April 17, 2021 9:28 am
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The coroner’s office has released the names of the eight people who were fatally shot when a man opened fire at a FedEx plant in Indianapolis. Four of the victims of Thursday’s shooting were from Indianapolis’ Sikh community. The mass shooting marks another blow for the Asian American community in the United States. It comes a month after six people of Asian descent were killed in a mass shooting in the Atlanta area and amid ongoing attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. The shooter has been identified as a 19-year-old former employee of FedEx Brandon Scott Hole. Police say he killed himself after shooting his victims.
April 17, 2021 9:23 am
WINDSOR, England (AP) – Prince Philip will be remembered as a man of “courage, fortitude and faith” at a funeral that salutes both his service in the Royal Navy and his support for Queen Elizabeth II over three quarters of a century. Philip, who died April 9 at the age of age 99, will be laid to rest on Saturday in the Royal Vault at Windsor Castle after a funeral service steeped in military and royal tradition. But the service will also be pared down and infused with his own personality. Coronavirus restrictions mean that there will be only 30 mourners inside the castle’s St. George’s Chapel, including the widowed queen, her four children and her eight grandchildren.
April 17, 2021 9:21 am
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The global death toll from the coronavirus has topped a staggering 3 million people. The milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, comes amid repeated setbacks in the worldwide vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in places such as Brazil, India and France. The toll is about equal to the population of Kyiv, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; or metropolitan Lisbon, Portugal. It is bigger than Chicago (2.7 million) and equivalent to Philadelphia and Dallas combined.
April 17, 2021 4:38 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate fell slightly in March, as payrolls expanded and every economic sector except for construction recorded growth. That’s according to state figures released Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 7.3%, down a tenth of a percentage point from February’s adjusted rate. That was more than a whole point above the national rate of 6% in March. In a survey of households, the labor force remained virtually the same in March, at almost 6.34 million. In a separate survey of employers, payrolls in Pennsylvania expanded in February by 24,000, closer to 5.7 million. Pennsylvania has regained about 60% of the 1.1 million jobs lost in the pandemic.
April 17, 2021 4:05 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — The attorney for the man who claimed NFL superstar Aaron Donald assaulted him outside a club in Pittsburgh’s South Side has apologized. Todd Hollis, the attorney for De’Vincent Spriggs, said he reviewed video showing the fight from the club. He said after seeing it, it’s clear that Donald was trying to break up the fight. He said this situation was simply a mix-up. “I certainly extend an apology to Aaron for any problems this may have caused him. Aaron has certainly been through enough so we want to put this to rest,” Hollis said. Hollis said the man who did attack his client somewhat resembles Donald, but he wanted to publicly apologize for the false accusations. He said Spriggs suffered a concussion, broken nose, orbital bone and possibly a broken arm in the fight.
April 16, 2021 4:56 am
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – The former fire chief of the Cecil Volunteer Fire Company #2 in Muse and his mother, the former treasurer, are both accused of stealing nearly $50,000 from the department. Toni and Alan Zombeck are facing felony charges in connection with the incident. Investigators said they used the money to buy things at stores, restaurants and gas stations, and that they got cash-back withdrawals and more. The investigation began last fall when the fire company’s president noticed dry wall tools were charged to the department’s account at the same time Alan Zombeck was renovating his home. Police said he and his mother both had access to the departments bank account at Washington Financial Bank, and they also shared a personal bank account. Court papers said Toni Zombeck wrote more than $7,000 in checks payable to herself, made $4,000 in cash-back purchases, and paid roughly $15,000 of personal bills from the department’s funds. Those bills included car payments, gas and electric bills and more for her home.
April 16, 2021 4:35 am
Washington City Police have issued an alert for residents about a ‘game’ that they have been made aware of that is taking place in the area. Police say kids have been playing a game called ‘Assassin’. They are driving around town with b-b guns and shooting each other. Police say these guns look like real guns. Officers did stop one vehicle in which a group of males were waving a gun out of a moving vehicle. That gun was recovered. Police want kids and parents to know that this is a very dangerous situation and they are asking that they not play this game.
April 16, 2021 4:13 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Former Officer Derek Chauvin’s trial in George Floyd’s death will be in a jury’s hands by early next week. Chauvin’s brief defense wrapped up Thursday with Chauvin passing on a chance to take the stand and tell the public for the first time what he was thinking when he pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck. The fired officer’s defense took only two days of testimony compared to the prosecution’s two weeks. Chauvin informed the court Thursday that he will not testify, saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to take the stand. Closing arguments are set for Monday, after which the racially diverse jury will begin deliberating in a city on edge.
April 16, 2021 4:11 am
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) – Daunte Wright’s family joined community leaders in demanding more severe charges against the white former police officer who fatally shot the young Black man in the Minneapolis suburb, where hundreds of protesters again filled the streets in front of the police station. The protesters – shouting obscenities, shaking the police station’s security fence and occasionally lobbing water bottles – began thinning out as the 10 p.m. curfew approached. Earlier, former officer Kim Potter, made her first court appearance. She appeared alongside her attorney at a brief initial appearance over Zoom. She posted $100,000 bond after being arrested Wednesday. She’s charged with second-degree manslaughter in what her chief said appeared to be a case of confusing her Taser with her handgun.
April 16, 2021 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. is expelling 10 Russian diplomats and ordering sanctions against dozens of other people and companies. The retaliatory actions, announced Thursday by President Joe Biden, are to hold the Kremlin accountable for interference in last year’s presidential election and the hacking of federal government agencies. They are the first moves against the Kremlin for the hack, familiarly known as the SolarWinds breach. Russia swiftly denounced the actions and warned of retaliation. The U.S. measures signal a harder line against Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whom President Donald Trump was reluctant to criticize even as his administration pursued its own sanctions.
