November 19, 2021 4:10 am
CANTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Pennsylvania State Police units were at a home in Canton Township as part of an investigation an alleged murder suicide. Officials told our news partners at Channel 11 two residents were found dead in the home along Skylark Drive from apparent gunshot wounds. Investigators said there was no sign of anyone outside the home being involved in the incident. State Police say the victims involved were identified as Samuel Mayberry, 89, and Dolores Mayberry, 93. Investigators said the couple could have been dead since yesterday afternoon. The investigation is being assisted by the Washington County District Attorney’s office.
November 19, 2021 2:17 am
According to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a Greene County man accused with two others of ripping off 22 customers of more than $2 million in a bogus investment scheme involving a fictitious South Carolina green energy power plant project admitted to his guilt Thursday in federal court. Robert Irey, 59, of Clarksville, pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud conspiracy. Irey admitted that he and two cohorts — Jonathan Freeze, of Pittsburgh and Kevin Carney, 59, of Euclid, Ohio — told investors they had $100 million in financing for a waste-to-energy power plant when in fact they didn’t have enough to pay their own living expenses. They promised a high return on investment, didn’t pay off, and then used the money they fleeced from victims to pay for rent, restaurant meals, clothes, weddings and vacations, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Karl. The three were indicted this summer following an investigation by U.S. postal inspectors and the FBI. Irey is free on bond, pending sentencing, which has been set for March. Cases against Carney and Freeze are pending.
November 18, 2021 5:55 pm
(AP) – CVS Health will close hundreds of drugstores over the next three years, as the health care giant adjusts to changing customer needs and converts to new store formats. The company said Thursday that it will close about 300 stores a year for the next three years as it looks to reduce store count density in some locations. The total of around 900 amounts to nearly a tenth of the roughly 10,000 retail locations CVS Health operates. The company also sells insurance and runs prescription drug plans for big clients like insurers and employers.
November 18, 2021 12:53 pm
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) – A jail guard was shot and killed at a Pennsylvania courthouse by what appears to be friendly fire during a struggle with an inmate who had grabbed her weapon, and authorities said Thursday they were investigating how it happened. The inmate had been taken from the Blair County jail to Central Court in Altoona for a hearing Wednesday when he disarmed corrections officer Rhonda Jean Russell, state police said. Authorities said a law enforcement officer in the building opened fire on the inmate to stop him from harming Russell, who was struck by the bullet.
Russell, 47, of Altoona, was pronounced dead at UPMC Altoona, according to state police. State police did not identify the officer who opened fire, but Altoona Police Sgt. Matt Plummer said an Altoona police officer was involved. State police said the inmate was being charged with criminal homicide, attempted criminal homicide, kidnapping and related charges. State police and the Blair County prosecutor’s office are investigating.
November 18, 2021 8:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for the seventh straight week to a pandemic low 268,000. U.S. jobless claims dipped by 1,000 last week from the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The applications for unemployment aid are a proxy for layoffs, and their steady decline this year – after topping 900,000 one week in early January – reflects the labor market’s strong recovery from last year’s brief but intense coronavirus recession. The four-week average of claims, which smooths week-to-week volatility, also fell to a pandemic low just below 273,000. áJobless claims have been edging lower, toward their pre-pandemic level of around 220,000 a week.
November 18, 2021 4:15 am
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – The judge at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial banned MSNBC from the courthouse Thursday after police said they briefly detained a man who had followed the jury bus and may have tried to photograph jurors. Judge Bruce Schroeder said the man had claimed to be working for MSNBC. NBC News said the man was a freelancer who never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations and never intended to photograph them. The jurors are anonymous by order of the court. Schroeder said they were riding in a bus whose windows had been covered over to keep them from seeing any signs about the case. Schroeder said the matter is under further investigation.
November 18, 2021 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has voted to censure Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona for posting an animated video that depicted him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword. It was an extraordinary rebuke on Wednesday that highlighted the political strains testing Washington and the country. The resolution will also remove Gosar from his two House committees including one on which Ocasio-Cortez also serves. Democratic lawmakers said Gosar’s actions amounted to threatening another member’s life. Gosar said, “I do not espouse violence toward anyone. I never have.” Then he retweeted the video after the vote.
November 18, 2021 4:12 am
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) – Defense attorneys for the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery rested Thursday after calling a total of seven witnesses. The people who testified in the men’s defense included the man who fatally shot Arbery, Travis McMichael. Six neighbors testified about their concerns regarding crime in the neighborhood. McMichael and his father, Greg McMichael, armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-old Black man in a pickup truck after he ran past their home from the house under construction. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase in his own truck and recorded cellphone video. All of the defendants are white.
November 18, 2021 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – North America’s leaders are reviving three-way summitry after a Trump-era break. President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres López Obrador will resume the tradition of the North America Leaders Summit on Thursday in Washington. Such meetings were dropped during the Trump administration. The three North American allies find themselves facing deep differences on migration, climate and trade as they meet this time. The North American summit tradition started with George W. Bush hosting Mexico’s Vicente Fox and Canada’s Paul Martin in 2005 for talks at his Texas ranch.
November 18, 2021 4:07 am
NEW YORK (AP) – One of the men exonerated decades after the 1965 killing of Malcolm X says that “I am an 83-year-old man who was victimized by the criminal justice system.” The convictions of Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam were dismissed Thursday by a Manhattan judge. Prosecutors and the men’s lawyers say a renewed investigation found new evidence that undermined the case against the men and determined that authorities withheld some of what they knew. The two maintained their innocence from the start in the killing at Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom. Both were paroled in the 1980s. Islam died in 2009.
