July 9, 2022 1:17 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – State lawmakers are overwhelmingly approving the main Pennsylvania state budget bill more than a week after it was due. The plan sent to Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday was fattened by federal stimulus cash and unusually robust state tax collections. Big winners include public schools, environmental programs and long-term care facilities. But the budget is also leaving some $5 billion in the state’s rainy day fund and is projected to create a multibillion-dollar cushion for next year. There’s also a cut in the tax on corporate net income. A spokesperson for the Democratic governor says he’ll sign it.
July 8, 2022 2:57 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – An actor best known for the 1960s TV Western spoof “F Troop” has died. Larry Storch, who played Corporal Agarn, died early Friday. His manager says the actor died of natural causes. “F Troop” lasted only two seasons on ABC, from 1965 to 1967, but it became a cult favorite in reruns. While “F Troop” brought him lasting fame, Storch appeared in scores of films and TV shows before and after the series. He also enjoyed a long career in theater and as a comic at resorts in New York State’s Catskill Mountains area. Larry Storch was 99.
July 8, 2022 8:41 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – America’s employers shrugged off high inflation and weakening growth to add 372,000 jobs in June, a surprisingly strong gain that will likely spur the Federal Reserve to keep sharply raising interest rates to cool the economy and slow price increases. The past year’s streak of robust hiring has been good for job seekers and has led to higher pay for many employees. But it has also helped fuel the highest inflation in four decades and heightened pressure on the Fed to further slow borrowing and spending. The unemployment rate remained at 3.6% for a fourth straight month, matching a near-50-year low that was reached before the pandemic struck in early 2020.
July 8, 2022 4:25 am
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) – Mourners plan to remember three of the seven people killed when a gunman opened fire on a July 4 parade at services. Friday’s scheduled events are the first formal opportunity to grieve the deaths of two beloved grandfathers and a former synagogue preschool teacher shot Monday during the annual event in the northern Chicago suburb of Highland Park. Services are scheduled for 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim, 88-year-old Stephen Straus and 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza through Friday. Robert E. Crimo III, the accused 21-year-old gunman, was charged Wednesday with murdering seven people. Prosecutors have said they expect to bring attempted murder charges for each of the more than 30 people wounded in the attack on parade-goers.
July 8, 2022 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows an upheaval in priorities just months before critical midterm elections. Concerns about inflation and personal finances have surged while COVID has evaporated as a top issue for Americans. Many U.S. adults also prioritize other issues, including abortion, women’s rights and gun policy. In a troubling sign for both parties, the poll finds many Americans say they think neither side of the aisle is better at focusing on the issues important to them or getting things done.
July 8, 2022 4:23 am
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AP) – Deeply divided top diplomats from the world’s richest and largest developing nations struggled to find common ground over Russia’s war in Ukraine and its global impacts. Talks were knocked off balance by two unrelated and unexpected political developments far from the Indonesian resort of Bali where they were meeting. Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 heard an emotional plea for unity from their Indonesian host. Yet, consensus appeared to remain elusive amid deepening East-West splits driven by China and Russia on one side and the United States and Europe on the other. The meeting opened only hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned and was just underway when former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot. Both men are well known to the G-20 family.
July 8, 2022 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden will take executive action to protect access to abortion, according to three people familiar with the matter, as he faces mounting pressure from Democrats to be more forceful on the subject after the Supreme Court ended a constitutional right to the procedure two weeks ago. He is expected to formalize instructions to the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to push back on efforts to limit the ability of women to access federally approved abortion medication or to travel across state lines to access clinical abortion services. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Biden’s actions before they were officially announced.
July 8, 2022 4:21 am
NARA, Japan (AP) – Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on a street in western Japan by a gunman who opened fire on him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech. The attack stunned the nation that has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere. The 67-year-old Abe, who was Japan’s longest-serving leader when he resigned in 2020, collapsed bleeding and was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead from major damage to his heart and two neck wounds. Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene and identified him as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, a former member of Japan’s navy.
July 8, 2022 4:14 am
A Pittsburgh man who sold fentanyl laced heroin to two Washington residents causing their overdose deaths was sentenced to state prison on Thursday. Thirty year old William Greene will spend the next 35 to 70 years in prison for causing the deaths of David Chappel and Megan Peacock in 2019. Greene was on trial in January for the death of Chappel when part way through the trial he decided to enter an open plea of guilty to that case, the Peacock case and several other possession with the intent to deliver cases. Greene faced charges in six separate cases. Greene received two sentences of 9-18 years for the delivery causing death charges. He received four other sentences totaling 17-34 years on possession with intent to deliver charges. The sentences on all cases will run consecutively. Greene chose to deliver his allocution statement himself. He apologized to the families who lost loved ones, he accepted responsibility for his actions and asked for forgiveness stating that his heart is filled with peace and love. The defense attorney for Greene indicated that they are weighing their future options.
July 8, 2022 2:47 am
(WPXI) – A member of the Mount Lebanon school board was arrested in Florida after police said he sexually battered a minor. 34-year-old Andrew Freeman was arrested in Davenport by the Polk County sheriff on Wednesday. Police said that a 17-year-old victim told a family friend Freeman had kissed her, put his hands under her clothes and sexually battered her. The victim was allegedly in the same area for vacation with family and friends, which included Freeman. Authorities said that a family member entered the victim’s room and saw Freeman nearly nose-to-nose with her. After Freeman left the room, the family member began asking what had happened. Police said that Freeman admitted to the incident during an interview with a detective and said, “mistakes were made.” District officials say they are closely monitoring the developments. Freeman is being charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
