May 24, 2022 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A cabinet secretary who helped shepherd Pennsylvania’s entry into a regional carbon pricing program to combat climate change is leaving the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. The governor said Monday that Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell will be replaced in July by Ramez Ziadeh. McDonnell was deeply involved in the state’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The program imposes a cost for emitting planet-warming carbon dioxide from fossil fuel-fired power plants. McDonnell started at the agency in 1998 and has been secretary since 2016. Ziadeh has been a deputy secretary at the agency after starting there in 1994.
May 24, 2022 4:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Republicans in the Pennsylvania Legislature are extending their inquiry into the state’s 2020 presidential election inspired by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud. The contract is to last another six months, through Nov. 18, under an extension signed last week. The original no-bid contract, including an addendum, was worth $485,115 and expired last week. The extension has no dollar figure attached to it. Senate Republican officials say the contractor hasn’t billed for the contract’s full value while Republicans fight in court to get access to voting machines and certain information about voters and voting systems. Republicans have yet to report any findings.
May 24, 2022 4:04 am
Peters Township Council was alerted by a local attorney about the proposed changes that the Washington County Court of Common Pleas is proposing. Sean Logue addressed council and explained that the magisterial court in the township will be vacated and all cases in the township would be shifted to Cecil Township. Logue pointed out that it would be difficult for residents to get to the new location as there is no easy way to get from Peters Township to the court’s location on Millers Run Road. Township Manager Paul Lauer explained that the proposed change would drastically increase costs to the township in travel time for police and staff when they are called to testify. He also pointed out the extra wear and tear on vehicles that would be encountered. Council Vice Chairman Frank Kosir found the proposal hard to believe and encouraged residents to reach out to county officials to let them know they want to keep their magisterial court in Peters Township.
May 23, 2022 4:28 am
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Authorities in Puerto Rico say at least five people have been shot to death at a public housing complex. Police spokesman Axel Valencia told The Associated Press that the deaths occurred Sunday night in the community of Caimito in the capital of San Juan. He says the group was shot outside the Villa Esperanza housing complex. Valencia says that police have not yet identified the victims and that it isn’t immediately clear why they were targeted. No one has been arrested. Last month, police reported that two men were found fatally shot inside an overturned car at the same public housing complex.
May 23, 2022 4:25 am
NEW YORK (AP) – An unidentified gunman has shot and killed another passenger on a moving New York City subway train. Police officials say it appears to have been an unprovoked attack, and the victim died at a hospital. Police say the shooting took place Sunday on a Q train traveling over the Manhattan Bridge at around 11:40 a.m. That’s a time of day when subway cars are often filled with families, tourists and people headed to brunch. Recent subway crime has set New Yorkers on edge. Last month, a man opened fire inside a Brooklyn subway train, scattering random shots that wounded 10 people.
May 23, 2022 4:23 am
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A military plane carrying enough specialty infant formula for more than half a million baby bottles arrived Sunday in Indianapolis. It’s the first of several flights expected from Europe aimed at relieving a shortage that has sent parents scrambling to find enough to feed their children. President Joe Biden authorized the use of Air Force planes for the effort, dubbed “Operation Fly Formula,” because no commercial flights were available. The nationwide shortage of formula follows the closure of the largest domestic manufacturing plant in Michigan in February due to safety issues.
May 23, 2022 4:21 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainians were digging in to defend the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk as it endured heavy bombardment from Russian forces trying to take the industrial area known as the Donbas. In Tokyo on Monday, President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Authorities in Luhansk accused the Russians of a scorched-earth policy focused on Sievierodonetsk, the main Ukrainian-held city in the region. A family who fled a village near the front line in Donetsk said they hadn’t seen the sun in three months and heavy artillery was pounding the village.
May 23, 2022 4:20 am
TOKYO (AP) – President Joe Biden is seeking to calm concerns about recent cases of monkeypox that have been identified in Europe and the United States. He says he does not see the need to institute strict quarantine measures. Biden spoke about the matter in Tokyo, one day after he had said the virus was something “to be concerned about.” Biden told reporters on Monday that he doesn’t think monkeypox rises to the level of concern that existed with COVID-19. He added that the smallpox vaccine works for monkeypox and the U.S. has enough stockpile of that vaccine to handle it.
May 23, 2022 4:19 am
TOKYO (AP) – President Joe Biden says he does not believe an economic recession in the U.S. is inevitable despite record high inflation and supply shortages partly caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, Biden acknowledged that the U.S. economy has “problems.” But he said it was better positioned than the economies of other countries. Biden says his administration is working to ease the pain for U.S. consumers, but immediate solutions were unlikely. Biden spoke as he was set to launch a new trade pact between the U.S. and Indo-Pacific countries.
May 23, 2022 4:17 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Pittsburgh Police and SWAT responded to a situation in Pittsburgh’s Hill District after a pizza delivery driver was robbed at gunpoint. Officers arrived at the area after the received a call at 6:18 p.m. They say they spoke with the victim of the robbery who told them that a man had pointed a long rifle at them while they were delivering a pizza. SWAT was called to the 2100 block of Bedford Avenue after the victim reported they saw the suspect run into a home in that location and believed they were barricaded inside. Authorities said that when they entered the residence they found a rifle but did not find the suspect.
