June 25, 2022 7:52 am
(WPXI) – Our news partners at WPXI report that a police officer and a woman were shot in Knoxville and Mount Oliver early Saturday morning. According to Pittsburgh police, crews responded to the 300 block of Brownsville Road in Knoxville for a report of a woman shot in the leg around 5:25 a.m. When police arrived on scene, a foot pursuit ensued with a man in the 400 block of Brownsville Road in Mount Oliver. The suspect fired a shot and hit an officer in the vest. Police said the suspect was arrested and taken to the hospital for a gunshot wound to the shoulder, although it was unclear where it happened. Police said the initial investigation shows no responding officers fired their weapons. The police officer who was shot at was taken to a hospital for evaluation. The woman was also taken to a hospital. Allegheny County Homicide detectives are investigating.
June 25, 2022 3:58 am
BEIJING (AP) – Chinese leader Xi Jinping will visit Hong Kong to celebrate next week’s 25th anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China following a crackdown on a pro-democracy movement that has inflamed tension with Washington and Europe. The official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday Xi will attend an anniversary gathering and the first meeting of the territory’s new government. Xi has avoided trips outside the Chinese mainland since the start of the coronavirus pandemic 2 1/2 years ago. His decision to go to Hong Kong reflects the anniversary’s historical importance in the ruling party’s eyes and to the image Xi is trying to construct for himself as leader of a “national rejuvenation.”
June 25, 2022 3:56 am
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to ban abortion is stirring alarm among LGBTQ advocates. They fear that the ruling could someday allow a rollback of legal protections for gay relationships, including the right for same-sex couples to marry. In the majority opinion issued Friday that overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, Justice Samuel Alito said the decision applied only to abortion. But critics discounted that statement. In a separate concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should review other precedents, including decisions legalizing same-sex marriage and striking down laws criminalizing gay sex. A protester at a Topeka, Kansas, abortion-rights rally said conservatives would not stop with abortion. (Photo: AP)
June 25, 2022 3:54 am
UVALDE, Texas (AP) – Almost 300 high school seniors received their diplomas in Uvalde in the shadow of the massacre of 19 elementary school students and two teachers one month earlier. The 288 red-gowned Uvalde High School seniors sat in 100-degree heat at the school stadium Friday with 21 “Uvalde Strong” placards arrayed before their ranks as school and student leaders spoke. Uvalde school Superintendent Hal Harrell and school principal Randy Harris praised the students for their strength and resilience as three COVID-19 pandemic years were capped by the May 14 mass shooting at the South Texas town’s Robb Elementary School.
June 25, 2022 3:47 am
Summer is the busy construction time here in Western Pennsylvania, and PennDOT has no shortage of work so far just a few days into the new season. Mowing crews have been highly visible around Washington County highways already, and now line painting crews are making their mark. In 2021, District 12 was able to complete 7,139-line miles of painting. Higher volume routes are always first priority and some major roads in the Washington area have already seen the trucks roll through. PennDOT says most roads in the district will see new line paint, and only low-volume roads that can not accommodate the paint trucks will be omitted. If you see the paint truck convoy, try not to drive on the new paint for about 90 seconds so that it won’t track or smear. PennDOT is always willing to hear driver feedback on their work and they take customer claims seriously. Do not hesitate to reach out to the organization if there are any issues with paint damage to your vehicle.
June 25, 2022 3:37 am
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection declares Saturday a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day for our area. The combined high pressure, sunshine, and temperatures near 90 will contribute to ozone average concentrations in the Code Orange range today. The Orange zone represents unhealthy pollution levels for sensitive groups of people. DEP recommends driving less by using car pooling or public transport, combining errands to reduce vehicle trips, limiting engine idling, refueling after dusk, and conserving electricity by turning of lights not being used and setting higher temperatures on air conditioning. Young children, the elderly, and those with respiratory problems like asthma, emphysema, and bronchitis are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollutions. DEP recommends that those populations limit their outdoor activities.
June 25, 2022 3:30 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years – a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court’s landmark abortion cases. Friday’s outcome overturning Roe v. Wade is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. The decision, unthinkable just a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made possible by an emboldened right side of the court that has been fortified by three appointees of former President Donald Trump. The ruling came more than a month after the stunning leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito.
June 24, 2022 3:29 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has sent President Joe Biden the most wide-ranging gun violence bill Congress has passed in decades. The bill that passed the House on Friday is a measured compromise that at once illustrates progress on the long-intractable issue and the deep-seated partisan divide that persists. The Democratic-led chamber approved the election-year legislation with every Democrat and 14 Republicans voting yes. That caps a spurt of action prompted by voters’ revulsion over last month’s mass shootings in New York and Texas. The Senate approved it earlier by a bipartisan 65-33 margin, with 15 Republicans joining all Democrats in supporting a package that senators from both parties had crafted.
June 24, 2022 4:14 am
LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership of the Conservative party has suffered a heavy double blow as voters rejected the Tories in two special elections. In the southwestern constituency of Tiverton and Honiton, the Liberal Democrats overturned a 24,000 Conservative majority to win, while the main opposition Labour Party reclaimed Wakefield in northern England. The contests, triggered by the resignation of Conservatives hit by scandals, offered voters the chance to give their verdict on the prime minister just weeks after 41% of his own MPs cast their ballots against him. The party’s chairman quit after the results early Friday, saying the party “cannot carry on with business as usual.”
June 24, 2022 4:12 am
GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) – The death toll from a devastating earthquake in Afghanistan continued to climb days after it turned brick and stone homes into rubble. State media reports the quake has killed 1,150 and injured some 3000. The U.N. puts the number of dead at around 770 people. Either toll makes this the deadliest quake to hit Afghanistan in two decades. Despite some international aid flowing to the impacted villages in the east to provide people with food and tents, villagers are mostly on their own digging by hand for survivors. The country of 38 million people is in the midst of a spiraling economic crisis that had plunged millions deep into poverty.
