January 12, 2024 5:38 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans say President Joe Biden’s plan to start canceling student loans for some borrowers in February is an attempt to win voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Cancellation was set to begin in July under the new SAVE repayment plan but is being unrolled earlier to provide faster relief to borrowers. The Democratic president said Friday it’s part of an effort “to give more borrowers breathing room.” Borrowers will be eligible if they’re enrolled in the new SAVE plan, if they originally borrowed $12,000 or less to attend college, and they’ve made at least 10 years of payments. North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx says the plan will dump kerosene on a “raging student debt fire.”
January 12, 2024 4:59 pm
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — U.S. prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a white supremacist gunman who killed 10 Black people inside a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The decision was announced Friday in a court filing. Payton Gendron is already is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole after he pleaded guilty to state charges of murder and domestic terrorism in the 2022 massacre. New York does not have capital punishment, but the Justice Department had the option of seeking the death penalty in a separate federal hate crimes case. Gendron had promised through his lawyers to plead guilty if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. (Photo: AP)
January 12, 2024 5:18 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S.-led airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels in response to their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have pulled the world’s focus back on the yearslong war raging in the Arab world’s poorest nation. The bombing lit the predawn sky over multiple sites held by the Iranian-backed rebels Friday. The rebels say the strikes killed five people and wounded six others. Saudi Arabia quickly sought to distance itself from the attacks as it seeks to maintain a delicate détente with Iran and a cease-fire in the Yemen war from which it hopes to finally withdraw. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy acknowledged an attack days earlier on a ship in the Indian Ocean likely carried out by Iran.
January 12, 2024 5:17 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is visiting Kyiv to announce a new package of support for Ukraine, including an increase in military funding for its war with Russia, a statement from his office said. Sunak on Friday is expected to announce that military funding for Ukraine for the next financial year will be 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion), the statement said. The funding would cover long-range missiles, air defense, artillery ammunition and maritime security. Sunak first visited Ukraine in November 2022, soon after he became prime minister. Britain has been one of Ukraine’s most vocal backers.
January 12, 2024 5:10 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A commission reviewing how Pennsylvania distributes money to public schools has approved a report that suggests the state is underfunding its districts by more than $5 billion. Thursday’s vote on the report by the Basic Education Funding Commission was backed by Democrats and members of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration. Republicans and one Democrat on the commission opposed it. The result was a vote of 8 to 7. A key recommendation in the report says the state should begin immediately to close a school funding gap of more than $5 billion and phase in the increases over seven years. A separate Republican report was defeated on party lines.
January 12, 2024 2:53 am
A preliminary hearing was held Thursday for a Bulger man facing multiple felony charges accusing him of assaulting a minor. Thirty one year old Dakota Dillon faces involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor, aggravated indecent assault and child endangerment charges from incidents that allegedly occurred in October of 2022. Testimony from the underage victim indicated that Dillon sexually assaulted her multiple times over the course of two weekends. The alleged assaults occurred in Dillon’s home and in a car while travelling home from a party. The victim also alleged that she was furnished alcohol at the time of some of the assaults. The victim also spoke of text messages from Dillon asking her not to tell anyone about the incidents. The judge held all charges for court. Dillon will be formally arraigned on February 29th.
January 11, 2024 5:16 pm
(AP) – Federal officials are investigating Boeing’s oversight of production of a panel that blew off a jetliner in mid-flight last week. The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that the investigation is focusing on door plugs like the one that came off an Alaska Airlines Boeing jetliner over Oregon. The FAA says Boeing’s manufacturing practices need to meet high safety standards. The plane involved is a Boeing 737 Max 9, and all similar planes operated by Alaska Airlines and United Airlines remain grounded.
January 11, 2024 5:14 pm
BOSTON (AP) — Several Jewish students have filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, accusing it of tolerating antisemitism that has resulted in them being intimidated, harassed and assaulted. The lawsuit filed Wednesday mirrors other antisemitism lawsuits filed since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel including at Art Institute of Chicago, New York University and University of Pennsylvania. In the Harvard lawsuit, the plaintiffs include Jewish students enrolled at the Harvard Divinity School and members of the Students Against Antisemitism, Inc., whose Jewish members include students at Harvard Law School. They accuse Harvard of violating civil rights of Jewish students, “who are subjected to a severe and pervasive antisemitic hostile educational environment.”
January 11, 2024 2:06 pm
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a police officer in Pennsylvania was shot and critically wounded early as he helped investigate two other shootings. State police say the shooting in Scranton occurred around 4:30 a.m. and also left a suspect wounded. Both were treated at a hospital and were listed in critical but stable condition, but further information about their injuries was not disclosed. The wounded officer was among several Scranton officers who were investigating two other shootings that had occurred in the city earlier in the evening. When the officers encountered a suspect, gunfire was exchanged, Carroll said, but he declined to provide further details. The names of the officer and the wounded suspect were not released. No other injuries were reported.
January 11, 2024 9:23 am
Three people, including two students, were transported by ambulance to Washington Hospital following a crash involving a Beth Center School District bus Thursday morning. Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers say it happened around 8:45 a.m. in the 23-hundred block of Beallsville Road in West Bethlehem Township. State Trooper Forrest Allison of the Washington Barracks tells WJPA News the bus, carrying elementary school students, was stopped when the other vehicle struck it from behind, ran off the roadway, hit a tombstone, and ended up hitting a nearby house. Trooper Allison says the driver of that vehicle was transported by ambulance from the scene. A juvenile passenger in the vehicle was not injured. Two students on the bus were also transported by ambulance. Trooper Allison says a dozen-or-so other students on the bus were placed on a different school bus and taken to Washington Hospital for evaluation.
