October 29, 2021 3:12 am
(WPXI) – The lawyer for the man accused of threatening to shoot up South Hills Village Mall said his client was suffering a mental health crisis, and was trying to warn of a shooting, not threaten one. Fifty-one-year-old Lance Crowley faced a magistrate judge Thursday, charged with making terroristic threats and public drunkenness. On Oct. 12, police from departments across the South Hills rushed to South Hills Village Mall after a Macy’s employee reported that Crawley had walked up to him carrying a large duffel bag, and said there was going to be a mass shooting. The incident prompted a mall lockdown. Defense attorney David Shrager said, “He believed he was assisting people and warning people of something that was going to happen. He believed that sincerely at that time. His intention was not to alarm, hurt or scare anyone.” The judge granted the continuance, but not before giving restrictions and a stern warning. Crowley is not to have any drugs or alcohol or step on mall property.
October 29, 2021 2:48 am
PennDOT says work on Wylie Avenue between Jefferson and Allison Avenue from Friday, October 29th at eight p.m. through Monday, November 1st at six p.m. has been cancelled due to rainy weather conditions. It has been tentatively scheduled for next weekend. Crews are continuing work on the Traffic Improvement Project on Route 18. Detours will be in place.
October 28, 2021 4:14 pm
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company is rebranding itself as Meta, an effort to encompass its virtual-reality vision for the future. Experts point out that it also appears to be an attempt to change the subject from the Facebook Papers, a document trove that has revealed how Facebook ignored or downplayed internal warnings of the negative and often harmful consequences its algorithms wreaked across the world. Zuckerberg insists that the metaverse – what you might think of as the internet rendered in three dimensions – represents the next technological horizon for humanity, and thinks a billion people could be connected to it within a decade. (Photo: AP)
October 28, 2021 9:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a pandemic low last week, another sign that the job market and economy continue to recover from last year’s coronavirus recession. Jobless claims dropped by 10,000 to 281,000, lowest since mid-March 2020, the Labor Department said Thursday. Since topping 900,000 in early January, áweekly applications have steadily dropped, moving ever closer to pre-pandemic levels just above 200,000. In all, 2.2 million people were collecting unemployment checks the week of Oct. 16, down from 7.7 million a year earlier.
October 28, 2021 8:44 am
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI) – A 12-year-old boy died Wednesday after collapsing during basketball practice at Chartiers Valley Middle School, officials said. The boy, identified by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office as Jayson Kidd, collapsed at about 5 p.m. during warmups. He was taken to a hospital, where he died just before 6:30 p.m. A message from Chartiers Valley Superintendent Johannah Vanatta said “the Chartiers Valley family is deeply saddened” by the tragedy. “I am confident that our community will rise in support. My thoughts and prayers are with the student’s family, friends, teammates, coaches, teachers, and all of those affected by this tragedy,” Vanatta’s message to families said. The Middle School Crisis Team will be available for students and staff on Thursday.
October 28, 2021 4:17 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A New York judge on Wednesday refused to pause a vaccine mandate set to take effect Friday for the city’s municipal workforce, denying a police union’s request for a temporarily restraining order. Judge Lizette Colon ruled that the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate can take effect as scheduled. She also ordered city officials to appear in court Nov. 12 to defend the requirement against a union lawsuit seeking to have it declared illegal. Also Wednesday, a federal appeals panel presiding in another mandate-related case seemed to be supportive of arguments that a New York state vaccine mandate for health care workers does not violate their Constitutional rights even though the mandate doesn’t provide religious exemptions.
October 28, 2021 4:10 am
LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) – A tornado in western Louisiana damaged more than a dozen homes in a part of the state still struggling to recover from repeated weather disasters. The National Weather Service said in a preliminary report posted on Twitter that an EF-2 tornado caused “significant structural damage” to about a dozen homes when it touched down around midday Wednesday. Several other homes also received minor damage. Two people were injured. The tornado was part of a line of severe weather that moved from Texas across southern Louisiana and into Mississippi. Wednesday’s severe weather was the latest weather calamity to batter the Lake Charles region in a little over a year.
October 28, 2021 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden and Democrats are getting low marks from the public as they try to get a roughly $2 trillion spending package over the finish line. Fewer than half of Americans approve of how they have handled negotiations. And many say they know little to nothing about the bill. Overall, 36% say they approve of Biden’s handling of the talks, while 41% disapprove. Another 23% say they neither approve nor disapprove. That’s according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Ratings of Republicans’ role in the situation are even worse. Republicans, who have been shut out from the talks over the bill, are expected to overwhelmingly, if not unanimously, oppose the Democratic package.
October 28, 2021 4:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Democrats want to again try letting millions of immigrants stay temporarily in the U.S. as part of President Joe Biden’s economic plan. People familiar with the effort say Democrats want to let migrants in the U.S. before 2011 apply for temporary permits letting work in this country for five years, and then renew it once. The proposal needs a sign off from the Senate parliamentarian, who enforces the chamber’s rules of what is allowed in certain bills. The renewed focus on immigration comes as Biden met with House Democrats and sought support for a framework of his 10-year, $1.75 trillion plan.
October 28, 2021 4:05 am
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – A criminal complaint filed by a police investigator with a court in Albany has accused former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of committing a misdemeanor sex crime, though there were reports Thursday that the document might have been submitted in error. The brief complaint accused Cuomo of putting his hand under a woman’s shirt on Dec. 7, 2020. The document didn’t name the woman but Cuomo had been publicly accused of groping aide Brittany Commisso at the executive mansion in Albany last year. The Albany County district attorney’s office and Albany County Sheriff did not immediately return messages. áCuomo’s lawyer and spokesperson didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment. (Photo: AP)
