August 17, 2022 5:28 pm
CLEVELAND (AP) – A federal judge in Cleveland has awarded $650 million in damages to two Ohio counties that sued pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart saying their opioid distribution policies created a public nuisance. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster released the award amounts in a ruling issued Wednesday. A jury returned in November ruled in favor of Lake and Trumbull counties outside Cleveland after a six-week trial. Polster then conducted a hearing to determine how much the counties should receive. The damage awards are meant to help the counties abate a continuing opioid crisis. Their counties’ attorneys said it would take $3.3 billion total for the counties to abate the crisis.
August 17, 2022 8:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The pace of sales at U.S. retailers was unchanged last month as persistently high inflation and rising interest rates forced many households to spend more cautiously. Retail purchases were flat in July after having risen 0.8% in June, the Commerce Department reported. America’s consumers, whose spending accounts for nearly 70% of economic activity, have remained mostly resilient even with inflation near a four-decade high, economic uncertainties rising and mortgage and other borrowing rates surging. Still, their overall spending has weakened, and it has shifted increasingly toward necessities like groceries and away from discretionary items like home goods, casual clothes and electronics.
August 17, 2022 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has signed Democrats’ landmark climate change and health care bill. It’s the “final piece” of the president’s pared-down domestic agenda as he aims to boost his party’s standing with voters ahead of midterm elections. Biden says, “The American people won, and the special interests lost.” The legislation includes the biggest federal investment ever to fight climate change – some $375 billion over a decade. It also caps prescription drug costs at $2,000 out-of-pocket annually for Medicare recipients, and helps an estimated 13 million Americans pay for health care insurance by extending subsidies provided during the coronavirus pandemic.
August 17, 2022 4:06 am
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and her Trump-endorsed Republican rival Kelly Tshibaka have advanced from Tuesday’s primary. Meanwhile, Republican Sarah Palin was among the candidates advancing to the November general election in the race for Alaska’s only House seat. Under a voter-approved elections process, party primaries have been replaced with open primaries in which the top four vote-getters in each race advance to the general election. Ranked voting is being used in general elections. Murkowski and Tshibaka earned two of the slots in the Senate race. In the House primary, Democrat Mary Peltola, Palin and Republican Nick Begich advanced to the November election as results continued to be tabulated.
August 17, 2022 4:05 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Rudy Giuliani is scheduled to appear in an Atlanta courthouse to testify before a special grand jury in an investigation into possible illegal attempts to influence the 2020 election in Georgia. It’s not clear how much the former New York mayor and attorney for former President Donald Trump will be willing to say now that his lawyers have been notified that he’s a target of the investigation. Any questioning that does happen Wednesday will take place behind closed doors because the special grand jury proceedings are secret.
August 17, 2022 4:03 am
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican adversary in Congress, has been defeated in a GOP primary. She fell Tuesday to Harriet Hageman, a rival backed by the former president, in a rout that reinforced his grip on the party’s base. Cheney is describing her loss as the beginning of a new chapter, telling supporters that “our work is far from over.” She says she “will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office.” Cheney’s political future beyond Capitol Hill could include a 2024 presidential run, potentially putting her on another collision course with Trump.
August 17, 2022 3:59 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors held two public hearings before beginning their agenda meeting on Tuesday night. The first meeting that took nearly an hour had developers of a 62 unit apartment building participate in a conditional use hearing. The development is called Ashford Place and the applicant is Weavertown Place LLC. The conditional use hearing was held to allow the public to comment on whether they feel that developers are meeting zoning ordinance requirements. The development is to be located on Morganza Road adjacent to the Morgan’s Point residential development. Public comment centered on issues of privacy and child safety, traffic and safety of building materials used. The second hearing was for a conditional use application by 84 Lumber to develop a two story office park on a parcel of land that contains the existing fitness center and training center. The development will be a single building consisting of 4500 square feet of office space per floor. Supervisors are scheduled to vote on both issues at their legislative meeting on August 23.
August 17, 2022 3:58 am
CALIFORNIA BOROUGH, Pa. — (WPXI) – A person was taken to the hospital after being hit by a train in California Borough on Tuesday. According to Washington County 911, police, fire and EMS crews were called to the railroad tracks near the intersection of Union Street and 1st Street at around 9:15 p.m. for the incident. No other injuries were reported. Additional details are limited at this time.
August 17, 2022 2:55 am
(WPXI) – A body was found in the Allegheny River along the North Shore near Acrisure Stadium Tuesday morning. Around 7:10 a.m., public safety officials responded near 100 Art Rooney Avenue for reports of a possible body floating in the river. When they arrived, medics found the body and determined the person was dead. Further details, including the identity of the person and cause of death, will come from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Pittsburgh police continue to investigate.
August 17, 2022 2:48 am
CECIL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – An elderly woman was killed in a house fire Tuesday morning in Cecil Township. The 911 call for the fire at a home on Swihart Road in Cecil Township came in at 5:25 a.m. A fire chief said when crews arrived, two homes were on fire – one in the front and one in the back. The home in the back was the one that caught fire first, then spread to the home in the front. An elderly woman living in the home in the back, identified as 81-year-old Rose Churray, was found dead after the fire was put out. No one in the front home was injured. Five fire companies responded to the fire, and officials said there was a limited water supply in the area. The state fire marshal is working to determine what caused the fire. (Photo: WPXI)
