February 4, 2020 4:16 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A key accuser in the New York City rape trial of Harvey Weinstein faced a vigorous cross-examination that drove her to tears. The drama prompted the judge to send the jury home about an hour earlier than usual Monday. While on the stand, the woman answered questions about why she maintained a relationship with Weinstein despite her allegations that the once-powerful movie mogul raped her. The testimony comes at a pivotal moment in the trial of Weinstein, who became one of the #MeToo movement’s top targets. He is charged in New York with the 2013 rape and also sexually assaulting Mimi Haleyi, a former “Project Runway” production assistant, in 2006. He has insisted that any sexual encounters were consensual.
February 4, 2020 4:13 am
Washington City Council is working hard to keep city streets free from blighted structures, both residential and commercial. Council is looking to turn over the building at the corner of North Main Street and Chestnut Street to the Washington County Redevelopment Authority for demolition. Mayor Scott Putnam stated that initial estimates for the demolition are in the range of $250,000 to $350,000. Putnam states that there is money put aside for the project, he just wants to make sure there are no surprises. Council is also in discussion with the Redevelopment Authority about joining the Washington County Land Bank. The land bank is another method that communities can use to rehabilitate properties and get them sold so they can be active on the tax rolls again. Putnam says there are a couple of details that need to be ironed out and an agreement could come in time for council’s regular meeting on Thursday.
February 4, 2020 4:04 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Trial has opened for one man as charges were dismissed against his co-defendant in the slayings of five people and an unborn baby at a western Pennsylvania cookout almost four years ago. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward Borkowski on Monday granted a defense motion to dismiss the case against 31-year-old Robert Thomas in the March 2016 killings in Pittsburgh’s Wilkinsburg suburb. The defense sought dismissal after prosecutors decided against putting a key witness on the stand. Testimony began Monday against 33-year-old Cheron Shelton. Prosecutors say they plan to seek capital punishment in the event of a first-degree murder conviction.
February 3, 2020 3:31 pm
COMMERCE, Texas (AP) – Officials say two women were killed and a child was wounded in a shooting at a dormitory at a university in Texas. A recommendation for students and employees to shelter in place was lifted early Monday afternoon at Texas A&M University-Commerce, and police said there appeared to be no other threats. Officials have not identified the suspected shooter. University police Chief Bryan Vaughn said officers responding to a call at about 10:17 a.m. found two dead women at Pride Rock residence hall. He said a boy about 2 years old was taken to a local hospital. He was in stable condition.
February 3, 2020 10:35 am
LEBEC, Calif. (AP) – The California Highway Patrol says one person has been killed and five were wounded in a shooting on a Greyhound bus. Sgt. Brian Pennings says a male suspect is in custody after the shooting early Monday on the Grapevine section of Interstate 5 in Kern County, north of Los Angeles. Pennings says the bus driver got the shooter off the bus and and continued on to the next exit. The bus was heading north from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay area and the shooting happened at about 1:20 a.m. Witnesses and the suspect were being interviewed. Officials did not immediately identify the suspect or the victims.
February 3, 2020 8:55 am
BEIJING (AP) – Chinese scientists say they have more evidence that the new virus that recently emerged in China likely originated in bats. In two papers published Monday in the journal Nature, scientists report that genome sequences from several patients in Wuhan show the virus is closely related to the viruses that cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS. SARS is believed to originate in bats, although it jumped to civet cats before infecting people in the 2002-2003 international outbreak. Although scientists suspect the latest virus outbreak in China began at a seafood market in Wuhan where wild animals were on sale and in contact with people, the animal source has not yet been pinpointed.
February 3, 2020 8:52 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Two people were found dead after a SWAT situation early Monday morning in Pittsburgh’s Hays neighborhood, police said. Authorities were called to a duplex on Baldwin Road just after 1:30 a.m. for a man barricaded inside one of the homes with a possible hostage. Police confirmed shortly after 5:30 a.m. that a man and woman, a suspect and a victim, were found dead of gunshot wounds in an apparent murder-suicide. Investigators said a third person had been inside the home but was able to get out. That person reported the incident to police. Officials initially said there were confirmed reports of gunfire; however, those sounds were later confirmed to have been gas canisters being fired into the home by police. A family of five, including three children, were safely evacuated from the adjoining home at the duplex, police said.
February 3, 2020 8:49 am
State Police and the Fayette County Coroner are investigating the death of an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Fayette. Superintendent Mark Capozza says a corrections officer discovered 31 year old David Irby unconscious in his cell during rounds Friday. Irby was taken to Uniontown Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was serving a 5-to-14 year sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a conviction in Carbon County. He had been at SCI Fayette since August of last year. The coroner will determine the cause of death. No other information is being released at this time.
February 3, 2020 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Closing arguments in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial are unfolding Monday as much for history as any effort to sway votes. The four hours of arguments provide one final chance to influence public opinion and set the record ahead of expected Senate acquittal. The Senate is expected to take the final impeachment votes on Wednesday. House managers opened with a plea from Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, a freshman, who told the chamber: “We cannot and should not leave our common sense at the door.”
February 3, 2020 4:06 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The voting in the Iowa caucuses is finally starting. The candidates have been racing around the state all weekend trying to fire up voters and make a last appeal to people struggling to make a final decision about who to support in the crowded field. Campaigns and voters acknowledged a palpable sense of unpredictability and anxiety as Democrats begin choosing which candidate to send on to a November face-off with President Donald Trump. Four candidates are locked in a fight for victory in Iowa and others are in position to pull off surprisingly strong finishes.
