September 17, 2020 4:13 am
UNDATED (AP) – Though Hurricane Sally has passed, officials in Alabama and Florida are warning that the disaster isn’t over yet. Alabama Emergency Management Agency Director Brian Hastings said Thursday morning that inland flooding remains a concern. He says flooding continues to be a problem in the state’s southern counties and they expect many rivers to be in moderate or major flood state at noon and continuing through the weekend. In Florida, Escambia County Emergency Management Manager Eric Gilmore warned that “we are not out of the woods yet,” noting the dangers from cresting rivers. Sally sloshed ashore Wednesday morning on the Gulf Coast as a Category 2 hurricane. It has since weakened to a tropical depression.
September 17, 2020 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department has charged five Chinese citizens with hacks targeting more than 100 companies and institutions in the United States and abroad, including social media and video game companies as well as universities and telecommunications providers. The five defendants remain fugitives, but prosecutors say two Malaysian businessmen accused of conspiring with the alleged hackers to profit off the attacks on video game companies were arrested in that country this week and face extradition proceedings. The indictments announced Wednesday are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to call out cybercrimes by China.
September 17, 2020 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A military whistleblower says federal officials sought some unusual crowd control devices – including one that’s been called a “heat ray” – to deal with protesters outside the White House on the June day that law enforcement forcibly cleared Lafayette Square. National Guard Maj. Adam DeMarco says the Defense Department’s lead military police officer for the National Capital Region sent an email asking if the D.C. National Guard possessed a long-range acoustic device – used to transmit loud noises – or an “Active Denial System,” the so-called heat ray. DeMarco said he responded that the Guard was not in possession of either device. National Public Radio and The Washington Post first reported DeMarco’s testimony.
September 17, 2020 4:08 am
County Commissioners Diana Irey-Vaughn and Nick Sherman conducted a tour of Courthouse Square. Commissioners are interested in purchasing the neighboring Crossroads Center Building as a replacement to what was revealed as a crumbling office building lacking in space. Director of Buildings and Grounds Justin Welsh started the tour with a presentation that showed crumbling concrete, cracked floors and heaved sections of flooring in the garage. A video showed water pouring through upper levels onto cars inside the garage. First floor flooding has occurred twice in the last 5 years. Commissioners are looking to purchase the building across from their current home because repairs just to fix the leaking in the garage are excessive. Irey-Vaughn states that a current appraisal for the value of Courthouse Square is $3.9 million. The lowest bid just to repair the 310 space garage is $10.9 million. An additional $2.6 million would be needed to address other improvements. Poor drainage in the courtyard area of the building is the cause of the problems. Space in the building is limited as services currently offered are more than what was designed into the nearly 40 year old building. Irey-Vaughn states that if the county would proceed to purchase the Crossroads Center, after all due diligence and agreement on price, a contract could be finalized in 60-90 days. The county would receive revenue from current tenants. The Courthouse Square building would be demolished and held for possible expansion in the future.
September 16, 2020 5:35 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The federal government is outlining a sweeping plan to make COVID-19 vaccines available for free to all Americans. But a top health official cautioned that widespread vaccination is unlikely until well into 2021. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Senate lawmakers that any vaccine available this year will be reserved for the most critical populations. The Trump administration has continued to push its own timeline that a vaccine could be broadly available within weeks. Public skepticism of the vaccine effort continues after recent revelations that a Trump official tried to gain control over a key CDC publication.
September 16, 2020 1:51 pm
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation says it has resumed issuing REAL IDs. PennDOT paused REAL ID issuance throughout the state in March because of COVID-19, but it is now happening again at reopened Driver License Centers that offer driver license services. Enforcement of REAL ID will start Oct. 1, 2021 after being pushed back a year by the federal Department of Homeland Security in response to the pandemic. REAL ID is optional, but, starting Oct. 1, 2021, a Pennsylvania REAL ID driver’s license or ID card, a valid U.S. Passport/Passport Card or a military ID will be required to board a commercial flight or enter a federal building.
September 16, 2020 12:25 pm
MACOMB, Ill. (AP) – Classes at Western Illinois University in Macomb have been canceled and all the buildings on campus have been locked as police search for a student who fled after allegedly shooting his roommate. School officials say the shooting happened Tuesday night in the dormitory room where the suspect and victim lived. They have identified the suspect as 18-year-old Kavion Poplous. They say an arrest warrant has been issued for Poplous. Officials have not released the name of the student who was shot. They say he is out of surgery, but they do not know his condition.
September 16, 2020 11:56 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A man paralyzed in a 2016 shooting at cookout in western Pennsylvania that killed five people and an unborn baby has died. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office says 51-year-old John Ellis died Tuesday. The medical examiner says Ellis was taken to a hospital Friday. Ellis lived next to the Wilkinsburg home when gunfire rang out at the cookout on March 9, 2016. Three siblings, including one who was eight months pregnant, and two cousins were killed. A jury in February found one of the men charged not guilty, and charges against another man were dismissed. (Photo: WPXI)
September 16, 2020 11:54 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The third man sought in the death of an infant who was struck by a stray bullet that went into his family’s apartment during a shootout on a Pittsburgh street has turned himself in to authorities. Devon Thompson (pictured left), surrendered Tuesday. The 37-year-old McKees Rocks man faces charges of criminal homicide, criminal attempted homicide, aggravated assault and a weapons count, and it wasn’t known Wednesday if he’s retained an attorney. Authorities have said Thompson and two other men were at the Three Rivers Manor apartment complex when they opened fire on Aug. 24. Zykier Young was sleeping in his family’s apartment when he was struck in the head by a bullet.
September 16, 2020 11:08 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Big Ten is going to give fall football a shot after all. Less than five weeks after pushing football and other fall sports to the spring in the name of player safety during the pandemic, the conference changed course today and said it plans to begin its season the Oct. 23-24 weekend. Each team will have an eight-game schedule. The Big Ten said its Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously yesterday to restart sports. The vote last month was 11-3 to postpone, with Ohio State, Iowa and Nebraska voting against.
