July 8, 2019 4:18 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A Philadelphia university is apologizing for an erroneous message warning of an active shooter on the campus. Thomas Jefferson University says a “resolvable system error” during a routine test of the school’s JeffAlert system sent out the alert at 10:18 a.m. Sunday about the campus in the East Falls neighborhood, which was formerly known as Philadelphia University.
WPVI reports that the message instructed recipients to “Follow emergency procedures: RUN, HIDE, ACT.” University spokeswoman Angela Showell said the all-clear came about 15 to 20 minutes later following a check by campus security to confirm there was no danger. Since it occurred on a Sunday during the summer, she said, “campus is pretty empty at this time.” Showell said officials are “taking further action to ensure this does not happen again.”
July 8, 2019 4:17 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The iconic Fallingwater home built over a western Pennsylvania waterfall by Frank Lloyd Wright has been designated a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. UNESCO announced on its site that during a Sunday World Heritage Committee meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, the organization added Fallingwater and seven other U.S. buildings designed by Wright in the first half of the 20th century to its World Heritage List. Wright designed Fallingwater in 1935 for Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar Kaufmann Sr. and his family, placing the home on top of Bear Run, a mountain stream. It now receives about 180,000 visitors per year. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Fallingwater director Justin Gunther called the designation “a tremendous honor, one reserved for the world’s most treasured places.”
July 7, 2019 8:44 am
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog says it is aware of Iran saying it will break the 2015 nuclear deal’s limit on uranium enrichment. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday that its inspectors in Iran will report to its Vienna headquarters “as soon as they verify the announced development.” It did not elaborate. Iranian officials announced on Sunday that the country is ramping up the level of uranium enrichment beyond the 3.67% permitted under the deal. Earlier this month, Iran increased its stockpile of low-enriched uranium beyond the cap set by the deal. Iran’s moves have come in response to sweeping U.S. sanctions, imposed after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal a year ago.
July 7, 2019 8:40 am
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Afghan officials say a car bomb in central Afghanistan has killed three people and wounded 72 others, many of them students attending a nearby school. Hasan Raza Yousafi, a provincial council member, says the target of Sunday’s suicide attack was an intelligence unit compound in Ghazni, the capital of the province of the same name. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility saying several intelligence agents were killed. Officials have not confirmed any deaths among government intelligence employees. The attack comes as an all-Afghan two-day conference that includes the Taliban begins in Doha in an effort to find an end to Afghanistan’s relentless wars. U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said the latest round of talks with the Taliban, also in Doha, were the most productive ever.
July 7, 2019 8:39 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Lawmakers returning from their Fourth of July recess are trying to set aside their differences over the Obama-era Affordable Care Act and working toward a bipartisan agreement on a more immediate health care issue – lowering costs for people who have coverage. The Senate and House are moving to end surprise medical bills, curb high prices for medicines and limit prescription copays for people with Medicare. Democrats and Republicans say they’re trying to work together. Partisan disagreements could derail the effort, but lawmakers fear the voters’ verdict in 2020 if politicians have nothing to show for their hand-wringing about drug prices. The big cuts that President Donald Trump promised haven’t materialized.
July 7, 2019 8:34 am
PLANTATION, Fla. (AP) – Police and firefighters are investigating an explosion at a Florida shopping plaza that injured multiple people. The explosion happened Saturday morning at a shopping center in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale in Broward County. The blast sent large pieces of debris about 100 yards (about 91 meters) across the street. Video and photos posted on social media showed a destroyed business with damaged buildings next to it. Police officer Chavez Grant said there were no known fatalities. The Plantation fire and police departments said on Twitter that the street was closed to traffic. The fire department called it a gas explosion with “multiple patients.”
July 7, 2019 8:32 am
RIDGECREST, Calif. (AP) – The two major earthquakes that hit Southern California should alert people across the nation of the need to be prepared for the natural disasters, the state’s governor said as officials expressed relief that the damages weren’t worse. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday that governments must strengthen alert systems and building codes, and residents should make sure they know how to protect themselves during an earthquake. Friday’s earthquake was the largest one Southern California in nearly 20 years. Officials voiced concerns about the possibility of major aftershocks in the days and months to come. No fatalities or major injuries were reported after Friday night’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake, which jolted an area from Sacramento to Mexico and prompted the evacuation of the Navy’s largest single landholding, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in the Mojave Desert.
July 7, 2019 8:30 am
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – Researchers at West Virginia University are testing an idea to help save freshwater resources by combining wastewater from power plants with wastewater from fracking. The Dominion Post reports the power industry is the biggest water user in West Virginia. Nationally, it is the second biggest, behind agriculture. Thermoelectric plants use water in heat exchangers. As it evaporates, natural salts concentrate to the point where they could foul the cooling system. Meanwhile, water from fracking contains other substances that could harm the cooling towers, like magnesium and strontium. But when the two are mixed together, the chemicals combine in a way to precipitate out of the water. This produces clean water to recirculate. The project is still in its early stages. It is funded by a $400,000 Department of Energy grant.
July 7, 2019 8:28 am
WASHINGTON, PA – Lightning was the cause of a house fire in the City of Washington Friday afternoon. A bolt struck the roof of the home at 220 Maple Avenue in the city shortly after 3:00 p.m. According to reports, smoke was seen billowing from the structure, as crews had the situation under control in roughly 30 minutes. City Fire Chief Gerald Coleman says no one was home at the time of the fire, but over half a dozen dogs were inside the house. Officials say none of the animals were injured. Reports say all damage occurred in the attic.
July 7, 2019 8:26 am
ERIE, Pa. (AP) – A coke plant in northwestern Pennsylvania will be allowed to continue operating until a hearing board rules on its appeal of state environmental officials’ denial of its operating permit. A judge on Pennsylvania’s Environmental Hearing Board on Friday granted a delay until at least Wednesday of the state Department of Environmental protection’s denial of Erie Coke Corp.’s application to renew its operating permit. Erie Coke attorney Paul Stockman said failure to grant relief would in effect impose “a corporate ‘death penalty”‘ on the company by destroying its primary asset – two batteries of coke ovens.” Erie Coke filed an appeal Tuesday after the department denied the permit renewal and filed a complaint in Erie County Court to shut the plant down, citing “years of numerous repetitive environmental violations.”
