tournament, Federer had to overcome an early deficit and a late lapse Tuesday night to edge 19-year-old American Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 in a compelling first-round contest under the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof. “I didn’t have the preparation I was hoping to get,” Federer said. “I always knew I was going to come in feeling rusty or not great.” The No. 3-seeded Federer, whose most recent of five championships at Flushing Meadows came in 2008, got broken in the first game and dropped the opening set of the topsy-turvy match. He then appeared to take control by grabbing eight of nine games to seize the second and third sets. But he let that lead slip away. There was more trouble when Federer served for t...

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — In Saudi Arabia, more than 1.7 million pilgrims are marking the start of the hajj pilgrimage on Wednesday by circling the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca — Islam’s holiest site — and performing a series of rites that trace the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims believe the rites also trace the footsteps of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail — Abraham and Ishmael in the Bible. The Kaaba represents the metaphorical house of God and the oneness of God in Islam. Observant Muslims around the world face toward the Kaaba during the five daily prayers. The hajj is required of all Muslims once in a lifetime. The physically demanding journey tests pilgrims’ patience as they withstand long waits and thick crowds on their path to achieving spiritual purification and repentance. Egyptian pilgrim Ahmed Ali, on his first hajj, said he was grateful to be in Mecca. “It’s an indescribable feeling, a spiritual feeling. Thanks to God, I feel great,” he said. A 1...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will kick off his lobbying effort for a tax overhaul at an event with a Midwestern manufacturing backdrop and some economic tough talk. The one thing missing? A detailed proposal. Instead, in Springfield, Missouri, Wednesday, Trump will give remarks that the White House said will focus on his “vision” for spurring job creation and economic growth by cutting rates and revising the tax code. Details will come later, officials said, when lawmakers work them out. After a year with no major legislative wins, the stakes are high for the White House and GOP leaders, who face mounting pressure to get points on the board before next year’s midterm elections. Complicating matters, the tax push comes amid an intense September workload that requires Congress to act by month’s end to fund the government and raise the debt limit, as well as pass emergency spending for the Harvey disaster. After failing to deliver on seven years of promises to rep...

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — At least 18,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled fresh violence in Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh in less than a week, with hundreds stranded in no man’s land at the countries’ border, the International Organization for Migration said Wednesday. Sanjukta Sahany, a spokeSwoman for the organization in Cox’s Bazar, on the Bangladesh border with Myanmar, released the latest figures as human rights groups and advocates for the Rohingya say the Myanmar army was retaliating for attacks last week by Rohingya militants by burning down villages and shooting civilians. The Myanmar government blames Rohingya insurgents for the violence, including the arson. Government figures put the death toll since last week at a minimum of 103, including 12 members of security forces, 77 persons described as insurgents and 14 civilians. Rohingya advocates fear hundreds of civilians may have been killed in army raids. A report issued Wednesday by Myanmar’s Information M...

HOUSTON (AP) — The latest weather forecast delivered hope to Houston after five days of torrential rain submerged the nation’s fourth-largest city: Less than an inch of rain and perhaps even sunshine. But the dangers remain far from over Wednesday. With at least 18 dead and 13,000 people rescued in the Houston area and surrounding cities and counties in Southeast Texas, others were still trying to escape from their inundated homes. Weakened levees were in danger of failing and a less-ferocious but still potent Harvey returned to shore, making landfall in southwestern Louisiana. The situation was dire early Wednesday in Port Arthur, Texas, near the Louisiana border, where homes were starting to fill with rising floodwaters and residents were unsure of how to evacuate the city, KFDM-TV reported. Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens said county resources could not get to Port Arthur because of the flooding. Port Arthur Mayor Derrick Freeman said on his Facebook page that the ...