March 6, 2022 3:52 am
Roughly 100 people lined up on the overpass of Interstate 70 to watch as a convoy of truckers passed on their way to Washington, D.C. The People’s Convoy is a group of truckers that plan to protest Covid-19 mandates by parking their vehicles and demonstrating near the White House. The convoy of truckers began in California and is expected to arrive at its destination on Saturday. Supporters lined up on the Jessop Avenue overpass and on the Beau Street overpass waving flags as the truckers drove by. (Photo Credit George Lasko)
March 5, 2022 10:41 am
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) – What looked like a breakthrough cease-fire to evacuate residents from two cities in Ukraine quickly is not holding, according to Ukrainian officials. The Russian defense ministry earlier said it had agreed on temporary evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces for Mariupol, a strategic port in the southeast, and the eastern city of Volnovakha. But Ukrainian officials say the work to remove civilians has halted amid shelling on Saturday hours after Russia announced the deal. An official in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office says that talks with Russia continue on setting up a cease-fire and ensuring a safe humanitarian corridor.
March 5, 2022 4:33 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Former Vice President Mike Pence is urging Republicans to move on from the 2020 election. And he is declaring that “there is no room in this party for apologists for Putin” as he further cements his break with former President Donald Trump. Pence spoke Friday evening to the party’s top donors at a gathering in New Orleans. Pence did not directly reference the former president, but Trump has repeatedly used language that has been criticized as deferential to Putin. Pence has been working to differentiate himself from Trump as he lays the groundwork for a possible 2024 presidential run.
March 5, 2022 4:29 am
SINGAPORE (AP) – As the West condemns Russia, President Vladimir Putin has vocal supporters in China, where the ruling Communist Party tells its people they are fellow targets of U.S.-led harassment. Public sentiment largely reflects the stance of a ruling party that is the closest thing Putin has to a major ally: The war should stop but the United States is to blame. President Xi Jinping’s government has tried to distance itself from the attack but avoided criticizing Moscow. Ruling party control of all Chinese media and intensive internet censorship make it hard to gauge public opinion, but what the party allows online and requires media to publish make clear what it wants the public to think.
March 5, 2022 4:26 am
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian state media say Russia’s military has begun a temporary cease-fire in two areas of Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate. It would be the first breakthrough in allowing people to escape the war. The Russian Defense Ministry says it agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces to allow civilians to leave the strategic port of Mariupol in the southeast and the eastern city of Volnovakha. The vaguely worded statement didn’t make clear how long the routes would remain open on Saturday. Ukraine has called the need for humanitarian corridors “question No. 1” amid fears of food shortages. Residents of Mariupol have experienced growing misery as days of shelling knocked out most phone service.
March 5, 2022 4:22 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The board of another big public pension system in Pennsylvania will sell off its Russia-related investments, amid bipartisan calls from lawmakers and top state officials to respond to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Friday’s vote by the board of the State Employees’ Retirement System affects roughly $7 million of the $40 billion in assets the system reported having at the start of 2022. That exposure amounts to 0.02%. The board’s resolution also bars new investments in assets related to Russia. On Thursday, the board of the $72.5 billion Public School Employees’ Retirement System took a similar vote to divest of nearly $300 million directly invested in Russia and Belarus.
March 5, 2022 4:20 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – An Amtrak engineer has been acquitted of charges related to a high-speed derailment that left eight people dead and hundreds injured in Philadelphia in 2015. The jury cleared 38-year-old engineer Brandon Bostian of causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment. He had been charged once for each injury and death. Bostian’s lawyer describes him as having a perfect work record until he was distracted by people throwing rocks in the area just before the crash. The train was going more than 100 mph on a 50 mph curve when the train derailed. Amtrak had earlier settled the civil litigation for $265 million.
March 4, 2022 2:46 pm
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – A federal judge has blocked an effort by voters to disqualify North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn from seeking reelection by alleging his involvement with the rally that preceded the U.S. Capitol riot in January 2021 made him ineligible. U.S. District Judge Richard Myers in Wilmington issued a preliminary injunction during a court hearing Friday. Myers declared the state’s candidate challenge process didn’t apply to a portion of the 14th Amendment designed to prevent congressmen who had fought on the Confederate side during the Civil War from returning to Congress. Cawthorn spoke at the Jan. 6 rally and voted against certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
March 4, 2022 4:32 am
DETROIT (AP) – Face masks will be optional for U.S. union auto workers, as long as their factories are in counties that are not at high risk for the novel coronavirus. A task force of officials from Ford, General Motors, Stellantis and the United Auto Workers union decided to drop a mask requirement at a meeting on Thursday. The union says in a statement that the group decided to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines in making masks optional, regardless of vaccination status. Automakers will tell workers when the changes are effective at their plants. More than 150,000 workers represented by the UAW began wearing masks at work in May of 2020, when factories reopened after an eight-week shutdown at the start of the pandemic.
March 4, 2022 4:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is ordering new sanctions against Russian oligarchs and others in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle as Russian forces pummel Ukraine. Those targeted by the new sanctions include Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, and Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals and a close ally of Putin. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke late Thursday as Russian forces shelled a nuclear plant in the eastern Ukraine city of Enerhodar. They urged Russia to “cease its military activities” in the area and allow firefighters to access the damaged site.
