February 20, 2021 4:15 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A Manhattan judge has thrown out a defamation lawsuit U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes brought against CNN. The lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages was rejected Friday by U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain. The California Republican had alleged the cable news company intentionally published a false news article and engaged in a conspiracy to defame him. The lawsuit said CNN in November 2019 published a report containing false claims that Nunes was involved in efforts to get “dirt” on then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. In court papers, CNN lawyers said Nunes never denied the report before it was published nor requested a timely retraction.
February 20, 2021 4:13 am
DENVER (AP) – The inspector general for the Department of Defense is investigating the Trump administration’s last-minute decision to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. President Donald Trump initially placed the command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. It was seen as a coup by Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, who was up for reelection. But Gardner lost in November, and Colorado overwhelmingly rejected Trump. The Trump administration then announced on Jan. 13 that the command would move to Alabama, a decisively pro-Trump state. The inspector general’s office will see if it complied with government policies.
February 20, 2021 4:13 am
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – An activist who participated in protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha has been charged with a felony for allegedly kicking in a door at the public safety building and making a comment about breaking a police officer’s fingers. Sixty-two-year-old Clyde McLemore of Zion, Illinois, was charged Friday with attempted battery to a law enforcement officer. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. McLemore was active in many of the Black Lives Matter protests after Blake’s shooting. He told the Kenosha News on Friday that he had just learned of the charges, saying the county charged him, but refused to charge the officer who shot Blake.
February 20, 2021 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States has returned to the Paris climate accord. President Joe Biden told a virtual gathering of European leaders Friday that the world “can no longer delay or do the bare minimum to address climate change.” Global leaders applauded the United States’ formal return to the mostly voluntary 2015 agreement. They say they expect the U.S. to show leadership in the fight against warming by setting strong targets for carbon pollution cuts by 2030. Trump said soon after he took office that he would start the process of pulling the U.S. from the Paris accord, but it didn’t take effect until Nov. 4, 2020.
February 20, 2021 4:07 am
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. (WPXI) — You might soon have to pay a toll to cross some bridges in Pennsylvania, including one in Bridgeville on I-79. This comes as reconstruction and rehabilitation of bridges in Pennsylvania can be accelerated after a new program was approved, according to the state’s Department of Transportation. Thursday, PennDOT announced the nine bridges in Pennsylvania that they are suggesting tolls be added to in order to help with transportation funding in the state. In a news release, PennDOT officials called the new tolling program “a viable near-term solution” and stated that the bridges under consideration are fairly large. They would require “significant funds to rehabilitate or replace.” PennDOT said the tolling would be entirely electronic, using E-ZPass or license plate billing. The money collected at each bridge would be used only for the construction, maintenance and operation of that bridge. The tolling would be installed for both directions of travel and cost between $1.00 and $2.00. The current budget for highway and bridge maintenance in Pennsylvania is about $6.9 billion per year, which PennDOT said is less than half of what’s needed to keep the roads and bridges in good condition. In Pennsylvania, the average bridge is over 50 years old. These bridge projects and the associated tolling will be looked at over the next year before any final decisions are made.
February 20, 2021 2:36 am
MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. (AP) – Authorities have charged a western Pennsylvania man with killing his brother and the brother’s girlfriend. Allegheny County Police arrested 60-year-old Timothy Gumm of Stowe Township on Thursday night. Earlier in the day, police had found the decomposed bodies of his 55-year-old brother, Christopher, and his brother’s girlfriend, 47-year-old Sally Sines. Authorities determined the pair had been shot earlier in the week. Timothy Gumm is held in the Allegheny County Jail while awaiting arraignment. (Photo: WPXI)
February 20, 2021 1:59 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Kim Kardashian West has filed for divorce from Kanye West after 6 1/2 years of marriage. Kardashian filed the papers Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The impending end of “Kimye” brings a close to one of the most famous celebrity unions of the 21st century, between a reality TV superstar and a hip hop and fashion mega-mogul. They have four young children: North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm. The two married in Italy in 2014. It was the first marriage for the 43-year-old West, and the third for the 40-year-old Kardashian.
February 19, 2021 4:18 am
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – A Florida man accused of trying to organize an armed response to supporters of former President Donald Trump when they were expected at the state Capitol last month has been indicted on federal charges. Court records show a federal grand jury in Tallahassee on Thursday formally charged Daniel Baker. Authorities say Baker was using social media to recruit people in a plot to create an armed circle around protesters and trap them in the Capitol. Court document describes a series of threats of violence Baker made on social media. Baker is described as anti-Trump, anti-government, anti-white supremacists and anti-police.
February 19, 2021 4:18 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) – After waiting months and sometimes years in Mexico, people seeking asylum in the United States are starting to be allowed into the country as they wait for courts to decide on their cases. It’s unwinding one of the Trump administration’s signature immigration policies that President Joe Biden vowed to end. The number of asylum-seekers coming in initially will be very limited, beginning Friday at a border crossing in San Diego and expanding to Brownsville, Texas, on Monday and El Paso, Texas, next Friday. U.S. officials are warning people not to come to the border, saying an estimated 25,000 people with active cases in the “Remain in Mexico” program should register online.
February 19, 2021 4:17 am
DALLAS (AP) – Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says his family vacation to Mexico was “obviously a mistake” as he returned stateside following an uproar over his disappearance during a deadly winter storm. The Republican senator said he began second-guessing the trip since the moment he first got on the plane Wednesday. He said, “In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it.” The Associated Press and other media outlets reported that he had traveled out of the country as hundreds of thousands of Texans were still grappling with the fallout of a winter storm that crippled the state’s power grid. The trip drew criticism from leaders in both parties.
