December 20, 2022 4:20 am
EL PASO, Texas (AP) – Suspense mounted at the U.S. border with Mexico about the future of restrictions on asylum seekers as the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower-court order to stop turning back migrants based rules set in place at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic. Chief Justice John Roberts has granted a stay pending further order and asked the administration of President Joe Biden to respond Tuesday. Conservative-leaning states won a reprieve with Monday’s order as they push to keep limits on asylum seekers, warning of an “unprecedented calamity” at the southern border. El Paso is rushing to expand its ability accommodate more migrants with more shelters as the Red Cross brings in 10,000 cots.
December 20, 2022 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House Jan. 6 committee is urging the Justice Department to bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for the violent 2021 Capitol insurrection, calling for accountability for the former president and “a time of reflection and reckoning.” The panel’s seven Democrats and two Republicans are recommending criminal charges against Trump and associates who helped him launch a multifaceted pressure campaign to try to overturn his 2020 election loss. The charges recommended by the committee are conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to make a false statement and aiding an insurrection.
December 20, 2022 4:14 am
Peters Township Council received bad news again on construction bids for an aquatic center that is proposed to be built at Rolling Hills Park. Bids received last week showed a low base bid of $17,355,000 from Hudson Group. According to Township Manager Paul Lauer, the original proposed budget for the pool was $10.8 million in 2019. Bids received in 2020 found the project to be estimated at more than $13 million dollars. Council rejected those bids and authorized staff in 2021 to rebid the project again on a smaller scale and allow the next council to make decisions since the face of council changed with three new members coming on board in 2022. Given those numbers Lauer anticipates that the bids will be rejected. He feels that for the time being the issue will be paused until a solution is found.
December 20, 2022 4:12 am
PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania’s former top law enforcement officer, who once served jail time for leaking secret investigative files and lying about it, has been acquitted of drunken driving. A Lackawanna County judge on Monday acquitted former Attorney General Kathleen Kane of drunken driving and careless driving after a one-day bench trial in Scranton. The 56-year—old former attorney general was charged by Scranton police after she got into a minor car crash on March 12. Kane denied that she was intoxicated. Kane, the first woman and first Democrat to be elected attorney general, spent eight months behind bars for perjury and other counts.
December 20, 2022 4:08 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Lions Clubs across Pennsylvania are being advised to “be extra vigilant” concerning bank accounts and transactions after thieves targeted at least two clubs in the state. A Facebook post from the Pennsylvania State Council of Lions Clubs’ acting administrator reports that incidents have been reported in club chapter 14-B, which serves Allegheny County, as well as 14-E, which serves Westmoreland County. Dr. Kamal Gella, the district governor for 14-B says scammers have managed to duplicate the service organization’s checks. The thief or thieves also managed to get a cashier’s check with the organization’s account numbers. With the investigation ongoing, he didn’t want to state exactly how much money had been stolen, but he wanted to make sure the community is aware of these types of schemes. “It can happen to any one of us. When we write a check and we mail it, the check has our account number and routing number,” he said. “This new scam is getting ahold of the check, photoshopping a signature and ordering checks.” He said “some banks were able to catch it, (but) some banks were not able to catch it.”
December 19, 2022 7:36 am
HONOLULU (AP) – Severe turbulence rocked a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu Sunday, seriously injuring 11 people in what an Hawaiian Airlines official called an isolated and unusual event. Jon Snook, the airline’s chief operating officer, says the flight was full, carrying 278 passengers and 10 crew members. Honolulu Emergency Medical Services Director Jim Ireland says 36 people received treatment, including those with nausea or minor injuries. He says 20 people were taken to hospitals, including 11 people deemed to be in serious condition. Snook says there was some internal damage to the aircraft. He says the seatbelt sign was on during the turbulence.
December 19, 2022 4:07 am
EL PASO, Texas (AP) – Cities along the U.S.-Mexico border are setting in motion humanitarian efforts including emergency shelter, food and transportation services ahead of an expected dramatic increase in the number of asylum-seekers as pandemic-era immigration restrictions are set to expire this week. Title 42, a public health rule in place since March 2020, has been used to deter migrants more than 2.5 million times and will expire Wednesday. In El Paso, one of the busiest Border Patrol sectors, officials are seeking state and federal aid as daily new arrivals could double from 2,400 and temperatures are set to drop below freezing.
December 19, 2022 4:06 am
More than half of 17.5 million users who responded to a Twitter poll created by billionaire Elon Musk over whether he should step down as head of the company had voted yes by the time the poll closed. There was no immediate announcement from Twitter, or Musk, about whether that would happen, though Musk said that he would abide by the results. Musk attended the World Cup final on Sunday and may be midflight on his way back to the U.S. early Monday. Musk has taken a number of unscientific polls on substantial issues facing the social media platform including whether to reinstate journalists that he had suspended from Twitter, a decision that created a lot of blowback.
December 19, 2022 4:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House Jan. 6 committee has unveiled a criminal referral for former President Donald Trump, citing evidence that it says merits prosecution by the Justice Department. Among the crimes the panel cited at its final public meeting Monday are obstruction of an official proceeding, aiding in an insurrection and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The referral has mostly symbolic import, and it will ultimately be up to the Justice Department, which has been conducting its own investigation, to decide what charges, if any, to bring.
December 19, 2022 4:02 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Authorities in Ukraine’s capital say it’s being targeted in a new attack and a critical infrastructure point has been hit. The statement Monday morning came three days after what they described as one of Russia’s biggest attacks on Kyiv since the beginning of the war. The Kyiv city administration says more than 20 Iranian-made drones were detected over the capital’s air space and at least 15 were shot down. It added that a critical infrastructure point was hit, without giving more details. There are no immediate reports of casualties. Russia has been targeting energy infrastructure, including in Kyiv, as part of a strategy to try to freeze Ukrainians.
