August 9, 2019 4:21 am
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) – Joe Biden is anchoring his presidential campaign around questions of character – both his and President Donald Trump’s. The recent back-to-back mass killings in Texas and Ohio have given Biden new traction for his arguments. Biden has spent the past three months largely on defense over a long policy record that draws fire from Democratic Party’s most progressive corners. But he reasserted himself this week with a blistering takedown of Trump’s racist language and the ways in which some of the president’s anti-immigrant outbursts could have inspired one of the shootings. In Iowa, Biden weaved between hushed disappointment and incredulous fury over a president who offers “no moral leadership.”
August 9, 2019 4:20 am
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Across the early primary states, Democratic voters have seen a parade of more than two dozen presidential candidates march through their states for months. Some are starting to get exhausted with the primary field and are anxious to take on Donald Trump. Iowans treasure the national attention that shines on them every four years when presidential candidates descend on the state, whose caucuses mark the beginning of an election year. But as virtually every Democratic contender swings through Iowa this weekend to participate in the famed state fair, even some die-hard Democratic activists are getting restless. They’re worried the historically massive field isn’t shrinking fast enough and the debate stages are too crowded.
August 9, 2019 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The top two congressional Democrats say President Donald Trump has assured them he will review a House-passed bill that expands federal background checks for gun sales. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer say they spoke separately to Trump on Thursday. Trump called the leaders individually after Pelosi sent him a letter asking him to order the Senate back to Washington immediately to consider gun violence measures. In a joint statement, Schumer and Pelosi say they told Trump the best way to address gun violence is for the Senate to take up and pass the House-passed bill. They say Trump “gave us his assurances that he would review the bipartisan House-passed legislation and understood our interest in moving as quickly as possible to help save lives.”
August 9, 2019 4:16 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Surveillance video shows a woman defending herself against a man with two knives who attacked and wounded her during a stabbing rampage that left four people dead in two Southern California cities. The footage released Thursday by Garden Grove police shows the woman seated in a small insurance office when a man in a blue hoodie approaches her and pulls out the knives. As the man repeatedly slashes her, the woman puts her hands up and then backs away and hides under a desk. The man then flees. The 54-year-old woman survived. She was not identified. Zachary Castaneda was arrested Wednesday after a two-hour series of stabbings and robberies. Investigators haven’t identified a motive. Police say he targeted his victims randomly. Public defenders who represent Castaneda in other cases did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
August 9, 2019 4:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Jerry Sandusky will be taken from prison to a central Pennsylvania courtroom next month for resentencing on his 45-count child sexual abuse conviction, six months after a state appeals court ruled mandatory minimums had been improperly applied. Judge John Foradora filed an order Wednesday scheduling the proceeding for Sept. 23 in the Centre County Courthouse. Foradora also directed the county sheriff to arrange for the 75-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach to be transported to the hearing from his cell in the State Correctional Institution at Laurel Highlands. Sandusky had been sentenced to 30 to 60 years for child molestation. The state Supreme Court last month declined to grant him a chance to argue he deserves a new trial. Sandusky was convicted of the sexual abuse of 10 boys.
August 9, 2019 4:12 am
WILLOW GROVE, Pa. (AP) – A small plane has crashed in the backyard of a suburban Philadelphia home, killing a husband and wife and their 19-year-old daughter, who were the only people on board. The plane went down around 6:20 a.m. Thursday in Willow Grove, shortly after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport en route to Columbus, Ohio. Upper Moreland Police Chief Michael Murphy says the plane hit several trees before it came to rest. The victims were identified as 60-year-old Jasvir Khurana, his 54-year-old wife Divya Khurana and their daughter Kiran, all from the Philadelphia suburbs. No one on the ground was injured and no homes were damaged. There is no indication the pilot made a distress call before the crash. The National Transportation Safety is at the scene, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Philadelphia.
August 9, 2019 4:08 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – One woman is dead and another is injured after a double stabbing on Thursday at a bus stop in downtown Pittsburgh. Around 11:30 a.m., an officer approached a woman who appeared to be sleeping at the bus shelter outside Burlington Coat Factory on Sixth Avenue. “It looked like he was helping her. Then the man came around on the same street and stabbed her in the neck,” Kimberly Andrews, a witness who happened to be walking by, said. After that, the man went after another woman who was walking by, authorities said. Police believe the second woman was wearing a hijab; however, they said the attack does not appear to have been racially or religiously motivated. “It seems by all accounts a random act of violence. Thankfully, we had an officer that was on-scene when the incident happened who took appropriate action,” Pittsburgh Police Major Crimes Commander Victor Joseph said. Pittsburgh police have charged James Wyatt, 23, of McKeesport, (pictured) with criminal homicide and aggravated assault. He is in the Allegheny County Jail. The woman who had been talking to the officer before she was stabbed in the neck died at the hospital, police said. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the woman as Janice Purdue-Dance, 61, of Erie. The second woman is still being treated.
August 9, 2019 4:07 am
MONONGAHELA, Pa. – (WPXI) – Police in Allegheny and Washington counties are investigating a series of bomb threats that occurred between 8 and 9:30 p.m. on Thursday. Three of the threats were targeted to hospitals; St. Clair Hospital in Mt. Lebanon, Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison and Monongahela Valley Hospital in Monongahela. The other two threats were made to the Benedum Theater in Pittsburgh and D’s Six Pax and Dogz in Swissvale. At 10:15 p.m. Mon Valley Hospital posted on Facebook saying: “A confirmed bomb threat was made to Monongahela Valley Hospital. Patient care is not being affected and safety measures are in effect.” Allegheny County Police said it is working with police in each community to coordinate the investigations.
August 8, 2019 4:53 pm
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – The latest mass shootings in the United States have triggered three countries to warn their citizens about the risks of traveling there. It’s a sharp reversal from when America took a leading role in calling out the world’s most dangerous places. Venezuela, Uruguay and Japan issued warnings following the deaths of 31 people over the weekend in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas. At least one of the warnings was laced with a dose of political payback. Without directly naming President Donald Trump, the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blamed the surge in violence on speeches from Washington that featured racial discrimination and “hatred against immigrants.” Maduro is presiding over the worst economic crisis in Venezuelan history amid a political battle with the White House.
August 8, 2019 3:53 pm
(AP) – Luxury gym Equinox and indoor cycling studio Soul Cycle are facing a backlash from some members and celebrities over a fundraiser being held for President Donald Trump by a company executive. Stephen Ross, chairman and founder of real estate development company The Related Cos., which owns Equinox and SoulCycle, is throwing the fundraiser on Friday at his house in the Hamptons. Ross also owns the Miami Dolphins football team. Trump critics took to Twitter to say they would boycott the fitness companies, calling the president a racist and unfriendly to the gay and lesbian community, and asserting that they didn’t want their money supporting his 2020 presidential campaign. Equinox and SoulCycle tried to separate themselves from Ross and his fundraiser.
