March 31, 2021 4:15 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Proposed overhauls of Texas’ power grid that buckled during February’s deadly winter storm are moving through the state legislature. Some of the reforms passed Tuesday in the Texas Capitol include new oversight and mandates that power plants prepare for more extreme weather. More than 100 people died in subfreezing weather in Texas as widespread blackouts spiraled into one of the worst power outages in U.S. history. Many families went without water and heat for days with no indication of when the power might be restored.
March 31, 2021 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a prominent conservative and a close ally of former President Donald Trump, says he is being investigated by the Justice Department but denies any criminal wrongdoing. Gaetz, who represents parts of western Florida, is accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paying her to travel with him, and he is under investigation to determine if he violated federal sex trafficking laws. That’s according to a person familiar with the case who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Gaetz told Axios the allegations against him were “as searing as they are false.”
March 31, 2021 4:12 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Authorities searching for a man who viciously attacked an Asian American woman near New York City’s Times Square are asking the public for help – not only in locating the suspect, but also in doing its part to disrupt further assaults. Police on Tuesday blanketed the midtown Manhattan neighborhood with wanted posters and offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the man seen on surveillance video Monday brutalizing the woman as she walked to church. Officials admonished bystanders for doing nothing to stop the man as police say he kicked and stomped the 65-year-old woman.
March 31, 2021 4:11 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minneapolis officer who put his knee on George Floyd’s neck defended himself to a bystander afterward by saying Floyd was “a sizable guy” and “probably on something.” Prosecutors at Derek Chauvin’s murder trial Wednesday laid out the rapidly escalating sequence of events, playing store security video of Floyd inside Cup Foods and still more footage of him outside. Together, witness accounts and video began to show how events spun out of control, as a scene of people apparently joking around inside the neighborhood market soon gave way to the sight of officers struggling with Floyd and putting him on the ground.
March 30, 2021 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky are making impassioned pleas to Americans not to let their guard down in the fight against COVID-19. Walensky warned on Monday of a potential “fourth surge” of the virus and spoke of a “recurring feeling … of impending doom.” Biden said the virus will get worse, not better “if we let our guard down now.” He said that “people are letting up on precautions, which is a very bad thing.” Walensky spoke of hope but added, “Right now, I’m scared.”
March 30, 2021 4:21 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The teenager who shot the widely seen video of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer charged in his death testified Tuesday that Derek Chauvin “just stared at us” and didn’t react to bystander pleas. Eighteen-year-old Darnella Frazier said Chauvin and another officer on the scene put their hands on their Mace when bystanders wanted to intervene. She says she began recording because “it wasn’t right, he was suffering, he was in pain.” Earlier, a man who was among onlookers shouting at Chauvin to get off Floyd last May says he called 911 to report a murder after Floyd was removed by paramedics. Prosecutors led off their case by playing portions of Frazier’s video, which sent waves of outrage around the globe.
March 30, 2021 4:21 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Critics of Georgia’s new Republican-backed election law have issued fresh calls to boycott some of the state’s largest businesses. Leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgia are sending a letter to 90,000 parishioners. The letter calls for a boycott of Georgia’s largest companies if they don’t speak out more forcefully against the law. The pressure comes a day after a group of advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the law. A lawsuit filed Sunday asks a judge to find that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act and to block state officials from enforcing it.
March 30, 2021 4:20 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A vicious attack on an Asian American woman near New York City’s Times Square is drawing widespread condemnation and raising alarms about the failure of bystanders to intervene amid a rash of anti-Asian violence across the U.S. An assailant was seen on surveillance video Monday kicking the 65-year-old woman in the stomach, knocking her to the ground and stomping on her face as police say he shouted anti-Asian slurs at her. The attack happened outside an apartment building two blocks from Times Square, a bustling, heavily policed section of midtown Manhattan. Two workers who appeared to be security guards were seen on surveillance video witnessing the attack but failing to come to the woman’s aid. Their union says they called for help immediately.
March 30, 2021 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is set to unveil the first part of his sweeping multitrillion-dollar infrastructure plan, aiming for passage over the summer. The White House is hoping for a more deliberate and collaborative approach with the contentious Congress than what happened with the COVID-19 rescue plan. Biden is set to unveil the first part of the “Build Back Better” proposal on Wednesday in Pittsburgh. The ambitious plan could cost between $3 trillion and $4 trillion and aims to make generational investments in infrastructure, including reviving domestic manufacturing. The plan also could include $3 trillion in tax increases.
March 30, 2021 2:16 am
The State Police Washington Barracks continues to investigate a missing juvenile from South Franklin Township. Troopers say 15 year old Gage Frame was last seen Friday morning around 10 a.m. He is a white male approximately 5’6″ tall and about 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing a pink polo shirt with a gray hooded sweatshirt, gray McGuffey sweatpants and red Nike running shoes. He was possibly riding a silver bicycle. A spokesman says they have received several calls and are following up on that information. No details were given in regards to the information provided. Anyone with information is asked to contact police. (Photo: Facebook)
