July 25, 2019 4:16 am
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has announced he will resign Aug. 2, conceding power after nearly two weeks of furious protests and political upheaval touched off by a leak of crude and insulting chat messages between him and his top advisers. A crowd of thousands outside the governor’s mansion erupted into cheers and singing after Rosselló’s announcement on Facebook just before midnight. The 40-year-old son of a former governor, Rosselló became the first chief executive to resign in the modern history of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of more than 3 million American citizens without full representation in Congress or the right to vote for president. Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez will assume the post less than halfway through Rosselló’s four-year term, becoming Puerto Rico’s second female governor.
July 25, 2019 4:08 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Wolf Administration is hoping to make it easier for people to access state government services by consolidating ways for the public to contact agencies through what’s being called the Keystone Login. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced a “customer service transformation ” over the coming years that will include a single online portal for people to reach all state government services. The streamlining will also apply to telephone contacts or in-person visits to state agencies. The Keystone Login is currently an option for contacting Community and Economic Development, General Services, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the Office of Administration. The administration also plans to roll out a single phone number for people seeking services.
July 25, 2019 4:06 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A woman has been sentenced to three to six years in the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian in western Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that 30-year-old Melinda Gregor tearfully apologized before an Allegheny County judge imposed the mandatory term Wednesday. She said “I know me saying ‘I’m sorry’ a million times won’t change anything, but I just want to say I’m so sorry to your family.” Defense attorney Phil DiLucente said his hadn’t committed “an intentional act to hurt or kill someone.” Common Pleas Court Judge Beth Lazzara, however, said Gregor knew she had struck something when she hit 50-year-old Michael Menner in December 2017, and jurors who convicted of her of failure to render aid didn’t believe her story that she thought she had struck a deer.
July 25, 2019 4:05 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A western Pennsylvania sports authority official has been charged with stealing more than $300,000 from an accounting firm for which she previously worked. The Tribune-Review reports that 43-year-old Sharon Mink, employed since February 2017 as controller for the Sports and Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, is charged with nine counts of forgery as well as theft and receiving stolen property. Allegheny County prosecutors allege that she embezzled more than $319,000 from Forest Hills-based Research Underwriters and used the money for cruises, airline tickets and merchandise from Louis Vuitton, Coach, Gucci and Tiffany. Defense attorney Phil DiLucente said his client has been suspended from the authority without pay. He said it would be premature to comment but added that “I can tell you she is perplexed by these charges.”
July 25, 2019 4:04 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Jerry Sandusky isn’t getting a fresh chance to argue in state court he should get a new trial, seven years after the former Penn State assistant football coach was convicted of molesting 10 boys. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down the 75-year-old’s request it review a Superior Court decision earlier this year that rejected most of Sandusky’s arguments. His lawyer says he’s very disappointed and Sandusky may seek help from federal courts. Sandusky’s November 2011 arrest led to the firing of his longtime boss, head football coach Joe Paterno. Paterno died in 2012. Superior Court had also ordered Sandusky be resentenced because mandatory minimum guidelines were improperly applied. The resentencing has been on hold awaiting the high court decision. Sandusky was sentenced in 2012 to 30 to 60 years.
July 25, 2019 4:00 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – A Syrian refugee accused of planning a terror attack at a Pittsburgh church pleaded not guilty in federal court Wednesday. Mustafa Alowemer, 21, who just graduated from Brashear High School in June, is charged in connection with alleged plans to carry out the attack in the name of ISIS, according to federal investigators. Alowemer allegedly purchased items to make bombs, which he said he planned to deliver to the Legacy International Worship Center in the Perry South neighborhood in July, authorities said.
July 24, 2019 5:59 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has passed a bill aimed at combating robocalls, the latest attempt to counter the wave of spam calls as complaints pile up. Federal agencies have also stepped up anti-robocall measures, allowing carriers to block unwanted calls by default and encouraging the wireless industry to roll out technology that guarantees the number showing up on your caller ID isn’t faked to fool you into answering a scammer. The Senate passed a bill similar to the House one, the Traced Act, in May, with near-unanimous support. The House version, the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, goes further in attempting to stop companies from making telemarketing calls. Both bills have support from consumer groups and the telecom industry. The House has passed the robocall bill by a 429-3 vote.
July 24, 2019 5:57 pm
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Federal officials say the helicopter carrying coal billionaire Chris Cline began spinning before it plunged into the ocean near the Bahamas and killed everyone on board. The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday released a preliminary report that details the July 4 accident and its aftermath but doesn’t include a cause. Cline, his daughter Kameron and three of her friends died along with a pilot and copilot in the crash off Cline’s private Big Grand Cay island. The report says a witness saw the helicopter rotate to the left three to four times, followed by a whooshing noises and the sound of an impact. It was found upside-down with several broken pieces. The NTSB says the aircraft was leaving the island to take two passengers to Florida for medical treatment.
July 24, 2019 5:53 pm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Rapper Meek Mill says he’s “ecstatic that justice prevailed” after a Pennsylvania appeals court overturned his decade-old drug and gun conviction. The entertainer says his legal ordeal has been “mentally and emotionally challenging.” He calls it unfortunate that millions of other people are going through similar ordeals without the support he’s received from his family, legal team and celebrity friends including music mogul Jay-Z and Philadelphia 76ers owner Michael Rubin. The 32-year-old born Robert Rihmeek Williams vows to continue to push for criminal justice reform “to change these outdated laws and fix our broken criminal justice system.” A Pennsylvania appeals court threw out on Wednesday rapper Meek Mill’s decade-old conviction in a drug and gun case. The unanimous three-judge opinion grants the rapper born Robert Williams a new trial because of new evidence of alleged police corruption. The Pennsylvania Superior Court also overturned the trial judge’s parole violation findings that sent the entertainer back to prison in 2017 for five months. “We conclude the after-discovered evidence is of such a strong nature and character that a different verdict will likely result at a retrial,” the opinion said. Prosecutors could choose to drop the case. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office has said it will not call the police officer who was the sole prosecution witness because of new doubts about his credibility.
July 24, 2019 5:50 pm
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Prosecutors say a man has been sentenced to 23 months to 46 months in prison, which amounts to time served, in the death of his infant daughter almost four years ago. The Allegheny County district attorney’s office had sought five to 10 years at Wednesday’s sentencing of 33-year-old Joseph Swidorsky, who pleaded guilty in April to involuntary manslaughter. Swidorsky has been held in the county jail since October 2015 in the death of 5-week-old Braelyn Swidorsky. Police said the Brighton Heights resident was bathing the infant in the bathroom in June 2015 when her mother walked in and found her blue and unresponsive. She died later that night. A medical examiner said the child’s death was due to a skull fracture and brain hemorrhaging.
