February 8, 2022 4:21 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Nearly $725 million in federal funding is available this fiscal year to 22 states and the Navajo Nation for the reclamation of abandoned coal mines and cleanup of acid mine drainage. The U.S. Department of the Interior announced the funding Monday. It’s included in President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure package and is part of an overall plan to spend $11.3 billion in the U.S. abandoned mine lands program over 15 years. Reclamation of shuttered coal mine sites is considered crucial to preventing environmental pollution and returning land to its natural setting. The funding is considered key to removing toxic metals and returning fish and wildlife to waterways.
February 8, 2022 4:20 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A Los Angeles nun who stole more than $800,000 to pay for a gambling habit has been sentenced to a year in federal prison. Eighty-year-old Mary Margaret Kreuper admitted stealing the money from 2008 to 2018 while she was principal at St. James Catholic School in the LA suburb of Torrance. She pleaded guilty last July to wire fraud and money laundering. “I have sinned, I’ve broken the law and I have no excuses,” Kreuper told the court via teleconference. In her plea agreement, Kreuper acknowledged diverting money to pay for personal expenses including gambling expenses incurred at casinos.
February 8, 2022 4:18 am
CHICAGO (AP) – A federal indictment accuses a Chinese telecommunications company of stealing mobile radio technology from Illinois-based Motorola Solutions Inc. The indictment unsealed in Chicago Monday highlights longstanding fears about China pilfering of vital U.S. business secrets to bolster its own economy. It charges Hytera Communications with conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets, saying it recruited several Motorola employees as part of the scheme. They allegedly accessed Motorola’s internal database, then later described their plans to use the stolen material at Hytera. If ever convicted, Hytera would face a large criminal fine.
February 8, 2022 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden’s top science adviser Eric Lander has resigned after the White House confirmed that an internal investigation found credible evidence that he mistreated his staff. It marks the first Cabinet-level departure of the Biden administration. Press secretary Jen Psaki says Biden accepted Lander’s resignation Monday with “gratitude for his work … on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change, and other key priorities.” The White House rebuked Lander over his treatment of his staff, but initially signaled he would be allowed to remain on the job, despite Biden’s Inauguration Day assertion that would fire anyone who shows disrespect to others “on the spot.”
February 8, 2022 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has put on hold a lower court ruling that Alabama must draw new congressional districts before the 2022 elections, boosting Republican chances to hold six of the state’s seven seats in the House of Representatives. The court’s action Monday, by a 5-4 vote, means the upcoming elections will be conducted under a map drawn by Alabama’s Republican-controlled legislature that contains one majority-Black district, represented by a Black Democrat, in a state in which more than a quarter of the population is Black.
February 8, 2022 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A bipartisan report from a congressional commission says the U.S. needs Cabinet-level leadership and a new multipronged strategy to counter its festering overdose epidemic. With powerful synthetic drugs like fentanyl driving record overdose deaths, the scourge of opioids awaits after the COVID-19 pandemic finally recedes. The report from the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking calls opioids one of the most pressing challenges in national security, law enforcement and public health. A co-chair of the commission, Maryland congressman David Trone, says he’s spoken to President Joe Biden and believes Biden fully understands the problem and is committed to taking it on.
February 8, 2022 4:03 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court will consider a new map of congressional districts being recommended by a lower court judge who picked a proposal favored by top Republican lawmakers, but opposed by Democrats. The map recommended Monday by Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough, a Republican, came from a pool of more than a dozen submitted to the court. The map passed the Republican-controlled Legislature without support from a single Democratic lawmaker and was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. It sides with Republicans on the most prominent areas of disagreement between partisans. The state Supreme Court – with a 5-2 Democratic majority – will make the ultimate decision.
February 8, 2022 4:00 am
Cecil Township Supervisors voted to terminate their agreement to purchase an industrial site on Muse Bishop Road. The ABB property was purchased by the township in 2017 for $10 with the township being responsible for the first $450,000 in remediation costs. That site is 87 acres and the site of a former coal mine and chemical factory. Controversy immediately arose over the history of the property and the proposed clean up. The township was intending to use the property to build a new public works maintenance facility but property and plans languished for several years with the board not interested in proceeding with those plans. Supervisor Chairwoman Cindy Fisher says the board determined that the township was not the right entity to try and develop the site and they decided to move on. Supervisor Tom Casciola was the lone vote against the separation agreement stating that the township has already spent $258,000 on the site that it will not get back. A new buyer for the property has emerged and according to Casciola, a small business park is going to be developed. Casciola stated that the township’s ownership of the property would not have generated tax revenue, but the new development will. At least that will recoup some of the money spent by the township on the site. The new owner will have to comply with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to assure the property is remediated correctly.
February 8, 2022 2:49 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The National Transportation Safety Board initial review doesn’t identify the cause of a recent bridge collapse in Pittsburgh. But the preliminary report issued Monday concluded it began at the structure’s west end. The report says investigators found no primary fractures in sections of welded steel girders they examined that were considered “fracture critical.” The Forbes Avenue bridge gave way early Jan. 28 and sent a city bus and four cars to the bottom of a ravine. Ten vehicle occupants were injured. There were no fatalities. The NTSB says it’s extracting bridge components for closer study. A final report could take more than a year. (Photo: WPXI)
February 7, 2022 5:45 pm
CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) – British rock band The Who will play their first concert in the Cincinnati area in over four decades, after 11 people died in a pre-show stampede in 1979. WCPO-TV reported Monday The Who is now set to play at the TQL Stadium on May 15. The band’s return was originally planned for April 2020 at the BB&T Arena in Kentucky, but had to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Long haunted by the tragedy, the band has for years supported a memorial scholarship effort in a Cincinnati suburb where three of the victims went to school. (Photo: thewho.com)
