November 12, 2021 4:05 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Details on the 18 lawyers who applied for an appointment to a Commonwealth Court vacancy in 2019 are in the hands of a news organization this past week after it won a two-year legal battle against Gov. Tom Wolf. LNP, The Caucus and Lancaster Online reported Wednesday that Wolf’s office released documents about the vacancy to which the Democratic governor appointed a former state Senate Republican lawyer. Wolf had tried to keep the judicial applicants’ names a secret. Crompton ran for a full 10-year term on the court in last week’s election and is trailing Democrat Lori Dumas, a Philadelphia judge, in unofficial results. State officials are directing a recount.
November 12, 2021 3:48 am
State Representative Jason Ortitay held a press conference to announce that he is fully supporting a law suit being filed by the townships of South Fayette and Collier and the Borough of Bridgeville in an effort to halt the proposed tolling of the bridge on Interstate 79 near the Bridgeville exit. Ortitay says that the procedures spelled out in Act 88 of 2012 to properly impose those tolls were not followed. State Senator Devlin Robinson states that the tolls will be in place in 2023, several years before construction on the bridge begins and there is no plan to stop collecting tolls. South Fayette Township Commissioner President Gwen Rodi says that the tolls would be an extra financial burden on citizens stating that the round trip fee for one car into Pittsburgh would be $1000 per year. She also states that those tolls could possibly kill an already growing financial boom to the township. The law suit was filed in Commonwealth Court Thursday morning.
November 11, 2021 5:29 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by a U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, granting – for now – a request from former President Donald Trump. The administrative injunction issued Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit effectively bars until the end of this month the release of records that were to be turned over Friday. The appeals court set oral arguments in the case for Nov. 30. The case is likely to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
November 11, 2021 12:14 pm
(WPXI) – The Piano Man, Billy Joel, will return to PNC Park next summer. It’s been six years since Joel first put on a show at the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. His upcoming concert will take place on Aug. 11, 2022. Last week, the 72-year-old singer-songwriter, who released his last album of new songs in 1993, played his first monthly residency show at Madison Square Garden in his native New York since Feb. 20, 2020. Tickets will go on sale on Nov. 19th at 10 a.m. through LiveNation.com.
November 11, 2021 4:11 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The head of lighting on the film “Rust” has sued over Alec Baldwin’s fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of the Western. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles court Wednesday alleges widespread negligence that Serge Svetnoy says caused him “severe emotional distress” that will haunt him forever. The lawsuit names nearly two dozen defendants including Baldwin, the assistant director who handed him the gun, and the armorer who was in charge of weapons on the set. The defendants didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
November 11, 2021 4:09 am
HOUSTON (AP) – A 22-year-old college senior who was critically injured at the Astroworld festival in Houston has died. Attorney James Lassiter says Bharti Shahani died Wednesday. Her family says Shahani was studying electronics systems engineering at Texas A&M University and had been set to graduate next spring. She is the 9th person to die after festival goers rushed the stage Friday night when headliner Travis Scott took to the stage. Hundreds of others were injured in the melee. A criminal investigation into the deaths at Astroworld is underway.
November 11, 2021 4:08 am
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – Kyle Rittenhouse testified Wednesday that he was under attack when he shot three men during a turbulent night of street protests in Kenosha. Rittenhouse said he didn’t do anything wrong and was defending himself. His testimony was interrupted at one point by an angry exchange during which Rittenhouse’s attorneys asked for a mistrial over what they argued were “out-of-bounds” questions asked of Rittenhouse by the chief prosecutor. The judge did not immediately rule on the request. The startling turn came after Rittenhouse, in a high-stakes gamble, took the stand and testified that he was under attack when he shot three men during a night of turbulent protests in Kenosha. The 18-year-old said: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself.”
November 11, 2021 4:06 am
BALTIMORE (AP) – President Joe Biden is touting his $1 trillion infrastructure plan as an eventual fix for the nation’s inflation and supply chain woes – if Americans just have the patience to wait for the construction to begin. The president toured the Port of Baltimore Wednesday at the start of what is likely to be a national tour to showcase his signature legislation. The bill cleared Congress last week and he will sign it next Monday. He declared that the spending would improve transportation of products and supplies from overseas and within the U.S. – an important promise as Americans are coping with the highest annual inflation rate since 1990.
November 11, 2021 4:04 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Chris Stapleton won the most trophies, but Luke Combs won the biggest one at the Country Music Association Awards. Stapleton’s six trophies Wednesday night included album, single and song of the year. Combs, another of the night’s top nominees, won just one award but made it a big one with entertainer of the year. The Brothers Osborne won vocal duo of the year for the fourth time. Lead singer T.J. Osborne, who came out as gay this year, was emotional as he thanked the audience for its support. Jimmie Allen became the second Black performer to win best new artist.
November 11, 2021 4:02 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A federal judge has ordered a halt to enforcement of the Texas mask mandate ban in the state’s schools. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled Wednesday in Austin that the ban ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott violated a federal law protecting disabled students’ access to public education. The nonprofit advocacy group Disabled Rights Texas argued that Abbott’s ban prohibited accommodations for disabled children particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Yeakel prohibited Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from suing school districts that require students to wear masks as a safety measure. Messages seeking comment from Abbott’s and Paxton’s offices were not immediately returned Wednesday.
