July 26, 2021 4:24 am
KANOSH, Utah (AP) – Utah Highway Patrol says 20 vehicles were involved in a pileup crash during a sandstorm that killed at least seven people. The agency says in a news release that the crashes happened Sunday afternoon on Interstate 15 near the town of Kanosh. Several other people were reportedly taken to hospitals in critical condition. Ground and air ambulances were used to transport crash victims. Highway patrol says the crashes happened during a period of high winds that caused a dust or sandstorm which reduced visibility. The interstate remained partially shut down late Sunday. Traffic was redirected around the crash site.
July 26, 2021 4:22 am
WASCO, Calif. (AP) – The mayor of a California city says one deputy has died and another is wounded following a shooting during a standoff at a home. Wasco Mayor Alex Garcia says in a statement that the Kern County deputies were shot Sunday afternoon. News outlets report both were taken to a nearby hospital. KGET-TV video shows an American flag covering what appears to be a casket being loaded into a van with the words “coroner transport” on the dashboard and being driven away from the medical center. The suspect in the standoff has been shot by law enforcement and taken to a hospital. Two other people were also found inside the home with gunshot wounds.
July 26, 2021 4:22 am
INDIAN FALLS, Calif. (AP) – California’s largest wildfire merged with a smaller blaze and destroyed homes in remote areas with limited access for firefighters. Meanwhile, numerous other fires gained strength and threatened property across the U.S. West. The massive Dixie Fire had already leveled a dozen houses and other structures when it tore through the tiny community of Indian Falls after dark Saturday. An updated damage estimate was not available Sunday. That blaze is 21% contained. Firefighters also reported progress against the nation’s largest wildfire, the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon. It’s 46% contained. Fires also burned in Washington, Idaho and Montana.
July 26, 2021 4:20 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Republican who announced his candidacy for governor last month says he is cooperating with a police investigation into an accident in which a motorcyclist was killed and that shut down the Pennsylvania Turnpike for seven hours. In a statement Friday through a spokesperson, Charlie Gerow said that he didn’t cause the accident. Pennsylvania State Police have released little information about the accident Wednesday night, saying only that it involved a motorcycle and a car that Gerow has identified as the one he was driving. A witness told Spotlight PA that Gerow drove several miles with the motorcycle stuck to the front of his car.
July 26, 2021 4:18 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Republican state lawmakers are criticizing the decision by Pennsylvania’s top election official to decertify the voting machines of a sparsely populated county. Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid decertified the voting machines used by Fulton County in the 2020 presidential election after the county disclosed it had allowed a software firm to inspect the machines as part of a post-election assessment. Republican elected officials from that area argued in a news conference on Friday that the decision should be reversed. The software firm that conducted the assessment was not among the state’s certified vendors.
July 26, 2021 4:17 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – President Joe Biden will head to the Allentown area Wednesday. Biden is seeking passage in the Senate of a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure measure that a bipartisan group of senators brokered with him. The White House is billing Biden’s visit to Macungie as a stop to “emphasize the importance of American manufacturing, buying products made in America, and supporting good-paying jobs for American workers.” In the Senate, Republicans rejected an effort this week to begin debate on the infrastructure deal. Macungie is near the home of Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, who voted against opening debate. Supporters expect another vote, possibly next week.
July 26, 2021 4:14 am
ARNOLD, Pa. — (WPXI) – Ida’s building on Fifth Avenue collapsed on Sunday Evening in Arnold in Westmoreland County. According to Westmoreland County 911 officials, crews were called to the scene near 7:15 p.m. for a building collapse. No one was hurt and it is not known at this time what caused the collapse. (PHOTO; WPXI)
July 25, 2021 7:54 am
LONDON (AP) — Around two-thirds of female veterans in the British armed forces have experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination in their careers, a parliamentary report said Sunday. The report also said that women who reported serious sexual offenses are “denied justice” by an inadequate military court system and complaints process. Parliament’s defense committee found that 64% of female veterans and 58% of serving women said they have experienced bullying, harassment, discrimination in the army. Most say they don’t believe the military does enough to address the problem.
July 25, 2021 7:52 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors in R. Kelly’s sex trafficking case say he had sexual contact with an underage boy in addition to girls, and the government wants jurors in his upcoming sex trafficking trial to hear those claims. Prosecutors aired a wide-ranging raft of additional allegations — but not new charges — against the R&B star in a court filing Friday. Jury selection is due to start Aug. 9 in a New York federal court for Kelly, who denies ever abusing anyone. A message was sent Saturday to his lawyers about the additional allegations. The Grammy Award-winning singer is charged with leading what prosecutors call a criminal enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who allegedly helped him recruit women and girls for sex and pornography and to exercise a lot of control over them. The charges involve six different women and girls, who aren’t named in court filings. Now, prosecutors would also like jurors to hear about more than a dozen other people whom the government alleges that Kelly sexually or physically abused, threatened or otherwise mistreated.
July 25, 2021 7:50 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian whose feisty brand of standup comedy led him to Catskills nightclubs, West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, has died. He was 93. Mason died Saturday at 6 p.m. ET at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being hospitalized for over two weeks, the celebrity lawyer Raoul Felder told The Associated Press. The irascible Mason was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary, often about being Jewish, men and women and his own inadequacies. His typical style was amused outrage.
