April 17, 2021 9:35 am
MOSCOW (AP) – An American astronaut and two Russians have returned to Earth after six months aboard the International Space Station. A Soyuz space capsule carrying NASA’s Kate Rubins and Russians Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov landed Saturday morning in the steppes of Kazakhstan. Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, said all three were feeling well after they were extracted from the capsule and began reacclimating to the pull of gravity. The three had arrived at the orbiting laboratory complex on Oct. 14. There now are seven people aboard the ISS.
April 17, 2021 9:31 am
BOSTON (AP) – The sprawling, monthslong hacking campaign came to be known as SolarWinds for the company whose software update Russian intelligence agents stealthily seeded with malware to penetrate ágovernment and private networks. Yet it was Microsoft whose code the cyber spies persistently abused in the campaign’s second stage as they rifled through emails and vital files of high-value targets and hopped undetected among victim networks. And that has put the world’s third-most valuable company in the hot seat. Lawmakers are insisting that Microsoft swiftly upgrade security to what they believe it should have provided in the first place, and do it without fleecing taxpayers.
April 17, 2021 9:30 am
PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) – Divers searching the site of a capsized lift boat off Louisiana’s coast have recovered two more unresponsive crewmembers. The Coast Guard declined to release more details, referring all questions late Friday to a local coroner. A Coast Guard statement said commercial divers on the capsized Seacor Power lift boat found the two Friday evening. Coast Guard Capt. Will Watson, commander of the New Orleans sector, said the agency extends its “deepest sympathy” to the family, friends and loved ones of all involved in what he called “this tragic incident.” áThe vessel, which supports offshore oil rigs, overturned Tuesday in rough weather south of the Louisiana coast.
April 17, 2021 9:28 am
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The coroner’s office has released the names of the eight people who were fatally shot when a man opened fire at a FedEx plant in Indianapolis. Four of the victims of Thursday’s shooting were from Indianapolis’ Sikh community. The mass shooting marks another blow for the Asian American community in the United States. It comes a month after six people of Asian descent were killed in a mass shooting in the Atlanta area and amid ongoing attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. The shooter has been identified as a 19-year-old former employee of FedEx Brandon Scott Hole. Police say he killed himself after shooting his victims.
April 17, 2021 9:23 am
WINDSOR, England (AP) – Prince Philip will be remembered as a man of “courage, fortitude and faith” at a funeral that salutes both his service in the Royal Navy and his support for Queen Elizabeth II over three quarters of a century. Philip, who died April 9 at the age of age 99, will be laid to rest on Saturday in the Royal Vault at Windsor Castle after a funeral service steeped in military and royal tradition. But the service will also be pared down and infused with his own personality. Coronavirus restrictions mean that there will be only 30 mourners inside the castle’s St. George’s Chapel, including the widowed queen, her four children and her eight grandchildren.
April 17, 2021 9:21 am
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The global death toll from the coronavirus has topped a staggering 3 million people. The milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, comes amid repeated setbacks in the worldwide vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in places such as Brazil, India and France. The toll is about equal to the population of Kyiv, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; or metropolitan Lisbon, Portugal. It is bigger than Chicago (2.7 million) and equivalent to Philadelphia and Dallas combined.
April 17, 2021 4:38 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate fell slightly in March, as payrolls expanded and every economic sector except for construction recorded growth. That’s according to state figures released Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 7.3%, down a tenth of a percentage point from February’s adjusted rate. That was more than a whole point above the national rate of 6% in March. In a survey of households, the labor force remained virtually the same in March, at almost 6.34 million. In a separate survey of employers, payrolls in Pennsylvania expanded in February by 24,000, closer to 5.7 million. Pennsylvania has regained about 60% of the 1.1 million jobs lost in the pandemic.
April 17, 2021 4:05 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — The attorney for the man who claimed NFL superstar Aaron Donald assaulted him outside a club in Pittsburgh’s South Side has apologized. Todd Hollis, the attorney for De’Vincent Spriggs, said he reviewed video showing the fight from the club. He said after seeing it, it’s clear that Donald was trying to break up the fight. He said this situation was simply a mix-up. “I certainly extend an apology to Aaron for any problems this may have caused him. Aaron has certainly been through enough so we want to put this to rest,” Hollis said. Hollis said the man who did attack his client somewhat resembles Donald, but he wanted to publicly apologize for the false accusations. He said Spriggs suffered a concussion, broken nose, orbital bone and possibly a broken arm in the fight.
April 16, 2021 4:56 am
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – The former fire chief of the Cecil Volunteer Fire Company #2 in Muse and his mother, the former treasurer, are both accused of stealing nearly $50,000 from the department. Toni and Alan Zombeck are facing felony charges in connection with the incident. Investigators said they used the money to buy things at stores, restaurants and gas stations, and that they got cash-back withdrawals and more. The investigation began last fall when the fire company’s president noticed dry wall tools were charged to the department’s account at the same time Alan Zombeck was renovating his home. Police said he and his mother both had access to the departments bank account at Washington Financial Bank, and they also shared a personal bank account. Court papers said Toni Zombeck wrote more than $7,000 in checks payable to herself, made $4,000 in cash-back purchases, and paid roughly $15,000 of personal bills from the department’s funds. Those bills included car payments, gas and electric bills and more for her home.
April 16, 2021 4:35 am
Washington City Police have issued an alert for residents about a ‘game’ that they have been made aware of that is taking place in the area. Police say kids have been playing a game called ‘Assassin’. They are driving around town with b-b guns and shooting each other. Police say these guns look like real guns. Officers did stop one vehicle in which a group of males were waving a gun out of a moving vehicle. That gun was recovered. Police want kids and parents to know that this is a very dangerous situation and they are asking that they not play this game.
