May 6, 2021 7:56 am
LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) – With a badly aging bridge as his backdrop, President Joe Biden stood in reliably Republican Louisiana on Thursday to pressure GOP lawmakers to support his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. But he also expressed a willingness to compromise on the tax hikes on corporations he’s recommending to pay the cost. The president directly challenged the Republicans whose dogma has been that low taxes for corporations and the wealthy will fuel economic growth. But he declared he was willing to negotiate and dared them to do the same. (Photo: AP)
May 6, 2021 5:56 am
A Canonsburg man and former employee of West Penn Hospital has entered a guilty plea to some 89 charges in connection with the videotaping of patients and co-workers in a bathroom at the hospital. Guy Caley, 53, was convicted of 44 felony counts of intercepting communications and 45 misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy. He was charged last July after a hospital employee discovered a small video camera in a bathroom. The camera captured Caley attaching it to a chair in the bathroom. Investigators also identified more than 30 female patients whom he had recorded undressing in the hospital’s radiology department. Caley is to be sentenced August 16 in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
May 6, 2021 4:20 am
PHOENIX (AP) – The U.S. Department of Justice says it is concerned about ballot security and potential voter intimidation arising from the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate’s unprecedented private recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County. The head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a letter to GOP Senate President Karen Fann that the Senate’s farming out of 2.1 million ballots to a contractor may run afoul of federal law requiring ballots to remain in the control of elections officials. And the letter said the Senate’s plans to directly contact voters may violate federal laws banning voter intimidation.
May 6, 2021 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. officials say the Army plans to put a civilian in charge of the command that conducts criminal investigations, in response to widespread criticism that the unit is understaffed, overwhelmed and filled with inexperienced investigators. Officials familiar with the decision tell The Associated Press the decision reflects recommendations made by an independent commission in the wake of violent crimes and murders at Fort Hood, Texas, including the death of Vanessa Guillén, whose remains were found about two months after she was killed.
May 6, 2021 4:16 am
BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Authorities say a shooting at an eastern Idaho middle school has injured two students and a custodian, and a student suspected of being the shooter has been taken into custody. The Jefferson County sheriff says the victims’ injuries aren’t believed to be life-threatening. Police were called to the school around 9:15 a.m. Thursday, and multiple law enforcement agencies responded. Students were evacuated to a nearby high school in the small city of Rigby, which is about 95 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park. A 12-year-old student says she heard loud noises, then screaming. She says when her teacher went to check it out, and he found blood.
May 6, 2021 4:15 am
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – An Army trainee has been arrested after authorities say he boarded a South Carolina school bus with a gun and held the driver and elementary school students hostage before letting them off the bus. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says the incident started around 7 a.m. Thursday near Fort Jackson, the U.S. Army’s largest basic training facility. Lott says the trainee “ran off post and escaped,” armed with a rifle. He then got on a nearby school bus but later let the driver and students off before driving the bus for several miles himself. The sheriff says the man was later arrested without incident and will face multiple charges including kidnapping.
May 6, 2021 4:11 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – For a group of Pittsburgh women, their spring vacation to Florida was wonderful, until they stepped onto a Southwest Airlines plane to return home to Pennsylvania. “I felt bad that I was sneezing, but it was my allergies. I said to her (the flight attendant) I’m fully vaccinated. I didn’t want people to feel uncomfortable,” said Kelly Smith. Kelly Smith along with her sister, mother and friend were on Southwest flight 4427, which was scheduled to depart West Palm Beach and head toward home, when she started to sneeze. Smith tells Channel 11, the flight attendant brought her tissues for her to use, which she did, by removing her mask. Moments after doing so, Smith was being escorted off of the aircraft. The women tell Channel 11, after being removed from the aircraft, they had to purchase a hotel room for the evening, because Southwest Airlines rebooked them on a flight more than an hour away, at a different airport. Southwest Airlines sent a statement pertaining to this incident that reads in-part, “Our reports indicate this Customer was not wearing a mask properly on multiple occasions while onboard the aircraft and in the presence of other Customers and Crew. Southwest Airlines says they regret the inconvenience Smith and her party experienced, but that they were following federal guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
May 5, 2021 2:52 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – The government’s key COVID-19 relief program for small businesses has run out of money. The Small Business Administration says the Paycheck Protection Program has been exhausted. As of Sunday, the PPP had given out nearly 10.8 million loans worth more than $780 billion since April of last year. The program, which has run out of cash and refunded by Congress twice before, was scheduled to expire May 31. It’s not yet known if lawmakers will approve another round of funding.
May 5, 2021 12:43 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Peloton is recalling its treadmills after denying that they were to blame for the recent death of a child and the injuries of 29 others. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday that Peloton received 72 reports of adults, kids, pets or other items, such as exercise balls, being pulled under the treadmill. The recall comes after the safety commission warned last month that people with children or pets to immediately stop using Peloton treadmills. Peloton is best known for its stationary bikes, but it introduced the treadmill about three years ago and now calls it the Tread+. It costs more than $4,200. Those who own the treadmill can get a full refund from Peloton by Nov. 6, 2022.
May 5, 2021 4:17 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Two elderly Asian women were stabbed without warning as they waited for a bus in downtown San Francisco in the latest in a series of attacks against Asian Americans nationwide since the start of the pandemic. Police said in a statement that they have not ruled out the possibility that Tuesday’s attack was a hate crime, but officers were still gathering details. There have also been numerous attacks in New York City, where a police hate crime task force is investigating an assault of a 31-year-old Asian woman who was struck by a woman with a hammer while walking in Manhattan.
