June 5, 2021 4:21 am
GREENSBURG, Pa. — A 60-year-old man was arrested outside the Westmoreland Mall after a teen girl told police he followed her out to her car. The girl told police when she was walking in to work at the mall, William Gressman made a sexual comment toward her. Hours later as she was leaving, she told officers she recognized Gressman from earlier. She said he started following her to her car and appeared to be touching himself inappropriately. State police said security camera footage showed the encounter. Gressman admitted to the incident while being interviewed by investigators, according to court documents. He was taken to the Westmoreland County Prison on $5,000 bond.
June 5, 2021 1:17 am
(AP) – Facebook says it will suspend former President Donald Trump’s accounts for two years following its finding that he stoked violence ahead of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection. Facebook also plans to end a contentious policy championed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that automatically exempted politicians from certain moderation rules on its site. The social media giant said on Friday that will it will still apply this “newsworthiness” exemption to certain posts it deems to be in the public interest even if it violates Facebook rules, it will no longer treat material posted by politicians any differently from what’s posted by anyone else.
June 5, 2021 1:12 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A key member of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is flatly rejecting talk of any sort of audit of the 2020 presidential election. Rep. Seth Grove, who chairs the committee that handles election matters, said on Twitter on Thursday that the chamber “will not be authorizing any further audits on any previous election.” Grove made the statement a day after three fellow Republican state lawmakers toured the Arizona Senate GOP’s partisan audit of the 2020 election. Republican Sen. David Argall, however, says legislation or a resolution in his chamber to commission some sort of audit is a possibility. No election official or prosecutor has raised a concern over widespread election fraud in November’s election in Pennsylvania.
June 4, 2021 1:57 pm
CANTON, Ohio (AP) – The head football coach at an Ohio high school and six other coaches there have been ousted after a football player said he was forced him to eat pork in violation of his religious beliefs for missing a voluntary workout. The Canton City Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to not renew the coaching contracts of Canton McKinley head football coach Marcus Wattley, two of his assistants and an assistant baseball coach. With the same vote, the board also deemed three other assistant football coaches as ineligible for future coaching positions. An attorney retained by Wattley says details of the events were exaggerated and parts are false.
June 4, 2021 8:42 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers added 559,000 jobs in May, an improvement from April’s sluggish gain but still evidence that many companies are struggling to find enough workers as the economy rapidly recovers from the pandemic recession. Last month’s job gain was above April’s revised total of 278,000. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% from 6.1%. The speed of the rebound from the pandemic recession has caught employers off guard and touched off a scramble to hire. The reopening of the economy, fueled by substantial federal aid and rising vaccinations, has released pent-up demand among consumers to eat out, travel, shop, attend public events and visit with friends and relatives.
June 4, 2021 4:22 am
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) – Fisher-Price says it is recalling a model of its baby soothers after the deaths of four infants who were placed on their backs unrestrained in the devices and later found on their stomachs. In a joint statement with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Fisher-Price said Friday it is recalling its 4-in-1 Rock ‘n Glide Soothers, which are designed to mimic the motion of a baby being rocked in someone’s arms. The fatalities between April 2019 and February 2020 were a 4-month old from Missouri, a 2-month old from Nevada, a 2-month old from Michigan and an 11-week old from Colorado, according to the statement.
June 4, 2021 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republicans are panning President Joe Biden’s latest infrastructure proposal. Republicans view his proposed 15% corporate minimum tax as unnecessary, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. They are preparing to bring their own revised offer Friday. Biden and lead GOP negotiator Sen. Shelley Moore Capito spoke again Friday as negotiations grind on. The White House has downplayed what had been a deadline next week to see if there can be for progress toward a deal. Meanwhile, Democrats are taking steps to pass a bill on their own, if talks with Republicans fall apart.
June 4, 2021 4:16 am
(AP) – FDA approves obesity drug that helped people cut weight 15% Regulators say a new version of a popular diabetes medicine can be sold as a weight-loss drug in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Wegovy. It’s a higher-dose version of a diabetes drug from the Danish company Novo Nordisk. In company-funded studies, participants taking Wegovy had average weight loss of 15%. Participants lost weight steadily for 16 months before plateauing. In a comparison group getting dummy shots, the average weight loss was about 2.5%. More than 100 million adults in the U.S. are obese. Like other weight-loss drugs, it’s supposed to be used along with exercise and a healthy diet.
June 4, 2021 4:11 am
(AP) – The head of an American Legion post in Ohio has stepped down after organizers of a Memorial Day ceremony silenced a speech about freed Black slaves honoring soldiers after the Civil War. American Legion leaders in Ohio also suspended the post’s charter on Friday and are taking steps to close it. The moves come in the wake of intense criticism over the decision to censor retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter at the ceremony in Hudson, Ohio. Kemter said he wanted to share the history of how Memorial Day originated. But organizers said that wasn’t relevant to honoring the city’s veterans.
June 4, 2021 3:33 am
A West Virginia man who was living in Canton Township pleaded guilty to one of several felony charges in front of Judge Valarie Costanzo on Thursday. Charles Franklin Norris, 36 pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance. Norris was sentenced to 6-23 months in jail. However, the District Attorney agreed to the Public Defender’s request that Norris serve the minimum six months of the sentence and that would be served on electronic home monitoring with work release. Norris avoided several felony charges for prohibited possession of firearms and receiving stolen property. Costanzo granted the work release petition and Norris will report for his sentence on June 17.
