September 23, 2020 3:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says Vice President Mike Pence’s airplane struck a bird on takeoff in New Hampshire, causing the pilot to return to the airport out of caution. Pence was flying home to Washington from a campaign event Tuesday at an airport hangar in Gilford. When Air Force Two took off from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, it struck a bird. A senior administration official said the vice president and his entourage weren’t in danger. The official wasn’t authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Pence ended up flying home on a cargo aircraft that the Secret Service uses to transport his vehicles during his travel.
September 23, 2020 3:01 am
SEATTLE (AP) – Seattle will reduce the police department’s budget and reallocate some money to community programs after the City Council voted Tuesday evening to override Mayor Jenny Durkan’s veto of adjustments to this year’s budget. The council’s proposals approved last month were supported by demonstrators who have marched in the city for months following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but strongly opposed by the mayor and former police Chief Carmen Best. Council President M. Lorena González said before the vote that divestment from a broken policing model is not only the right thing to do, it is the needed course of action if they believe that Black lives matter.
September 23, 2020 2:59 am
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) – The U.S. government has executed a former soldier who said an obsession with witchcraft led him to kill a Georgia nurse he believed had put a spell on him. William Emmett LeCroy is the sixth federal inmate put to death this year at the U.S. prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Before that, there had been a 17-year hiatus without any federal executions. Lawyers had asked President Donald Trump in a petition to commute LeCroy’s sentence for killing Joann Lee Tiesler in 2001. They said LeCroy’s brother was killed during a routine traffic stop in 2010 and that another son’s death would devastate the LeCroy family.
September 23, 2020 2:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Thousands of people are expected to pay their respects at the Supreme Court to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the women’s rights champion, leader of the court’s liberal bloc and feminist icon who died last week. The court is closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic and Washington already is consumed with talk of Ginsburg’s replacement. But the justice’s former colleagues, family, close friends and the public will have the chance Wednesday and Thursday to pass by the casket of the second woman on the Supreme Court.
September 23, 2020 2:56 am
NORTH STRABANE, Pa. — Protecting residents and police is important in North Strabane Township. Supervisors took initial steps to further that stance on Tuesday night. The supervisors authorized the police chief to apply for a Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency grant to offset the cost of supplying body cameras to the township police force. Before finalizing the unanimous vote, supervisor Harold Close stated that this is not an authorization to purchase because much more information is needed before supervisors are ready to do that. Township Manager Andrew Walz stated that the way policing is conducted in today’s world, it is always good to have more information than less and body cameras can provide that. The grant, if approved, will be for $25,000. The township will match the other $25,000 needed to fund the project. Walz had no estimate on time to implement the program if the township was to proceed.
September 23, 2020 2:53 am
PERAVIA — Pittsburgh Pirates No. 3 prospect shortstop Oneil Cruz was under the influence of alcohol when he hit a motorcycle on Monday night in a crash that killed three people, according to a police report and authorities in the Dominican Republic. Cruz, 21, was arrested at the scene and is currently in police custody at the prosecutor’s office in the Peravia province. The prosecution presented a formal accusation against Cruz and requested a hearing for Wednesday. According to the report from the Department of Transit Safety and Ground Transportation, Cruz was driving east on Sanchez highway between Baní and San Cristóbal, near the community of Los Mercaditos de Paya in Bani, when he struck a motorcycle in front of him with three people aboard. According to the report, the motorcycle had no lights of any kind. Additionally, the prosecutor confirmed in a report that both Cruz and the three people on the motorcycle were traveling past the hour of the curfew established by the government of the Dominican Republic in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
September 23, 2020 2:51 am
CHICAGO (AP) – Chicago Bears Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers has died. Sayers made his mark as one of the NFL’s best all-purpose running backs and was later celebrated for his enduring friendship with a Bears teammate with cancer. Nicknamed “The Kansas Comet,” Sayers was considered among the best open-field runners the game has ever seen. Yet it was his rock-steady friendship with Brian Piccolo depicted in the 1971 film “Brian’s Song” that marked him as more than a sports star. Sayers died Wednesday at the age of 77, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Relatives say he was diagnosed with dementia. His wife said she partly blamed his football career.
September 23, 2020 2:49 am
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WPXI) — President Donald Trump made a campaign stop in the Pittsburgh area Tuesday, his fourth trip to Pennsylvania in the month of September. Trump’s Great American Comeback event took place at Atlantic Aviation, a private business near Pittsburgh International Airport in Moon Township. The entire area was packed as Trump touched on fracking, job creation, COVID-19 and condemned aggressive protesters. Not many people were observing social distancing, but a good number were wearing masks at the event. Earlier in the day, Gov. Tom Wolf said that the state had sent a letter to the White House about limiting the crowd for the event to only 250 people. Wolf said he received no response. Biden has made four visits to Pennsylvania this month, including one last week during which he focused on “Made in America,” highlighting the value of manufacturing jobs.
September 23, 2020 2:07 am
A Maryland man accused of holding up several convenience stores across three counties had his charges held for trial in Washington County. Rexford Enoch Prince-Wright faced District Justice Mark Wilson Wednesday. Prince-Wright, 23 of Hagerstown, Maryland is charged with the robbery of a convenience store at gunpoint in New Eagle on August 4. Prince-Wright and an accomplice are also accused of robberies in Monessen, Rostraver and Kennedy Township. Prince-Wright will face four felony robbery, firearms and terroristic threat charges. He will also face three misdemeanor charges. Prince-Wright is being held in the Allegheny County Jail. He is unable to post his $100,000 bail. Prince-Wright is awaiting preliminary hearings in Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties. Prince-Wright’s formal arraignment in Washington County will be October 29.
September 22, 2020 12:24 pm
(AP) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued its first guidance for the holidays, including Halloween, amid the raging coronavirus pandemic in a new posting on its website Monday night. Door-to-door trick-or-treating and costume masks and parties are discouraged this year due to the pandemic, the CDC said. “Many traditional Halloween activities can be high-risk for spreading viruses,” the agency said in its posting. “There are several safer, alternative ways to participate in Halloween>” The new guidance lists “low-risk, moderate and higher risk activities” for celebrating All Hallow’s Eve. Low risk activities include carving pumpkins and decorating your home, outdoor scavenger hunts, virtual costume contests and hosting a movie night with household members.
