August 14, 2022 7:57 am
Facing prison time and dire personal consequences for storming the U.S. Capitol, some Jan. 6 defendants are trying to profit from their participation in the deadly riot, using it as a platform to drum up cash, promote business endeavors and boost social media profiles. A Nevada man jailed on riot charges asked his mother to contact publishers for a book he was writing about “the Capitol incident.” A rioter from Washington state helped his father hawk clothes and other merchandise bearing slogans such as “Our House” and images of the Capitol building. A Virginia man released a rap album with riot-themed songs and a cover photograph of him sitting on a police vehicle outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Those actions are sometimes complicating matters for defendants when they face judges at sentencing as prosecutors point to the profit-chasing activities in seeking tougher punishments. The Justice Department, in some instances, is trying to claw back money that rioters have made off the insurrection. In one case, federal authorities have seized tens of thousands of dollars from a defendant who sold his footage from Jan. 6. In another case, a Florida man’s plea deal allows the U.S. government to collect profits from any book he gets published over the next five years. And prosecutors want a Maine man who raised more than $20,000 from supporters to surrender some of the money because a taxpayer-funded public defender is representing him.
August 14, 2022 7:55 am
MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and able to talk Saturday, a day after he was stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture in upstate New York. Rushdie remained hospitalized with serious injuries, but fellow author Aatish Taseer tweeted in the evening that he was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking).” Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed that information without offering further details. Earlier in the day, the man accused of attacking him Friday at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a “preplanned” crime. An attorney for Hadi Matar entered the plea on his behalf during an arraignment in western New York. The suspect appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask, with his hands cuffed in front of him. A judge ordered him held without bail after District Attorney Jason Schmidt told her Matar, 24, took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID.
August 14, 2022 7:53 am
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A delegation of American lawmakers is visiting Taiwan just 12 days after a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that angered China. China responded to Pelosi’s visit by sending missiles, warships and warplanes into the seas and air around Taiwan. The five-member delegation is led by Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and is in Taiwan on Sunday and Monday as part of a visit to Asia, the American Institute in Taiwan said. They will meet senior leaders to discuss U.S.-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade, investment and other issues. A Taiwanese broadcaster showed video of a U.S. government plane landing about 7 p.m. at Songshan Airport in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and objects to it having any official contact with foreign governments.
August 14, 2022 7:51 am
SALTLICK TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WPXI) — One person is dead and two are in a hospital after a crash in Fayette County Saturday. Pennsylvania state police said they were called to reports of an accident in Salklick Township at around 2:58 p.m. Troopers said the accident occurred on Indian Creek Valley Road. One of the victims was flown to a hospital and another was transported with minor injuries.
August 14, 2022 7:50 am
BERWICK, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a vehicle has struck a crowd gathered at a Pennsylvania bar to raise money for victims of a house fire that killed 10 earlier this month. Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement that one person died and 17 others were injured. WNEP-TV says the crash occurred outside the Intoxicology Department bar in Berwick on Saturday at about 6:15 p.m. The Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement that a male suspect is in custody awaiting criminal charges. The station says the bar was holding a fundraiser for those touched by an Aug. 5 blaze that killed seven adults and three children in nearby Nescopeck. It’s unclear whether the fire and the crash are connected.
August 14, 2022 4:25 am
CANONSBURG, Pa. (WPXI) — Two people are facing charges after a 3-month-old girl died under suspicious circumstances and her older brother was found with fentanyl and cocaine in his system. Canonsburg police were called to a First Street home early Thursday morning for an unresponsive child. When they arrived, they found 31-year-old James May holding his 3-month-old child, who wasn’t breathing. The criminal complaint states that the infant, identified as Navaeah, was transported to the hospital with her mother, 23-year-old Shannon McKnight, by her side. A short time later, baby Navaeah was pronounced dead. District Attorney Jason Walsh told our news partners at Channel 11 that Canonsburg police and county children and youth services case workers initially spoke to the parents at the hospital before they disappeared. The couple’s other child, a 16-month-old boy, was taken to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, where cocaine and fentanyl were found in his system. According to Walsh, both May and McKnight had a scheduled placement hearing on Friday for their son with children and youth services, but they didn’t show up. Court paperwork states investigators found vomit in the parent’s bed where the baby was lying. They also found drug paraphernalia inside the home, including a glass crack pipe in addition to suspected fentanyl- and cocaine-stamped bags. A neighbor says James May set up this GoFundMe page for Navaeah to help with funeral expenses. Both May and McKnight are facing charges related to their son, including felony child endangerment and misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment, drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. There is currently a warrant out for their arrest. Walsh says his office is waiting to learn the official cause and manner of death that will be determined through an autopsy and toxicology tests.
August 14, 2022 1:09 am
CLAYSVILLE, Pa. — Funeral arrangements have been set for a Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy who died in the line of duty earlier this week. Visitation for Corporal Chad Beattie will be held at McGuffey High School Monday, August 15th from 2-8 p.m. A second visitation will be held the following day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with services afterward. Burial will be held at Claysville Cemetery. The Kesterson-Rush Funeral Home in Rogersville are handling the arrangements. Governor Tom Wolf has ordered the Pennsylvania Flag to flay at half staff in tribute. In lieu of flowers, the Beattie family asks that a memorial contribution be made in the memory of Chad at an account set up through Washington Financial Bank (255 Murtland Ave. #2 Washington, PA 15301.) The memo section of the check should read “In Memory of Chad Beattie.”
August 13, 2022 10:58 am
The white woman whose accusations prompted the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 talks in a memoir about getting preferential treatment from Mississippi authorities soon after the killing. Some wonder whether Carolyn Bryant Donham is still being protected decades later. A prosecutor says grand jurors recently looked at the evidence and decided against indicting the woman in Till’s abduction and death. Critics contend the decision was wrong. And some say authorities have been careful to protect the white woman ever since the killing happened. It’s unclear whether grand jurors will ever consider the case again. But a retired FBI agent says new evidence is still possible.
August 13, 2022 4:38 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Court papers show that the FBI recovered documents labeled “top secret” from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The papers released Friday indicate the seized records include some that were marked top secret and also “sensitive compartmented information,” a special category meant to protect the nation’s most important secrets and those that if revealed publicly could cause “exceptionally grave” harm to U.S. interests. The court records did not provide specific details about what information the documents might contain. Trump backed the warrant’s “immediate” release, but contended the government could have had them any time by asking.
August 13, 2022 4:37 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The flagship climate change and health care bill passed by Democrats and soon to be signed by President Joe Biden will bring U.S. taxpayers one step closer to a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system. It’s something lawmakers and advocates have been seeking for years. For many Americans, it’s frustrating that beyond having to pay sometimes hefty tax bills, they also have to shell out additional money for tax preparation programs or preparers because of an increasingly complex U.S. tax system. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says, “It’s definitely something we should do, and when the IRS is adequately resourced, it’s something that will happen.”
