July 31, 2022 1:09 am
WASHINGTON, PA – The Washington man accused of attempted homicide and endangering the welfare of children had his charges waived to court. Martez Thomas Jr., 20, faced a preliminary hearing in front of District Judge Kelly Stewart Friday afternoon. Thomas is accused of firing a gun multiple times at two individuals near the Lincoln Terrace back on May 3rd. Police say there were also multiple children playing outside of the nearby LeMoyne Community Center at the time of the incident. Thomas was originally at large but turned himself into State Police four days later. The criminal complaint says Thomas allegedly fired the weapon from his vehicle before crashing the car. The suspect is also charged with aggravated assault and carrying a firearm without a license. Thomas is currently in the Washington County Jail and will have a formal arraignment later this year.
July 30, 2022 4:45 am
JACKSON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s governor says it could take weeks to find all the victims of flash flooding that killed at least 16 people when torrential rains swamped towns across Appalachia. More rainstorms are forecast in coming days as rescue crews struggle to get into the hard-hit areas, which include some of the poorest places in America. President Joe Biden declared a federal disaster, seeking to speed relief money to the needy. The flooding is the latest in a string of catastrophic deluges afflicting parts of the U.S. this summer, including St. Louis earlier in the week. Scientists warn that climate change is making weather disasters more common.
July 30, 2022 4:37 am
IQALUIT, Nunavut (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up his Canadian pilgrimage by meeting with Indigenous delegations and visiting Inuit territory in northern Nunavut. In one of his addresses, he assailed the Catholic missionaries who “supported oppressive and unjust policies” against Native peoples in the country’s notorious residential schools and vowed to pursue truth and healing. Francis is hoping his apology tour of Canada will help the Catholic Church reconcile with Indigenous peoples today. His apologies have received a mixed response, with some school survivors welcoming them but others saying far more needs to be done to correct past wrongs and pursue justice today.
July 30, 2022 4:36 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says there should no longer be any doubt that Russia intends to dismantle Ukraine “and dissolve it from the world map entirely.” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the U.N. Security Council Friday that the United States is seeing growing signs that Russia is laying the groundwork to attempt to annex all of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, “with the goal of holding sham referenda or decree to join Russia.” She said Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “has even stated that this is Russia’s war aim.”
July 30, 2022 4:34 am
LONDON (AP) — Public health officials warn that moves by rich countries to buy large quantities of monkeypox vaccine could leave millions of people in Africa unprotected against a more dangerous version of the disease. Scientists say that and risk continued spillovers of the virus into humans unlike the campaigns to stop COVID-19, mass vaccination won’t be necessary to curb monkeypox outbreaks. They think targeted vaccination, along with other measures, could be enough to shut down the multiple outbreaks. Monkeypox is much harder to spread than the coronavirus. But experts warn that if the disease spills over into general populations, the need for vaccines could intensify, especially if it becomes entrenched in new regions.
July 30, 2022 4:26 am
ALIQUIPPA, Pa. (AP) — A man accused of shooting a state trooper in Pennsylvania had served time in prison for his role in a 2005 murder-for-hire plot in Ohio. State police say two troopers had observed a disturbance and 41-year-old Damian Bradford shot a trooper in the leg as they struggled Friday inside a store in Aliquippa. The wounded trooper was hospitalized. Store patrons helped the other trooper take Bradford into custody. The Beaver County district attorney’s office says Bradford is the same person who was released from prison last year for his role in a murder-for-hire plot of a doctor in Ohio. The doctor’s wife was sentenced to life in prison for hiring Bradford.
July 30, 2022 4:23 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — In one of this year’s most competitive U.S. Senate races, the biggest moments aren’t playing out on the campaign trail. They’re on social media. In one stunt, Democrat John Fetterman is trying to get his Republican rival enshrined in New Jersey’s Hall of Fame. It’s a nod to Dr. Mehmet Oz moving from New Jersey to run. Fetterman also has New Jersey icons recording videos telling Oz to come home. The stunts are cheap and potentially potent ways for Fetterman to define Oz. Republicans acknowledge that Fetterman’s social-media game is top-notch. But they say many voters don’t see the material and it’s missing issues like inflation that voters consider when casting ballots.
July 30, 2022 4:22 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WPXI) — Pittsburgh Police say a man is dead after a vehicle crashed into a tree in the Strip District. Allegheny County dispatchers said police, fire and EMS were called to Frank Curto Park on Bigelow Blvd. at around 4:17 p.m. Medical examiners identified the victim as 52-year-old Lonnie J. Middleton III of Pittsburgh. A blue SUV appeared to have veered off of the road and into the tree. The tree was knocked down as a result of the accident. The inbound lanes of Bigelow Blvd and Herron Avenue towards Veterans Bridge were closed as crews responded to the scene. They were reopened around 8:00 p.m.
July 30, 2022 1:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. regulators say they are no longer considering authorizing second COVID-19 booster shots for all adults under 50 this summer. Instead the Food and Drug Administration said it will await revamped vaccines targeting the newest viral sub-variants that are expected by September. Some members of the Biden administration had been pressing regulators to open a fourth dose of the Moderna and Pfizer shots to all adults before the fall. They had argued that another round of booster shots now could help head off rising cases and hospitalizations caused by the highly transmissible omicron strains.
July 29, 2022 4:59 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Will Smith has again apologized to Chris Rock for slapping him during the Oscar telecast, saying in an online video that his behavior was “unacceptable.” Smith says he reached out to the comedian about the incident but was told Rock wasn’t ready to talk. Smith, seated and wearing a polo shirt and white ball cap, spoke directly to a camera, answering pre-selected questions about his behavior at the March 27 Academy Awards, where he slapped presenter Rock after the comedian made a comment about the hairstyle of Jada Pinkett Smith, Smith’s wife. Smith also apologized to Rock’s family and especially his mother, Rosalie, and brother, Tony. (Photo: AP)
