January 21, 2023 4:27 am
Progressive legislators are hoping the time is right to hike taxes on the rich, especially after three pandemic years. In a coordinated effort, lawmakers in eight states are proposing new taxes on their resident billionaires and ultra-millionaires. The ideas — unveiled in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, New York and Washington — include a “wealth tax” on assets in some states — a concept that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren advocated for, but that hasn’t gained traction in Congress. Similar bills have died before, but the political left isn’t ready to give up on a populist argument that the richest Americans need to pay more in taxes.
January 21, 2023 4:26 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lawyers for the 5-year-old son and estate of a man who died after repeatedly being shocked by police with a stun gun have filed a $50 million claim for damages against the city of Los Angeles. Lawyers for Keenan Anderson’s son said Friday that they plan to sue Los Angeles police for civil rights violations after Anderson died following a traffic collision earlier this month. Anderson was a high school English teacher in Washington, D.C. and cousin of Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter. Police say he was involved in a hit-and-run traffic collision in Venice, ran from officers and resisted arrest.
January 21, 2023 4:25 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk has taken the witness stand to defend a 2018 tweet claiming he had lined up the financing to take Tesla private in a deal that never came close to happening. That tweet resulted in a $40 million settlement with securities regulators and a class-action lawsuit alleging he misled investors. The impulsive billionaire defended his prolific tweeting as “the most democratic way” to distribute information even while acknowledging constraints of Twitter’s 280-character limit can make it difficult to make everything as clear as possible. Musk spent about a half hour on the stand before the trial adjourned. He is supposed to return to court Monday.
January 21, 2023 4:19 am
CECIL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Brink’s armored truck caught fire on I-79 in Washington County on Friday. Washington County dispatchers said police, firefighters and medics responded to the scene at 4:07 p.m. There were no reported injuries. The fire was put out by crews on scene and there is no word on what caused the blaze.
January 21, 2023 4:10 am
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. (WPXI) — A UPMC doctor accused of driving over the speed limit while under the influence and causing a fatal crash appeared in court for the first time Friday. Joseph Yanta is charged with causing the crash that killed his coworker in July 2022. Another UPMC doctor, Doug Rockacy, was killed in the crash on Wexford Bayne Road in Pine Township. A judge in Pittsburgh Municipal Court made it known that his kids know both the Yanta family as well as the Rockacy family and ultimately recused himself from overseeing Doctor Joseph Yanta’s preliminary hearing. According to the criminal complaint, Yanta was driving nearly 130 miles per hour when he lost control. His Tesla went airborne and crashed into a creek. Detectives say Rockacy was ejected from the passenger seat. People who were with Rockacy and Yanta that day said they were at a golf outing all day. Police said they went to Cenci’s Pizza in Wexford afterward, and surveillance video shows they continued to drink there. The criminal complaint states Yanta’s blood alcohol content was a .172, an hour and a half after the crash. The new date for Yanta’s preliminary hearing is Feb. 24.
January 21, 2023 1:51 am
A water line break at Washington Park Elementary Friday morning forced school officials to send students home for the day. Washington Superintendent George Lammay tells WPJA News that they were notified of the break after 9 a.m this morning and they were investigating the nature of the problem. Buses were sent to the school to transport 3rd-through-6th grade students home. The buses would then return to take Kindergarten through second grade students home.
January 21, 2023 1:09 am
APTOS, Calif. (AP) — President Joe Biden says there is “no there there” following the discovery of classified documents and official records at his home and former office. Biden says they “found a handful of documents were filed in the wrong place.” He spoke to reporters Thursday during a tour of the damage from storms in California. Biden says he is “fully cooperating and looking forward to getting this resolved quickly. Attorney General Merrick Garland last week appointed Robert Hur, a former Maryland U.S. attorney, to serve as special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s inquiry into the documents.
January 20, 2023 6:27 am
LONDON (AP) – Google says it’s laying off 12,000 workers, becoming the latest tech company to trim staff after rapid expansions during the COVID-19 pandemic have worn off. The Silicon Valley giant’s CEO Sundar Pichai shared the news Friday in an email to staff that was also posted on the company’s news blog. He said that the company has hired for “periods of dramatic growth” over the past two years but that was a “different economic reality than the one we face today.”
January 20, 2023 4:45 am
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh has presented a check for more than $15,000 to the City of Washington Police Department. The check was give to Police Chief Dan Rush on Thursday. The money comes from forfeited assests obtained during the investigation and prosecution of individuals trafficking illegal narcotics in the county. The Equitable Sharing Agreement between the District Attorney’s office and local law enforcement allow for the illegal proceeds from narcotics trafficking to be utilized by local law enforcement for training, equipment and other uses under the Drug Forfeiture Act.
January 20, 2023 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department says it has started taking “extraordinary measures” as the government has run up against its legal borrowing capacity of $31.381 trillion. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a letter to congressional leaders Thursday urging them to act to raise the debt limit. Friction between President Joe Biden and House Republicans is raising concerns about whether the U.S. can sidestep an economic crisis. Markets so far remain calm, as the government can temporarily rely on accounting tweaks to stay open. That means any threats to the economy are several months away. But this particular moment seems more fraught than past brushes with the debt limit.
