February 21, 2020 2:16 am
MIDLOTHIAN, Va. (AP) – Federal documents filed in Virginia show a firefighter from Pennsylvania has been charged with trying to arrange a meeting for sex with a 10-year-old girl. News outlets report that 50-year-old Brian Kosanovich of Pittsburgh was arrested at a Midlothian restaurant on Tuesday by agents with the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force. A federal complaint alleges the man had traveled there to meet and have sex with a woman he met online and her 10-year-old daughter. The woman was actually an undercover FBI agent. Kosanovich was charged with coercion and taking indecent liberties with children, among other counts. It’s unclear whether he has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.
February 20, 2020 2:00 pm
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – A West Virginia city has voted to change its ordinance for marijuana possession. News outlets report Morgantown City County members voted unanimously Tuesday to modify the city’s law on possession of up to 15 grams of the drug. Officials said the change gives the Morgantown Police Department the discretion to forgo arresting someone caught with 15 grams or less and instead issue a fine of up to $15. Deputy Mayor Rachel Fetty said the change does not decriminalize marijuana and those in possession of the drug can still be charged with a misdemeanor. The ordinance applies only to the Morgantown Police Department.
February 20, 2020 12:40 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Roger Stone, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, has been sentenced to 40 months in prison on his convictions for witness tampering and lying to Congress. Thursday’s action in federal court comes amid Trump’s unrelenting defense of his longtime confidant that has led to a mini-revolt inside the Justice Department and allegations the president has interfered in the case. Trump has denounced as a “miscarriage of justice” the initial recommendation by Justice Department prosecutors that Stone receive at least seven years in prison. Attorney General William Barr then backed off that recommendation, prompting four prosecutors to quit Stone’s case. Stone chose not to address the court at his sentencing. (Photo: CNN)
February 20, 2020 11:48 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Hair Club for Men founder Sy Sperling has died in Florida. Sperling became famous in the 1980s for his ubiquitous commercials featuring before and after photos of his clients, ending with him proclaiming “I’m not only the Hair Club president but I’m also a client” as he showed a photo of his previously bald self. Sperling began his business in New York City before taking it national. His commercials were even spoofed on the “Tonight” show and on “Saturday Night Live.” He sold the business for $45 million in 2000. Sperling was 78 when he died Wednesday in Boca Raton.
February 20, 2020 4:22 am
HANAU, Germany (AP) – German officials say a 43-year-old German man who shot and killed nine people at several locations in a Frankfurt suburb appears to have been motivated by far-right beliefs. Some of his victims are thought to be Turkish. The top security official in Hesse state said investigators later found the suspect’s body and the body of his 72-year-old mother at his registered address. The official says a website believed to be the suspect’s is being evaluated and the contents “indicate a xenophobic motivation,” The shootings late Wednesday followed several recent acts of far-right violence in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged that “everything will be done to investigate the circumstances of these terrible murders.”
February 20, 2020 4:21 am
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Police in New Orleans say a woman was struck and killed by a parade float as the city celebrated Mardi Gras. News outlets report witnesses say the woman tried to cross between a tandem float, which has two sections that are connected in the middle. She reportedly tripped over the hitch connecting the two sections and was run over by the back half of the float. The accident happened Wednesday night during the Krewe of Nyx parade. The rest of the floats in the parade were diverted after the collision. The woman hasn’t been identified. Mardi Gras is Feb. 25.
February 20, 2020 4:20 am
TOKYO (AP) – Japan’s Health Ministry says two passengers taken off the Diamond Princess cruise ship because they had a new virus have died, becoming the first fatalities from the virus-stricken vessel. NHK public television says both were Japanese in their 80s. A Health Ministry official says they had been previously hospitalized in serious condition and had existing chronic diseases. The Diamond Princess has started letting passengers who tested negative for the virus off the ship and the process continues through Friday. Kentaro Iwata, an infectious diseases expert at Kobe University Hospital, has criticized what he called the chaotic management of the quarantine, including the lack of control measures and distinction between clean and contaminated zones.
February 20, 2020 4:19 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Bernie Sanders was the only Democratic candidate on the debate stage who thinks the candidate with the most delegates should win the party’s presidential nomination even if he or she doesn’t have a majority. His rivals on Wednesday night in Las Vegas say the party should let the convention play out according to rules set by the party, which allow for multiple rounds of voting if a candidate is unable to get a majority of the delegates on the first round. It sets up a clash should the primary season end without a clear winner, giving way to a contested convention. Meanwhile, from the opening bell, Democratic presidential foes unleashed an aggressive verbal assault on New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg and raised new questions about Bernie Sanders’ take-no-prisoners politics in a contentious debate Wednesday night on the Las Vegas Strip. The former New York City mayor was forced to defend his divisive record on race, gender and Wall Street in his debate-stage debut. Sanders, appearing in his ninth debate of the 2020 primary season, tried to beat back pointed questions about his health and his ability to defeat President Donald Trump this fall.
February 20, 2020 4:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The notion of banning fracking is dividing the Democrats running for president and increasingly dividing Democrats in the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania. The divide was clear, again, on Wednesday night’s debate stage in Las Vegas during questioning about climate change. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says moving to energy efficiency and sustainable energy will create up to 20 million new jobs. Other Democrats on stage preferred to refer to natural gas as a “transition fuel” to non-fossil fuels and talked about getting tough on methane emissions. Pennsylvania’s top Democrats have tried to discourage talk of a fracking ban, while labor leaders point to thousands of building trades members working in the industry.
February 20, 2020 4:05 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – As many Pennsylvania counties adopting new hand-marked ballot voting systems, a persistent criticism is a perceived loss of privacy in polling places when filling them out and scanning them. State lawmakers raised those complaints Wednesdayáwith Gov. Tom Wolf’s top elections officials during an Appropriations Committee hearing. Critics say other voters or poll workers may be able to see how someone voted while they are filling out their ballot or while they are feeding their ballot into an electronic scanner that reads it. Election officials say some complaints can be solved by using curtains or other privacy devices, or changing a polling place’s layout.
