July 13, 2022 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Surging prices for gas, food and rent catapulted U.S. inflation to a new four-decade peak in June, further pressuring households and likely sealing the case for another large interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, with higher borrowing costs to follow. Consumer prices soared 9.1% compared with a year earlier, the government said Wednesday, the biggest 12-month increase since 1981, and up from an 8.6% jump in May. On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.3% from May to June, another substantial increase, after prices had jumped 1% from April to May.
July 13, 2022 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – In a heated, “unhinged” dispute, Donald Trump fought objections from his White House lawyers to a plan, eventually discarded, to seize states’ voting machines, the House Jan. 6 committee has revealed. Then, in a last ditch effort to salvage his presidency, Trump summoned supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol for what turned into the deadly riot. In another revelation Tuesday, committee co-chair Liz Cheney said the panel had notified the Justice Department that Trump himself had contacted a potential witness who was talking with the committee. The panel also presented evidence that Trump aides secretly planned for a second rally stage across from the Capitol on the day of the attack.
July 13, 2022 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Leaders of the Group of Seven industrial nations have tentatively agreed to back a cap on the price of Russian oil, the main pillar of the Kremlin’s financial revenue. Participants in the price cap plan would agree to purchase the oil at a lower than market price. The idea is to bring Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to a halt while possibly lowering energy costs. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is touring Indo-Pacific countries to lobby for the price cap proposal. In Japan on Tuesday, U.S. and Japanese officials agreed to explore the feasibility of price caps.
July 13, 2022 4:14 am
JERUSALEM (AP) – President Joe Biden has opened a Mideast visit by offering anxious Israeli leaders strong reassurances of his determination to stop Iran’s nuclear program. Biden said he’d be willing to use force “as a last resort.” The president’s comments came in an interview aired Wednesday with Israel’s Channel 12 as Biden opened a four-day visit to the region. The U.S. and Israel are expected to unveil a joint declaration on Thursday cementing their close military ties and strengthening past calls to take military action against Iran’s growing nuclear program. Israel has said both countries would commit to “using all elements of their national power against the Iranian nuclear threat.”
July 13, 2022 4:08 am
SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE, Pa. — (WPXI) – Four Colombia nationals are now behind bars in the Allegheny County Jail. Police say Luz Ahida Hernandez Capera, Ana Milena Medina Cruz, Luz Milena Gomez Rodriguez, and Luisa Eduardo Torres Hernandez travelled from New York City to Pittsburgh to steal from shoppers at South Hills Village Mall. Investigators say they tried to steal wallets and purses, and used the stolen credit cards to make purchases. Police say surveillance video caught one of the suspects in action when she reached into a woman’s purse, when it was hanging on the back of her chair at Condado Restaurant. While the alleged theft happened in the South Hills, the foursome was caught in the North Hills when Ross Township Police pulled their car over. Investigators say they found wigs, hats, clothes, and all of the women’s handbags had hidden linings to prevent metal detectors from going off.
July 13, 2022 4:01 am
A no contact order between attorneys set up a difficult hearing for a Waynesburg couple at their plea court hearing on Tuesday. Cortland Rogers and Shawna Smith are both facing homicide charges and if convicted, the death penalty, in the February killings of Kevin Williford and Judy Hunter. They also face aggravated assault charges for the assault of Jacqueline Rutan in separate cases. In both Rogers’ and Smith’s plea court hearings the judge laid out the trial procedures going forward. Rogers’ hearing was first and he requested a continuance. Rogers’ attorney Joe Zupancic requested permission that he appoint a second attorney to help with the cases. Zupancic requested that James Jeffries be appointed co-counsel and the judge granted that request. In the second hearing with Smith, defense attorney Kimberly Furmanek was made aware of who the second counsel would be for Rogers and immediately began discussions with the court. Furmanek is charged in Washington County with wiretapping over recorded calls from the Washington County Jail with her client John Lazear. Those calls that were recorded were between Furmanek and Zupancic’s second counsel James Jeffries. Furmanek alerted the court to her no contact order with Jeffries resulting from her charges. The judge, in an unsworn colloquy questioned Smith of her understanding of Furmanek’s charges and whether she wishes to have Furmanek continue as her attorney. Smith said she wishes Furmanek to continue. The judge took the situation under advisement and will make a ruling in the future. It is unclear whether Furmanek will remain counsel for Smith or if another attorney will be appointed for her.
July 13, 2022 2:39 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – A man has been charged in Ohio with the rape of a 10-year-old girl whose case drew national attention when a doctor said the child had to travel to Indiana for an abortion because of new restrictions in her home state. The suspect was arraigned Wednesday. Some conservatives such as Ohio’s Republican governor and attorney general questioned whether the case was real. Abortion rights supporters had pointed to the story to highlight fallout from the Supreme Court ruling. An Indianapolis physician told The Indianapolis Star an abortion was provided because the girl couldn’t get the procedure in Ohio. A new law there bans abortions after heart activity is detected.
July 12, 2022 5:23 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is calling on people to exercise renewed caution about COVID-19, emphasizing the importance of getting booster shots and wearing masks indoors. The warning comes as two new highly transmissible variants are spreading rapidly across the country. The new variants, labeled BA.4 and BA.5, are offshoots of the omicron strain that has been been responsible for nearly all of the virus spread in the U.S. and are even more contagious than their predecessors. White House doctors pressed the importance of getting booster doses, and says people shouldn’t wait until the fall for vaccines targeted at the variants in addition to the original strain.
July 12, 2022 4:48 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Nursing home trade associations in Pennsylvania said Monday they have agreed to boost staffing levels as part of a deal with Gov. Tom Wolf to increase aid to an industry struggling with high turnover. With Pennsylvania awash in surplus tax collections, Wolf on Monday signed legislation authorizing nearly $300 million a year, almost 20% more annually, in additional Medicaid payments to nursing homes, which were wracked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Trade associations had worked out a compromise on staffing levels with Wolf’s administration and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, a labor union that represents about 5,000 nursing home workers, prior to the legislations being signed . “This is a major step forward for Pennsylvania’s long-term care industry,” Wolf told a Capitol news conference after signing the legislation. Officials say the money should boost worker salaries, staffing levels and retention while stabilizing the facilities’ finances and improving the quality of care.
July 12, 2022 4:24 am
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – The implications of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade are reverberating nationwide as states reemerge as the new battlefields for abortion rights. A Utah judge on Monday granted a request from Planned Parenthood to delay implementing the state’s trigger law banning most abortions. The decision keeps them legal up to 18 weeks until the court rules on a lawsuit challenging a stricter ban. Meanwhile, a Minnesota judge has declared most of the state’s restrictions on abortion unconstitutional. And in Michigan, an abortion rights campaign turned in a record-breaking number of signatures so voters can be asked on the November ballot whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
