June 27, 2021 7:51 am
PITTSBURGH — A body found in the Ohio River earlier this week was identified Friday as a man who went missing in Pittsburgh’s South Side in January. William Casale, 62, was pronounced dead at 6:35 p.m. Monday in Kilbuck, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office reports. His body was pulled from the water at the 300 block of East Beaver Street near the Kilbuck Township Fish and Boat Commission Boat Ramp just south of Route 65. The medical examiner did not release a cause nor manner of death as of late Friday. Casale had gone missing in early January, prompting his family and police to ask the public for help finding him, on January 7th.
June 27, 2021 2:54 am
The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced Friday that the commonwealth’s mask order requiring universal face coverings will be lifted statewide at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, June 28th. “We are continuing to make progress toward stopping the spread of COVID-19 throughout the commonwealth, as many Pennsylvanians have taken responsibility for their own health and the health of their communities by getting vaccinated,” Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said. “Even though the universal masking order will be lifted in a few days, businesses, organizations, health care providers and other entities maintain the option of requiring employees, guests or customers to wear a mask, regardless of their vaccination status.” According to the CDC vaccine tracker, as of Friday morning, June 25, 74.9 percent of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older have received their first dose, while 59.4 percent are fully vaccinated.
June 26, 2021 9:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Former President Donald Trump will return to the rally stage this weekend. He’s holding his first campaign-style event since leaving the White House as he makes good on his pledge to exact revenge on those who voted for his historic second impeachment. Trump’s event, at the Lorain County Fairgrounds not far from Cleveland, will be held Saturday to support Max Miller. The former White House aide is challenging Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez for his congressional seat. Gonzalez was one of 10 GOP House members who voted to impeach Trump for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
June 26, 2021 9:20 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) – The first hurricane of the eastern Pacific season has formed and forecasters say it’s expected to grow stronger, bringing heavy rainfall while advancing northwestward off the Mexican coast. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said new Hurricane Enrique’s maximum sustained winds had risen to near 75 mph (120 kph) by early Saturday. They were expected to hit Category 2 force by Sunday. The storm’s core was predicted to stay at sea while moving parallel to the coast. But a tropical storm warning was declared from Zihuatanejo to Cabo Corrientes and forecasters warned of 6 to 12 inches of rain.
June 26, 2021 9:19 am
SEATTLE (AP) – The Pacific Northwest sweltered Friday as a historic heat wave hit Washington and Oregon, with temperatures in many areas expected to top out 25 to 30 degrees above normal in the coming days. Seattle was expected to edge above 100 degrees over the weekend and in Portland, Oregon, forecasters said the thermometer could soar to 108 degrees Sunday, breaking an all-time record. The heat wave shocked a region accustomed to mild summers where many don’t have air conditioning. Cities opened cooling centers, hospitals canceled vaccination clinics, baseball teams canceled games and utilities braced for power outages.
June 26, 2021 9:14 am
WUERZBURG, Germany (AP) – Investigators are looking for a motive behind an attack in the German city of Wuerzburg in which a man armed with a long knife killed three people and wounded at least five others. Authorities are praising passers-by who tried to stop the assailant. The suspect, a 24-year-old Somali, was shot in the leg by police and arrested after the Friday afternoon attack in the southern city’s downtown area. Police said his life was not in danger. Bavaria’s top security official, Joachim Herrmann, said the suspect had been known to police and had been admitted to a psychiatric unit a few days earlier
June 26, 2021 9:12 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A lawyer for the family of George Floyd is calling for a federal conviction for former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, saying he hopes that would lead to a longer sentence. Chauvin was convicted of murder and sentenced Friday in state court to 22 1/2 years in prison. After his sentencing, some family members said they wanted to see something longer. Attorney Ben Crump said a conviction on federal civil rights charges would be “maximum accountability.” If Chauvin is convicted of federal counts, he would be subject to a new set of sentencing guidelines and the ultimate sentence would be up to a judge. Experts said it’s unlikely that a federal sentence would be longer than a state sentence, and it would more likely run at the same time as the state sentence.
June 26, 2021 9:09 am
SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) – A 2018 engineering report said that the oceanfront condominium building that collapsed this week near Miami had “major structural damage” to a concrete structural slab below its pool deck that needed extensive repairs. The report was released by the city of Surfside as rescuers continued to dig through the rubble Saturday. They were trying to find any of the 159 people who remain unaccounted. At least four people were killed. The engineering report did not warn of imminent danger from the damage. But it did note the need for costly repairs to fix the slab as well as damaged concrete columns beams and walls in the parking garage.
June 26, 2021 3:55 am
An FBI agent applied for a federal warrant in 2018 to seize a cache of gold that he said had been “stolen during the Civil War” while en route to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, and was “now concealed in an underground cave” in northwestern Pennsylvania. That’s according to court documents unsealed Thursday. The FBI had long refused to confirm why exactly it went digging on state-owned land in Elk County in March 2018. Federal authorities say the dig came up empty. The FBI said in the newly released court documents that it feared the state of Pennsylvania would claim the gold for itself, setting up a costly legal battle.
June 26, 2021 3:50 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Lawmakers are sending the governor a bill to let Pennsylvania parents decide whether to have their children repeat a year of school. It’s a measure designed to help children catch up after a year of schooling disrupted by the pandemic. The Senate voted 50 to 0 on Thursday for the proposal. It also would permit students in special education to return for another year, even if they have reached the maximum age of 21. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf hasn’t said if he’ll sign it. Under the bill, parents would have to decide by July 15 whether their child should repeat a grade.
