December 4, 2021 4:16 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Health officials are reporting the first confirmed case of the omicron variant in Pennsylvania, a man in his 30s from Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health announced the case in a news release Friday. No other details were immediately available, including whether the man was vaccinated against COVID-19 or if he had been traveling. Health officials say contact tracing is underway. People in at least five other states have tested positive for omicron. Scientists are still learning about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some suspect, and whether it can thwart vaccines.
December 4, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has pledged to make it “very, very difficult” for Russia’s Vladimir Putin to take military action in Ukraine as U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian planning is underway for a possible military offensive that could begin as soon as early 2022. The new intelligence finding estimates that the Russians are planning to deploy an estimated 175,000 troops and almost half of them are already deployed near Ukraine’s border. That’s according to an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the finding. Russia has picked up its demands on Biden to guarantee that Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO.
December 4, 2021 3:57 am
Castle Shannon police are looking for a man in connection to a stabbing at a gas station on Mt. Lebanon Boulevard. According to our news partners at WPXI, three employees working in the store Friday evening called in an assault to 911 at approximately 7:19 p.m. They explained to officers that there was an argument between a customer and an employee. The customer then pulled a knife and stabbed the employee in the arm. The injury is non-life threatening. The man then fled on foot away from the store. He is described as a Hispanic man, around 5 ft tall, dressed in all black, with a black beanie cap and a black face mask. Anyone who witnessed the incident or who may have related information is asked to call Castle Shannon Police Department at 412-473-3056 or dial 911.
December 4, 2021 3:54 am
04(WPXI) – A Washington County high school teacher is accused of assaulting her 16-year-old relative in her classroom on Nov. 23rd. Rachael Leigh Roberts, 43, is an English teacher at Ringgold High School, according to the school’s website. According to the criminal complaint, the victim entered the relative’s classroom at the end of the school day and the two began “aggressively arguing” over family issues which physically escalated to the relative “repeatedly striking [the victim] then picking [the victim] up off of a chair and shoving juvenile victim to the floor and restraining [the victim] by standing on [the victim’s] stomach.” The criminal complaint also says that after a while, the victim was able to escape to a nearby bathroom where Roberts pursued the victim and violently kicked the latched stall door. The stall door was damaged in the process. The estimated cost for the damage is not yet known. The victim, who’s a sophomore at Ringgold High School, said they had pain in their abdominal area from the assault but did not seek medical treatment. Roberts is being charged with simple assault and criminal mischief for the incident.
December 3, 2021 4:17 pm
A new variant of COVID-19 that first emerged in South Africa was detected in Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health announced that a Philadelphia resident has tested positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19. This person is a man in his 30’s from Northwest Philadelphia. The Heath Department is working to get more information on the case. Those variations, or mutations, are concerning to scientists who believe the omicron variant could be more easily transmitted. So far, symptoms reported are fatigue, body aches, a sore throat and cough. Doctors are working to learn more about it, including how the current COVID-19 vaccine responds to it.
December 3, 2021 2:08 pm
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) – The parents of a teen accused of killing four students at a Michigan high school have been charged with involuntary manslaughter. A prosecutor described chilling moments that day when a teacher found a drawing of a gun, a person bleeding and the words “help me” at the boy’s desk. Prosecutor Karen McDonald says Jennifer and James Crumbley committed “egregious” acts, from buying the gun for Ethan Crumbley and failing to intervene when they were summoned to the school and confronted with the drawing. Police say he returned to class and later emerged from a bathroom with a gun, firing at students in the hallway.
December 3, 2021 10:44 am
The Pa. Office of Attorney General will investigate the incident that occurred when Washington County Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis refused to turn over juvenile court files. Davis was handcuffed and claims she was assaulted by county deputies. Davis and County Prothonotary Laura Hough both filed reports with the Washington Police Department following the incident. The pair also asked the Washington County District Attorney’s office to investigate. District Attorney Jason Walsh tells WJPA News that he referred the matter to the State Attorney General’s office on Monday and has learned that they will look into the matter.
December 3, 2021 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – America’s employers slowed the pace of their hiring in November, adding a still-solid 210,000 jobs, the fewest in nearly a year. Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate fell sharply to 4.2% from 4.6%. That is a historically low level though still above the pre-pandemic jobless rate of 3.5%.
December 3, 2021 4:19 am
LANSING, Mich. (AP) – A judge has ordered nine lawyers allied with former President Donald Trump to pay Detroit and Michigan a total of $175,000 in sanctions for abusing the court system with a sham lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results. The money, which must be paid within 30 days, will cover the legal costs of defending against the suit, which were more than $153,000 for the city and nearly $22,000 for the state. U.S. District Judge Linda Parker, who agreed to impose sanctions in August, rejected most of the attorneys’ objections to Detroit’s proposed award, but she did reduce it by about $29,000. Among the sanctioned lawyers were Sidney Powell (pictured) and L. Lin Wood.
December 3, 2021 4:17 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The omicron variant of COVID-19 has been discovered in at least five states, showing yet again how mutations of the virus can circumnavigate the globe with speed and ease. Just a day after the first known U.S. case was found in California, tests showed Thursday the omicron variant had infected at least five people in the New York City metropolitan area, plus a man from Minnesota who had attended an anime convention in Manhattan in late November. Officials reported another case in a Colorado woman who had recently traveled to southern Africa. The variant was also confirmed in an unvaccinated Hawaii resident with no recent travel history.
