September 18, 2019 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Senate officials say a Pennsylvania state lawmaker who is facing child pornography possession charges has resigned. Sen. Mike Folmer’s apparent resignation Wednesday came hours after he was arrested by the state attorney general’s office. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman said in statement that they received Folmer’s resignation letter after they spoke with him to insist on it. The state attorney general’s office charged Folmer late Tuesday with possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility, both felonies. Investigators allegedly found two images of child pornography on Folmer’s cell phone after they asked him to turn it over at his house in Lebanon County. Authorities were acting on a tip from a social media website. The 63-year-old Folmer and his lawyer haven’t returned messages.
September 17, 2019 5:47 pm
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) – A judge has cleared the way for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to stay in business while it pursues bankruptcy protection and settlement of more than 2,600 lawsuits filed over the opioid crisis. Purdue lawyers secured permission Tuesday for the company to maintain business as usual. That includes paying employees and vendors, supplying pills to distributors, and keeping current on taxes and insurance. Purdue Pharma declared bankruptcy late Sunday. Its continued viability is key to the company’s settlement offer. Under the proposal, the family that owns Purdue would turn the company over to a trust controlled by the very entities that are suing it. About half the states support the offer. It could be worth up to $12 billion over time.
September 17, 2019 12:35 pm
General Mills is pulling some bags of flour from store shelves over E. coli concerns, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The company announced it was voluntarily recalling five-pound bags of Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose Flour. The recall only affects bags with a use by date of Sept. 6, 2020. According to officials with General Mills, the flour could potentially contain E. coli. The bacteria was discovered during sampling of the product.
September 17, 2019 12:29 pm
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) – A public letter is being distributed outlining claims that during a soccer match between Connellsville and Allderdice on Labor Day weekend, players were using racial slurs on the field. The letter, penned by the parents of the Allderdice school boys soccer team, said the other team “goaded a black and latino member of the soccer team with racial slurs.” The letter goes on to say “one of the Allderdice players responded in defense and was immediately ejected from the game.” The superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools, Anthony Hamlet, is calling for the WPIAL to investigate the claims. Hamlet said administrators from Connellsville met with players, coaches and game officials about the claims. This is not the first time these types of accusations have been levied against the Connellsville high school soccer program. During a match with Penn Hills in 2018, there were claims of racial slurs said on the field. WPIAL officials investigated and found the claims credible, but they could not be proven.
September 17, 2019 10:42 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Cokie Roberts, longtime political reporter and analyst at ABC News and NPR, has died at age 75. ABC announced her death on Tuesday. Roberts was the daughter of Hale and Lindy Boggs, two members of Congress from Louisiana, and went on the chronicle the political world she grew up in. She joined ABC News in 1988 and was co-anchor with Sam Donaldson of the Sunday political show “This Week” from 1996 to 2002.
September 17, 2019 10:34 am
NEW YORK (AP) – “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek says he’s had a setback in his battle with pancreatic cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy again. Trebek told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday that after a short period of optimism when he stopped chemotherapy, his “numbers shot up” and doctors ordered him back on the treatment. The 79-year-old game show host announced in March that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. But he hasn’t missed a day on the show, which tapes its episodes in advance. Trebek said his goals for the summer were to get his strength and hair back, and his progress on both fronts was “dismal.”
September 17, 2019 8:56 am
One week after approving a five-year contract for teachers, the Washington School Board has unanimously approved a new, five-year deal for district support staff. Superintendent Dr. James Konrad says it calls for an ‘average of about two-and-a-half percent wage hike over the course of the deal’. Health care costs will remain the same but there will be a slight increase for the retirement incentive. Konrad calls it ‘a fair deal.’ No other details were released.
September 17, 2019 8:52 am
Washington County has found its new voting machines. The County Elections board Monday unanimously voted to go with ‘Election Systems and Software’ of Omaha, Nebraska. They were selected out of five vendors seeking to provide the equipment that will provide a required paper trail when ballots are cast. Washington County Commissioner’s Chairman Larry Maggi says the price tag comes in at more than $2.8 Million dollars but will be paid for with Act 13 money. Maggi says they chose the company, which also supplies voting machines in Greene County, because they had “the best and most reliable machine”. He says it was “more user friendly and offered the most secure functions”. County Commissioners are expected to approve the deal when they meet October 3.
September 17, 2019 4:18 am
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) – President Donald Trump made a pocketbook appeal to New Mexico voters, assuring them at a rally Monday night near Albuquerque that his energy policies have made the state wealthier. Trump warned that that those gains could disappear if the proposal known as the Green New Deal takes effect. He accused Democrats of wanting to annihilate New Mexico’s economy. New Mexico hasn’t backed a Republican for president since 2004. Trump rallied supporters in suburban Rio Rancho as part of an effort to turn the state and expand his grip on the Electoral College in next year’s election. Trump usually ventures to Republican-friendly states. The New Mexico rally demonstrates a reelection campaign with resources to try turning a few Democratic-leaning states its way.
September 17, 2019 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Corey Lewandowski is confirming that President Donald Trump asked him to urge Jeff Sessions to reverse himself and oversee the Russia investigation. Lewandowski never delivered that message, but he told the House Judiciary Committee that Trump didn’t ask him to break the law. He said, “I didn’t think the president asked me to do anything illegal.” Under questioning later by Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson, Lewandowski confirmed as “accurate” that Trump had asked him to deliver the message. Asked why, according to the Mueller report, he never delivered the message to Sessions as instructed, Lewandowski answered that he had taken his kids to the beach. Lewandowski never worked for Trump in the White House, but remained a confidant. The questioning came as the Democratic-led panel conducted its first impeachment hearing. (Photo: CNN)
