December 13, 2021 3:28 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Gothic novelist Anne Rice has died due to complications from a stroke. Rice’s son Christopher Rice announced her death late Saturday on her Facebook page and his Twitter page. Rice was widely known for her bestselling novel “Interview With the Vampire.” The 1976 book was adapted into a movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in 1994. It was also expected to be portrayed in a TV series in 2022. Rice was expected to be laid to rest during a private ceremony at a family mausoleum in New Orleans. A public celebration of life was to take place next year. (Photo: AP)
December 13, 2021 12:56 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden said Monday that he will travel to Kentucky on Wednesday to view damage from last week’s devastating tornadoes that killed at least 64 people and displaced thousands more. Biden announced the upcoming trip following a briefing with homeland security and disaster response officials in the Oval Office to discuss what more the federal government can do to support those impacted by the natural disaster.
December 13, 2021 11:44 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s acting health secretary will depart at the end of December. The governor’s office made the announcement on Monday. Alison Beam had served in an acting role since January, when Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf tapped her to replace Dr. Rachel Levine. Beam guided the state’s COVID-19 pandemic response. She oversaw vaccine distribution and imposed a mask mandate for schools that was struck down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last week. Keara Klinepeter, the Health Department’s executive deputy secretary, will take over as acting secretary. The administration did not give a reason for Beam’s departure. Wolf is heading into the last year of his governorship. (Photo: Twitter)
December 13, 2021 5:56 am
NORTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Crews are working to repair a water main break in North Strabane Township Monday morning. A motorist called in the break near the intersection of Route 19 and Demar Boulevard at around 5:30 a.m. When officials arrived, debris was being carried by the water flow. Crews have closed Demar Boulevard from the intersection of Route 19 to Norris Drive. Drivers are urged to use caution while driving through the area. Pennsylvania American Water is working on the incident.
December 13, 2021 3:37 am
(AP) – USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have reached a $380 million settlement with hundreds of victims of sexual abuse. The settlement conditionally approved in federal bankruptcy court also includes some non-monetary provisions dedicated to making the victims stakeholders in USA Gymnastics going forward. The vast majority of the 500-plus victims voted in favor of the settlement. Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to detail sexual abuse at the hands of former USA team doctor Larry Nassar, says the lawsuit wasn’t about the money but the hope of effecting change within the organization.
December 13, 2021 3:37 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Air Force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate to get the shots. The Air Force gave its forces until Nov. 2 to get the vaccine, and thousands have either refused or sought an exemption. Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said Monday that these are the first to be administratively discharged for reasons involving the vaccine. She said all of them were in their first term of enlistment, so they were younger, lower-ranking personnel.
December 13, 2021 3:36 am
ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (AP) – A Michigan judge has declined to move the 15-year-old charged with killing four students at Oxford High School out of an adult jail. But she agrees that the jail needs to ensure the boy can’t hear or see grown-up inmates. Ethan Crumbley’s probable cause conference Monday in Rochester Hills District Court was adjourned to Jan. 7 to allow his lawyers to review witness statements and other evidence. Paulette Loftin, his court-appointed attorney, had argued that he should be moved to a juvenile facility because he “should not be considered a menace to other juveniles.” But District Judge Nancy Carniak ordered Crumbley to continue to be held in adult jail.
December 13, 2021 3:35 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The trial of a Minnesota police officer charged in the shooting death of Daunte Wright opens its second week of testimony Monday. A medical examiner is expected to walk jurors through Wright’s autopsy. The 20-year-old Black motorist was slain April 11 after being pulled over by police in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center for expired license plate tags and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. Kim Potter resigned two days after the shooting. The 26-year veteran officer is charged with manslaughter. Prosecutors spent the first week of testimony showing jurors body-camera and dashcam video that showed the traffic stop and shooting.
December 13, 2021 3:34 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is set to recommend contempt charges against former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The expected action Monday comes as lawmakers are releasing new details about documents Meadows has handed over to the committee. In laying out the case for the contempt vote, the nine-member panel released a 51-page report Sunday evening that details its questions about the documents he has already provided. The panel did not release the documents but described some of them, including details about Meadows efforts’ to help Donald Trump overturn his defeat in the presidential election.
December 13, 2021 3:32 am
MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) – Kentucky’s governor said that at least 64 people were killed in the state during a devastating cluster of tornadoes. At least 14 people are dead in four other states: Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters Monday that it could take days more to tally a final death toll because of the sheer devastation from the twisters Friday. As searches continued for those still missing, efforts also turned to repairing the power grid, sheltering those whose homes were destroyed and delivering drinking water and other supplies. Kentucky officials warned that residents could be without heat, water or electricity in frigid temperatures for weeks or longer.
