March 12, 2024 6:30 pm
U.S. lawmakers are threatening to ban TikTok but also say they are giving its Chinese parent company a chance to keep it running. The premise of a bipartisan bill headed for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives is that TikTok fans in the U.S. can keep scrolling through their favorite social media app so long as Beijing-based ByteDance gives up on owning it. But it’s not going to be as simple as lawmakers are making it sound, according to experts.
March 12, 2024 6:27 pm
CRESCENT, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a massive explosion killed two people and destroyed a house in the Pittsburgh area near the Ohio River. Allegheny County emergency dispatchers say the blast in Crescent Township in the northwest Pittsburgh suburbs was reported shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday. Aerial images from the scene show smoking ruins with the structure reduced to rubble and some large pieces lodged in trees above. The Crescent Township fire chief says a man and woman were found dead at the scene. The county medical examiner’s office will confirm their identities and determine the cause and manner of death. The cause of the explosion is under investigation.
March 12, 2024 5:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has reviewed transcripts of President Joe Biden’s interviews with special counsel Robert Hur before they were turned over to Congress by the Department of Justice. Hur is set to testify Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigation into the handling of classified documents by the Democratic president. Biden repeatedly told the special counsel that he never meant to retain classified information after he left the vice presidency. But Biden was at times fuzzy about dates and the paper trail for sensitive documents. Hur concluded in his report Biden should not face criminal charges over his mishandling of documents but also impugned his age and competence.
March 12, 2024 8:56 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer prices in the United States picked up last month, a sign that inflation remains a persistent challenge for the Federal Reserve and for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, both of which are counting on a steady easing of price pressures this year. Prices rose 0.4% from January to February, a pickup from the previous month’s figure of 0.3%. Compared with 12 months earlier, consumer prices rose 3.2% last month, faster than January’s 3.1% annual pace. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so called “core” prices also climbed 0.4% from January to February, matching the previous month’s increase and a faster pace than is consistent with the Fed’s 2% target.
March 12, 2024 4:51 am
Canonsburg Council unanimously approved a measure Monday night to provide Houston Borough with police service. This process has been in the works for several weeks. A posting on Houston’s website states that proposals from Canonsburg and Chartiers Township were under consideration to provide 24 hour a day, 7 days a week police protection. Canonsburg approved first, a memorandum of understanding with Houston and secondly approved a resolution adopting an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement to provide police service. Canonsburg Mayor David Rhome calls the decision an historic moment. They are in the works of hiring a new police officer to aid in the additional responsibility. Houston Borough Council will meet Wednesday to vote on the cooperative agreement. Houston is currently being policed by its current police force and the Pennsylvania State Police.
March 12, 2024 4:58 am
ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Yukon Deputy Fire Chief, John Stants is now facing four new felony charges out of Westmoreland County, in addition to the felony charges he’s facing out of Fayette County. All of the charges are related to services he was paid for as a contractor that allegedly were never completed. Detectives say Stants entered into a contract with the Rostraver/West Newton Ambulance Company on Aug. 9, 2021, to replace two garage doors and put in one, large, single door instead. Court documents say Stants asked for an $8,500 deposit for the $9,820 project and he was paid. Court documents say as of January 2024, no work had been done and no materials had been purchased for the work at the station. Detectives say they talked to Stants, who agreed on Jan. 22, 2024, to pay back the money within 30 days. Detectives say the money was never repaid. On March 7, Stants was booked into the Westmoreland County Prison. His lawyer, Jill Devine, said her client was under the impression he had until the end of March to pay back the $8,500.
March 12, 2024 4:53 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities in Philadelphia say they have arrested two 18-year-olds in the shooting of eight Philadelphia high school students at a bus stop last week. Police said Monday they also recovered a fully loaded, fully automatic weapon that matches casings found at the scene. Authorities say two more suspects are being sought. The shooting Wednesday was the fourth in four days involving the public transit system. Officials identified the suspects as Jamaal Tucker and Ahnile Buggs of Philadelphia. They offered no motive. Mayor Cherelle Parker says she will focus on “prevention, intervention and enforcement” to address a spate of transit violence in the city.
March 12, 2024 5:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump hope to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations with dominant victories in a slate of low-profile state primaries as the 2024 fight for the White House lurches into a new phase. Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, don’t face any significant opposition in Tuesday’s primary contests across Georgia, Washington State, Mississippi and Hawaii. The question is whether they will earn the necessary delegates in each state to hit the 50% national threshold necessary to become their party’s presumptive nominees. Whether it happens Tuesday night or later, the 2024 presidential contest is on the verge of a crystallizing moment as it becomes clear that a general election rematch between Biden and Trump is happening.
March 12, 2024 5:02 am
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An aid ship loaded with some 200 tons of food set sail from Cyprus to Gaza. The shipment, which departed Tuesday, is a test for the opening of a sea corridor to supply aid to the territory, where starvation is spreading five months into the Israel-Hamas war. Associated Press live footage showed it being towed out of a harbor. The United States also plans to construct a sea bridge near Gaza to deliver aid, likely to take weeks. The war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel has killed over 30,000 Palestinians. The U.N. says a quarter of the population is starving.
March 12, 2024 5:11 am
Eric Carmen, the singer-songwriter known for the hit song All By Myself, has died at age 74, his wife has announced. He rose to fame with the power pop group the Raspberries before establishing himself as a solo artist. Hungry Eyes, one of his huge solo hits, featured in 1987 cult movie classic Dirty Dancing. “Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend,” Carmen’s wife Amy said in a statement on his official website. “It brought him great joy to know, that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy.” The Ohio-born singer co-founded the Raspberries in the early 1970s alongside Jim Bonfanti and Wally Bryson, who were later joined by Dave Smalley after the departure of John Aleksic. After four albums together, the band broke up in 1975 with Carmen then embarking on a solo career. Among the solo tracks he is most well-known for is All By Myself. As a songwriter, Carmen had hits including Almost Paradise from the Footloose soundtrack, as well as Never Gonna Fall In Love Again and Make Me Lose Control.
