June 18, 2020 12:43 pm
A North Carolina man will face trial here in Washington County after allegedly assaulting police officers in the parking lot of a Centerville church earlier this month. According to police, it all started when 22-year-old Dillon Bernheisel’s wife called them during a domestic dispute in the parking lot of the Malden Christian Fellowship Church on the evening of June 3rd. When police arrived, they found Bernheisel sitting on the steps of the church and his wife sitting in a car. She claimed he had stripped off all his clothes but put them back on once officers arrived. Then, police say he became angry and threatened to “shoot and kill all police.” Next, a struggle broke out – resulting in the injury of one California Borough and one Centerville Borough police officer. Once arrested, the Whitesville, North Carolina native was charged with aggravated assault of an officer, disarming law enforcement, terroristic threats, indecent exposure, and many others. At Bernheisel’s preliminary hearing Thursday, in front of Magistrate Josh Kanalis, Bernheisel has been held for court on all charges, set to begin July 30th. He’s currently in the Washington County Jail on $25,000 bail.
June 18, 2020 8:45 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – About 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, a historically high number, even as the economy increasingly reopens and employers bring some people back to work. The latest figure from the Labor Department marks the 11th straight weekly decline in applications since they peaked at nearly 7 million in March as the coronavirus shut down much of the economy and caused tens of millions of layoffs. The decline was much smaller than in recent weeks, falling just 58,000.
June 18, 2020 8:38 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Jean Kennedy Smith, the youngest sister and last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy, died at 92, her daughter confirmed to the New York Times. Smith died Wednesday at her Manhattan home, her daughter Kym told the Times. Smith served as ambassador to Ireland for five years under President Bill Clinton. She also founded an arts education program that supports artists with physical or mental disabilities. She was the eighth of nine children born to Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy, and she tragically outlived several of them by decades.
June 18, 2020 4:16 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A Rivers Casino employee has tested positive for COVID-19, company officials confirmed Wednesday. A casino employee told our news partners at Channel 11 that it was a table games dealer who tested positive, but officials did not confirm where in the casino the employee works or when they were last at work. The casino opened June 9 with heavy guidelines to limit the amount of exposure to the virus, just days after most of southwestern Pa. moved into the green phase. Casino officials issued the following statement regarding the positive case: “Rivers Casino Pittsburgh was informed today that a Team Member has tested positive for COVID-19. Safety protocols put into place for reopening worked as intended, and all notifications are being made in accordance with Pennsylvania Health Department guidelines. In addition to property-wide sanitizing, all Team Members have worn face coverings since the casino reopened on June 9, and Team Members reporting any symptoms or a temperature above 100.4 degrees must get tested before returning to work.”
June 18, 2020 4:10 am
(AP) – Florida has shattered its previous record for the number of coronavirus cases recorded in a day. The Florida Department of Health on Thursday reported 85,926 coronavirus cases statewide, a daily jump of 3,207 cases, the largest daily increase since the start of the pandemic in March. The previous record – 2,783 cases – occurred Tuesday. The state has had at least 3,061 related deaths. At least some of the increase reflects expanded testing, especially among people who are younger and without symptoms. But the rate of positive tests also has been ticking upward in recent days, raising alarm.
June 18, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new book by former national security adviser John Bolton says President Donald Trump pleaded with China’s president during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects by purchasing more American farm products. The Associated Press has obtained an advance copy of the book, which the White House is working furiously to block. Bolton writes that he is “hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by re-election calculations.” And he says Trump “remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government.”
June 18, 2020 4:07 am
President Donald Trump weighed in on the shooting of Rayshard Brooks and the Atlanta police officer charged Wednesday with felony murder during an interview on Fox News. Trump said “you can’t resist a police officer” and said he heard an explanation from Garrett Rolfe’s lawyer that the officer heard a sound like a gunshot and saw a flash in front of him. “I don’t know that I would have necessarily believed that, but I will tell you, that’s a very interesting thing and maybe that’s so,” Trump said. “It’s going to be up to Justice. I hope he gets a fair shake because police have not been treated fairly in our country. They have not been treated fairly.”
June 18, 2020 4:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has released a long-awaited national plan to address the high number of veteran suicides. He’s proposing initiatives including firearm safety and wellness programs at workplaces to new barriers near railroads and bridges. According to the 66-page plan, the $53 million, two-year effort will include a public messaging campaign to raise awareness about suicide at a time of increased social distancing and isolation during a pandemic. Still, it remains unclear how much of the plan could result in immediate concrete action. Much of the effort will need congressional action, as well as cooperation from governors and local groups.
June 18, 2020 4:04 am
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Black community leaders in Tulsa said they fear a large rally by President Donald Trump in the city this weekend could spark violence. Meanwhile, the state’s governor asked Trump not to visit the site of a race massacre where up to 300 black residents were killed by white mobs in 1921. Tens of thousands of Trump supporters are expected in Tulsa Saturday for the first of a series of rallies across the country. The rally at the 19,000-seat BOK Center would overlap a two-day local celebration of Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the country.
June 18, 2020 4:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Facebook has removed a campaign ad by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that featured an upside-down red triangle. That symbol was once used by Nazis to designate political prisoners, communists and others in concentration camps. Nathaniel Gleicher, the company’s head of security policy, confirmed at a House Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday that the ad had been removed. He says Facebook does not permit symbols of hateful ideology “unless they’re put up with context or condemnation.”
