December 6, 2021 4:25 am
(AP) – Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit has collapsed and died after a workout at Santa Anita. The 3-year-old colt trained by Bob Baffert had just completed five furlongs in his second workout since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic a month ago at Del Mar. Baffert’s attorney, Craig Robertson, and Santa Anita spokesman Mike Willman confirmed the colt’s death. Medina Spirit will undergo a full necropsy, which is required by the California Horse Racing Board. (Photo: ABC News)
December 6, 2021 4:23 am
(AP) – A religious group based in Ohio has announced that a violent gang in Haiti has released three more hostages, while another 12 remain abducted. The statement Monday from Christian Aid Ministries said the people were released on Sunday in Haiti and are “safe and seem to be in good spirits.” The group provided no further details. On Nov. 21, the religious organization announced that the 400 Mawozo gang had released the first two hostages of a group of 17 kidnapped in mid-October. There are 12 adults and five children in the group of 16 U.S. citizens and one Canadian, including an 8-month-old.
December 6, 2021 4:21 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Authorities say a shooting in a Philadelphia neighborhood has left two men dead and a third hospitalized. The shooting in the city’s Kensington section neighborhood occurred early Sunday. The gunfire erupted near an after-hours club, but it’s not clear if the shooting stemmed from an incident there or if the men had been in the club. The three were taken to a hospital where two were pronounced dead a short time later. One of the deceased victims had been shot four times – twice in the chest and twice in the face – while the other was shot twice in the chest and once to the back. The wounded man was shot in the face, back and stomach.
December 6, 2021 4:18 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Health officials are reporting the first confirmed case of the omicron variant in Pennsylvania, a man in his 30s from Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health announced the case in a news release Friday. No other details were immediately available, including whether the man was vaccinated against COVID-19 or if he had been traveling. Health officials say contact tracing is underway. People in at least five other states have tested positive for omicron. Scientists are still learning about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some suspect, and whether it can thwart vaccines.
December 6, 2021 4:13 am
HOPEWELL TWP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Timothy Baclit, 41, was pronounced dead after he fell from an overpass on Interstate 376 when he stopped to assist a motorist, police said. The incident happened around 1:10 a.m. on Dec. 5 on I-376 westbound at Bryson Road in Hopewell Township. A car crashed into the guide rail and two drivers stopped to check on the driver who crashed, police said. Baclit suffered critical injuries and was pronounced dead when police found him at the bottom of the hillside. The incident is still under investigation.
December 5, 2021 8:07 am
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A judge imposed a combined $1 million bond Saturday for the parents of the Michigan teen charged with killing four students at Oxford High School, hours after police said they were caught hiding in a Detroit commercial building. James and Jennifer Crumbley entered not guilty pleas to each of the four involuntary manslaughter counts against them during a hearing held on Zoom. Jennifer Crumbley sobbed and struggled to respond to the judge’s questions at times and James Crumbley shook his head when a prosecutor said their son had full access to the gun used in the killings. Judge Julie Nicholson assigned bond of $500,000 apiece to each of the parents and required GPS monitoring if they pay to be released, agreeing with prosecutors that they posed a flight risk. Defense attorneys for the Crumbleys still argued Saturday that they never intended to flee and had made plans to meet their lawyers early that morning. Attorney Shannon Smith accused prosecutors of “cherry picking” facts to release publicly, including that accusation that their teenage son had unrestricted access to the handgun prosecutors say his father purchased for him days before the shooting.
December 5, 2021 8:06 am
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN fired anchor Chris Cuomo on Saturday less than a week after new information emerged about how he assisted his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as the politician faced sexual harassment allegations earlier this year. The network had suspended its prime-time host on Tuesday to investigate his conduct, after New York’s attorney general released details showing he was more involved than previously known in helping to strategize and reach out to other journalists as his brother fought to keep his job. CNN hired a law firm for that review, which it would not identify. The lawyers recommended Chris Cuomo’s termination and CNN chief Jeff Zucker informed the anchor of the decision on Saturday. “It goes without saying that these decisions are not easy, and there are a lot of complex factors involved,” Zucker said in an email to CNN staff on Saturday. The network said that “while in the process of that review, additional information has come to light.” CNN would not discuss that information or characterize whether it had anything to do with his brother. Cuomo issued a statement on Twitter calling the decision disappointing.
December 5, 2021 8:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has plenty of options to make good on its pledge to hit Russia financially if President Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine, from sanctions targeting Putin’s associates to cutting Russia off from the financial system that sends money flowing around the world. The United States and European allies have made no public mention of any plans to respond militarily themselves if Putin sends troops massed along the border into Ukraine, a former Soviet republic with close historical and cultural ties to Russia but now eager to ally with NATO and the West. Instead, payback could be all about the money. Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week promised financial pain — “high impact economic measures that we’ve refrained from taking in the past.” President Joe Biden on Friday said the U.S. had developed the “most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Mr. Putin.” The United States over the past decade already has put a range of sanctions in place against Russian entities and individuals, many of them over Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea and its support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014. U.S. sanctions also have sought to punish Russia for election interference, malicious cyber activities and human rights abuses.
December 5, 2021 8:02 am
New York announced three more cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus Saturday, bringing the number of state cases linked to the new variant to eight. The number of states finding the variant is growing as well, with Massachusetts, Connecticut and Washington state announcing their first cases Saturday, a day after New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maryland reported their first confirmed cases. Missouri reported its first presumed case Friday. The variant also has been detected in Nebraska, Minnesota, California, Hawaii, Colorado and Utah. In New York, seven of the cases have been found in New York City, once a global epicenter of the pandemic, and the other in Suffolk County. The arrival of omicron comes as hospitals statewide continue to strain under a surge in coronavirus cases, most traced to the delta variant, along with staffing shortages. The number of people testing positive statewide each day for the virus has doubled in the last 30 days.
December 5, 2021 7:55 am
ARNOLD, PA. (WPXI) — A massive fire broke out at the St. Vladimir Catholic Church on Kenneth Avenue in Arnold. At least a dozen trucks from fire departments in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties responded to the blaze at St Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Catholic Church, 1600 Kenneth Ave. Firefighters were alerted to the scene at 7:29 p.m., according to Westmoreland County 911 operators. There is no word of injuries or what caused the fire to start.
