January 16, 2021 4:20 am
The global death toll from COVID-19 has topped 2 million as vaccines developed at breakneck speed are being rolled out around the world in an all-out campaign to vanquish the threat. The milestone was reached on Friday, which is just over a year after the coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The number of dead was compiled by Johns Hopkins University. It is about equal to the population of Brussels, Mecca, Minsk or Vienna. It took eight months to hit 1 million lives lost. It took less than four months after that to reach the next million.
January 16, 2021 4:19 am
DALLAS (AP) – A Dallas-area real estate agent is facing charges for allegedly being part of the pro-President Donald Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol last week. A criminal complaint filed in a Washington federal court charges Jenna Ryan with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority” and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. Five people, including a police officer, died in the violent attack. Matt DeSarno, special agent in charge of the FBI Dallas office, confirmed that Ryan had turned herself in and her Carrollton apartment was searched Friday.
January 16, 2021 4:18 am
PHOENIX (AP) – Prosecutors who initially said there was “strong evidence” the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol last week aimed to “capture and assassinate elected officials” have backed away from that allegation. The withdrawal of the claim came after the head of the investigation cautioned that there was no “direct evidence” of such intentions. The accusation came in a court filing by prosecutors in the case against Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man who participated in the insurrection while sporting face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns. Prosecutor Todd Allison struck the assassination claim from a court filing, but said it may very well end up being appropriate at Chansley’s trial.
January 16, 2021 4:17 am
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden is pledging to boost supplies of coronavirus vaccine and set up new vaccination sites to meet his goal of 100 million shots in 100 days. It’s part of a broader COVID strategy that also seeks to straighten out snags in testing and ensure minority communities are not left behind. He says the lasting impact of his plan will come from uniting Americans in a new effort grounded in science and fueled by billions in federal money for vaccination, testing and outbreak sleuths. Biden spoke a day after unveiling a $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” to confront the virus and provide temporary supports for a shaky economy.
January 16, 2021 4:11 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is doubling the number of National Guard members it’s sending to help secure Washington after the violent riot last week in which angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday he’s sending about 1,000 more to help with the inauguration of Democrat Joe Biden on Wednesday. He’s previously deployed about 1,000 to Washington. Wolf has also called up about 450 Guard members to protect the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg and other possible targets of unrest. The FBI has warned of the potential for armed Trump supporters to cause trouble at state capitols.
January 16, 2021 2:04 am
Brady Hugh Paul, 20 of Canonsburg had several hearings in front of Judge Valarie Costanzo on Friday. Paul is facing rape and statutory sexual assault charges from a December 2019 incident where he allegedly supplied a 16 year old girl with marijuana and raped her. That case was continued to a pre trial motion hearing on April 1. Bond revocation hearings were also held for previous incidents. Paul pleaded guilty to a DUI and received six months probation for an August 2019 violation. That case will have a resentencing hearing in the next 60 days. Paul also pleaded guilty to an unauthorized use of a vehicle charge from November 2019. He received 3-23 months probation for that incident. In testimony from the probation office Brady committed four technical violations of his probation. He failed to live at the address given, he did not report to his parole officer, he tested positive for controlled substances and finally he did not pay court costs associated with his convictions. Against advice from his attorney, Paul testified in his own defense and failed to convince Costanzo that he should not have his bond revoked. Costanzo sentenced him to the maximum of the remaining sentence in the Washington County jail.
January 16, 2021 1:25 am
A fire at Maple Terrace in Washington is under investigation. City firefighters were called out around one-thirty Friday afternoon to reports of explosions and a fire. Washington Fire Chief Gerry Coleman tells WJPA News that when they arrived, they found an Orkin box truck with five propane tanks inside, on fire. Coleman says the truck had its rear gate open and the fire was essentially feeding into unit 119, which had been the unit the truck was being used on. Coleman says the driver of the truck, who was sitting in the cab, told them he heard a “whooshing” sound and when he got out, he saw the fire coming out of the rear of the vehicle. Coleman says several departments were called in to assist, along with the Washington County Hazmat team. He says there was one injury. A Washington City Police Officer suffered minor injuries and was taken to an area hospital for treatment. Coleman says unit 119 was gutted by the blaze and although several other units sustained some damage, once the utilities are turned back on, they will be habitable.
January 15, 2021 1:52 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence has called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to offer his congratulations. That’s, according to two peoples familiar with the conversation who were granted anonymity to share details of a private conversation. One of the people familiar with the Thursday afternoon conversation described it as a “good call,” with Pence congratulating his successor and offering assistance. The call comes less than a week before President-elect Joe Biden and Harris are set to take office, next Wednesday. It marks the first contact between elected officials from the outgoing and incoming administrations.
January 15, 2021 4:16 am
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) – The U.S. government has executed a drug trafficker for a series of slayings in Virginia in 1992, despite his recent COVID-19 infection. Corey Johnson received a lethal injection Thursday at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. He’s the 12th inmate put to death there since President Donald Trump resumed federal executions in July. Attorneys for the 52-year-old Johnson argued the injection would cause excruciating pain due to lung damage from his coronavirus infection last month. Johnson’s execution and Friday’s scheduled execution of Dustin Higgs are the last before next week’s inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who opposes the federal death penalty and has pledged to end its use.
January 15, 2021 4:15 am
MAMUJU, Indonesia (AP) – A strong, shallow earthquake has shaken Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, toppling homes and buildings, triggering landslides and killing at least 15 people. More than 600 people were injured during the magnitude 6.2 quake that struck just after midnight Friday and sent people fleeing their homes in the darkness. Authorities were still collecting information about the full scale of casualties and damage in the affected areas. There were reports of many people trapped in the rubble of collapsed homes and buildings. Thousands of displaced people were evacuated to temporary shelters.
