October 14, 2021 9:25 am
The Chartiers Houston School District implemented an ‘external door lockdown’ Thursday morning due to an “external police action” in the community. Superintendent Dr. Gary Peiffer says it lasted less than ninety-minutes and “the situation did not involve any district students or facilities” Students were safe and continued their daily schedules in a normal fashion. Chartiers Township Police Chief James Horvath says an individual wanted on a warrant for attempted homicide out of Allegheny County was determined to be in the area and the school district was notified around 8 a.m. and asked to lock its doors out of an abundance of caution. That unidentified individual was taken into custody without incident. Peiffer says the ‘lockdown’ was lifted just after 9:30 a.m.
October 14, 2021 4:12 am
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – A man armed with a bow and arrows killed five people and wounded others near the Norwegian capital of Oslo. That’s according to police in the town of Kongsberg who arrested the assailant on Wednesday evening. The police chief says there was “a confrontation” between officers and the suspect, but he did not elaborate. Two other people were wounded and hospitalized in intensive care, including an officer who was off duty and inside the shop where the attack took place. Police were alerted to the attack around 6:30 p.m. and arrested the suspect about 20 minutes later. The community is 66 kilometers (41 miles) southwest of Oslo.
October 14, 2021 4:10 am
BANGKOK (AP) – After sending a record number of military aircraft to harass Taiwan over China’s National Day holiday, Beijing has toned down the saber rattling but tensions remain high, with the rhetoric and reasoning behind the exercises unchanged. Experts agree a direct conflict is unlikely at the moment, but also that the future of self-ruled Taiwan is increasingly becoming a powder keg where a mishap or miscalculation could lead to confrontation while Chinese and American ambitions are at odds. China seeks to return the strategically and symbolically important island and the U.S. sees Taiwan in the context of broader challenges from China. Leader Xi Jinping on the weekend again emphasized reunification of the nation must and will be realized.
October 14, 2021 4:08 am
CHICAGO (AP) – The head of the Chicago police officers union has called on its members to defy the city’s requirement to report their COVID-19 vaccination status before the weekend or be placed on unpaid leave. In the video posted online Tuesday, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara vowed to take Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration to court if it tries to enforce the mandate, which requires city workers to report their vaccine status by Friday. Unvaccinated workers who won’t submit to semiweekly coronavirus testing will be placed on unpaid leave. Catanzara suggested that if the city does enforce its requirement and many union members don’t comply with it, the city’s police force will be “at 50% or less” this weekend.
October 14, 2021 4:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Progressive leaders in Congress are warning against what they say is a “false choice” over how to trim President Joe Biden’s now-$2 trillion proposal for beefing up social services and tackling climate change. That’s according to a letter Wednesday to Democratic congressional leaders and Biden, obtained by the Associated Press. The progressives argue against cutting out some items in Biden’s proposal as centrist lawmakers prefer. Instead, they want to keep Biden’s wider vision but for fewer years. They say that would include “shorter, transformative investments” that could be started quickly and then revisited. The $2 trillion is to be paid for with higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
October 13, 2021 1:56 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Democratic attorney general has announced his candidacy for governor. Josh Shapiro released a campaign video in which he sought to tie Republican rivals to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn last year’s election. Shapiro is running unopposed in the Democratic primary so far, while the Republican field is crowded with state senators, business leaders, a former congressman, a former federal prosecutor under Trump and others. The Republican Governors Association said Shapiro would continue what it called the “failed policies” of the incumbent governor, Democrat Tom Wolf, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term. (Photo: WPXI)
October 13, 2021 12:48 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – With prices surging worldwide for heating oil, natural gas and other fuels, the U.S. government said Wednesday it expects households to see jumps of up to 54% for their heating bills from last winter. The sharpest increases are likely for homes that use propane, but others are also likely to see big increases. Homes that use natural gas, which make up nearly half of all U.S. households, may spend $746 this winter, 30% more than a year ago. A forecast for a colder winter means people will likely be burning more fuel to keep warm, on top of paying more for each bit of it.
October 13, 2021 9:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of the coronavirus pandemic. The COLA increase amounts to $92 a month for the average retired worker, according to estimates released Wednesday by the Social Security Administration. The increase affects household budgets for about 1 in 5 Americans, nearly 70 million people, including Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees. Policymakers say it’s a safeguard to protect benefits against a loss of purchasing power, and not a pay raise for retirees.
October 13, 2021 4:12 am
VAN HORN, Texas (AP) – Hollywood’s Captain Kirk, 90-year-old William Shatner, has blasted into space and safely returned to Earth in a convergence of science fiction and science reality. He set out Wednesday morning for the final frontier aboard a ship built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company. The “Star Trek” hero becomes the oldest person to ride a rocket. The fully automatic spacecraft reached an altitude of 66.5 miles over the West Texas desert. The up-and-down flight lasted about 10 minutes, with Shatner and his three fellow passengers parachuting back to Earth in the capsule. (Photo: CNN)
October 13, 2021 4:11 am
A recording shows that the pilot of a twin-engine plane was repeatedly warned to fly straight and to climb before he crashed into a San Diego suburb, killing himself and someone on the ground. An air traffic controller repeated warnings more than a dozen times to Dr. Sugata Das before the plane plowed into a neighborhood in Santee on Monday, burning and damaging several homes. The crash also killed 61-year-old Steve Krueger, a UPS driver who was nearing retirement. The crash is under federal investigation. But some experts say the pilot may have been distracted by something or may have become disoriented in cloudy weather.
