April 2, 2021 4:12 am
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – A passenger train smashed into a vehicle on its tracks and partially derailed outside a rail tunnel in Taiwan, killing at least 36 people. Dozens were injured and railway officials said rescuers were searching for several still trapped. Survivors climbed out windows and onto roofs to reach safety in Taiwan’s deadliest railway disaster. The crash occurred early on a public weekend, and Taiwan’s extensive rail system is popular with people avoiding treacherous mountainous roads. Taiwan’s president said emergency services were fully mobilized to help. An official said the truck slid onto the track from a work site on the hillside above. Taiwan’s premier said checks of other rail lines would be required.
April 2, 2021 4:04 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The group that oversees maintenance and construction in the Pennsylvania Capitol is authorizing a nearly $1.5 million contract to renovate the governor’s suite. The Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday for an overhaul of the 10-room suite. It’s expected to be finished by year’s end. The work will include painting, marble cleaning, flooring, as well as removal of a wall to return the area to conditions when it was built in 1906. New heating and air conditioning is being installed separately. It’s the last part of the Capitol that hasn’t been extensively renovated in recent decades.
April 2, 2021 2:11 am
Washington City Council met Thursday afternoon and one of the biggest items on the agenda was the initial step to extend the Local Tax Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act commonly known as LERTA. This provision allows city residents who make improvements to their property to receive a graduated abatement on those improvements for three years. Councilman Joe Manning says it is a great program and application can be made for the program when a building permit application is made. Council will formally approve the extension at its next meeting. Council also approved a matching payment to the Dreamers Company for $10,000 to make improvements to the Seventh Ward Playground. The Kaboom Project will bring updated playground equipment and landscaping. According to Manning who has viewed artists renderings of the project, any type of playground equipment will be there. City Hall will be closed April 2 for Good Friday. The next council meeting will be May 6 at 1:00 PM via Zoom.
April 1, 2021 6:45 am
ORANGE, Calif. (AP) – The gunman who killed four people and critically wounded a fifth at a Southern California office building knew all the victims personally or through business dealings. Police said Thursday that apparently before opening fire the suspect chained shut the gates to two entrances, delaying police from getting inside. Among the victims of the shooting Wednesday afternoon in the city of Orange was a 9-year-old boy who was found cradled in the arms of a woman believed to be his mother. The woman was the only survivor among those shot. The others killed were a man and two women. No identities were released. The suspect was identified as Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez of nearby Fullerton. He was critically wounded.
April 1, 2021 4:10 am
MISSION, Texas (AP) – Overwhelmed and underprepared, U.S. authorities are releasing migrant families on the Mexican border without notices to appear in immigration court or sometimes without any paperwork at all. U.S. immigration authorities say court notices often take hours to prepare and describes the move as a way to save time. The rapid releases ease pressure on the Border Patrol and its badly overcrowded holding facilities but shift work to Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, which enforces immigration laws within the United States. When they get paperwork, migrants are now being told to report to ICE within 60 days.
April 1, 2021 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Joe Biden’s first Cabinet meeting of his presidency will be used to promote his new infrastructure plan. The coronavirus pandemic is giving Thursday’s gathering a very different look from Cabinet meetings held by Biden’s predecessors. Cabinet officials won’t meet in the room that bears its name. Instead, the meeting will take place in the more spacious East Room to allow for social distancing. All attendees, including the president, will wear masks. And the afternoon gathering probably won’t include the over-the-top tributes to the chief executive that came to define the Cabinet meetings held by President Donald Trump.
April 1, 2021 4:08 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas Republicans are setting out to begin passing sweeping new voting restrictions in America’s biggest red state. A bill the state Senate was debating early Thursday morning included reduced options to cast ballots, limits on polling hours and more power to partisan poll watchers. It comes after an elections overhaul was signed into law last week in Georgia, where opponents have already filed lawsuits and are calling for boycotts of corporations that are silent on restrictive voting measures. A vote was expected late Wednesday. A similar measure in the House chamber could advance toward a full vote as soon as Thursday.
April 1, 2021 4:07 am
The company at the center of quality problems that led Johnson & Johnson to discard a batch of its coronavirus vaccine has a string of citations from U.S. health officials for quality control problems. The little-known pharmaceutical company, Emergent BioSolutons, was a key to Johnson & Johnson’s plan to deliver 100 million doses of its vaccine to the U.S. by the end of May. But records obtained by The Associated Press show it has been cited repeatedly by the Food and Drug Administration for problems ranging from poorly trained employees to cracked vials and mold around one of its facilities.
April 1, 2021 4:01 am
HONOLULU (AP) – Police say a tourist from Pittsburgh has been charged with manslaughter after a deadly fight at a Hawaii vacation rental. Big Island police say a second tourist from Boston who had been arrested was released with no charges filed. Police were called to the Kailua-Kona vacation rental earlier this week when a 30-year-old man wasn’t breathing. Benjamin Fleming of Pittsburgh and Alexander Germany-Wald of Boston were arrested. Fleming was later charged while Germany-Wald was released. Fleming’s defense attorney asked to postpone his preliminary hearing and noted his client has no criminal history. A man who answered at a number for Alexander Germany-Wald declined to comment.
April 1, 2021 2:43 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – President Joe Biden wants $2 trillion to reengineer America’s infrastructure and expects the nation’s corporations to pay for it. The Democratic president traveled to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to unveil what will be a hard-hatted transformation of the U.S. economy. It includes $621 billion for roads, bridges and transportation infrastructure. The plan would also move the country away from fossil fuels toward cleaner energy. It would be financed by raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, among other measures. That could lead to fierce resistance from the business community and thwart attempts to work with Republican lawmakers.
