Northern lights could appear farther south

A powerful geomagnetic storm could set off a colorful display of the northern lights this weekend, appearing in some sections of the United States where they are not usually visible, weather officials said Friday.

The National Weather Service issued a geomagnetic storm watch for Saturday and Sunday after the agency said it observed multiple coronal mass ejections from the sun on Thursday and Friday.

The storm watch came less than a day after the weather service recorded the largest solar flare since 2017. The flare, the weather service said, temporarily disrupted radio communications for some aircraft. Officials said it was “likely one of the largest solar radio events ever recorded.”

On Friday, the agency said it had detected a coronal mass ejection coming from the same eruption on the sun that produced the flare. A coronal mass ejection describes the massive expulsion of plasma and a magnetic field from the sun.

REENACTMENT

Boston marks 250th year since Tea Party BOSTON » Patriotic mobs and harbor tea-dumping returned to Boston on Saturday as the city marked the 250th anniversary of the revolutionary protest that preceded America's independence.

The commemoration of the Boston Tea Party included scheduled reenactments of the throwing of tea leaves into the city's harbor and community meetings that preceded the defiant act on Dec. 16, 1773. City officials were expecting thousands of visitors for the celebration.

Tea for the reenactment was being supplied by the East India Co., the same British company that was at the center of the raucous dispute.

Protesting “taxation without representation,” members of the Sons of Liberty and others boarded East India Co. ships and dumped their valuable haul — some 92,000 pounds of tea worth nearly $2 million today — into the murky waters of Boston Harbor.

The Tea Party is considered a pivotal event leading the Revolutionary War.

GRANOLA PRODUCTS

Salmonella risk leads to Quaker Oats recalls CHICAGO » Quaker Oats on Friday recalled several of its granola products, including granola bars and cereals, saying the foods could be contaminated with salmonella.

Salmonella infections can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In rare cases, the bacterial disease can be fatal.

Quaker, which is owned by PepsiCo, said in a news release that it has not received any reports of salmonella infections related to the recalled granola products. The full list of recalled foods includes granola oats cereals and Quaker Chewy Bars, which are also sold in PepsiCo's snack mixes.

The affected products have been sold in all 50 U.S. states, as well as U.S. territories, Quaker said. The company is asking customers with recalled products to throw them away and contact its customer support line or visit the recall website for more information and reimbursement.

OHIO SUPREME COURT

Block on abortion ban enforcement stands COLUMBUS, OHIO » The Ohio Supreme Court has dismissed the state's challenge to a judge's order that has blocked enforcement of Ohio's near-ban on abortions for the past 14 months.

The ruling moves action in the case back to Hamilton County Common Pleas, where abortion clinics asked Judge Christian Jenkins this week to throw out the law following voters' decision to approve enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.

The high court on Friday said the appeal was “dismissed due to a change in the law.”

The justices in March agreed to review a county judge's order that blocked enforcement of the abortion restriction and to consider whether clinics had legal standing to challenge the law. They ultimately denied Republican Attorney General Dave Yost's request that they launch their own review of the constitutional right to abortion, leaving such arguments for a lower court.

VATICAN

Cardinal convicted in embezzlement trial VATICAN CITY » A Vatican tribunal on Saturday convicted a cardinal of embezzlement and sentenced him to 5 ½ years in prison in one of several verdicts handed down in a complicated financial trial that aired the city state's dirty laundry and tested its justice system.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the first cardinal ever prosecuted by the Vatican criminal court, was absolved of several other charges and his nine co-defendants received a mixed outcome of some guilty verdicts and many acquittals of the nearly 50 charges brought against them during a 2½ year trial.

The trial focused on the Vatican secretariat of state's 350 million euro investment in developing a former Harrod's warehouse into luxury apartments. Prosecutors alleged Vatican monsignors and brokers fleeced the Holy See of tens of millions of euros in fees and commissions and then extorted the Holy See for 15 million euros to cede control of the building.