June 30, 2021 4:10 am
NEW YORK (AP) -“Smallville” actor Allison Mack was sentenced to three years in prison for her role in the scandal-ridden, cult-like NXIVM group. The sentence was handed down Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court. Mack had previously pleaded guilty to charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group’s spiritual leader, Keith Raniere. She cooperated against Raniere and took responsibility for helping him create a secret society of brainwashed women who were branded with his initials, which was expected to lower her sentence. Mack is best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on the series “Smallville.” She’s to surrender to prison Sept. 29.
June 30, 2021 4:09 am
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – About a dozen deaths in Washington and Oregon may be tied to an intense heat wave that brought scorching temperatures to the Northwest and has caused one power utility to impose rolling blackouts amid heavy demand. The dangerous weather that gave Seattle and Portland consecutive days of record high temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit eased in those cities on Tuesday. But inland Spokane saw temperatures spike. The National Weather Service said the 109 F on Tuesday in Spokane was the highest temperature ever recorded there. About 9,300 Avista Utilities customers in Spokane lost power on Monday and the company said more planned blackouts began on Tuesday afternoon.
June 30, 2021 4:03 am
ERIE, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say three people were found dead following a fire in a northwestern Pennsylvania home. State police say the blaze was reported shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Greene Township home in Erie County. Trooper Cindy Schick told the Erie Times-News that the three deceased individuals had not yet been identified. Volunteers with several local volunteer fire companies responded and had the blaze under control within an hour. Schick said the state police criminal investigation unit and a fire marshal are investigating.
June 30, 2021 3:59 am
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. – (WPXI) – Despite the mask mandate being dropped and steadily increasing numbers of people getting vaccinated, COVID-19 hasn’t gone completely away yet. A local family is now left without a mother due to the virus. “It was very hard. She was just laying there with a tube down her throat,” said Ty Barlow. 39-year-old Katie Barr of Bridgeville was diagnosed with COVID-19 on May 11 and gave birth to her fourth child two days later. After birth, the complications from the virus continued, eventually landing her in the ICU at UPMC Presbyterian hospital for the last three weeks of her life. Barr died on Sunday. She leaves behind her children – ages 7, 5, 2 and a 6-week-old baby girl.
June 30, 2021 3:49 am
A Strabane man was arrested Monday after a suspicious package was discovered at the Washington County Family Court Center. Authorities say 37-year-old Reed Morrow is accused of leaving a bag at the center and telling an attorney that he believed he had a bomb detonator. Morrow is being held without bond at the Washington County Jail, charged with one felony count of making terroristic threats resulting in the evacuation of a building. He was arraigned Tuesday morning. After the bag was discovered, the building was evacuated and the State Police Hazardous Device and Explosives Section (HDES) was called in. State Police tell WJPA News that the backpack did not contain anything explosive. Morrow was in the building to meet with his attorney in cases involving possession of drug paraphernalia, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. Authorities say Morrow told his attorney that he found the bag in a motel and wanted to leave it with her. Police say Morrow has since confessed to owning and packing the backpack.
June 30, 2021 3:39 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf has signed a roughly $40 billion budget package, before he spoke Wednesday at a Capitol news conference celebrating new funding for public schools. The budget legislation won approval Friday in the Republican-controlled Legislature. The package holds the line on taxes, and puts billions of dollars in federal coronavirus aid into reserve. Wolf is touting $300 million extra for school district operations, including setting aside $100 million of that for the poorest districts. In exchange, Republicans got Wolf to repeal a regulation to expand the ranks of lower-wage salaried workers who qualify for overtime pay. Wolf, though, says more still needs to be done for public schools.
June 29, 2021 4:23 am
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 3.9 earthquake has rattled the San Francisco Bay Area. The Monday earthquake’s epicenter was in San Lorenzo, an East Bay community in Alameda County 13 miles south of Oakland. Communities south of San Francisco – across the bay from San Lorenzo- felt the quake. A magnitude 3.2 earthquake was reported in near Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday. The quake was initially rated a 4.2 but was downgraded to 4.0 and then 3.9. The initial epicenter was reported as Ashland, near San Lorenzo, but the geological survey later also revised that.
June 29, 2021 4:22 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) – Tropical Storm Enrique is losing steam as it heads for the resorts at the southern end of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula after spending the weekend as the first hurricane of eastern Pacific season. Enrique passed by the Cabo Corrientes bulge on Mexico’s southwestern coast during Sunday night, and then began weakening Monday as it moved over the open sea. The storm’s maximum sustained winds were down to 60 mph (95 kph) by late Monday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says further weakening is expected and Enrique’s center is forecast to move near or over portions of the southern tip of Baja late Tuesday or early Wednesday
June 29, 2021 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new House committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol would have 13 members and the power to subpoena witnesses. That’s according to legislation released by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday. The House is expected to vote on the bill this week. The new committee comes as Senate Republicans blocked the formation of an independent, bipartisan commission to probe the attack, in which hundreds of former President Donald Trump’s supporters violently broke into the Capitol. The partisan House committee would have eight members appointed by Pelosi and five appointed “after consultation with” Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
June 29, 2021 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Surfside, Florida, on Thursday to visit with families of the victims of the collapsed Miami-area condominium tower. The slow work of sifting through the remnants of the collapsed building stretched into a sixth day on Tuesday, as families desperate for progress endured a wrenching wait for answers. Biden has offered federal help and extended his concerns to the community as people “grieve their lost loved ones and wait anxiously as search and rescue efforts continue,” he said in a tweet. The number of confirmed dead stands at 11, with 150 people still unaccounted for.
