September 23, 2020 11:14 am
(WPXI) – A very popular music venue in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood is closing its doors for good due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and an uncertain future. The Rex Theater, a premier venue on East Carson Street, has been an area staple since occupying the space of a former vaudeville theater 11 years ago. It hosted local and national bands, primarily in indie, electronic and other genres. Since the shutdowns started in mid-March, The Rex hasn’t been able to host live shows. On Tuesday, officials with the venue posted a lengthy statement on social media explaining their decision to shut down permanently.
September 23, 2020 11:09 am
(WPXI) – Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Department of Health Sec. Dr. Rachel Levine have filed an appeal against a judge’s ruling that some COVID-19 restrictions were unconstitutional. The appeal is also against the judge’s decision on Tuesday to deny a stay. In a Sept. 14 ruling, the judge said the actions of Wolf and Levine were taken with “good intention of addressing a public health emergency,” but they were unconstitutional. That ruling was made on a lawsuit filed by Butler, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties. The lawsuit was directed at the state’s business closure order and the stay-at-home orders issued in March, as well as the indoor and outdoor gathering limitations. Wolf previously said an appeal would be filed, saying the actions he and other state officials took in the early stages of the pandemic were “necessary to keep people safe before we had the resources to reopen safely.”
September 23, 2020 3:07 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A lack of firefighting resources in the hours after it was sparked allowed a fast-moving wildfire to make an unprecedented run through Southern California mountains. The Bobcat Fire eventually found fuel in old-growth trees to become one of Los Angeles County’s largest fires ever. The blaze has burned for more than two weeks and is still threatening more than 1,000 homes after scorching its way through brush and timber down into the Mojave Desert. At least 29 homes have been destroyed. But officials say that number will grow. It’s one of dozens of other major blazes across the West.
September 23, 2020 3:05 am
MIAMI (AP) – An American company has pleaded guilty to federal charges that it paid bribes to officials in Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela to get lucrative contracts, and will pay $16.6 million in fines. The U.S. Department of Justice says Sargeant Marine, Inc., paid the bribes over several years for contracts concerning the buying or selling of asphalt, used in paving roads and other construction. The Justice Department says the company’s actions violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company used false consulting contracts and fake invoices, and also sent money to offshore bank accounts to facilitate the bribes, according to the department.
September 23, 2020 3:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republicans are charging ahead with plans to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick to quickly fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court. One possible holdout, GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, said Tuesday he supports holding a vote. Trump is set to announce his nominee Saturday. Appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett is considered the favorite. Conservatives are pushing for action before Election Day, Nov. 3. Democrats say it’s too close to the election and say whoever wins the presidency should pick the court nominee. Confirmation proceedings will touch off a wrenching debate even as early voting for president is underway in several states.
September 23, 2020 3:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says Vice President Mike Pence’s airplane struck a bird on takeoff in New Hampshire, causing the pilot to return to the airport out of caution. Pence was flying home to Washington from a campaign event Tuesday at an airport hangar in Gilford. When Air Force Two took off from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, it struck a bird. A senior administration official said the vice president and his entourage weren’t in danger. The official wasn’t authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Pence ended up flying home on a cargo aircraft that the Secret Service uses to transport his vehicles during his travel.
September 23, 2020 3:01 am
SEATTLE (AP) – Seattle will reduce the police department’s budget and reallocate some money to community programs after the City Council voted Tuesday evening to override Mayor Jenny Durkan’s veto of adjustments to this year’s budget. The council’s proposals approved last month were supported by demonstrators who have marched in the city for months following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but strongly opposed by the mayor and former police Chief Carmen Best. Council President M. Lorena González said before the vote that divestment from a broken policing model is not only the right thing to do, it is the needed course of action if they believe that Black lives matter.
September 23, 2020 2:59 am
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) – The U.S. government has executed a former soldier who said an obsession with witchcraft led him to kill a Georgia nurse he believed had put a spell on him. William Emmett LeCroy is the sixth federal inmate put to death this year at the U.S. prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Before that, there had been a 17-year hiatus without any federal executions. Lawyers had asked President Donald Trump in a petition to commute LeCroy’s sentence for killing Joann Lee Tiesler in 2001. They said LeCroy’s brother was killed during a routine traffic stop in 2010 and that another son’s death would devastate the LeCroy family.
September 23, 2020 2:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Thousands of people are expected to pay their respects at the Supreme Court to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the women’s rights champion, leader of the court’s liberal bloc and feminist icon who died last week. The court is closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic and Washington already is consumed with talk of Ginsburg’s replacement. But the justice’s former colleagues, family, close friends and the public will have the chance Wednesday and Thursday to pass by the casket of the second woman on the Supreme Court.
September 23, 2020 2:56 am
NORTH STRABANE, Pa. — Protecting residents and police is important in North Strabane Township. Supervisors took initial steps to further that stance on Tuesday night. The supervisors authorized the police chief to apply for a Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency grant to offset the cost of supplying body cameras to the township police force. Before finalizing the unanimous vote, supervisor Harold Close stated that this is not an authorization to purchase because much more information is needed before supervisors are ready to do that. Township Manager Andrew Walz stated that the way policing is conducted in today’s world, it is always good to have more information than less and body cameras can provide that. The grant, if approved, will be for $25,000. The township will match the other $25,000 needed to fund the project. Walz had no estimate on time to implement the program if the township was to proceed.
