February 20, 2021 4:07 am
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. (WPXI) — You might soon have to pay a toll to cross some bridges in Pennsylvania, including one in Bridgeville on I-79. This comes as reconstruction and rehabilitation of bridges in Pennsylvania can be accelerated after a new program was approved, according to the state’s Department of Transportation. Thursday, PennDOT announced the nine bridges in Pennsylvania that they are suggesting tolls be added to in order to help with transportation funding in the state. In a news release, PennDOT officials called the new tolling program “a viable near-term solution” and stated that the bridges under consideration are fairly large. They would require “significant funds to rehabilitate or replace.” PennDOT said the tolling would be entirely electronic, using E-ZPass or license plate billing. The money collected at each bridge would be used only for the construction, maintenance and operation of that bridge. The tolling would be installed for both directions of travel and cost between $1.00 and $2.00. The current budget for highway and bridge maintenance in Pennsylvania is about $6.9 billion per year, which PennDOT said is less than half of what’s needed to keep the roads and bridges in good condition. In Pennsylvania, the average bridge is over 50 years old. These bridge projects and the associated tolling will be looked at over the next year before any final decisions are made.
February 20, 2021 2:36 am
MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. (AP) – Authorities have charged a western Pennsylvania man with killing his brother and the brother’s girlfriend. Allegheny County Police arrested 60-year-old Timothy Gumm of Stowe Township on Thursday night. Earlier in the day, police had found the decomposed bodies of his 55-year-old brother, Christopher, and his brother’s girlfriend, 47-year-old Sally Sines. Authorities determined the pair had been shot earlier in the week. Timothy Gumm is held in the Allegheny County Jail while awaiting arraignment. (Photo: WPXI)
February 20, 2021 1:59 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Kim Kardashian West has filed for divorce from Kanye West after 6 1/2 years of marriage. Kardashian filed the papers Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The impending end of “Kimye” brings a close to one of the most famous celebrity unions of the 21st century, between a reality TV superstar and a hip hop and fashion mega-mogul. They have four young children: North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm. The two married in Italy in 2014. It was the first marriage for the 43-year-old West, and the third for the 40-year-old Kardashian.
February 19, 2021 4:18 am
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – A Florida man accused of trying to organize an armed response to supporters of former President Donald Trump when they were expected at the state Capitol last month has been indicted on federal charges. Court records show a federal grand jury in Tallahassee on Thursday formally charged Daniel Baker. Authorities say Baker was using social media to recruit people in a plot to create an armed circle around protesters and trap them in the Capitol. Court document describes a series of threats of violence Baker made on social media. Baker is described as anti-Trump, anti-government, anti-white supremacists and anti-police.
February 19, 2021 4:18 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) – After waiting months and sometimes years in Mexico, people seeking asylum in the United States are starting to be allowed into the country as they wait for courts to decide on their cases. It’s unwinding one of the Trump administration’s signature immigration policies that President Joe Biden vowed to end. The number of asylum-seekers coming in initially will be very limited, beginning Friday at a border crossing in San Diego and expanding to Brownsville, Texas, on Monday and El Paso, Texas, next Friday. U.S. officials are warning people not to come to the border, saying an estimated 25,000 people with active cases in the “Remain in Mexico” program should register online.
February 19, 2021 4:17 am
DALLAS (AP) – Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says his family vacation to Mexico was “obviously a mistake” as he returned stateside following an uproar over his disappearance during a deadly winter storm. The Republican senator said he began second-guessing the trip since the moment he first got on the plane Wednesday. He said, “In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it.” The Associated Press and other media outlets reported that he had traveled out of the country as hundreds of thousands of Texans were still grappling with the fallout of a winter storm that crippled the state’s power grid. The trip drew criticism from leaders in both parties.
February 19, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – White House officials say Joe Biden will use his first big presidential moment on the global stage at Friday’s Group of Seven meeting to announce that the U.S. will soon begin releasing $4 billion for an international effort to bolster the purchase and distribution of coronavirus vaccine for poor nations. Former President Donald Trump declined to participate in the COVAX initiative because of its ties to the World Health Organization. Trump had accused the Geneva-based health organization of covering up China’s missteps in handling the virus. The meeting of the G-7 is being held virtually.
February 19, 2021 4:13 am
UNDATED (AP) – The United States is once again part of the Paris climate accord. World leaders are applauding today’s formal return to the mostly voluntary 2015 agreement, saying it is symbolic and important. They say they expect the United States to show leadership in the fight against warming by setting strong targets for carbon pollution cuts by 2030. The Trump administration had announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord in 2019 but it didn’t take effect until Nov. 4, 2020. American cities, states and businesses still worked to reduce heat-trapping gases, but without the federal government.
February 19, 2021 4:13 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Many Texans finally have electricity back after a deadly blast of winter this week overwhelmed the electrical grid and left millions shivering in the cold for days. But the crisis is far from over, with 7 million in the state ordered to boil their water before consuming it. And in Jackson, Mississippi, nearly everyone in the city of about 180,000 lost water service. About 325,000 homes and businesses in Texas still had no electricity on Thursday, down from about 3 million a day earlier. Utility officials say there could be more limited rolling blackouts. The extreme weather has been blamed for the deaths of at least 56 people.
February 19, 2021 2:35 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation is naming nine bridges on six interstates that need upgrades and that it will consider for tolling to help generate the cash. PennDOT said Thursday the work on the nine bridges would be costly, needing billions of dollars. Tolling would be electronic and collected through E-ZPass or license-plate billing. The bridges are I-78’s Lenhartsville Bridge in Berks County; I-79’s bridges over State Route 50 in Allegheny County; I-80’s bridges across Canoe Creek in Clarion County, Nescopeck Creek in Luzerne County, North Fork in Jefferson County and the Lehigh River; I-81 over the Susquehanna River; I-83 over the Susquehanna River; and I-95’s Girard Point Bridge in Philadelphia.
