Eight riders were left dangling near the top of a towering roller coaster for more than three hours before firefighters rescued them one by one at a Texas amusement park, officials said. The Galveston Police Department said authorities responded around 5:35 p.m. Thursday to Pleasure Pier in Galveston , where the Iron Shark roller coaster malfunctioned. Officials said eight people were aboard the ride when it became stuck. The Galveston Fire Department used a ladder truck to remove the stranded passengers one by one using safety harnesses, a process that took roughly three and a half hours to complete. SIX FLAGS GUESTS STRANDED 245 FEET IN AIR AFTER POWER OUTAGE FORCES COASTER EVACUATION The malfunction was captured live by local television stations, showing passengers stranded near the top of the ride’s 100-foot vertical lift hill. The Houston Independent School District confirmed that some of the riders were students participating in a field trip organized by Energized for STEM Acad...

It’s right up there with such presidential fibs as "Read my lips – no new taxes" and "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." The latest declaration belongs to President Donald Trump : "I don’t care about the midterms." Right. There is a mountain of evidence that the president very much cares about the midterms . TRUMP OWNS THE GOP. COULD REPUBLICANS PAY THE PRICE IN THE MIDTERMS? So why claim otherwise? It was his way of saying he’s above petty politics, which seems to be the only kind of politics we have these days. It wasn’t as bad as "I don’t care about Americans’ financial problems." But still. THE ART OF PERFECTION: HOW TRUMP SURVIVES EVEN HIS WORST BLUNDERS THROUGH SHEER REPETITION  This was Trump’s way of saying that nothing is more important than stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Despite the two countries exchanging airstrikes, Axios reported yesterday that the administration and the Iranians had reached agreemen...

A 12-year-old boy died during a school rafting trip in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains , authorities said. The Sag Harbor Union Free School District identified the child as Cesar Albarracin Guncay in a statement to parents, according to ABC 7. Guncay was participating in the annual school rafting trip Wednesday alongside 74 other students, according to published reports. "On behalf of the entire district, we extend our deepest condolences to Cesar's family and loved ones during this extraordinarily difficult time," Superintendent Jeff Nichols said in the statement. "We ask our community to honor Cesar's memory and keep his family in our thoughts." 12-YEAR-OLD ALLEGEDLY ALIVE UNDERWATER FOR MINUTES BEFORE FATAL SCUBA CLASS FAILURE: LAWSUIT The Carbon County Coroner’s Office said the student died from accidental drowning . According to the coroner’s office, the students were taking part in a guided rafting trip on the Lehigh River on Wednesday afternoon. Gunca...

The Western Conference Finals will come down to a Game 7 after the San Antonio Spurs routed the Oklahoma City Thunder, 118-91, in Game 6 on Thursday night. Game 7 heads back to Oklahoma City, where the winner will face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals after New York swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. With their backs against the wall, the Spurs did what was necessary on their home court and then some. And it was their phenom, Victor Wembanyama, leading the way. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM The 7-foot-4 big man led the Spurs with 28 points on 10-of-21 shooting, including four three-pointers made, while notching a double-double with 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks. This was the performance head coach Mitch Johnson and the rest of the team needed from Wembanyama, and he was up for the challenge as the Thunder were looking to make it back-to-back NBA Finals appearances. Instead, the Thunder’s three-point shoot...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. John Cornyn after Paxton handily won the runoff against Cornyn on Tuesday. When President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton late in the race, the campaign was effectively over. It is President Trump’s GOP, and his endorsement in a primary is the decider. Period. Had Cornyn been the nominee, his re-election would have been a layup. Paxton’s race against Texas state Rep. James Talarico will be much more like a contested 3-pointer in the NBA than a layup. Talarico is indeed, as President Trump nicely summed it up, "weird." But even given that, Paxton will need to raise a ton of money because the engines of the Democratic fundraising machine are already at top speed for the hard-left Talarico. Paxton should win, but even Golden State Warriors star and future NBA Hall of Famer Steph Curry hits only slightly more than 42% of his shots from beyond the arc. Curry may be the best ev...

Farmers across the Northeast are facing devastating losses after a rare late-April freeze destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crops, wiping out entire apple and peach harvests in some areas. At Terhune Orchards in Princeton, New Jersey, orchard owner Tannwen Mount says the damage is unlike anything her family has experienced before. "It was really a catastrophic loss for our whole region, not just here at Terhune Orchards," Mount said. Usually, spring at the orchard is marked by budding apple trees and the beginning of a busy growing season. But this year, many trees are showing little sign of life after temperatures plunged during a critical stage of crop development. PREVIOUS CROP LOSS FOR FARMERS IN THE NORTHEAST Agriculture officials say the freeze hit at nearly the worst possible moment. "This is what we call a generational freeze," said New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn. "Almost like a hundred-year storm — almost a perfect even...