June 3, 2022 3:38 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro has been indicted on contempt charges after defying a subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Navarro is the second former aide to former President Donald Trump to be charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6, 2021, investigation. Navarro was charged with one contempt count for failing to appear for a deposition before the House committee. The second charge is for failing to produce documents the committee requested. Navarro is expected to appear in court in Washington, D.C., on Friday. Navarro claims the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is unlawful. (Photo: ABC News)
June 3, 2022 4:20 am
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – New York’s legislature passed legislation Thursday banning anyone under age 21 from buying or possessing a semi-automatic rifle. It’s now set to head to Hochul’s desk for her signature. The change to state firearm laws is being pushed through less than three weeks after an 18-year-old used one of the guns to kill 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo. New York already requires people to be 21 to possess a handgun. Younger people would still be allowed to have other types of rifles and shotguns. The bill would also require anyone buying a semiautomatic rifle to get a license.
June 3, 2022 4:19 am
UNDATED (AP) – Authorities say a man who fatally shot two women before killing himself in the parking lot of an Iowa church had been romantically involved with one of the women and faced a court hearing next week on a charge of harassing her. They say 33-year-old Johnathan Lee Whitlatch, of Boone, pulled up in a pickup truck to 22-year-old Eden Montang, 21-year-old Vivian Flores and another woman just before 7 p.m. Thursday outside Cornerstone Church on the outskirts of Ames and began shooting with a 9 mm handgun. Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald says Montang and Flores were killed, and Whitlatch shot himself. The sheriff says the women were friends and students at Iowa State University who were walking together to the church for a weekly service.
June 3, 2022 4:18 am
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Tropical storm watches were posted Thursday for Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas as the system that battered Mexico moves to the east. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm once known as Agatha in the Pacific Ocean will be known as Alex in the Atlantic Ocean basin. In Florida, the tropical storm watch extends from Longboat Key on the Gulf Coast across the southern Florida peninsula, including Lake Okeechobee and the Florida Keys. The U.S. National Weather Service says the Cuban government has issued a tropical storm watch for the provinces of Matanzas, Mayabeque, La Habana, Artemisa, Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth. The watch area also included the northwestern Bahamas.
June 3, 2022 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has delivered an impassioned plea to Congress to act on gun control. In an address to the nation Thursday night, he called on lawmakers to restore limits on the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. He says that if legislators fail to act, voters should use their “outrage” to turn gun violence into a central issue in November’s midterm elections. Biden is trying to drive up pressure on Congress to pass stricter laws, though such efforts have failed in the wake of past violence. The speech follows recent mass shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York.
June 3, 2022 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House Judiciary Committee has advanced legislation that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21. The bill would also make it a federal offense to manufacture or possess large-capacity magazines, and would create a grant program to buy back such magazines. Democrats are working quickly to put their stamp on gun legislation in response to mass shootings by 18-year-olds in Texas and New York. With Republicans mostly opposed, the Senate is unlikely to take up the bill, but senators from both parties are working privately on separate legislation they hope can succeed.
June 3, 2022 4:15 am
State prison officials say a convicted murderer on the run since escaping a prison bus after stabbing its driver on May 12 has been killed after he killed a family of five and took their truck. State prison system spokesman Jason Clark says Gonzalo Lopez was shot dead by law enforcement south of San Antonio late Thursday. Lopez was thought to be hiding near Centerville, Texas, when they received a call from someone concerned after not hearing from an elderly relative. Officers went to a weekend cabin in Houston and found the bodies of one adult and four minors. Officials say law enforcement officers and Lopez exchanged gunfire before he was fatally shot.
June 3, 2022 4:12 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for governor, Doug Mastriano, has offered to sit for a voluntary interview with the congressional committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection. Mastriano’s lawyer said Thursday that Mastriano already was interviewed by FBI agents last year about the Capitol attack. Mastriano was seen outside the Capitol on the day of the insurrection and was in regular communication with then-President Donald Trump as Trump sought to reverse his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Mastriano’s lawyer says Mastriano told the FBI he didn’t know about any coordination behind the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Mastriano is a state senator and won the GOP nomination for governor last month.
June 3, 2022 4:08 am
North Franklin Township held a community event on Thursday to allow residents to see just what is in store for them when a 90 acre park is developed. North Franklin Township Supervisor Chairman Bob Sabot says that there will be many things for township residents to take advantage of around the park. The main focus of the park is the two former water company reservoirs that will allow people to enjoy the beauty of nature. The new Municipal Building with its community meeting room will be on one end of the park. Several walking trails will be developed along with an adventure playground. Fishing and kayaking will be allowed on the lakes also. Resident Eleanor Miller is looking forward to the opening of the park and calls it a win-win for the community at large. The property runs from Sylvan Drive to Park Avenue.
June 3, 2022 4:07 am
Washington County Commissioners met Thursday and tabled four spending items with allocations to Children and Youth Services and Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. Commissioner Nick Sherman made the motion to table the items that totaled more than $6.5 million. One allocation was priced at over $5.2 million alone. Sherman stated that the items were presented to him at the agenda meeting on Wednesday and he did not have the time to do his due diligence to study the items. He wants to go over each item individually to make sure that there are no duplicate services and to make sure the most qualified contractors are being hired. The tabling passed 2-0 with Commissioner Chairwoman Diana Irey-Vaughn absent due to a personal issue that occurred just prior to the meeting.
