March 25, 2024 4:54 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has scheduled former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial to begin April 15. Judge Juan M. Merchan made the ruling Monday. The judge earlier had scolded the ex-president’s lawyers as he weighed when to reschedule the trial after a last-minute document dump caused a postponement of the original date. Merchan bristled at what he suggested were baseless defense claims of “prosecutorial misconduct,” appearing unpersuaded by Trump team arguments that prosecutors had until recently concealed tens of thousands of pages of records from a previous federal investigation. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee arrived in court Monday for the hearing scheduled in place of the long-planned start of jury selection.
March 26, 2024 4:55 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday did not appear ready to limit Americans’ access to the abortion pill mifepristone, in a case that could have sweeping implications for how the federal government approves scores of medications. The justices asked detailed questions about the safety of mifepristone, one of the most common ways for women in America to end a pregnancy. But they also raised issues with the arguments made by plaintiffs, a group of anti-abortion doctors, who want to see the drug’s availability severely restricted. Justices seemed concerned that the doctors were not reasonably impacted by how the drug is regulated.
March 26, 2024 4:52 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with Israel’s minister of defense and discuss ways to address the Hamas threat other than conducting a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Tuesday’s meeting comes at a time of rising tensions between the two countries. The Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, tells reporters that Austin’s planned meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is still on, despite the fact that Israel abruptly canceled the visit of a high-level delegation to Washington this week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled the visit in protest over Monday’s U.N. Security Council decision calling for an immediate cease-fire.
March 25, 2024 2:22 am
The Penguins say that a shipment of Jaromir Jagr bobble-heads that was stolen earlier this month has been located and secured. As a result, officials say the bobble-heads will now be distributed at the team’s home game planned for April 6th. The team issued a statement saying that they were notified last week that a special cargo recovery team negotiated the return of the stolen property to a secure warehouse located in Ontario, California. They said the truckload arrived in Pittsburgh Monday and is expected to be delivered to PPG Paints Arena within the next week. Fans with a bobble-head voucher from the originally scheduled distribution will be able to redeem those vouchers on April 6th and 7th.
March 26, 2024 5:41 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has issued a gag order barring Donald Trump from making public statements about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush money criminal trial. Judge Juan M. Merchan on Tuesday cited Trump’s previous comments about him and others involved in the case, as well as a looming April 15 trial date, in granting the prosecution’s request for a gag order. Prosecutors had asked for the gag order citing what they called Trump’s “long history of making public and inflammatory remarks” about people involved in his legal cases.
March 26, 2024 5:43 pm
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has chosen Nicole Shanahan to be his vice presidential pick. Kennedy is mounting an independent White House bid that has spooked national Democrats. Shanahan is a California lawyer and philanthropist who’s never held elected office. Kennedy, a former Democrat, made the announcement in Oakland, California. Without the backing of a party, Kennedy faces an arduous task to get on the ballot, with varying rules across the 50 states. He’s picking a running mate now because about half of the states require him to designate one before he can apply for ballot access.
March 26, 2024 4:57 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Two law enforcement officials have told The Associated Press that two properties belonging to music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles and Miami were searched by federal Homeland Security Investigations agents and other law enforcement as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation. The officials say the Monday searches were connected to an investigation by federal authorities in New York. It’s not clear whether Combs was the target of the investigation. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. A representative for Combs has not immediately responded to a request for comment. There have been several sexual assault lawsuits filed against Combs in recent months.
March 25, 2024 9:48 am
(AP) – Boeing CEO David Calhoun will step down from the embattled plane maker at the end of the year as part of a broad management shakeup after a series of mishaps at one of America’s iconic manufacturers. Boeing has been under intense pressure since early January, when a panel blew off a brand-new Alaska Airlines 737 Max. Fallout from the Jan. 5 blowout has raised scrutiny of Boeing to its highest level since two Boeing 737 Max jets crashed in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia. In all, the crashes killed 346 people. (Photo: AP)
March 25, 2024 5:05 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A man’s body was recovered from the Allegheny River on Sunday. Allegheny County dispatchers say emergency crews were called to the area of the Rachel Carson Bridge at around 2:20 p.m. Police say they received reports of a man in the water on the Downtown side of the river. Two River Rescue boats responded to the scene. A team of three divers found the man on their fourth attempt. The man was pronounced dead at 3:50 p.m. Police are investigating what led up to the incident. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner is investigating the cause and manner of the man’s death.
March 25, 2024 4:22 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Police investigating the killing a pregnant Amish woman in rural Pennsylvania say they seized six guns, a variety of ammunition and a pair of sneakers that may match tread marks left at the crime scene during searches of the suspect’s home and vehicle. Search warrant documents released over the weekend say 23-year-old Rebekah Byler suffered “multiple sharp force wounds” to her neck and was shot in the head during last month’s attack . Truck driver Shawn Cranston of Corry is charged with two counts of homicide. In a newly released search warrant affidavit, a state trooper says Rebekah Byler’s 3-year-old son told investigators that a man wearing sneakers killed his mother.
