July 13, 2019 8:28 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony to Congress has been delayed until July 24 under an agreement that gives lawmakers more time to question him.
Mueller had been scheduled to testify July 17 about the findings of his Russia investigation. But lawmakers in both parties complained that the short length of the hearings would not allow enough time for all members to ask questions. Under the new arrangement, Mueller will testify for an extended period of time with the House Judiciary and intelligence committees.
Mueller has expressed his reluctance to testify and said he won’t go beyond what’s in his report. The Judiciary Committee is expected to focus on episodes in Mueller’s report where Trump attempted to influence the investigation.
July 13, 2019 3:57 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Pennsylvania mother who smothered her 17-month-old son and then sent the boy’s father videos of abuse has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole.
Christian Clark was sentenced Thursday. The 24-year-old McKeesport resident had pleaded no contest to homicide and attempted homicide charges in April in a deal with Allegheny County prosecutors that spared her the death penalty. Clark was charged in the November 2016 death of Andre Price III and was also accused of threatening the life of his 2-year-old sister. Authorities have said Clark thought her boyfriend was cheating on her. During hours of angry texts, Clark sent pictures and graphic videos of abuse to the boy’s father, who was charged with felony child endangerment because he didn’t intervene. He has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced July 29.
July 13, 2019 3:52 am
BOYERTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Severe weather has caused widespread damage across Pennsylvania and claimed the lives of a pregnant woman and her 9-year-old son whose car was swept away by floodwaters. Douglass Township Police Chief John Dzurek says the car was swept down the Manatawny Creek for about a half-mile on Thursday, while the woman was on the phone with emergency officials. In New Jersey, the second tornado in a week touched down in the same town.
July 13, 2019 3:48 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Republican Party is trying to amicably settle a contested race for chairman between a candidate who had backing from Trump campaign officials, and a rival. Bernadette Comfort instead will serve as President Donald Trump campaign’s chairwoman. The state GOP’s former general counsel, Lawrence Tabas, will be the consensus candidate for state party chairman. Party activists accuse Comfort of ignoring complaints of sexual harassment by state party officials, accusations she’s denied.
July 13, 2019 3:45 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s casinos have lost a bid to shut down online lottery games that they say are too much like casino gambling, just days before the state’s first casinos launch their own online gambling portals. Friday’s decision in Commonwealth Court is a victory for the state lottery. On Monday, state regulators will allow Parx Casino and Penn Nation’s Hollywood Casino to launch their online gambling portals to patrons statewide as part of a three-day test.
July 13, 2019 3:42 am
(WPXI) – The wait is almost over! Kennywood’s newest roller coaster, “The Steel Curtain,” opens to thrill-seekers this weekend! The record-setting coaster opens to the public Saturday At 220 feet, the coaster is now Pennsylvania’s tallest, according to Kennywood. It also includes the world’s tallest inversion, at 197 feet high. Part of a collaboration with the Pittsburgh Steelers, The Steel Curtain is the flagship attraction of a themed section of Kennywood that’s being called “Steelers Country.”
July 12, 2019 9:57 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta is stepping down following criticism of his handling of a plea deal with a wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, who is accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. Trump announced the news with Acosta by his side at the White House as Trump left on a trip to the Midwest. Acosta says stepping aside was the right decision. He was the U.S. attorney in Miami when he oversaw a 2008 nonprosecution agreement with Epstein. Epstein avoided federal charges and served 13 months in jail. Similar charges recently filed against Epstein by federal prosecutors in New York had put Acosta’s role in the 2008 deal under renewed scrutiny.
July 12, 2019 9:34 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump unloaded via Twitter on former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan, calling Ryan a “lame duck failure.” Ryan is very critical of Trump in the book “American Carnage” by Tim Alberta of Politico, in excerpts running in various publications. Alberta wrote the former speaker could not stand the idea of another two years with the president and saw retirement as the “escape hatch,” according to The Washington Post. Ryan is quoted saying: “I’m telling you, he didn’t know anything about government . I wanted to scold him all the time.”
Trump tweeted late Thursday: “He had the Majority & blew it away with his poor leadership and bad timing. Never knew how to go after the Dems like they go after us. Couldn’t get him out of Congress fast enough!”
July 12, 2019 4:30 am
HONOLULU (AP) – Dozens of people were violently slammed off the ceiling of a jetliner that encountered unexpected and intense turbulence over the Pacific Ocean Thursday. An Air Canada flight to Australia made an emergency landing in Honolulu after 37 people were injured, nine seriously, during the sudden loss of altitude that sent people flying into luggage compartments and aisles of the airplane. Air Canada spokeswoman Angela Mah said in a statement that the flight from Vancouver to Sydney encountered “un-forecasted and sudden turbulence” about two hours past Hawaii. Passenger Stephanie Beam says the plane “just dropped” and bodies were hurled upward. She says a woman behind her hit the ceiling so hard that she broke the casing of an oxygen mask.
July 12, 2019 4:29 am
The fight against blight continues in the City of Washington. City Council approved 6 properties in a public hearing to be demolished by the Washington County Redevelopment Authority. Following that meeting, council sent 8 properties to their Solicitor to perform title searches so that those houses may be demolished as well. Mayor Scott Putnam is quite proud of council’s accomplishments since he took office. Putnam states that there were 38 properties that needed to be torn down when he was sworn in. With council’s action on Thursday, that number has been taken down below 10. Funds for demolition come from Community Block Grants and LSA funds awarded to the city from the Local Share Accounts generated from proceeds of casino gambling.
