March 3, 2022 3:54 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Philadelphia health officials announced Wednesday that the city was lifting its indoor mask mandate, and officials expect to lift the school masking rules on March 9. The change comes as city health officials moved the city into the “all clear” category of its COVID-19 pandemic response metric. If infections, hospitalizations and the positive test rates continue to drop, Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said the city plans to drop the masking rules for schools on March 9, with the caveat that masks will be mandatory for the week after students return from Spring Break.
March 3, 2022 3:02 am
A Centerville man who pleaded guilty to rape of a child received his sentence on Wednesday. Sean Houston, 49 was sentenced to 20-40 years in state prison. Houston was convicted of performing sex acts on a minor for a period of approximately 5 years. Houston was also sentenced earlier in federal court to 28 years in prison for pleading guilty to two counts of being responsible for the production and possession of visual material depicting the sexual exploitation of a child between May 2016 and October 2018. Those sentences will be served consecutively, with the state sentence being served first. A victim impact statement from the minor aged victim spoke of the damage Houston’s assault on her has done. The victim and her family have asked that Houston be sentenced somewhere other than SCI Fayette or Greene so that they do not have to be reminded of his existence on a regular basis.
March 3, 2022 2:24 am
A Pennsylvania State Police Corporal is lodged in the Westmoreland County Jail, unable to make bond, after being arrested on 34 separate counts of child pornography. Authorities say Sean McKenzie, assigned to Troop T in New Stanton, was suspended without pay pending the resolution of the criminal charges. McKenzie has been with the State Police since 2008. The laundry list of charges against McKenzie include child pornography, photographing or videotaping sexual acts and dissemination of photographs, videotapes and films. Investigators said when he was picked up, he had a USB drive in his pocket containing child pornography and images on his phone. McKenzie was arraigned and his bail was set at five-hundred-thousand-dollars.
March 3, 2022 2:04 am
(WPXI) – A man was shot and killed by Connellsville police after a woman’s body was found inside a home Tuesday afternoon in Fayette County. State Police say Connellsville police had been called shortly after 4:30 p.m. to check on the welfare of a 45-year-old woman, now identified as Angela Faidley, at a home on Second Street in South Connellsville. Once officers got to the home, a 33-year-old man, now identified as Luke Stash, allowed them inside. That’s when, according to police, they found Faidley’s body in the basement. Officers say they tried to detain Stash but he fought them and started shooting at them with a pistol. Connellsville police officers returned fire, hitting him and killing him. State police say Stash died outside of the home. No officers were hurt. The investigation is ongoing.
March 2, 2022 5:39 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden’s White House is outlining a strategy it says will allow Americans to return to many normal activities safely after two years of pandemic disruptions. It’s time to stop letting the coronavirus “dictate how we live,” the White House said Wednesday. The 90-page National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan spells out initiatives and investments. They’re meant to continue to drive down serious illness and deaths while preparing for potential new variants and providing employers and schools the resources to remain open. One highlight is a new “test to treat” plan to provide free antiviral pills at pharmacies to people who test positive for the virus.
March 2, 2022 5:36 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate Judiciary Committee says hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will begin March 21. Sen. Dick Durbin, the committee chairman, announced the hearing schedule on Wednesday as Jackson was holding her first meetings with senators on Capitol Hill. As is tradition, the hearings will last four days, with opening statements on March 21 and testimony and questioning the next two days. The fourth day will include testimony from outside witnesses. Durbin says the committee “will undertake a fair and timely process to consider Judge Jackson’s nomination.”
March 2, 2022 4:14 am
BEIJING (AP) – Oil prices have surged another $7 per barrel after an agreement by the United States and other major governments to release supplies from strategic stockpiles failed to calm anxiety over Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Benchmark U.S. crude rose $7.94 to $111.35 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international price standard, gained $7.84 to $112.87 per barrel in London. The 31 members of the International Energy Agency, the club of major oil consumers, agreed to release 60 million barrels of crude from stockpiles in hopes of calming markets.
March 2, 2022 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Addressing a concerned nation and anxious world, President Joe Biden has vowed in his first State of the Union address to check Russian aggression in Ukraine, tame soaring U.S. inflation and deal with the fading but still dangerous coronavirus. Biden declared Tuesday night that he and all members of Congress, whatever political differences there may be, were joined “with an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny.” He asked the lawmakers crowding the House chamber to stand and salute the Ukrainians as he began his speech. They stood and cheered. The U.S. president is aiming to lead the country out of the pandemic and reboot his stalled domestic agenda as well as confront Russia’s aggression.
March 2, 2022 4:10 am
(AP) – A Russian official says troops have taken the Ukrainian port city of Kherson. But the Ukrainian military has denied that claim and a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday that “Kherson is very much a contested city at this point.” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov says the city is under Russian soldiers’ “complete control.” He says the city’s civilian infrastructure, essential facilities and transport are operating as usual and that there are no food shortages. He says talks between the Russian commanders and local authorities over how to maintain order in the city have been underway. The claims could not be immediately verified.
March 2, 2022 4:08 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, delivering the Republican rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday, painted the picture of a country in the grip of several crises. Reynolds depicted Biden’s year in office as having “sent us back in time to the late ’70s and early ’80s, when runaway inflation was hammering families, a violent crime wave was crashing on our cities, and the Soviet army was trying to redraw the world map.” Reynolds’ critique of Biden for the Russian invasion of Ukraine signaled the party’s commitment to casting Biden and Democrats as weak world leaders.
