May 1, 2022 4:11 am
MONONGAHELA, Pa. — (WPXI) – A Washington County couple is arrested on felony child endangerment charges, accused of leaving fentanyl out in front of their 1-year-old baby. Monongahela Police escorted a CYS worker to Branddon Danilchak and Kaya Zakrzewski’s Finleyville home. They were checking on the couple’s three children after getting a report that the children were being exposed to drugs. Officers found two bricks of heroin in a closet, empty stamp bags, drug paraphernalia and a white powdery substance. Zakrzewski told police it was fentanyl and that her 1-year-old daughter was in the bedroom the whole time it was out in the open. “It’s extremely dangerous. It takes a very small amount of fentanyl to injure or kill somebody and we know kids get into just about everything,” said Sgt Ryan Lenzi of the Monongahela City Police department. The CYS worker who responded to the home became ill with nausea and light-headedness, before vomiting. She was rushed by ambulance to Jefferson Hospital. Zakrzewski told police Danilchak was purchasing heroin with his pandemic unemployment money until 2021. After that money ran out, she told police she gave him $200 a week to purchase it.
May 1, 2022 1:27 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Naomi Judd, whose family harmonies with daughter Wynonna turned them into the Grammy-winning country stars The Judds, has died. She was 76. Her daughters, Wynonna and Ashley, announced her death on Saturday in a statement provided to The Associated Press. “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness,” the statement said. “We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.” Naomi Judd died near Nashville, Tennessee, said a statement on behalf of her husband and fellow singer, Larry Strickland. It said no further details about her death would be released and asked for privacy as the family grieves. The Judds were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday and they had just announced an arena tour to begin in the fall, their first tour together in over a decade. The mother-daughter performers scored 14 No. 1 songs in a career that spanned nearly three decades. The red-headed duo combined the traditional Appalachian sounds of bluegrass with polished pop stylings, scoring hit after hit in the 1980s. Wynonna led the duo with her powerful vocals, while Naomi provided harmonies and stylish looks on stage.
April 30, 2022 10:26 am
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian forces are fighting to hold off a Russian advance aimed at capturing an eastern industrial region along with Ukraine’s last holdout in the southern city of Mairupol. The United Nations is trying to broker an evacuation of civilians holed up with Ukrainian fighters in a steel mill and from other parts of the bombed-out port city. Two women whose husbands belong to the Azov Regiment of Ukraine’s National Guard say they fear soldiers will be tortured and killed if left behind and captured by the Russians. They shared video and photos with The Associated Press of wounded men with open wounds or amputated limbs.
April 30, 2022 10:24 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned again that the North could preemptively use its nuclear weapons if threatened. His latest comments came as he praised his top army officials for a massive military parade in Pyongyang this week. State media reported Saturday that Kim expressed “firm will” to continue developing his nuclear-armed military so that it could “preemptively and thoroughly contain and frustrate all dangerous attempts and threatening moves, including ever-escalating nuclear threats from hostile forces, if necessary.” The parade on Monday came after a spate of missile tests that underscored Kim’s willingness to force the United States to accept the North as a nuclear power and remove crippling economic sanctions.
April 30, 2022 10:22 am
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – A suspected tornado that barreled through parts of Kansas has damaged multiple buildings, injured several people and left more than 6,500 people without power. Andover Fire Chief Chad Russell said the suspected twister that moved though parts of southeast Wichita and Andover on Friday evening damaged 50 to 100 buildings in Sedgwick County. It was not immediately known how many buildings were damaged in Andover. Officials said three people were injured in Sedgwick County, including one woman who suffered serious injuries. Russell said no injuries had been reported in Butler County, but a secondary assessment would be conducted Saturday morning.
April 30, 2022 10:19 am
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – Thousands of firefighters are battling destructive wildfires in the Southwest as more residents are preparing to evacuate into the weekend in northern New Mexico. Strong winds in bone-dry conditions have made the blazes especially difficult to contain. The biggest fire in the U.S. grew Friday east of Santa Fe to more than 117 square miles. Gusty winds grounded aircraft and crews lost some of the containment they had established in recent days. About 1,000 firefighters on the lines, and officials say more air and ground support is on the way. Experts say some of the wildland timber is drier than kiln-dried wood.
April 30, 2022 10:14 am
BEIJING (AP) – China’s manufacturing activity fell to a six-month low in April as lockdowns continued in Shanghai and other manufacturing hubs in an attempt to stem COVID-19 outbreaks. The monthly purchasing managers’ index, released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, fell to 47.4 in April, down from 49.5 in March on a 100-point scale. Numbers below 50 show activity contracting. The statistics bureau says the domestic COVID-19 outbreaks have impacted China’s factory activities and market demand. Some enterprises have reduced or stopped production, with disruptions in logistics as well as the supply or raw materials and components. The construction industry continued to expand, especially the civil engineering construction sector, offering hope for economic recovery.
April 30, 2022 4:06 am
HONESDALE, Pa. (AP) – A candidate in next month’s Republican primary for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor has been ordered to stay away from his home after his wife made claims of physical and mental abuse. Teddy Daniels was accused of making threats, saying he would kill the family dog and grabbing his wife by the shirt. A Wayne County judge granted a temporary protection from abuse order to Daniels’ wife on Tuesday. Daniels claims he has been “swatted,” or targeted with bogus calls leading state police to his home. He is vowing to stay in the race. Daniels is one of nine candidates seeking the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor.
April 30, 2022 4:05 am
Child welfare officials in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, the cradle of Mister Rogers’ TV neighborhood and the icon’s child-centric innovations, are using an algorithm to support agency workers as they make decisions meant to protect children from neglect. The AP identified several concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. Related issues have already torpedoed some jurisdictions’ plans to use predictive models, such as the tool notably dropped by the state of Illinois.
April 29, 2022 3:40 pm
(AP) – Relatives say a 22-year-old former U.S. Marine has been killed alongside Ukrainian forces in the war with Russia in what’s the first known death of an American citizen fighting in Ukraine. Rebecca Cabrera tells CNN her son Willy Joseph Cancel was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine. His widow, Brittany Cancel, tells Fox News he leaves behind a young son and that she sees her husband as a hero. The U.S. government has not confirmed the reports. On Friday, the State Department said it was aware of the reports and is “closely monitoring the situation” but could not comment further “due to privacy considerations.”
