January 11, 2021 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is ordering the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff at federal buildings for the next several days. It’s a sign of respect for two U.S. Capitol Police officers who have died since last Wednesday’s violent protests at the Capitol, as well as all members of law enforcement across the nation. The proclamation makes no mention of the rioting at the Capitol. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick died after being attacked by rioters. The connection of Officer Howard Liebengood’s death to the riots was unclear, and people familiar with the matter say the officer’s death was an apparent suicide.
January 11, 2021 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser is seeking increased security around President-elect Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration in the wake of the mob insurrection at the Capitol. Bowser says in a letter to Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, that the security around the inauguration needs a different approach given last week’s mob action. She is asking that the security period around the inauguration last from Monday until Jan. 24 and that all permits for demonstrations be denied during that period. Bowser cited “new threats from insurgent acts of domestic terrorists” in her letter. D.C. does not have jurisdiction over the Capitol and other federal property within its borders.
January 11, 2021 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Impeachment pressure mounting, the House is working swiftly to try to oust President Donald Trump from office. Democrats are pushing the vice president and Cabinet to invoke constitutional authority to remove Trump from office. A resolution calling on Pence to do so was blocked Monday by Republicans. But more votes are expected Tuesday, with an impeachment vote Wednesday. Trump faces a single charge – “incitement of insurrection” – over the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. That’s according to a draft of the articles obtained by The Associated Press. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will proceed with legislation to impeach Trump if Pence doesn’t help. áTrump is set to leave Jan. 20 when Democrat Joe Biden is inaugurated.
January 11, 2021 4:14 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Port Authority bus driver has been placed on probation for three years after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a University of Pittsburgh student struck by the bus she was driving a year ago. Thirty-four-year-old Shavonne James also pleaded guilty Monday in Allegheny County Court to recklessly endangering another person in the death of 20-year-old Barbara Como of Chester Springs. Other charges of reckless driving, failure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and operating an improperly equipped vehicle were withdrawn. Authorities said James was driving in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood in January 2020 when she turned and hit Como, a senior studying anthropology and psychology.
January 11, 2021 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol last week was overwhelmingly made up of longtime Trump supporters. The Associated Press reviewed social media posts, voter registrations, court files and other public records for more than 120 people connected to the rioting. They include Republican Party officials, GOP political donors, far-right militants, white supremacists and adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory. The evidence gives lie to claims that the violence at the Capitol was perpetrated by left-wing antifa thugs rather than supporters of the president. An FBI official says investigators have seen “no indication” antifa activists were disguised as Trump supporters during the Capitol riot.
January 11, 2021 4:11 am
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) – Lehigh University’s board is stripping President Donald Trump of an honorary degree it granted to him more than three decades ago. The executive committee of the private university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, moved to rescind the 1988 honor a day after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol shortly after Trump made a speech nearby. The Lehigh Board of Trustees affirmed that decision on Friday but didn’t elaborate on its reasoning. Wagner College in Staten Island, New York, said Friday it also rescinded an honorary degree it gave Trump in 2004.
January 11, 2021 2:47 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania will soon begin vaccinating people 75 years and older and “essential workers” like police officers, grocery store clerks and teachers. That’s according to the state health secretary. Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday that the state remains focused on giving the COVID-19 vaccine to health workers and residents of long-term care facilities. But she says the state is making plans to move to the next stage of its vaccination plan. Levine says this group, which also includes clergy, postal employees and factory workers, will be eligible to receive the vaccine before everyone in the first group has been inoculated.
January 11, 2021 2:03 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Pittsburgh public safety officials said they are monitoring social media reports of possible protests in the city ahead of the Presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. According to a statement, officials said if any city employees participated in “Wednesday’s deadly insurrection” on Capitol Hill, they would be disciplined. Inauguration Day takes place on Wednesday, Jan. 20, where President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn into office. According to the Washington Post, Pittsburgh was included in social media posts among possible sites where violence could occur. A case study from the Alethea Group said posts about the city included pictures of stockpiles of ammunition. The report said specific locations included the U.S. Capitol and the Mall in Washington, the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio.
January 10, 2021 8:14 am
BEIJING (AP) — China’s state media lashed out at the latest move on Taiwan by the departing Trump administration, accusing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of “seeking to maliciously inflict a long-lasting scar on China-U.S. ties.” A writer for the official Xinhua News Agency also said in a commentary Sunday that the lifting of longstanding restrictions on U.S. government contacts with Taiwanese counterparts proves that Pompeo “is only interested in stoking unwarranted confrontations, and has no interest in world peace.” Another commentary posted online by CGTN, the English-language channel of state broadcaster CCTV, called Pompeo’s announcement “a cowardly act of sabotage” of the next U.S. administration. “The Trump administration, in its continuing efforts to burn the house down before leaving office, has crossed a dangerous red line with China days before incoming President Joe Biden takes office,” the commentary read in part. Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
January 10, 2021 8:12 am
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities said they determined the location of the crash site and black boxes of a Boeing 737-500 on Sunday, a day after the aircraft crashed into the Java Sea with 62 people on board shortly after taking off from Indonesia’s capital. The head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, Bagus Puruhito, said officials believe they identified the location of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — the so-called black boxes — because emergency signals transmitted by the devices were detected by a navy ship’s sonar system. “Hopefully we can lift the black boxes in short time to determine the cause of the crash,” military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said. Earlier Sunday, search and rescue operations resulted in parts of the plane being found in the sea at a depth of 23 meters (75 feet), leading rescuers to continue searching the area.
