July 4, 2021 7:40 am
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba prepared to evacuate people along the island’s southern region on Sunday amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people. The government opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm, whose next target was Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week. Elsa was located about 175 miles (280 kilometers) east-southeast of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and was speeding west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm killed one person in St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center. Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane up until Saturday morning, causing widespread damage in several eastern Caribbean islands on Friday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that completely collapsed as the government promised to find and fund temporary housing to avoid clustering people in shelters amid the pandemic.
July 4, 2021 7:35 am
MONESSEN, Pa. — Three firefighters were transported to local hospitals after a house fire on Park Way in Monessen caused the floor to give out. One was sent by helicopter to the UPMC Burn Clinic and the two others were ferried by ambulance to Mon Valley. There is no word as to what initially started the fire. 911 officials said that they were alerted to the scene just before 3 p.m. on Saturday. The Monessen fire chief said when firefighters got to Park Way, another person came up and shouted that someone was inside. Firefighters went in to try to rescue whoever might be in there, while other firefighters worked to put the fire out. The fire chief said that when first responders went into the house, they confirmed that there were signs that a squatter had taken over. They didn’t find anyone in the house but the fire chief said a Charleroi firefighter fell through the second floor onto the first floor and had to be life-flighted. Two other firefighters were treated for heat-related issues.
July 4, 2021 7:31 am
NORTH STRABANE, Pa. — Crews were called to the scene of a two-alarm fire in Eighty Four early Saturday evening. Reports say the fire started around 5:00 p.m. on Rush Lane. Nobody was injured in the blaze. North Strabane Fire Department was assisted by Peters Township, City of Washington, Canonsburg, Chartiers and South Strabane along with Canonsburg EMS. Houston, Mt. Pleasant Township, Muse and Canton Township were on stand-by while the crews took care of the incident. There is no word on what caused this fire. (Photo: Facebook)
July 4, 2021 6:54 am
Reports from the union that represents striking workers at Allegheny Technologies, Inc. steel mills in the region are saying that a deal is in place to end the steelworkers’ strike at ATI. The union says it’s reached a tentative agreement with the company. Contract talks had hit a wall over healthcare costs. On Friday night, the union says it had “preserved premium-free health insurance” and secured better pay. Workers will have to ratify the deal in the coming weeks. Around 1,300 employees at nine facilities have been on strike for the last three months.
July 3, 2021 9:21 am
(AP)-Coronavirus deaths in Russia have hit a record for the fifth straight day, with the authorities reporting 697 fatalities Saturday as the country faces a rapid surge of infections. The previous record on Friday was 679. Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported 24,439 new coronavirus cases – the highest daily tally since January and 1,200 more than the day before. Moscow, its outlying region and St. Petersburg accounted for nearly half of the new cases. The Kremlin insisted on Friday that the authorities are not discussing another lockdown. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted that the situation with the coronavirus remains “tense” in a number of regions, but said that “no one wants any lockdowns.”
July 3, 2021 9:19 am
ROME (AP) – The Vatican’s criminal tribunal has indicted 10 people and four companies on charges including extortion, abuse of office and fraud in connection with the Secretariat of State’s 350 million-euro investment in a London real estate venture. The tribunal president, Judge Giuseppe Pignatone, set July 27 as the trial date, according to a Vatican statement. Indicted were four former Vatican officials, including two officials from the Secretariat of State, as well as Italian businessmen who handled the London investment. Also indicted on alleged embezzlement charges was an Italian intelligence expert.
July 3, 2021 9:15 am
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A coalition of Minnesota’s largest law enforcement groups has sued the state to overturn a state law that changed the standard for justified use of deadly force by police. The lawsuit claims the law, which took effect in March, violates officers’ rights to self-defense and unconstitutionally compels officers to forfeit their rights to refuse to testify against themselves in deadly force cases. The law underwent a major rewrite following George Floyd’s death in the custody of four Minneapolis police officers last May. Minnesota Public Radio reports the rewritten standard narrowed the conditions for when deadly force is deemed appropriate.
July 3, 2021 9:12 am
PHOENIX (AP) – Newly released records show the top Republicans in Arizona’s largest county dodged calls from Donald Trump and his allies in the aftermath of the 2020 election, as the then-president sought to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in key battleground states. The records – including voicemails and text messages – shed light on another state where Trump, his attorneys and others mounted a behind-the-scenes pressure campaign on Republican officials overseeing elections. Days before Congress certified Biden’s win on Jan. 6, Trump pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn Biden’s win there.
July 3, 2021 9:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A ransomware attack has paralyzed the networks of at least 200 U.S. companies. That’s according to a cybersecurity researcher whose company was responding to the incident. John Hammond of the security firm Huntress Labs says a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate appears to be behind the attack. He says the criminals in the REvil gang targeted a software supplier called Kaseya, using its network-management software as a conduit to spread the ransomware more widely. Other researchers agreed with Hammond’s assessment. It was not immediately clear how many Kaseya customers might be affected or who they might be.
July 3, 2021 4:21 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Senate is considering an investigation into how last year’s presidential election was conducted. It’s a quest fueled by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that fraud was behind his loss in Pennsylvania. An Arizona-style “election audit” will face strident opposition from Democrats and, almost certainly, challenges in Pennsylvania’s courts. Senate Republicans have been mostly silent about their internal deliberations. Sen. Doug Mastriano, who has talked of bringing an Arizona-style audit to Pennsylvania, led a private briefing Wednesday for Republican senators. He also solicited legal advice from a Philadelphia-based law firm about using private money to finance consultants and lawyers.
