October 10, 2019 10:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan says two associates of Rudy Giuliani who are accused of trying to buy influence over U.S. policy on Ukraine were arrested while trying to leave the country. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman told reporters Thursday that businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were about to board an international flight from Virginia with one-way tickets when they were detained at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The pair and a third man are accused of trying to use straw donors to hide the source of money they contributed to a congressman and a political action committee supporting Trump’s re-election. Berman says the men asked a congressman to help remove the American ambassador to Ukraine. He says Parnas and Fruman were acting at the request of a Ukrainian government official.
October 10, 2019 8:47 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says his country will “happily” investigate whether Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections. Zelenskiy told reporters Thursday that “we can’t say yes or no” as to whether there was any interference without an investigation. He said it’s in Ukraine’s interest to determine what happened. President Donald Trump asked Zelenskiy for such an investigation in a July phone call that has helped prompt an impeachment inquiry. Trump’s claims that Ukraine allied with the Democrats in a plot to derail his 2016 presidential campaign, though no evidence of such a plot has emerged. Zelenskiy said the U.S. has not provided any details of such interference. He also said he will not publish the Ukrainian transcript of the July phone call.
October 10, 2019 4:15 am
The treatment of a LeMoyne Community Center employee by City of Washington Police was the impetus to a community discussion of the relationship between police and residents. Don Ward, an employee of the Community center was called out to investigate a light left on when he claims he was harshly confronted by city police while patrolling the grounds. Joyce Ellis, Executive Director of the LeMoyne Community Center is the organizer of the “Hear Our Voices” Community Campaign. Nearly 50 people turned out to the LeMoyne Community Center to discuss apparent tension between residents of the Lincoln Terrace neighborhood and City of Washington Police. The meeting was attended by Mayor Scott Putnam and City Councilman Ken Wescott. Putnam was called out for not demanding that Police Chief Wilson attend the meeting to hear about his police force. Members of the State Police attended and provided information about State Police programs addressing sensitivity training for police in the community and community outreach programs. Several people called for more police of color. Putnam pointed out that in the most recent pool of police candidates, there was only one candidate of color. Putnam stated that he intends to gather information and look into improving policies at City Hall. Joyce Ellis looked at the meeting as a good first step and wants to hold more meetings that are geared towards action instead of merely discussion.
October 10, 2019 4:12 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Pacific Gas & Electric has begun shutting off power to the San Francisco Bay area, adding more than 200,000 customers to a sweeping blackout that already has left a million people in the dark. The utility said late Wednesday night that power was going out in the East Bay, South Bay and Santa Cruz counties. A few counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills and the Central Valley saw power cuts earlier in the day. But the Bay Area outages had been pushed back all day until authorities were sure dry, gusty Diablo winds were on the way. PG&E earlier cut power to 500,000 homes and businesses in northern and central counties. The utility says the precautionary cuts are to prevent the winds from toppling power lines and sparking deadly wildfires like one – blamed on PG&E equipment – that killed 85 people in November.
October 10, 2019 4:11 am
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – Striking General Motors workers are feeling the squeeze of going nearly four weeks without their regular paycheck. Workers who’ve been walking the picket line say they’re cutting back on groceries and some are taking on part-time jobs while trying to get by on weekly strike pay of $250. GM’s full-time workers are losing roughly $1,000 each week, and that’s not counting any overtime. Losses are piling up for the company and spilling over to suppliers, too. A Wall Street analyst estimates GM is losing about $82 million per day. That adds up to over $1.6 billion since the work stoppage began in mid-September. The strike shut down GM factories across the U.S. and analysts expect the closures to spread to the few remaining North American plants that are open.
October 10, 2019 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans are following impeachment proceedings closely – and are slightly more likely to approve than disapprove of the inquiry itself. But the public is more closely split over whether President Donald Trump should be removed from office. Several polls published since the start of an impeachment inquiry show a shift in views from earlier this year as the House investigates whether Trump violated his oath of office in asking the government of Ukraine to investigate a political opponent. A Fox News poll conducted Sunday through Tuesday found 51% of Americans now say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, up from 42% who said that in July. Likewise, a Washington Post-Schar School survey conducted in October shows 58% of Americans are supportive of the decision to initiate an inquiry.
October 10, 2019 4:08 am
BEIRUT (AP) – A Kurdish news agency and a war monitor say Turkish troops have bombarded a convoy of vehicles taking residents of the northern city of Raqqa to a border town, inflicting casualties among them. The Kurdish Hawar news agency said the Thursday’s attack on the road leading to the border town of Tal Abyad killed three people and wounded several others.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Turkish airstrike occurred when a convoy carrying a tribal leader reached the entrance of Tal Abyad. It said several people were wounded but that no one was killed. Such contradictions in casualties’ figures are common in the aftermath of attacks. Turkish troops have been bombarding the town of Tal Abyad since the start of their ground offensive against Kurdish fighters on Wednesday.
October 10, 2019 4:06 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A Philadelphia jury has decided that Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals should pay $8 billion over an antipsychotic drug that the plaintiff’s attorneys say is linked to the growth of female breast tissue in boys. A law firm for the plaintiff released a statement Tuesday saying the companies used an organized scheme to make billions of dollars while illegally marketing and promoting the drug called Risperdal. Johnson & Johnson says the jury’s award “is grossly disproportionate with the initial compensatory award in this case,” and that the company is “confident it will be overturned.”
October 10, 2019 4:04 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The mayor of West Virginia’s capital city quickly withdrew a decision to change the name of the annual holiday parade after intense backlash from church leaders. News outlets report Mayor Amy Goodwin announced on Monday that she planned to rename the “Charleston Christmas Parade” the “Charleston Winter Parade” to demonstrate that Charleston is an inclusive city. Officials from several churches quickly criticized the decision and said they wouldn’t attend. State Senate President Mitch Carmichael released a statement calling on the mayor to allow citizens to exercise their freedom of religion. Goodwin publicly reversed her decision on Thursday. In a Facebook post, she said “the kind of vitriol that has come forth” over the name change has been “disappointing and hurtful.”
October 10, 2019 3:49 am
An elderly Belle Vernon woman was killed Wednesday morning when her car collided with a tri-axle truck on Route 51 north in Rostraver Township. Authorities say 86-year-old Anna Mae Selembo was killed when the two vehicles collided at Gallitin Road and Route 51 just before eleven o’clock. Police say the driver of the truck, 61-year-old Roy Waggoner of Monongahela, was not hurt. Authorities say their investigation indicates that Selembo’s car drove directly into the path of the truck. That section of the roadway was closed for about three hours.
