January 2, 2020 4:09 am
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Severe flooding in Indonesia’s capital as residents celebrated the new year has killed at least 16 people, displaced tens of thousands and forced an airport to close. Video and photos showed cars floating in muddy waters while soldiers and rescuers in boats helped children and elders forced onto the roofs of flooded homes. As much as 14.5 inches of rain fell on New Year’s Eve, causing two rivers to overflow. Floodwaters reached 8 feet in places. The city of 10 million people is prone to flooding and is rapidly sinking due to groundwater extraction. The president announced in August the national capital would be moved from Jakarta.
January 2, 2020 4:08 am
PERTH, Australia (AP) – Thousands of tourists are fleeing Australia’s wildfire-ravaged eastern coast ahead of worsening conditions as the military started to evacuate people trapped on the shore further south. Cooler weather has aided firefighting and allowed people to replenish supplies. Vehicles formed long lines at gas stations and supermarkets, and traffic was gridlocked as highways reopened. But fire conditions are expected to deteriorate as high temperatures and strong winds return. Wildfires this week have burned more than more than 400 homes in Australia’s two most-populous states. New South Wales ordered tourists to leave a large stretch of the coast.
January 2, 2020 4:05 am
Philadelphia’s new police chief has a challenging agenda ahead that includes addressing the city’s daily gun violence. Two shooting deaths Tuesday make 2019 the city’s deadliest year in a decade. Police have tallied 355 slayings this year, two more than 2018. City data shows the figure had fallen to below 250 homicides just a few years ago. Police say they’ve made arrests in just over half the homicide cases this year. Separately, they say about 1,450 people were shot in Philadelphia in 2019. Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw takes over the Philadelphia department in February.
January 2, 2020 4:04 am
BUTLER, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania man has admitted he killed his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son nearly three years ago. Keith Jordan Lambing entered a guilty plea Monday to third-degree murder and assault. Sentencing is likely to be imposed next week. The victim bled to death after the attack in March 2017. Butler County prosecutors say they opted not to pursue the death penalty because the child’s parents did not want to relive the facts of áthe crime during a trial. The 22-year-old Lambing, from Butler, Pennsylvania, is expected to receive 30 to 60 years under the plea agreement. A charge of rape was dismissed.
January 2, 2020 4:03 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Authorities say homicides in Pittsburgh have hit a 20-year low. Data from police and the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office show 37 homicides city-wide last year. That’s way down from 52 homicides reported in 2018, and ties the number of homicides in 1998. All but four of last year’s victims were men and all but three were shot to death. Five victims were children. The Tribune-Review reports that homicides in Pittsburgh have been decreasing since a spike in 2014 when the city saw 70 homicides. Surrounding Allegheny County had 59 homicides last year.
January 1, 2020 9:43 am
WILKINSBURG, Pa. (WPXI) — Allegheny County Police have released updated information about an officer-involved shooting in Wilkinsburg that their agency is investigating. On Dec. 22, someone called 911 around 1 a.m. to report that a black man, wearing a black jacket and grey sweatpants, had ‘pulled a gun’ on them near the intersection of Penn Avenue and Wood Street. The caller described that the gunman had dreadlocks and was carrying a silver handgun, police said.
January 1, 2020 9:10 am
HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) – The Hershey Co. will soon retire its vehicles that are shaped like its Hershey’s Kisses. The Hershey Kissmobiles are each made up of three huge Kisses candies and have traveled across the country since 1997. The chocolate company has confirmed that the 26-foot-long vehicles won’t return in 2020. A Hershey Co. spokesman says the company decided to pull the aging Kissmobiles out of safety concerns for employees and the public. It has also become more difficult to find replacement parts for the custom vehicles. One of the Kissmobiles will be available for public viewing at the AACA Museum in Hershey.
January 1, 2020 9:08 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – More than 60,000 Pennsylvania residents are expected to see a pay increase in 2020 as a new federal overtime rule goes into effect. The rule taking effect Wednesday guarantees time-and-a-half pay to nearly all hourly employees who work more than 40 hours a week and salaried workers making less than about $35,500 per year. Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry Jerry Oleksiak tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the rule should benefit about 61,000 people in the state. The minimum wage remains $7.25 an hour in Pennsylvania. That’s the same it’s been since 2009.
January 1, 2020 9:03 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Just before 7:30 a.m. Monday, a corrections officer found a male inmate dead at the Allegheny County Jail, according to law enforcement. Police said corrections officers and medical personnel performed CPR until paramedics could arrive. Officials said the man was declared dead by 7:49 a.m. Allegheny County Police are investigating what happened. The identity of the inmate has not yet been released.
December 31, 2019 8:44 am
Revelers around the world usher in the new decade. Many locations around the world already have rung in the new year. In Auckland, New Zealand, half a ton of fireworks burst from the Sky Tower above the city center. The Pacific island nation of Kiribati was one of the first countries to welcome the new decade, with its 3,200 coral atolls that are strewn more than 3 million square miles, straddling the equator. Samoa’s New Year’s Eve was more somber than usual. Fireworks erupted at midnight as people remembered the 81 lives lost in 2019’s measles epidemic.
