February 27, 2022 7:44 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Street fighting broke out in Ukraine’s second-largest city and Russian troops squeezed strategic ports in the country’s south Sunday, advances that appeared to mark a new phase of Russia’s invasion following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere in the country. Following its gains on the ground, Russia sent a delegation to Belarus for peace talks with Ukraine, according to the Kremlin. Ukraine’s president suggested other locations, saying his country was unwilling to meet in Belarus because it served as a staging ground for the invasion. Until Sunday, Russia’s troops had remained on the outskirts of Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million about 12 miles south of the border with Russia, while other forces rolled past to press the offensive deeper into Ukraine. Videos posted on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and Russian troops roaming the city in small groups. One showed Ukrainian troops firing at the Russians and damaged Russian light utility vehicles abandoned nearby. The images underscored the determined resistance Russian troops face while attempting to enter Ukraine’s bigger cities. Ukrainians have volunteered en masse to help defend the capital, Kyiv, and other cities, taking guns distributed by authorities and preparing firebombs to fight Russian forces.
February 27, 2022 7:40 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Four total states, including neighboring Ohio, have banned the sale of Russian-made vodka to show support for Ukraine. Gov. Mike Dewine of Ohio was the latest to announce that Russian-made vodka will be pulled from shelves. Here in Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf has not made such an announcement. Several area liquor stores Channel 11 contacted said they are still selling Russian vodka. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board issued this statement: “Understanding there are also various points of view on today’s political-economic climate– we believe that consumers and licensees should have the freedom – within the constraints of federally imposed sanctions – to make their own purchase decisions. Should such a ban become part of sanctions– we would no longer purchase Russian wines and spirits.”
February 27, 2022 3:40 am
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced Wednesday that Pennsylvania has reached a new COVID-19 vaccine milestone. Wolf says that as of Wednesday, 95-percent of Pennsylvanians, ages 18 and older received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. The announcement comes on the heels of declining coronavirus cases. Deaths, however, continue to inch up. State health officials say that since Thursday, there were 26 additional positive cases of COVID in Washington County, bringing the total number of coronavirus infections to 50,253. There were also three additional deaths, bringing the county’s death toll to 629. In Allegheny County, the total number of COVID cases stands at 260,180 with the addition of 158 new cases. There were also five new deaths. In Greene County, there are now 8,300 COVID infections with the addition of three new infections. Across Pennsylvania, health officials say the statewide number of COVID cases stands at 2,752,935 with the addition of 1,583 new cases. There were 79 new deaths reported, bringing the state’s death toll to 43,148.
February 27, 2022 1:30 am
A Burgettstown man is facing multiple charges, including criminal homicide, in the death of his six-month-old baby boy, Oliver, in December. Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh says 30-year-old Joshua George, the baby’s father, was the only person taking care of the baby when the child suffered serious injuries, including a fractured skull. Walsh says police in Smith Township were called to a home on Colony Road on December 30, 2021, for a medical emergency involving a six-month-old baby. The next day, on New Year’s Eve, the baby was taken to Weirton Medical Center in West Virginia and then flown to Children’s Hospital where he died. The medical examiner ruled that the baby died of blunt force trauma to the head and authorities say a doctor at the hospital said he had suffered injuries consistent with physical child abuse. Walsh says George was arraigned on the charges Friday and is being held in the Washington County Jail without bond.
February 26, 2022 4:10 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A New York man has been convicted of making deadly threats to a U.S. senator and two Fox News personalities. Military veteran Rickey Johnson was convicted by a jury Thursday in Manhattan federal court of threatening a federal official and making interstate threats. The 48-year-old Manhattan resident is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25, when he faces up to 20 years in prison. He was acquitted of one count of threatening a public official. Prosecutors say he posted videos online early last year threatening to kill Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Fox News hosts Greg Gutfeld and Laura Ingraham.
February 26, 2022 4:06 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Authorities have seized nearly $3 million worth of methamphetamine, hidden among a shipment of onions, during a tractor-trailer’s inspection at federal facility in San Diego. A K-9 unit for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection alerted to the trailer’s shipment of onions on Sunday and officers found nearly 1,200 small packages of meth. The agency announced the seizure Friday in a news release. The 46-year-old driver, a Mexican national who was not named, was arrested for the alleged narcotic smuggling attempt at the Otay Mesa port-of-entry commercial vehicle facility. The packages of meth were shaped into small globes with a white covering and meant to blend into the onions.
February 26, 2022 4:04 am
PASAMAN, Indonesia (AP) – A strong and shallow earthquake has shaken Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing seven people and injuring 85, while causing panic on the island and in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore. The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude 6.2 earthquake was centered in West Sumatra province. A video on social media shows residents gathering in the streets in neighboring Malaysia’s capital after high-rise buildings swayed for a few seconds. Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency says the land-based earthquake didn’t trigger a tsunami but that aftershocks are possible. Indonesia is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Ocean.
February 26, 2022 4:00 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian troops are storming toward Ukraine’s capital, and street fighting is breaking out. The soldiers advanced Saturday as city officials urged residents to take shelter. Amid the violence, the country’s president refused an American offer to evacuate, insisting that he would stay. As dawn broke in Kyiv, it was not immediately clear how far the soldiers had advanced. Skirmishes reported on the edge of the city suggested that small Russian units were probing Ukrainian defenses to clear a path for the main forces. The street clashes followed fighting that pummeled bridges, schools and apartment buildings, and resulted in hundreds of casualties. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling on Ukrainians to “stand firm” in a fight for the future of their country. U.S. defense officials believe the Russian offensive has encountered considerable resistance and is proceeding slower than Moscow had envisioned, though that could change quickly. Ukraine shot down two Russian transport planes, at least one with paratroopers on board.
February 26, 2022 3:53 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has introduced federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. In selecting Jackson, Biden on Friday delivered on a campaign promise, moving to further diversify a court that was made up entirely of white men for almost two centuries. Jackson is an attorney who possesses the type of elite legal background found in other high court justices, but who’s worked as a public defender. If confirmed, she will fill the seat on the nine-member court that will be vacated by liberal Justice Stephen Breyer. So the ideological balance of the 6-3 majority court won’t change.
February 26, 2022 3:32 am
The woman accused of driving the wrong way on Interstate 79 last October faced her preliminary hearing on Friday. Kristina Coyne, 27 of Washington waived her case to Common pleas Court, and is facing three homicide charges and three misdemeanor charges for her alleged role in the accident that killed 56 year old Holly Ann Davis, of Canonsburg. Coyne is accused of driving for more than 5 miles the wrong way on Interstate 79 at speeds of around 70 miles per hour before running head on into Davis’ vehicle. Coyne was injured in the accident and a blood alcohol count done at a hospital revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.2%. Coyne’s attorney pointed to a “mountain of video evidence” that needs to before he could set the best case to defend Coyne. No trial date has been set.
