May 20, 2021 8:57 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to 444,000, a new pandemic low and a sign that the job market keeps strengthening as consumers spend freely again, viral infections drop and business restrictions ease. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that applications declined 34,000 from a revised 478,000 a week earlier. The number of weekly jobless claims – a rough measure of the pace of layoffs – has declined steadily since the year began.
May 20, 2021 4:21 am
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) – A Texas man convicted of fatally beating his 83-year-old great aunt more than two decades ago was executed Wednesday evening without media witnesses present because prison agency officials neglected to notify reporters it was time to carry out the punishment. Quintin Jones received the lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the September 1999 killing of Berthena Bryant, agency spokesman Jeremy Desel said about 30 minutes after Jones was pronounced dead. Desel said the execution, the first in Texas in nearly a year, included a number of new personnel who have never participated in the process.
May 20, 2021 4:18 am
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – A woman heard shouting at police to “Bring Nancy Pelosi out” to be hanged during the attack on the U.S. Capitol is among those charged in a new round of arrests stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection. Pauline Bauer of Kane, Pennsylvania, faces the most serious charge in this latest round. She’s among two Pennsylvania residents and five from upstate New York charged Wednesday with being part of a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters who pushed past police officers and broke through windows and doors. Bauer appeared during an online court hearing and was released on bond.
May 20, 2021 4:16 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Attorneys for the state and for three former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd are making oral arguments Thursday before the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Prosecutors will seek to add an additional charge of aiding and abetting third-degree murder to the case. Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao are already charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter. Prosecutors want the new count after the Appeals Court ruled in February that a third-degree murder charge could apply in cases where only one person is endangered. The defense says it’s impossible for someone to aid in third-degree murder, because that crime does not require intent.
May 20, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has voted to create an independent commission on the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, sending the legislation to an uncertain future in the Senate as Republican leaders work to stop a bipartisan investigation that is opposed by former President Donald Trump. The bill passed the House 252-175 on Wednesday, with 35 Republicans voting with Democrats in support of the commission, defying Trump and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. Modeled after the investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the legislation would establish an independent, 10-member commission that would make recommendations by the end of the year.
May 20, 2021 4:13 am
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israeli media say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet has approved a unilateral ceasefire to halt an 11-day military operation in the Gaza Strip. The decision came after heavy U.S. pressure to halt the offensive. It was not immediately clear when the truce was to take effect. The public broadcaster Kan said the fighting was to halt immediately. Other TV channels said it would go into effect at 2 a.m. There was no immediate reaction from Hamas.
May 20, 2021 4:12 am
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) – A former mob boss who helped Youngstown earn the name “Crimetown U.S.A” has died at age 90. Lenine “Lenny” Strollo’s crime career ended in the 1990s when he agreed to testify at the federal trial of three men tasked with killing businessman and rival Ernie Biondillo. The men were found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. Strollo pleaded guilty to racketeering and tax charges in 2004 and was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison. He was released in 2012. Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains, who Strollo’s organization tried to kill, told The Vindicator, “His passing is an end of an era.”
May 20, 2021 3:52 am
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – A police union in West Virginia has filed suit to halt the formation of a civilian board to review complaints against officers. News outlets report the Monongalia-Preston Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 87 filed the lawsuit Wednesday morning, hours after the Morgantown City Council unanimously passed an ordinance creating the Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board. The lawsuit says the ordinance contradicts the state’s civil service law, which “is the exclusive law for hiring, firing, voting and disciplining police officers.” It asks a judge to stop the formation of the board. City officials declined to comment.
May 19, 2021 5:38 pm
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – A woman heard shouting at police to “Bring Nancy Pelosi out” to be hanged during the attack on the U.S. Capitol is among those charged in a new round of arrests stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection. Pauline Bauer of Kane, Pennsylvania, faces the most serious charge in this latest round. áShe’s among two Pennsylvania residents and five from upstate New York charged Wednesday with being part of a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters who pushed past police officers and broke through windows and doors. Bauer appeared during an online court hearing and was released on bond.
May 19, 2021 12:56 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania voters became the first in the nation to impose restrictions on a governor’s authority under an emergency disaster declaration. They approved constitutional amendments sped to a statewide referendum Tuesday by Republican lawmakers angry over how Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf handled the pandemic response. The vote on Tuesday’s primary ballot came as Republican lawmakers across the country have sought to roll back the emergency powers governors wielded during the COVID-19 pandemic. With 73% of precincts reporting, the two questions led with almost 54% of the vote. Wolf had opposed them, but has no say in what proposals lawmakers choose to put on the ballot to amend the state constitution.
