February 29, 2024 5:18 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed another short-term spending measure that would keep one set of federal agencies operating through March 8 and another set through March 22. The legislation approved Thursday will allow Congress to avoid a shutdown for parts of the federal government set to kick in Saturday. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill later in the day. The short-term extension is the fourth in recent months. The House GOP leadership is voicing increasing expectation that it’ll be the last before Congress approves a final spending package for the full year that exceeds $1.6 trillion. The renewed focus on this year’s spending bills doesn’t include a separate effort to provide military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
February 29, 2024 8:48 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Law enforcement agencies, civil defense officials and election administrators are meeting in Pennsylvania to coordinate against election threats with the presidential contest eight months away. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said Thursday that he’s created the Pennsylvania Election Threats Task Force. The state became a magnet for baseless allegations about election fraud and failed lawsuits in an effort to undo Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory there and keep then-President Donald Trump in power. The task force’s mission is to design plans to share information and coordinate in the fight against threats to the election process, voter intimidation and misinformation about voting and elections. Partners include federal, county and state officials.
February 29, 2024 5:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he interfered with the 2020 election. The court will hear arguments in April, with a decision likely no later than the end of June. The justices’ order Wednesday maintains a hold on preparations for a trial focused on Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss. The timetable is much faster than usual, but assuming the justices deny Trump’s immunity bid, it’s not clear whether a trial can be scheduled and concluded prior to the November election. Early voting in some states will begin in September. Trump’s lawyers have sought to put off a trial until after the election.
February 29, 2024 5:13 am
CHICAGO (AP) — A Cook County judge ruled the Illinois State Board of Elections must take former President Donald Trump’s name off the state’s March 19 primary ballot Wednesday. But she placed her order on hold until Friday to allow an appeal. Judge Tracie Porter issued her decision after a group of voters trying to remove Trump’s name from the primary ballot over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol sued to counter the election board’s unanimous rejection of its effort. The five voters argued Trump is ineligible to hold office because he encouraged and did little to stop the Capitol riot.
February 29, 2024 5:11 am
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are in Texas for dueling visits to the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s a sign of how central immigration has become in the 2024 campaign. Biden wants to hammer Republicans for tanking a bipartisan border security deal on Trump’s orders. He landed in the Rio Grande Valley city of Brownsville, where border crossings are down lately. Trump journeyed 300 miles away at a state park that is at the epicenter of a standoff between Texas and the federal government over enforcement.
February 29, 2024 5:08 am
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — A student at Canon-McMillan High School is recovering after suffering serious burns in a house fire over the weekend. Dominic Mansmann is a senior on the school’s hockey team. He has been in the ICU burn unit since Sunday. According to a GoFundMe, Dominic will need extensive surgeries and hospital stays to heal. The community is raising money for his medical expenses. The blaze broke out late Sunday night in a bedroom in the basement of the home in the 4000 block of Bentwood Drive. Fire crews were able to put the fire out quickly, but the teenager suffered burns and was flown to a Pittsburgh area hospital.
February 29, 2024 5:01 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A Fayette County man accused of murdering his new wife and fleeing to Las Vegas had his first court appearance on Wednesday. Arthur Guty waived all charges to court. He is accused of murdering his wife inside their Uniontown home in January. Nicole Zambrano was found dead in her bed, with a gunshot wound to the head. The couple had met and married less than a year before the murder. Investigators say they currently have no motive in the case. Guty was found in Las Vegas with $140,000 in cash. Prosecutors believe he was going to try and flee the country.
February 29, 2024 4:54 am
EAST LANSDOWNE, Pa. (AP) — Officials near Philadelphia are closing their investigation into a shootout and house fire that killed six members of an extended family. They say 43-year-old Canh Le shot and killed his brother, sister-in-law and two nieces before setting fire to the home and killing himself. The couple’s other child, a 10-year-old boy, died of smoke inhalation. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer says the Feb. 7 violence in East Lansdowne began when the uncle argued with a 13-year-old niece. His parents fled and survived. Two police officers are recovering from gunshot wounds.
February 29, 2024 2:45 am
State Police say they have found a missing endangered man from Washington County. According to a release, Carl Boyd, 49 was located and returned home safely. No other information was provided. He had last been seen on Mancha Street in North Bethlehem Township around 11 p.m. on Tuesday and was considered to be at “special risk of harm or injury, or may be confused.”
February 28, 2024 5:22 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he interfered with the 2020 election and has set a course for a quick resolution. The justices’ order Wednesday maintains a hold on preparations for a trial focused on Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss. The court will hear arguments in April, with a decision likely no later than the end of June. The court said in an unsigned statement that it will consider “whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.”
