July 21, 2021 4:04 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Harvey Weinstein has pleaded not guilty in a Los Angeles courtroom to four counts of rape and seven other sexual assault counts. Sheriff’s deputies brought the 69-year-old convicted rapist into court Wednesday in a wheelchair. He was wearing a brown jail jumpsuit and face mask. Attorney Mark Werksman entered the plea for the disgraced movie mogul a day after Weinstein was extradited to California from New York, where he was serving a 23-year prison term. He now awaits a second trial on a second coast, and the possibility of another lengthy sentence. Weinstein’s charges involve five women and span from 2004 to 2013. The 11 counts together could bring a sentence of 140 years.
July 21, 2021 4:02 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania state police say troopers shot and killed an armed man near Harrisburg after he allegedly fired into two occupied homes and toward troopers who were called to the scene. An agency spokeswoman said 34-year-old Mitchell James Shuller of Harrisburg ignored demands to drop his rifle and had shot in the direction of troopers when they killed him outside his home Tuesday morning. Shuller died at the scene in a rural area north of Harrisburg. He’d been home alone, and no one else was injured. Shuller’s estranged wife says he had mental and physical health problems and had lost a construction job because of the pandemic.
July 21, 2021 3:55 am
Associated Press (AP) – Pennsylvania health officials are defending their decision to award another no-bid deal for COVID-19 contact tracing after a serious data breach involving the state’s previous vendor. They call it an urgent priority with cases rising and schools preparing to reopen for fall. The Department of Health awarded a $34 million contract to Boston-based Public Consulting Group through an emergency procurement, allowing them to bypass normal contracting procedures. That’s the same process that state officials used to hire the first vendor, which the Health Department fired in May after company employees compromised the private data of more than 70,000 residents.
July 21, 2021 3:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s high court has dealt a blow to victims of child sexual abuse who are trying to revive their otherwise outdated claims. The court on Wednesday tossed a lawsuit by a woman whose earlier legal victory had given hope to other victims who sued in the wake of a landmark report that documented decades of child molestation within the Catholic church in Pennsylvania. The court says the two-year statute of limitations for plaintiff Renee Rice began to run in 1981. That’s when Rice says she was last assaulted by a priest from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. The priest has denied the allegations.
July 20, 2021 9:50 am
VAN HORN, Texas (AP) – Jeff Bezos has blasted into space on his rocket company’s first flight with passengers. He’s the second billionaire in just over a week to ride his own spacecraft. The Amazon founder soared to space with a hand-picked group in his Blue Origin capsule and landed 10 minutes later on the desert floor. The passengers include Bezos’ younger brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and an 82-year-old aviation pioneer from the Dallas area. They’re the youngest and oldest to ever hurtle off the planet. Named after America’s first astronaut, the New Shepard rocket soared from West Texas on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
July 20, 2021 5:47 am
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Robert E. “Robby” Steinhardt, a violinist and vocalist with the progressive rock band Kansas, has died of complications from pancreatitis. He was 71. His wife, Cindy Steinhardt, says he died Saturday at a hospital in Tampa, Florida. She announced on Facebook Monday that he had just recorded his first solo album, and had been looking forward to being back on stage and going on tour. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the native of Lawrence, Kansas, was an original member of the band whose hits included “Dust in the Wind” and “Carry on Wayward Son.” PHOTO; Facebook
July 20, 2021 4:14 am
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – New York prison officials have handed over convicted movie producer Harvey Weinstein for transport to California to face sexual assault charges. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision says the transfer happened about 9:25 a.m. Tuesday. Details of Weinstein’s travels aren’t immediately known. A New York judge denied a request in June by Weinstein’s lawyers to keep him at a state prison near Buffalo for medical reasons until the start of jury selection in the Los Angeles case. Weinstein was convicted in New York City last year of a criminal sex act and third-degree rape. He faces 11 similar counts in California.
July 20, 2021 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has picked five Republicans to sit on the new select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. McCarthy selected Indiana congressman Jim Banks to be the top Republican on the panel. McCarthy also tapped for the panel Ohio’s Jim Jordan, Illinois’ Rodney Davis, North Dakota’s Kelly Armstrong and Texas’ Troy Nehls. McCarthy’s picks were confirmed by a Republican familiar with the decision and an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement. Pelosi must still approve the names.
July 20, 2021 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden says his infrastructure and families agenda must be passed to sustain economic momentum. He’s aiming to set the tone for a crucial week of congressional negotiations on two separate bills that would together spend over $4 trillion. But Senate Republicans are signaling they would likely oppose a procedural vote set for Wednesday on a bipartisan infrastructure bill. They want to wait until more details are worked out, and plan to filibuster to block it. Senators are wrangling over how to pay for nearly $1 trillion in new spending on highway, water system and other public works projects.
July 20, 2021 4:11 am
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The threat of thunderstorms and lightning has prompted officials in Oregon to ask for wildfire crews from outside the Pacific Northwest to prepare for additional blazes. Resources are already hugely devoted to a massive fire in the state that has grown to a third the size of Rhode Island. The 537-square-mile Bootleg Fire is burning 300 miles (483 kilometers) southeast of Portland in and around the Fremont-Winema National Forest. The Bootleg Fire is fueled by extreme weather and keeps growing by miles each day. Officials with the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in southwest Oregon are asking for more outside crews to be ready should there be a surge in fire activity there.
