October 15, 2021 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has set a vote to recommend criminal contempt charges against former White House aide Steve Bannon after he defied the panel’s subpoena. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said that the panel will vote Tuesday to recommend the charges. That would send the recommendation to the full House for a vote. If the House votes to recommend the contempt charges against Bannon, the Justice Department will ultimately decide whether to prosecute. The committee had demanded documents and testimony from Bannon, who was in touch with President Donald Trump ahead of the violent attack.
October 15, 2021 4:11 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A federal appeals court is once again allowing Texas to continue banning most abortions. The decision Thursday night keeps the law known as Senate Bill 8 in place as the Justice Department tries to halt the law. The Biden administration is suing Texas over the restrictions that ban abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has now allowed the law to proceed three times since August. The Texas law allows private citizens to collect at least $10,000 in damages if they bring a successful lawsuit against an abortion provider who violates the restrictions.
October 15, 2021 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill raising the nation’s debt limit until early December, delaying the prospect of an unprecedented federal default that would cause economic disaster. The House passed the $480 billion increase in the country’s borrowing ceiling on Tuesday after the Senate approved it on a party-line vote last week. Senate Republicans had derailed initial Democratic efforts to raise the debt limit, but a handful of Republicans eventually joined Democrats and allowed the bill to come to the floor for a vote. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell has said Republicans will offer no support for another increase in December.
October 15, 2021 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Average long-term mortgage rates jumped this week, with the benchmark 30-year loan again breaching 3%. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate for a 30-year mortgage rose to 3.05% from 2.99% last week. That is its highest level since April, when it peaked at 3.18%. The rate for a 15-year loan rose to 2.30% from 2.23% last week. The increase in mortgage rates came amid continued inflation pressures. The government reported Wednesday that retail inflation rose 0.4% in September, with its consumer price index up 5.4% over the past 12 months – matching the fastest pace since 2008.
October 15, 2021 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A judge is refusing to seal records and proceedings in the ongoing custody battle involving Sean Parnell, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. The judge, in his Thursday ruling, also rejected Parnell’s request to bar his wife from talking about past restraining orders she had sought against him. Parnell had made the requests after a rival for the Republican nomination, Jeff Bartos, and an associated super PAC attacked Parnell over the matter, calling him “unelectable.” Parnell’s campaign has disputed the notion that the restraining orders sought by Laurie Parnell in the contentious divorce case were evidence of any wrongdoing. Neither lasted more than a matter of days.
October 14, 2021 5:53 pm
(AP) – Stocks rallied on Wall Street Thursday as the market shook off several days of wobbly trading. The S&P 500 jumped 1.7%, its biggest gain since March. The wave of buying built on momentum from a day earlier, when the market broke a three-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6%, while the Nasdaq rose 1.7%. Health care stocks did especially well, led by a 4.2% gain in UnitedHealth Group after the leading health insurer easily beat analysts’ earnings forecasts and raised its outlook. Apple and Microsoft each rose more than 2%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.52%.
October 14, 2021 10:44 am
Two Charleroi residents have been arrested in a large-scale drug bust in the Mon Valley. Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh says 41 year old Danielle Rainey and 51 year old Derrick Price face charges of Possession with Intent to Deliver, Simple Possession and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Walsh says Charleroi Police were dispatched to assist Washington County Adult Probation on Wednesday and observed Rainey drinking on her porch in violation of her probation. A sweep of the house for officer safety revealed crack in plain view. A search warrant was executed on the home and turned up approximately 57 bricks of heroin and over $8,000 in U.S. currency.
October 14, 2021 9:25 am
The Chartiers Houston School District implemented an ‘external door lockdown’ Thursday morning due to an “external police action” in the community. Superintendent Dr. Gary Peiffer says it lasted less than ninety-minutes and “the situation did not involve any district students or facilities” Students were safe and continued their daily schedules in a normal fashion. Chartiers Township Police Chief James Horvath says an individual wanted on a warrant for attempted homicide out of Allegheny County was determined to be in the area and the school district was notified around 8 a.m. and asked to lock its doors out of an abundance of caution. That unidentified individual was taken into custody without incident. Peiffer says the ‘lockdown’ was lifted just after 9:30 a.m.
October 14, 2021 4:12 am
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – A man armed with a bow and arrows killed five people and wounded others near the Norwegian capital of Oslo. That’s according to police in the town of Kongsberg who arrested the assailant on Wednesday evening. The police chief says there was “a confrontation” between officers and the suspect, but he did not elaborate. Two other people were wounded and hospitalized in intensive care, including an officer who was off duty and inside the shop where the attack took place. Police were alerted to the attack around 6:30 p.m. and arrested the suspect about 20 minutes later. The community is 66 kilometers (41 miles) southwest of Oslo.
October 14, 2021 4:10 am
BANGKOK (AP) – After sending a record number of military aircraft to harass Taiwan over China’s National Day holiday, Beijing has toned down the saber rattling but tensions remain high, with the rhetoric and reasoning behind the exercises unchanged. Experts agree a direct conflict is unlikely at the moment, but also that the future of self-ruled Taiwan is increasingly becoming a powder keg where a mishap or miscalculation could lead to confrontation while Chinese and American ambitions are at odds. China seeks to return the strategically and symbolically important island and the U.S. sees Taiwan in the context of broader challenges from China. Leader Xi Jinping on the weekend again emphasized reunification of the nation must and will be realized.
