April 20, 2021 4:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Washington, D.C., medical examiner’s office says Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick suffered a stroke after confronting rioters on Jan. 6 and died of natural causes. Investigators initially believed the officer was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher, based on statements collected early in the investigation. They later thought Sicknick may have ingested a chemical substance – possibly bear spray – that may have contributed to his death. But the determination of a natural cause of death means the medical examiner found that a medical condition alone caused his death. The determination is likely to significantly inhibit the ability of federal prosecutors to bring homicide charges in Sicknick’s death.
April 20, 2021 4:26 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, the explosive case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S. The jury deliberated about 10 hours over two days in a city on edge against another outbreak of unrest. Floyd died last May after Chauvin, a white officer, pinned his knee on or close to the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes. (Photo: CNN)
April 20, 2021 4:24 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Former Vice President Walter Mondale, a liberal icon who lost one of the most lopsided presidential elections after bluntly telling voters to expect a tax increase if he won, has died. He was 93. Mondale’s family says he died Monday in Minneapolis. Mondale served Minnesota as attorney general and U.S. senator. He followed the trail blazed by his political mentor, Hubert H. Humphrey, to the vice presidency, serving under Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. Mondale’s own try for the White House, in 1984, came at the zenith of Ronald Reagan’s popularity. On Election Day, he carried only his home state and the District of Columbia.
April 20, 2021 4:09 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pension contribution rates for tens of thousands of public school employees in Pennsylvania could be going up. The board of the $64 billion Public School Employees’ Retirement System voted Monday night to raise pension contribution rates starting next July 1 for about 94,000 public school employees, all hired in 2011 or after. The board made the move as it works to straighten out what it has called a consultant’s mistake that also has drawn queries from federal investigators. The board originally certified rates in December. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Pat Browne warned fellow board members that current state law doesn’t allow the board to recertify employee contribution rates.
April 20, 2021 4:08 am
BETHEL PARK, Pa. — (WPXI) -There have been some negative side effects reported worldwide from the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, but a Bethel Park woman told Channel 11 she has been affected by something that hadn’t been seen at all yet: paralysis. The 33-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she felt fine in the hours after getting the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine last week. However, she said 12 hours later, she woke up in the middle of the night with no feeling in her arms or legs. “It was the scariest thing in the world to go to sleep completely fine (and walking), to wake up 1:30 in the morning and not be able to move at all,” the woman said. “I’m literally counting on my daughter to hand me my phone to call to get help.” Paramedics came and rushed her to Jefferson Hospital. In the coming days, she was moved to Allegheny General Hospital in the Northside and then the Cleveland Clinic — as doctors ran a multitude of tests to figure out how and why this happened. An MRI and spinal tap were clear, and her blood work all came came back negative, ruling out any rare diseases or disorders. “There is just nothing they can find wrong with me. No underlying conditions, I have nothing in my history and they are basically telling me, ‘You’re healthy and we can’t figure out why this is going on,’” the woman told Channel 11. Luckily, she has been able to regain feeling and strength in her arms, but she still has no function from her lower chest down besides very slight movement in a few toes. Dr. Dave Weber, an infectious disease doctor with UPMC, said he has not heard of anything like this happening anywhere in the world with the Pfizer vaccine.
April 19, 2021 5:37 pm
MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) – A West Virginia man serving a long prison sentence for sex crimes has been set free after a judge said a county prosecutor erred in instructions to a grand jury. A judge in Marshall County last week dismissed the case against Michael Daniel Bowman with prejudice, meaning the state cannot retry it pending a review. News outlets report the ruling means Bowman was set free and will not be registered as a sex offender. Bowman had served more than three years of a 28- to 70-year sentence. He was convicted in July 2017 of sexual abuse by a custodian, sexual assault and three counts of first-degree sexual abuse.
April 19, 2021 5:36 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is privately weighing how to handle the upcoming verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, including considering whether President Joe Biden should address the nation. Aides and officials also tell The Associated Press that the Justice Department is dispatching specially trained community facilitators. Closing arguments began Monday in Chauvin’s trial with a prosecutor telling jurors that the officer “had to know” he was squeezing the life out of George Floyd as he cried over and over that he couldn’t breathe and finally fell silent.
April 19, 2021 4:19 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The nation’s largest coal miners’ union says it would accept President Joe Biden’s plan to move away from coal and other fossil fuels in exchange for a “true energy transition” that includes thousands of jobs in renewable energy and spending on technology to make coal cleaner. Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, says ensuring jobs for displaced coal workers is crucial to any infrastructure bill taken up by Congress. At least 7,000 coal workers lost their jobs last year amid continued declines in the industry. Roberts says Congress needs “to provide a future for anybody that loses their job because of a transition in this country.”
April 19, 2021 4:22 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A suspect was arrested Monday after three people were killed in a shooting in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. The suspect was arrested Monday morning outside Austin after two people spotted him and notified authorities, police said in a statement. Police identified the suspect as Stephen Broderick, 41. He is a former deputy for the sheriff’s office in Travis County, which includes Austin, interim Police Chief Joe Chacon said at a press conference Sunday afternoon. Police responded to a call of a shooting around 11:45 a.m. CT Sunday and found two women and one man injured, Chacon said. They later died. The preliminary indication was that the suspect knew the victims.
April 19, 2021 4:19 am
DETROIT (AP) – Federal safety regulators have sent a team to investigate the fatal crash of a Tesla near Houston in which local authorities say no one was behind the wheel. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday it has sent a Special Crash Investigation team to Spring, Texas, to look into the fiery Saturday night crash that killed two men. Harris County Precinct Four Constable Mark Herman says investigators are “100% sure” that no one was driving the Tesla that ran off a residential road, hit a tree and burst into flames. But they’re still trying to determine whether the electric car was in full self-driving mode.
