July 31, 2022 4:19 am
PENN HILLS, Pa (WPXI)– Allegheny County police arrested a suspect they believe shot and killed a man in Penn Hills. Brandin Demonde Jackson, 30, was arrested at around 2:15 p.m. Friday afternoon for the murder of 27-year-old Shawn Allen Brookins. Brookins was found dead in his home on June 14 at the 200 block of Crescent Pines Drive. Jackson is being held at the Allegheny County Jail and is being charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and burglary.
July 31, 2022 1:49 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Charges against the men who allegedly killed Kristin Barfield on her Ridge Avenue porch in May have been held for court. Brandon Allen, 30, Juan Worthey III, 17 and Tyriq Moss, 15 appeared in central court Friday for a preliminary hearing in front of Judge Kelly Stewart. All charges, including criminal homicide and aggravated assault, were held for Allen (Pictured) and Worthey III. All but a firearms charge was held for Moss, who along with Worthey III are being charged as adults in this case. The trio is accused of a drive-by shooting back on May 11th along Ridge Avenue. Court documents say Kristin Barfield, 58, was sitting on her porch at the time of the shooting and was killed. Police say the intended target of the shooting was Barfield’s son Trey Willis. The suspects are being held in the Washington County Jail without bond and will be arraigned later this summer.
July 31, 2022 1:09 am
WASHINGTON, PA – The Washington man accused of attempted homicide and endangering the welfare of children had his charges waived to court. Martez Thomas Jr., 20, faced a preliminary hearing in front of District Judge Kelly Stewart Friday afternoon. Thomas is accused of firing a gun multiple times at two individuals near the Lincoln Terrace back on May 3rd. Police say there were also multiple children playing outside of the nearby LeMoyne Community Center at the time of the incident. Thomas was originally at large but turned himself into State Police four days later. The criminal complaint says Thomas allegedly fired the weapon from his vehicle before crashing the car. The suspect is also charged with aggravated assault and carrying a firearm without a license. Thomas is currently in the Washington County Jail and will have a formal arraignment later this year.
July 30, 2022 4:45 am
JACKSON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s governor says it could take weeks to find all the victims of flash flooding that killed at least 16 people when torrential rains swamped towns across Appalachia. More rainstorms are forecast in coming days as rescue crews struggle to get into the hard-hit areas, which include some of the poorest places in America. President Joe Biden declared a federal disaster, seeking to speed relief money to the needy. The flooding is the latest in a string of catastrophic deluges afflicting parts of the U.S. this summer, including St. Louis earlier in the week. Scientists warn that climate change is making weather disasters more common.
July 30, 2022 4:37 am
IQALUIT, Nunavut (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up his Canadian pilgrimage by meeting with Indigenous delegations and visiting Inuit territory in northern Nunavut. In one of his addresses, he assailed the Catholic missionaries who “supported oppressive and unjust policies” against Native peoples in the country’s notorious residential schools and vowed to pursue truth and healing. Francis is hoping his apology tour of Canada will help the Catholic Church reconcile with Indigenous peoples today. His apologies have received a mixed response, with some school survivors welcoming them but others saying far more needs to be done to correct past wrongs and pursue justice today.
July 30, 2022 4:36 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says there should no longer be any doubt that Russia intends to dismantle Ukraine “and dissolve it from the world map entirely.” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the U.N. Security Council Friday that the United States is seeing growing signs that Russia is laying the groundwork to attempt to annex all of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, “with the goal of holding sham referenda or decree to join Russia.” She said Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “has even stated that this is Russia’s war aim.”
July 30, 2022 4:34 am
LONDON (AP) — Public health officials warn that moves by rich countries to buy large quantities of monkeypox vaccine could leave millions of people in Africa unprotected against a more dangerous version of the disease. Scientists say that and risk continued spillovers of the virus into humans unlike the campaigns to stop COVID-19, mass vaccination won’t be necessary to curb monkeypox outbreaks. They think targeted vaccination, along with other measures, could be enough to shut down the multiple outbreaks. Monkeypox is much harder to spread than the coronavirus. But experts warn that if the disease spills over into general populations, the need for vaccines could intensify, especially if it becomes entrenched in new regions.
July 30, 2022 4:26 am
ALIQUIPPA, Pa. (AP) — A man accused of shooting a state trooper in Pennsylvania had served time in prison for his role in a 2005 murder-for-hire plot in Ohio. State police say two troopers had observed a disturbance and 41-year-old Damian Bradford shot a trooper in the leg as they struggled Friday inside a store in Aliquippa. The wounded trooper was hospitalized. Store patrons helped the other trooper take Bradford into custody. The Beaver County district attorney’s office says Bradford is the same person who was released from prison last year for his role in a murder-for-hire plot of a doctor in Ohio. The doctor’s wife was sentenced to life in prison for hiring Bradford.
July 30, 2022 4:23 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — In one of this year’s most competitive U.S. Senate races, the biggest moments aren’t playing out on the campaign trail. They’re on social media. In one stunt, Democrat John Fetterman is trying to get his Republican rival enshrined in New Jersey’s Hall of Fame. It’s a nod to Dr. Mehmet Oz moving from New Jersey to run. Fetterman also has New Jersey icons recording videos telling Oz to come home. The stunts are cheap and potentially potent ways for Fetterman to define Oz. Republicans acknowledge that Fetterman’s social-media game is top-notch. But they say many voters don’t see the material and it’s missing issues like inflation that voters consider when casting ballots.
July 30, 2022 4:22 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WPXI) — Pittsburgh Police say a man is dead after a vehicle crashed into a tree in the Strip District. Allegheny County dispatchers said police, fire and EMS were called to Frank Curto Park on Bigelow Blvd. at around 4:17 p.m. Medical examiners identified the victim as 52-year-old Lonnie J. Middleton III of Pittsburgh. A blue SUV appeared to have veered off of the road and into the tree. The tree was knocked down as a result of the accident. The inbound lanes of Bigelow Blvd and Herron Avenue towards Veterans Bridge were closed as crews responded to the scene. They were reopened around 8:00 p.m.
