November 9, 2022 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Control of Congress hangs in the balance as Democrats have shown surprising strength, defeating Republicans in a series of competitive races and defying expectations that high inflation and President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings would drag the party down. In the most heartening news for the party, Democrat John Fetterman flipped a Republican-controlled Senate seat that is key to the party’s hopes of maintaining control of the chamber. It is too early to call critical Senate seats in Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona which could determine the majority. In the House, Democrats kept seats in districts from Virginia to Kansas to Rhode Island, while many districts in states like New York and California have not been called.
November 9, 2022 4:19 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A young girl is lucky to be alive after police said she got ahold of fentanyl inside her Fayette County home and overdosed. It happened last year when she was just 1 year old, but troopers said the investigation stalled because of lies the parents told. “The parents — the mother and father — ended up lying throughout this investigation of where the child was exposed it. It did happen at their residence. Initially they said it was Bailey park in Uniontown,” Trooper Kalee Barnhart said. Police said the toddler’s overdose happened inside their Franklin Avenue home in South Union Township. Gabrielle Arnold was charged last week, and the child’s father, Deondre Richardson, was just charged on Monday. Troopers said the baby girl was unresponsive, limp and needed to be intubated last October. She tested positive for fentanyl and had to be revived with naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose“Additionally, the parents decided to wait before taking the child to the hospital, so that was a very big issue investigators found,” Barnhart said. Richardson allegedly told police a friend dropped heroin inside his car and he brought into the house and forgot about it. The girl is doing OK and remarkably recovered.
November 9, 2022 4:12 am
Republicans have swept local State House races in both Washington and Greene Counties. Incumbent Natalie Mihalik rolled to victory over Democratic challenger Chris Todd in the 40th Legislative District. Incumbent Bud Cook easily defeated Democrat Doug Mason in the new 50th District. In the 39th Legislative District, Andrew Kuzma was the winner over Democrat Rick Self. All other State House and Senate races were uncontested and won by Republican incumbents.
November 9, 2022 4:04 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrat Josh Shapiro won the race for governor of Pennsylvania, securing the office for four years in a state where the future of abortion rights is on the line, along with management of the 2024 election in a battleground that is often decisive in choosing presidents. Shapiro, the state’s two-term elected attorney general, ran to the middle on several key issues and smashed Pennsylvania’s campaign finance record in a powerhouse campaign, swamping Republican Doug Mastriano in a deluge of TV ads. He had led polls from the start over Mastriano, and his victory — in a year in which Democrats nationally faced headwinds, including high inflation — made him the first governor to be elected to succeed a member of his party since 1966.“Tonight, voters from Gen Z to our seniors, voters from all walks of life, have given me the honor of a lifetime, given me the chance to serve you as Pennsylvania’s next governor,” Shapiro told a cheering crowd of hundreds in his home of Montgomery County, in suburban Philadelphia. Shapiro thanked his family and supporters and went on to tell the crowd that “real freedom won tonight” and “Democracy endured” in a race he characterized as, in part, a fight to preserve the right to vote, the right to organize a union and the right to an abortion. He also thanked Republicans he said had voted for a Democrat for the first time, and said that with their vote “comes a responsibility to govern by bringing people together and getting things done.”
November 9, 2022 4:02 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrat John Fetterman won Pennsylvania’s pivotal race for U.S. Senate, flipping a Republican-held seat as he recovered from a stroke during the bare-knuckled campaign and giving Democrats hope they can retain control of the closely divided chamber to boost President Joe Biden’s agenda for two more years. Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s towering and plainspoken lieutenant governor, who became a progressive hero as mayor of a downtrodden steel town, defeated Dr. Mehmet Oz, the smooth-talking and wealthy heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity who had just moved to the presidential battleground state to run for Senate. Fetterman credited his “every county, every vote” campaign strategy, in which the tattooed and hoodie-wearing candidate sought to bring the Democratic Party back to predominantly white working-class areas that have increasingly rejected it, even as he ran on a progressive platform. “And that’s exactly what happened,” Fetterman, 53, told a cheering crowd early Wednesday at a concert venue in Pittsburgh. Fetterman spent much of the campaign fending off attacks by Oz that questioned whether he was honest about the stroke’s effects and was fit to serve. He vowed to be the Democrats’ “51st vote” to pass foundational legislation to protect rights to abortion, health care, same-sex marriage, unions and voting, as well as to raise the minimum wage.
November 8, 2022 5:35 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Guitarist Jeff Cook, who co-founded the successful country group Alabama, has died. He was 73. Cook had Parkinson’s disease and disclosed his diagnosis in 2017. A representative for the band says he died Tuesday at his home in Destin, Florida. The Country Music Hall of Fame says that as a guitarist, fiddle player and vocalist, Cook landed eight No. 1 songs on the country charts between spring 1980 and summer 1982 alongside cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry. Cook steered Alabama up the charts with such hits as “Song of the South” and “Dixieland Delight.” (Photo: AP)
November 8, 2022 4:15 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Chris Evans says it’s something he’ll be able to remember fondly when he’s “old and saggy.” But even now he can bask in the thought that he’s been named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.” Evans, who plays Captain America in the movie series about the Marvel superhero, says he’s “lucky” to even be considered in the category. The honor was announced last night on Stephen Colbert’s late night show on CBS – and on People’s website. (Photo: ABC News)
November 8, 2022 4:27 am
A former North Strabane Township physical therapist will face trial on forgery charges. Scott Edmonds, 59 is accused of forging a court document related to his homicide case that has been in the legal system since 2014. Edmonds was being represented by conflicts counsel attorney Rose Semple as she was trying to have Edmonds released from jail under Pennsylvania Rule 600 indicating that a defendant must be brought to trial within 365 days or be released. Criminal charges of forgery were levied against Edmonds when Semple received a copy of a motion that had been filed with the clerk of courts that she did not authorize. Under testimony Semple stated that a similar document was filed by her three weeks earlier before a hearing was held. She also stated that she did not sign the document in question nor did she authorize anyone else to sign on her behalf. Edmonds, representing himself in the hearing tried to make the case that Semple never told anyone not to sign on her behalf. Testimony did show that Edmonds did sign portions of the document as he received a draft copy from Semple before any filing was made. Pertaining to one of the charges, falsely pretending to hold a professional license, Edmonds did sign one of the lines as Scott A. Edmonds, P.T. His license expired in 2014 and this document was signed in 2022 making it unlawful to use the P.T designation. With Edmonds representing himself, approximately half of the questions he asked were objected to and denied by the judge. One tense exchange had Edmonds stating that he was his own counsel that was immediately called out by the district attorney as being another case where he could be criminally charged for pretending to hold a professional license. Edmonds retracted the comment and proceeded with a warning from the judge “that he was treading on thin ice.” Edmonds closed indicating that the case is not a criminal case but a civil case and that no harm was caused to Semple. The judge held all charges for court. Edmonds remains in the Washington County jail where he as been held since being arrested for the homicide of his wife in 2014. He will be formally arraigned on January 19, 2023.
November 8, 2022 4:26 am
Canonsburg Council is down to work on their new budget. Borough Manager Denise Lesnock indicated that council will be conducting a budget workshop meeting on Tuesday November 8 to try and close an approximate $150,000 budget gap. Lesnock says council will be working on a set of proposals for budget trimming and fee increases to close that gap. No word was given on any tax increase. Councilwoman Tina Bails told council that fees for the pool and park pavilions will be increasing for 2023. Those fees have not been officially voted on by the parks and recreation committee so she will make those prices known at the voting meeting. The borough will also be making two parking spots available for free to allow delivery services like Door Dash and Uber Eats to pick up orders from local establishments. Those spaces will be time limited to 15 minutes before cars are ticketed. According to Mayor David Rhome, the spots are also available to citizens that wish to run in and grab their packages as well. The two spots under consideration are on West Pike Street in the vicinity of Chicco Baccello and on North Central Avenue near the Collaizzo Building. The two spaces will be on a 90 day trial. Council will vote on it at the next meeting. Council’s voting meeting will be on Monday November 14.
November 8, 2022 4:20 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea denied American claims it’s shipping artillery shells and ammunition to Russia for use in its war against the Ukraine, and on Tuesday accused the United States of lying. The denial came in the wake of dozens of weapons tests by North Korea, including nuclear capable missiles with the ability to strike the continental United States. It said it was testing the missiles and artillery so it could “mercilessly” strike key South Korean and U.S. targets if it choose to. U.S. officials recently confirmed a U.S. intelligence finding that Russia was in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea.
