July 3, 2021 9:19 am
ROME (AP) – The Vatican’s criminal tribunal has indicted 10 people and four companies on charges including extortion, abuse of office and fraud in connection with the Secretariat of State’s 350 million-euro investment in a London real estate venture. The tribunal president, Judge Giuseppe Pignatone, set July 27 as the trial date, according to a Vatican statement. Indicted were four former Vatican officials, including two officials from the Secretariat of State, as well as Italian businessmen who handled the London investment. Also indicted on alleged embezzlement charges was an Italian intelligence expert.
July 3, 2021 9:15 am
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A coalition of Minnesota’s largest law enforcement groups has sued the state to overturn a state law that changed the standard for justified use of deadly force by police. The lawsuit claims the law, which took effect in March, violates officers’ rights to self-defense and unconstitutionally compels officers to forfeit their rights to refuse to testify against themselves in deadly force cases. The law underwent a major rewrite following George Floyd’s death in the custody of four Minneapolis police officers last May. Minnesota Public Radio reports the rewritten standard narrowed the conditions for when deadly force is deemed appropriate.
July 3, 2021 9:12 am
PHOENIX (AP) – Newly released records show the top Republicans in Arizona’s largest county dodged calls from Donald Trump and his allies in the aftermath of the 2020 election, as the then-president sought to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in key battleground states. The records – including voicemails and text messages – shed light on another state where Trump, his attorneys and others mounted a behind-the-scenes pressure campaign on Republican officials overseeing elections. Days before Congress certified Biden’s win on Jan. 6, Trump pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn Biden’s win there.
July 3, 2021 9:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A ransomware attack has paralyzed the networks of at least 200 U.S. companies. That’s according to a cybersecurity researcher whose company was responding to the incident. John Hammond of the security firm Huntress Labs says a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate appears to be behind the attack. He says the criminals in the REvil gang targeted a software supplier called Kaseya, using its network-management software as a conduit to spread the ransomware more widely. Other researchers agreed with Hammond’s assessment. It was not immediately clear how many Kaseya customers might be affected or who they might be.
July 3, 2021 4:21 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Senate is considering an investigation into how last year’s presidential election was conducted. It’s a quest fueled by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that fraud was behind his loss in Pennsylvania. An Arizona-style “election audit” will face strident opposition from Democrats and, almost certainly, challenges in Pennsylvania’s courts. Senate Republicans have been mostly silent about their internal deliberations. Sen. Doug Mastriano, who has talked of bringing an Arizona-style audit to Pennsylvania, led a private briefing Wednesday for Republican senators. He also solicited legal advice from a Philadelphia-based law firm about using private money to finance consultants and lawyers.
July 3, 2021 4:19 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Republican-crafted bill to ban so-called COVID-19 “vaccine passports” and restrict the health secretary’s actions during health emergencies is dead after a veto by Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor. The measure that split both legislative chambers along party lines last month was vetoed Thursday by Gov. Tom Wolf. Legislative Republicans had sought to prevent what they view as a violation of health privacy through stigmatizing policies requiring proof of vaccination. The bill would have kept colleges and universities that receive state money from mandating proof of COVID-19 vaccination to undertake any activity. It also would have kept the health secretary from ordering closures or directing people to engage in disease mitigation efforts.
July 3, 2021 4:15 am
Rev. Dr. Roger Raymond Fischer, a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, has died at the age of 80. Fischer, who was from Washington, was elected to the State House of Representatives from the 47th Legislative District in 1966 and served until his retirement in 1988. At the age of twenty-five, Fischer was one of the youngest members to serve in the history of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. During his time in Harrisburg, Fischer also served as Chairman of the House Education Committee and on the State Board of Education. In 1998, Fischer received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Washington and Jefferson College. Friends will be received from one to three and six to eight p.m. on Tuesday, in the Hummell and Jones Funeral Home at 420 Locust Avenue in Washington. Services will be held at ten a.m. on Wednesday in the First Lutheran Church at 92 West Walnut Street in Washington. Burial will follow in Washington Cemetery.
July 3, 2021 4:14 am
A male suspect was being questioned Friday morning in connection with a pedestrian accident in Chartiers Township that left two teenage girls hospitalized. Chartiers Township Police Chief James Horvath tells WJPA News that it happened just after 10:30 p.m Thursday night as the girls, ages 14 and 15, were walking along N. Main St. Extension. When officers arrived they found one of the girls that had been struck. During the investigation, they then discovered that another girl had also been hit by the vehicle. Both were transported to Washington Hospital but their conditions have not been released. No identities were available. Chief Horvath says during the investigation they gathered important information about the vehicle involved and a ‘be on the lookout alert’ was issued. He says officers then located a vehicle that matched the description and identified the owner. As of 9 a.m., Horvath says detectives were still questioning the unidentified individual. At this time no charges have been filed. The investigation is ongoing.
July 2, 2021 4:16 pm
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Elsa has strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and it’s blowing off roofs and snapping trees in the eastern Caribbean, where officials closed schools, businesses and airports under the threat of flash flooding and landslides. Forecasters say it might reach Florida as a tropical storm by Tuesday. The Category 1 storm unleashed heavy rains and winds on Barbados and on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which are struggling to recover from recent massive volcanic eruptions. Authorities in Barbados reported damage but not deaths.
July 2, 2021 10:38 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – America’s employers added 850,000 jobs in June, well above the average of the previous three months and a sign that companies may be having an easier time finding enough workers to fill open jobs. Friday’s report from the Labor Department was the latest sign that the reopening of the economy is propelling a powerful rebound from the pandemic recession. Restaurant traffic across the country is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, and more people are shopping, traveling and attending sports and entertainment events. The number of people flying each day has regained about 80% of its pre-COVID-19 levels.
