July 23, 2025 4:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is leaving Washington early as Republicans clash over the Jeffrey Epstein files. House Speaker Mike Johnson is rebuffing pressure to act on the investigation into Epstein as some Republicans push for a vote on the matter. Johnson said Tuesday morning that he wants to give the White House “space” to release the Epstein information on its own. The speaker’s stance seemed unlikely to satisfy many Republicans who are threatening to support a bipartisan bill to pry information from the Justice Department. Even before Johnson spoke, a Republican-controlled committee was advancing a resolution to subpoena Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
July 23, 2025 4:50 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration has announced that it will once again withdraw from the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO. The move Tuesday was expect and has the U.S. further retreating from international organizations. The decision to pull U.S. funding and participation from UNESCO comes two years after the Biden administration rejoined following a controversial, five-year absence that began during President Donald Trump’s first term. The White House cited similar concerns as it did in 2018, saying it believes U.S. involvement is not in its national interest and accusing the agency promoting anti-Israel speech. The UNESCO chief said she “deeply” regrets the U.S. decision but said the agency “has prepared for it.” She denied accusations of anti-Israel bias,
July 23, 2025 4:48 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles prosecutors have announced charges in connection with a car crash outside a nightclub over the weekend that injured 37 people and led to the driver being shot. LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Tuesday charged the driver, who was identified as 29-year-old Fernando Ramirez. Partygoers were leaving the Vermont Hollywood venue at the end of a reggae hip-hop event early Saturday when a vehicle rammed into the crowd. Injuries ranged from minor to serious fractures and lacerations, and some people were briefly trapped beneath the vehicle. A phone number for Ramirez could not be found and the public defender’s office said that they are not representing him.
July 23, 2025 4:50 am
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Investigators say a fire that killed 10 people at a Massachusetts assisted-living facility was likely caused by smoking or an oxygen machine’s electrical problem. The Massachusetts fire marshal, Jon Davine, said Tuesday that the July 13 blaze at Gabriel House spread quickly due to the presence of medical oxygen. Thomas Quinn, the county district attorney, said investigators are still collecting evidence on numerous aspects of the case, including whether the facility’s sprinkler system worked as it should. So far, investigators have remained mum on the possibility of criminal charges.
July 23, 2025 3:26 pm
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations’ top court in a landmark advisory opinion says countries could be in violation of international law if they fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change, and nations harmed by its effects could be entitled to reparations. Advocates immediately cheered the International Court of Justice opinion on nations’ obligations to tackle climate change and the consequences they may face if they don’t. Notably, the court said a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a human right. That paves the way for other legal actions, including states returning to the ICJ to hold each other to account as well as domestic lawsuits.
July 23, 2025 2:15 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A doctor has pleaded guilty to illegally supplying ketamine to Matthew Perry before the overdose death of the ‘Friends’ star. On Wednesday, Dr. Salvador Plasencia admitted in federal court to providing Perry with ketamine vials, lozenges, and syringes in the weeks leading up to his death on October 28, 2023. Prosecutors say Plasencia also injected Perry with the drug and taught his assistant how to administer it. Prosecutors outlined the charges in court before the plea, and said that he did not sell Perry the dose that killed the actor. Perry had struggled with addiction for years. Plasencia faces up to 40 years in prison but has not yet been sentenced and may get a lighter sentence.
July 22, 2025 2:30 am
(AP) – The gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of the pioneering band Black Sabbath who became the throaty, growling voice of heavy metal, Ozzy Osbourne has died. A family statement said he died Tuesday, just weeks after his farewell show. He was 76. The statement did not include a cause but in 2020, Osbourne revealed he had Parkinson’s disease. Either clad in black or bare-chested, the singer was often the target of parents’ groups for his imagery and once caused an uproar for biting the head off a bat. Later, he would reveal himself to be a doddering and sweet father on the reality TV show “The Osbournes.” (Photo: AP)
July 21, 2025 2:46 am
A routine traffic stop by Pennsylvania State Police in Cecil Township uncovered a woman posing as a nurse. Shannon Womack aka Shannon Larson, 39 of Pittsburgh, was found to have several warrants against her car. During the stop she provided the trooper with false identification. A search of the car revealed 20 aliases, seven social security numbers and medical records from multiple nursing homes from Georgia to Connecticut. Charging documents allege that Womack posed as a nurse in nine nursing homes throughout Western Pennsylvania and countless others in other states. Womack faces 43 charges including felonies of operation of a corrupt organization, endangerment of a care dependent person, forgery and unlawful use of a computer. Womack is not a nurse but falsely presented herself to be a nurse to the facilities. She worked as an R.N., an L.P.N. and an R.N. Supervisor. She was dismissed from many of the health facilities over missing prescription medicines. Womack was formally arraigned on Monday. Her preliminary hearing will be held on August 12.
July 21, 2025 2:49 am
Authorities are investigating the death of a Charleroi man Sunday night. Washington County Coroner Tim Warco says the man has been identified as 33-year-old Duvanet Esperance. There have been few details released at this time. Warco says the circumstances surrounding his death have not been released. An autopsy is pending.
July 22, 2025 4:48 am
PITTSBURGH — When Saudia 35 left King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia on Saturday morning, a landing at Pittsburgh International Airport wasn’t on the schedule for the 13-hour flight. But when bad weather slammed into Washington, D.C., and arrival at Dulles International wasn’t in the cards, Pittsburgh International Airport was where the big Boeing 777 ended up landing safely. Same thing Saturday for United Airlines Flight 804 from Tokyo to Dulles International and, on Monday, American Airlines Flight 168, a Boeing 787-900 flying from Tokyo to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Each were diverted for a safe landing at PIT when the weather precluded their original destination after many hours in the air across the Pacific Ocean and Canada and holding patterns. It’s been a busy month for diversions at Pittsburgh International Airport, with 70 in June alone and 285 in 2025 through July 14. The busiest day was Tuesday, July 8, where bad weather on the East Coast saw 18 flights on their way to Reagan National and Dulles in Washington landing instead at Pittsburgh International. The flights came from all over the place, whether they were longhauls from London and Frankfurt, Germany, or closer to home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
