July 27, 2020 4:03 am
BETHEL PARK, Pa. — (WPXI) – A Bethel Park couple is facing child endangerment charges after police said their 1-year-old son was found to have drugs in his system after multiple trips to the emergency room. According to a police criminal complaint, the investigation started after David Bianco and Ashley Hammill called 911 and told emergency responders that their son was unresponsive, not breathing and turning blue around 1:15 p.m. on July 10. When medics got to their home on Wellsview Road, which is located near South Hills Village Mall, investigators said the couple told them that the boy had “choked on food.” The boy stopped breathing several times in the ambulance, so they diverted to St. Clair Hospital and had the child flown to Children’s Hospital. Just 13 days later, the boy’s parents reported the same emergency to 911 again. During transport inside the ambulance, police said the child again stopped breathing several times and had to be taken to Children’s Hospital. When the child’s urine test came back, doctors said they found methamphetamine, fentanyl and norfentanyl in his system. Authorities then searched the couple’s home and found numerous drugs and paraphernalia. Both parents face charges of endangering the welfare of children, reckless endangerment and possession of a controlled substance. Bianco and Hammill are in the Allegheny County Jail and are awaiting preliminary hearings.
July 26, 2020 8:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the November election 100 days away, more Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction than at any previous point in Donald Trump’s presidency, putting the incumbent in a perilous position as his reelection bid against Democrat Joe Biden enters a pivotal stretch. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds Trump’s approval for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic falling to a new low, with just 32% of Americans supportive of his approach. Even Trump’s standing on the economy, long the high water mark for the president, has fallen over the past few months after seeming ascendant earlier this year.
July 26, 2020 8:19 am
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities declared a riot early Sunday in Portland, Oregon, where protesters breached a fence surrounding the city’s federal courthouse building where U.S. agents have been stationed. Police described via Twitter the “violent conduct of people downtown” as creating a “grave risk of public alarm.” Police demanded people leave the area surrounding the courthouse, around 1:20 a.m. Sunday, and said that those who fail to adhere may be arrested or subjection to teargas and impact weapons. By 1:40 p.m., both federal officers and Portland police could be seen on the streets, surrounding the courthouse, attempting to clear the area and deploying teargas. Protesters remained in the streets past 2:30 a.m., forming lines across intersections and holding makeshift shields, as police patrolled and closed blocks abutting the area. Multiple arrests were made, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many.
July 26, 2020 8:17 am
LONDON (AP) — Peter Green, the dexterous blues guitarist who led the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac in a career shortened by psychedelic drugs and mental illness, has died at 73. A law firm representing his family, Swan Turton, announced the death in a statement Saturday. It said he died “peacefully in his sleep″ this weekend. A further statement will be issued in the coming days. Green, to some listeners, was the best of the British blues guitarists of the 1960s. B.B. King once said Green “has the sweetest tone I ever heard. He was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.” Green also made a mark as a composer with “Albatross,” and as a songwriter with “Oh Well” and “Black Magic Woman.”
July 26, 2020 8:16 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Regis Philbin, the genial host who shared his life with television viewers over morning coffee for decades and helped himself and some fans strike it rich with the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” has died at 88. Philbin died of natural causes Friday night, just over a month before his 89th birthday, according to a statement from his family provided by spokesman Lewis Kay. Celebrities routinely stopped by Philbin’s eponymous syndicated morning show, but its heart was in the first 15 minutes, when he and co-host Kathie Lee Gifford — on “Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee” from 1985-2000 — or Kelly Ripa — on “Live! with Regis and Kelly” from 2001 until his 2011 retirement — bantered about the events of the day. Viewers laughed at Philbin’s mock indignation over not getting the best seat at a restaurant the night before, or being henpecked by his partner.
July 26, 2020 8:12 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WPXI) — Pittsburgh police are asking for the public’s help finding a 17-year-old woman and her 1-year-old son. Investigators said Jamilah Mclean, 17, and Josiah Mclean, 1, were last seen leaving home and going for a walk in Pittsburgh’s East Hills neighborhood around 2 p.m. Friday. According to police, the mother and son may still be in East Hills or in Braddock Hills. Police described the mother as 5-foot-3, 165 pounds, with black hair worn in braids. She also wears black glasses. Her son is 2-foot-4 and weighs 22 pounds. He also has black hair, according to authorities. There was no description available for what clothing they last had on. Anyone with information regarding their whereabouts is asked to call the special victims unit at 412-323-7141.
July 26, 2020 4:13 am
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. (WPXI) — The body of a 14-year-old girl who did not resurface after going into the Monongahela River on Friday was found Saturday afternoon, officials said. According to West Mifflin Police Chief Anthony Topolnak, the girl was fishing on the river with her family when she went out too far while playing in the river. She went under, and her family tried to rescue her unsuccessfully. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office later identified her as Kristina Rai. “The undercurrent is so strong over there. It don’t look like it. It looks as calm as can be, but the undercurrent is so strong,” Dave Lloyd, of Glassport, said. Officials said the search started around 5:50 p.m. Friday in the area of Lebanon School Road and Route 837 (Clairton Dravosburg Road) in West Mifflin. Crews later called off the search for the night out of safety for divers and resumed efforts about 6:30 a.m. Saturday. They continued searching until the girl’s body was found around 1:55 p.m. Crews focused their search Saturday in the area of the river between West Mifflin, Glassport and Dravosburg. Numerous agencies helped in the search, using boats, divers, sonar and drones.
July 25, 2020 4:29 am
BEIJING (AP) – South Korea has reported more than 100 new coronavirus cases for the first time in four months as more American states tightened anti-disease controls in response to rising infections. The South Korean government says the 113 new cases included 36 workers returning from Iraq and 32 crew members of a Russian freighter. China, which has relaxed most of its anti-disease controls after case numbers dropped off, reported 34 new cases in a new surge of infections. Worldwide, a total of 638,352 deaths and 15,672,841 cases have been reported, according to Johns Hopkins University. In the United States, the governor of Mississippi tightened controls on bars to protect “young, drunk, careless folks.”
July 25, 2020 4:27 am
HOUSTON (AP) – Legal groups sued the U.S. government Friday in an attempt to prevent the rapid expulsion of children that the Trump administration detained in hotel rooms under an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus. The groups sought a temporary restraining order on behalf of “unnamed children” held at the Hampton Inn & Suites in the Texas border city of McAllen. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the McAllen hotel is one of three Hampton Inns that the government has used nearly 200 times to detain children so it can rapidly deport them to their countries of origin.
July 25, 2020 4:26 am
NEW DELHI (AP) – India has begun its first human trials of a coronavirus vaccine candidate as the world’s second-most populous country recorded nearly 49,000 new cases. The additional infections take India’s total to more than 1.3 million on Saturday, with surges seen in a quarter of the country’s 36 states and union territories. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences says it administered the first dose of a trial COVID-19 vaccine on Friday. The drug Covaxin is among nearly two dozen that are in human trials around the world. South Korea reported 113 new cases, its first daily jump over 100 in nearly four months. Health authorities had forecast a temporary spike driven by imported infections including workers airlifted out of Iraq.
