December 12, 2022 4:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – WNBA star Brittney Griner didn’t want quiet time as soon as she boarded a U.S. government plane that would bring her home. “I’ve been in prison for 10 months, listening to the Russians. I want to talk,” Griner said. That’s according to Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, who helped secure the basketball star’s release and bring her back to the U.S. last week. Carstens told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that Griner walked throughout the plane, introducing herself to every member of the flight crew, shaking their hands, and “making a personal connection with them.”
December 12, 2022 4:22 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran says it executed a second prisoner detained amid the nationwide protests that are challenging the country’s theocracy. Iran’s Mizan news agency, under the country’s judiciary, identified the man hanged to death in public on Monday as Majidreza Rahnavard. He had been convicted over allegedly stabbing two security force members to death Nov. 17 in Mashhad and wounding four others. Iran executed the first prisoner detained amid the demonstrations Thursday. The protests have expanded into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Activists warn that others could also be put to death in the near future, saying around a dozen people so far have received death sentences over their involvement in the demonstrations.
December 12, 2022 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Young voters who have been critical to Democratic successes in recent elections showed signs in November’s midterms that their enthusiasm may be waning. That’s a potential warning sign for a party that will need their strong backing heading into the 2024 presidential race. Midterm voters under 30 went 53% for Democrats compared with 41% for Republicans nationwide. That was down from 2020, when such voters supported Joe Biden over his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, 61% to 36%. That’s according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping national survey of voters in November’s election.
December 12, 2022 4:19 am
SMITHFIELD TOWNSHIP — (WPXI) – Two people were injured after a house fire in Fayette County, investigators say. Fayette County dispatchers say emergency crews were called to reports of a house fire on High House Street in Smithfield Township at around 3:01 a.m. Sunday. Flames appeared to have damaged the siding of the house, creating a large hole on the right side of the building. Firefighters were on the scene for almost two hours, with the call closing out at 4:44 a.m.
December 12, 2022 4:16 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – One resident died, another resident and a medic were taken to the hospital, and a firefighter had to be treated for injuries at the scene of a fire at a downtown Pittsburgh high-rise apartment building. Pittsburgh Public Safety said the fire started around 10:30 p.m. Sunday night in the Roosevelt building at the corner of 6th Street & Penn Avenue, across the street from Heinz Hall. The fire is believed to have started in an apartment on the 12th floor. Firefighters contained the fire to that floor, public safety officials said. A Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson said one resident was pronounced dead at the scene. Another resident was taken to the hospital in critical condition. A medic also had to go to the hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation, and a firefighter was treated at the scene for minor injuries, officials said. Firefighters got the fire under control around 12:15 a.m. Monday morning, officials said. It’s not clear yet what caused the fire. 106 people were in the building at the time of the fire, officials said.
December 12, 2022 2:18 am
A winning Mega Millions lottery ticket worth $1 million was sold in Westmoreland County for the Friday, Dec. 9 drawing. The ticket was sold at the Shop ‘n Save at 600 Willowbrook Plaza in Rostraver Township. The store gets a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. The ticket matched all five white balls drawn, 8-19-53-61-69, but not the yellow Mega Ball 19, to win $1 million. Winners are not known until prizes are claimed and tickets are validated. There was no jackpot-winning ticket sold for the Dec. 9 Mega Millions drawing, which boosted the jackpot to $400 million. The next Mega Millions drawing will be held Tuesday, Dec. 13th.
December 12, 2022 2:02 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The top-ranking Republican in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives wants a court to prevent voters from filling three vacant seats in February in special elections that will determine majority control of the chamber. Rep. Bryan Cutler of Lancaster in a lawsuit filed late Friday asked Commonwealth Court to issue an injunction against special elections his Democratic counterpart scheduled this week. Cutler is naming the Department of State, acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman and the Allegheny County Elections Board as defendants. Democrats won a one-seat House majority in last month’s election, but one of their members died and two have resigned after also being elected to higher offices.
December 11, 2022 8:10 am
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A winter storm packing powerful winds, heavy rain and potentially several feet of snow is blowing into the Sierra Nevada. On Saturday, it shut down mountain highways, toppled trees and triggered flood watches and avalanche warnings from the coast of Northern California to Lake Tahoe. Authorities said a 70-mile stretch of eastbound U.S. Interstate 80 was closed “due to zero visibility” from Colfax, California to the Nevada state line. More than 250 miles of the Sierra remain under a winter storm warning at least until Sunday night from north of Reno to south of Yosemite National Park. Up to 4 feet of snow is expected in the upper elevations around Tahoe. (Photo: AP)
December 11, 2022 8:07 am
BEIJING (AP) — Facing a surge in COVID-19 cases, China is setting up more intensive care facilities and trying to strengthen hospitals as Beijing rolls back anti-virus controls that confined millions of people to their homes, crushed economic growth and set off protests. President Xi Jinping’s government still is officially committed to stopping virus transmission, the last major country to try. But the latest moves suggest the ruling Communist Party will tolerate more cases without quarantines or shutting down travel or businesses as it winds down its “zero-COVID” strategy. A Cabinet meeting called for “full mobilization” of the health system including adding staff and increasing supplies of drugs. Some restaurants and businesses have closed because too many employees are sick.
December 11, 2022 8:06 am
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A Tokyo company is aiming for the moon with its own private lander. The lander blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday atop a SpaceX rocket. On board is the United Arab Emirates’ first lunar rover and a toylike robot from Japan that’s designed to roll around in the gray lunar dust. It will take nearly five months for the lander and its experiments to reach the moon. The company ispace designed the craft for minimal fuel. That’s why it’s taking a slow, low-energy path to the moon that will have it flying 1 million miles away, before looping back to the moon.
