March 14, 2021 7:40 am
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Biden administration is turning to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help managing and caring for record numbers of unaccompanied immigrant children who are streaming into the United States by illegally crossing the border with Mexico. FEMA will support a governmentwide effort over the next three months to safely receive, shelter and transfer minor children who arrive alone at the U.S. southwest border, without a parent or other adult, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Saturday. Government figures show a growing crisis at the border as hundreds of children illegally enter the U.S. from Mexico daily and are taken into custody. The Homeland Security Department is supposed to process and transfer unaccompanied minor children to the Department of Health and Human Services within three days so that they can be placed with a parent already living in the United States, or other suitable sponsor, until their immigration cases can be resolved. But more children are being held longer at Border Patrol facilities that weren’t designed with their care in mind because long-term shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services have next to no capacity to accommodate them. Children are being apprehended daily at far higher rates than HHS can release them to parents or sponsors.
March 14, 2021 7:36 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI)— The U.S. Marshals Service is now involved in the search for a man wanted in the shooting death of an 18-year-old man in the Strip District last month. Marshals released new photographs of Howard Hawkins, also know as Mark McClendon, who is wanted in the homicide of Ahmir Tuli. Tuli was shot in the head shortly after 9 p.m. Feb. 21 on Penn Avenue, outside Preeti’s Pitt and across from Pittsburgh Winery. According to police documents, Hawkins got into an argument with other people inside Preeti’s Pitt and security told him to leave. Investigators said he then came back and shot Ahmir Tuli in the head outside the door. Charges against Hawkins include homicide and carrying a firearm without a license. The U.S. Marshals are also offering a reward for information leading to Hawkins’ arrest.
March 14, 2021 7:27 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — A man was hit and killed in downtown Pittsburgh Saturday night. Investigators said it happened at the intersection of Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street around 9:30 p.m. When first responders arrived, they found the man under the vehicle. He was declared dead at the scene. The person’s identity has not yet been released. Police said the driver remained at the scene and was cooperating. (Photo: WPXI)
March 14, 2021 3:32 am
While you turn your clocks forward this Sunday, March 14, for Daylight Saving Time take some time to check your smoke detectors. This is the perfect time of year to check and replace batteries, or even replace old smoke detectors.
March 13, 2021 9:26 am
MOSCOW (AP) – Russian police have detained over 170 participants at a forum of independent members of municipal councils, an action that comes amid the authorities’ multi-pronged crackdown on dissent. Police showed up at the gathering in Moscow shortly after it opened on Saturday, saying that all those present would be detained for taking part in an event organized by an “undesirable” organization. A police officer leading the raid said the detainees will be taken to police precincts and charged with administrative violations. OVD-Info, an independent group monitoring arrests and political repression, said that more than 170 participants in the forum were detained.
March 13, 2021 9:23 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Gov. Andrew Cuomo has urged New Yorkers to “wait for the facts.” But patience has grown thin in the state legislature, where leaders in the state Assembly have announced an impeachment investigation, a first step toward potentially removing Cuomo from office. Cuomo has rebuffed calls to resign and staked his political future on the outcome of an independent investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James, who is examining allegations that the governor sexually harassed or inappropriately touched several female aides. The road to any impeachment proceeding is complicated, though, and could take months to play out.
March 13, 2021 9:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has directed his administration to order another 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, growing a likely U.S. surplus of doses later this year when much of the rest of the world struggles with deep shortages. Even before Wednesday’s order, the U.S. was to have enough approved vaccine delivered by mid-May to cover every adult and enough for 400 million people total by the end of July. Enough doses to cover 200 million more people are on order should vaccines from AstraZeneca and Novavax receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
March 13, 2021 9:16 am
The leaders of Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Bulgaria are calling for talks among European Union leaders about the distribution of vaccines. Austrian media reported Saturday that the five leaders wrote a joint letter to the heads of the European Commission and European Council. That came after Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz complained on Friday that, even though the EU had agreed on distribution of the vaccines on a per-capita basis, some countries were receiving considerably more than others. Officials elsewhere have noted that countries have wanted differing amounts of various vaccines and have not always taken up their full allocation. Kurz’s own health ministry has also rejected his claims.
March 13, 2021 9:13 am
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Portland police detained a crowd of at least 100 protesters Friday night at a demonstration, halting the march minutes after it started. The Oregonian/Oregonlive.com said the mass detainment shortly after 9 p.m in the Pearl District appeared to an example of kettling, a police tactic of surrounding a crowd and containing people within a perimeter. In a tweet and at the scene, police said they were detaining everyone within the boundary for the “investigation of a crime.” Portland has been the site of frequent protests, many involving violent clashes between officers and demonstrators, ever since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. Over the summer, there were demonstrations for more than 100 straight days.
March 13, 2021 4:36 am
NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. (AP) – A man who authorities say was driving drunk when he caused a head-on crash in western Pennsylvania that killed four people last month has been arraigned on numerous charges, including homicide by vehicle and reckless endangerment. Timothy Richardson, of Pitcairn, was westbound on Route 30 in North Huntingdon when he failed to negotiate a curve on Feb. 14 and crossed into the eastbound lane. Authorities say he collided with an eastbound vehicle carrying three women who were returning home from a Lunar New Year Mass at a Pittsburgh church. The women and a passenger in Richardson’s car were all killed, while Richardson suffered multiple injuries.
