January 25, 2022 4:11 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korean military officials say North Korea test-fired two suspected cruise missiles in its fifth round of weapons launches this month. North Korea has been increasing its testing activity recently in an apparent effort to pressure the Biden administration over stalled nuclear diplomacy. One official said intelligence officials were analyzing the launches. Another said they were made from inland North Korea. North Korea previously issued a veiled threat to resume the testing of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the American homeland, which leader Kim Jong Un suspended in 2018 while initiating diplomacy with the United States.
January 25, 2022 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Commerce Department says the U.S. supply of computer chips has fallen to alarmingly low levels, raising the prospect of factory shutdowns. It says companies that use semiconductors are down to less than five days of inventory. The department cited its survey of 150 companies that found chip inventories had dropped sharply from 40 days in 2019. The chips used in the production of automobiles and medical devices are especially scarce. The department said demand for chips was up 17% last year from 2019. (Photo: AP)
January 25, 2022 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered about 8,500 U.S. troops on heightened alert, preparing for possible deployment to Europe, if needed, to reassure NATO allies in the face of Russian aggression on the border of Ukraine. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Monday no final decisions have been made on U.S. deployments, but the troops need to be ready. Actual deployment could depend upon NATO deciding to activate its rapid-response force. In any event, the troops would not be sent to Ukraine itself, which is not a NATO member. Kirby said, “What this is about is reassurance to our NATO allies.”
January 25, 2022 4:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s state Senate majority leader says a partisan stalemate remains unbroken on a new map of congressional district boundaries for the state, and she predicted that the state’s highest court will end up settling the matter. Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, told a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon Monday that Senate Republicans have tried unsuccessfully thus far to broker an agreement between the Republican-controlled House, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Democratic lawmakers. She says they can’t agree and the courts will end up drawing maps. Monday was also the court-imposed deadline for parties – including Wolf, Republican lawmakers and Democratic lawmakers – to submit proposed maps to it.
January 25, 2022 4:03 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – President Joe Biden will be coming to Pittsburgh this Friday. Here’s what the White House said about his visit: “On Friday, January 28, the President will travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to discuss strengthening the nation’s supply chains, revitalizing American manufacturing, creating good-paying, union jobs, and building a better America, including through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.” It’s not clear yet where Biden will be visiting or when on Friday he’ll arrive.
January 25, 2022 2:12 am
A verdict has been reached in the non-jury trial of a Virginia truck driver who struck and killed another truck driver while tending to his disabled truck on Interstate 70 last year. Hosea Holcomb, 28 has been found guilty of striking and killing John Isenberg of Ohio. Video testimony showed Holcomb falling asleep at the wheel of his truck and swerving between lanes of traffic and the shoulder of the road before striking Isenberg. Holcomb did not stop after the accident and was pulled over by state police roughly 10 miles further east on Interstate 70. Holcomb is guilty of felony homicide by vehicle and accident causing death. He was also found guilty of four other summary offenses. In the order handed down late Friday by Judge Gary Gilman, Holcomb will be sentenced on April 8.
January 24, 2022 5:24 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. health officials say COVID-19 antibody drugs from Regeneron and Eli Lilly should no longer be used because they are unlikely to work against the omicron variant. The Food and Drug Administration said Monday it is revoking emergency authorization for both drugs. If they prove effective against future variants, the FDA says it can reauthorize their use. The move was expected because both drugmakers had previously said their drugs are less effective against omicron. Still, the federal action could trigger pushback from some Republican governors who have continued promoting the drugs against the advice of health experts.
January 24, 2022 2:05 pm
Authorities continue to investigate the cause of a fire Sunday morning in Buffalo Township. The call came in just before nine o’clock for a home on fire in the one hundred block of East buffalo Church Road. Firefighters say the fire was visible when they arrived on scene, with heavy fire showing from an upstairs bedroom. Officials say a woman was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh and according to reports, two children between the ages of seven and fifteen may have been placed with family members.
January 24, 2022 12:20 pm
(WPXI) – The Internal Revenue Service, which will begin to process income tax returns Monday, is urging taxpayers to make sure they have accurate information as they file their 2021 returns. Taxpayers should have received at least one of two letters from the IRS that they will need to file their return. If they have not, they soon will, the agency said late last week. The letters, one concerning the Child Tax Credit and the other one concerning stimulus payments, will be needed for anyone filing a 2021 return. The first letter, called the Advance CTC letter 6419, was first sent out in late December and is still going out to those who receive the credit, the agency said. The second letter concerns the stimulus check sent out last spring and the third Economic Impact Payment letter 6475 should be getting to taxpayers in late January.
January 24, 2022 9:54 am
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) – Don Wilson, co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the instrumental guitar band The Ventures, has died. He was 88. The News Tribune reports Wilson died Saturday in Tacoma of natural causes, surrounded by his four children. The band’s hits included á”Walk, Don’t Run,” and the theme song for “Hawaii Five-O.” They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. In the 1960s and early 1970s, 38 of the band’s albums charted in the United States. The Ventures had 14 singles in the Billboard Hot 100.
