January 24, 2022 4:12 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s payrolls are continuing to grow, but a persistent worker shortage is still keeping labor markets tight. The state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to 5.4% in December. The national rate was 3.9% in December. In a survey of households, the labor force shrank for the seventh straight month, reflecting a worker shortage that some economists attribute partly to an increase in people who have recently gone to work for themselves. In a separate survey of employers, payrolls in Pennsylvania grew in December by more than 14,000, driven primarily by hiring in trucking and warehousing.
January 23, 2022 8:14 am
BIG SUR, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters on Saturday were battling a wildfire that broke out in the rugged mountains along Big Sur, forcing hundreds of residents on this precarious stretch of the California coast to evacuate and authorities to shut its main roadway. The fire started Friday night in a steep canyon and quickly spread toward the sea, fanned by strong winds up to 50 mph (80 kph). The blaze burned at least 2.3 square miles (6 square kilometers) of brush and redwood trees, said Cecile Juliette, a spokesperson for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Authorities made contact with about 500 residents, urging them to evacuate the sparsely populated area between Carmel and Big Sur. More than 250 firefighters from multiple agencies and volunteer groups, aided by water-dropping aircraft, contained about 20% of the blaze by Saturday evening.
January 23, 2022 8:12 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy announced Sunday it seized a boat in the Gulf of Oman carrying fertilizer used to make explosives that was caught last year smuggling weapons to Yemen. The British royal navy said it confiscated 1,041 kilograms (2,295 pounds) of illegal drugs in the same waters. The interdictions were just the latest in the volatile waters of the Persian Gulf as American and British authorities step up seizures of contraband during the grinding conflict in Yemen and ongoing drug trafficking in the region. The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet said its guided-missile destroyer USS Cole and patrol ships halted and searched the sailboat, a stateless fishing dhow, that was sailing from Iran on a well-worn maritime arms smuggling route to war-ravaged Yemen last Tuesday. U.S. forces found 40 tons of urea fertilizer, known to be a key ingredient in homemade improvised explosive devices, hidden on board.
January 23, 2022 8:10 am
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is postponing her wedding after announcing new COVID-19 restrictions Sunday following the discovery of nine cases of the omicron variant in a single family that flew to Auckland to attend a wedding. The so-called “red setting” of the country’s pandemic response includes heightened measures such as required mask wearing and limits on gatherings. The restrictions will go into effect on Monday. Ardern stressed that “red is not lockdown,” noting that businesses can remain open and people can still visit family and friends and move freely around the country. “Our plan for managing omicron cases in the early stage remains the same as delta, where we will rapidly test, contact trace and isolate cases and contacts in order to slow the spread,” Ardern told reporters. But her own wedding plans are on hold. The 41-year-old prime minister was planning to tie the knot next weekend.
January 23, 2022 8:08 am
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday rejected a British claim that Russia was seeking to replace Ukraine’s government with a pro-Moscow administration, and that former Ukrainian lawmaker Yevheniy Murayev was being considered as a potential candidate. Britain’s Foreign Office on Saturday also named several other Ukrainian politicians it said had links with Russian intelligence services, along with Murayev who is the leader of a small party that has no seats in the parliament. Those politicians include Mykola Azarov, a former prime minister under Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president ousted in a 2014 uprising, and Yanukovych’s former chief of staff, Andriy Kluyev. Murayev’s Nashi party — whose name echoes the former extensive Russian youth movement that supported President Vladimir Putin — is regarded as sympathetic to Russia, but Murayev on Sunday pushed back characterizing it as pro-Russia.
January 23, 2022 8:04 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Snowy weather returns to the area Sunday prompting a winter weather advisory for many counties around the region. Snow showers will break out Sunday morning and continue on and off much of the day. Most areas will see 1″ to 3″ of snow by Sunday evening with the better chance of up to 3″ from Beaver, Allegheny, Westmoreland counties and south where a Winter Weather Advisory has been issued from 7am Sunday to 7pm Sunday. Roads will be slick and snow-covered at times. Watch for untreated surfaces as temperatures stay in the 20s all day. The recent frigid weather means roads will be cold enough to stick immediately. (Graphic: National Weather Service Pittsburgh Facebook Page)
January 23, 2022 1:58 am
East Beau Street was closed for several hours Saturday morning near the Church of the Covenant due to a water main break. The initial repairs were completed early Saturday afternoon but conditions remain very icy for both drivers and pedestrians. In a correction to earlier reports, North Avenue was not closed. Beau Street was blocked in both directions from North Avenue to Lincoln Street.
January 23, 2022 1:07 am
A North Strabane man is accused of firing shots into a vehicle at Frankie I’s Bar and Restaurant on New Years Eve. He faced a preliminary hearing on Friday. According to witness testimony, Dee Frazee, Jr., 27 got into a verbal altercation with off duty Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Joscsak inside the bar. When attempting to leave the bar, Joscsak got into a physical altercation with Frazee near the exit door. Several witnesses saw a handgun in Frazee’s waistband. As the fight broke up, Joscsak and two friends got into a car and departed. During their departure, approximately 5 gunshots rang out striking the vehicle and injuring a passenger inside. North Strabane Twp. police responded to the incident. Follow up investigation found .40 caliber shells at the scene and bullets in the victim’s truck. A query into gun ownership indicated that Frazee owned five handguns and one of them a .40 caliber handgun. A search of Frazee’s residence uncovered evidence of ammunition similar to that found in the victim’s truck. It also found four of the five handguns but not the .40 caliber gun suspected in the shooting. Frazee is facing three felony counts of attempted homicide and three counts of aggravated assault among several other charges. Frazee’s attorney tried to get the charges dismissed stating that no one positively identified Frazee as the shooter. All charges against Frazee were held for court. Frazee is currently being held in the Washington County Jail.
January 22, 2022 9:42 am
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the criticism he received over a comment made about African American voters is outrageous and offensive. The Republican leader on Friday said he misspoke at a news conference held in Washington on Wednesday. McConnell had said African Americans had voted “in just as high a percentage as Americans.” The comment implied that Black voters are somehow not American and underscored the concerns of voting rights advocates that Republicans state lawmakers are explicitly seeking to disenfranchise Black voters. McConnell said he should have said “all” before Americans. He said he had been an advocate for minority voting rights through the years.
January 22, 2022 9:39 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Officials say a New York City police officer has been killed and another critically wounded in a shooting in Harlem. The officers had been responding to a call Friday about an argument between a woman and her adult son. The shootings bring the total number of officers struck by gunfire to four in as many days. The officer who was killed has been identified as 22-year-old Jason Rivera and the wounded officer as 27-year-old Wilbert Mora. Police say the weapon used in the shooting had been stolen in Baltimore in 2017. The suspect was shot and is hospitalized in critical condition.
