January 11, 2024 9:18 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities in New York have responded to a bomb threat at the home of the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud trial. They found no bomb and and the trial’s closing arguments are to proceed normally. The former president had been planning to deliver his own summation Thursday, but Judge Arthur Engoron rejected that. Engoron initially OK’d the idea but yanked permission after Trump’s lawyer missed a deadline for agreeing to limits on his remarks. Among other things, the judge warned Trump “may not deliver a campaign speech” or impugn him or adversaries and court staff. Trump’s return to the civil trial comes days before the Iowa caucuses.
January 11, 2024 5:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Higher energy and housing prices boosted overall U.S. inflation in December, a sign that the Federal Reserve’s drive to slow inflation to its 2% target will likely remain a bumpy one. Overall prices rose 0.3% from November and 3.4% from 12 months earlier. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, though, so-called core prices rose just 0.3% month over month. Core prices were up 3.9% from a year earlier — the mildest such pace since May 2021. Economists pay particular attention to core prices because, by excluding costs that typically jump around from month to month, they are seen as a better guide to the likely path of inflation.
January 11, 2024 5:20 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Barred from giving a formal closing argument, Donald Trump wrested an opportunity to speak in court at the conclusion of his New York civil fraud trial. He unleashed a barrage of attacks in a six-minute diatribe Thursday before being cut off by the judge. Trump is accused of inflating his company’s financial statements in order to get better deals on loans and insurance. He called the proceedings “a fraud on me.” The day began with authorities responding to a bomb threat at the judge’s house. They found nothing amiss. The judge indicated he’ll rule by the end of the month.
January 11, 2024 5:09 am
WINDHAM, N.H. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has dropped out of the Republican presidential race. He made the announcement Wednesday night at a town hall in New Hampshire just hours before the fifth debate of the 2024 election cycle kicked off without him. Christie has been under intense pressure to exit the race as Trump critics work to unify behind a viable Republican alternative to the former president. Christie did not endorsing any of his rivals and continued to criticize them in his exit speech. He was overheard on a live mic ahead of the event saying that Nikki Haley is “going to get smoked.”
January 11, 2024 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are off to a raucous start in their first week back in Washington after an extended holiday break. Some are openly criticizing new House Speaker Mike Johnson. Others helped sink a routine procedural vote to express their displeasure with topline spending levels that Johnson negotiated with Democrats for the current fiscal year. Most Republicans say they support Johnson, saying he is doing the best he can. But it took only eight Republicans to oust McCarthy — along with 208 Democrats. A similar revolt from just a handful of Republicans would leave Johnson vulnerable as well.
January 11, 2024 5:05 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges filed after the collapse of a plea deal that could have settled the case against him. President Joe Biden’s son was charged with nine counts of felony and misdemeanor tax offenses. The charges stem from what federal prosecutors say was a four-year scheme to skip out on paying the $1.4 million he owed to the Internal Revenue Service. A tentative trial date was set for June 20. Hunter Biden has also been charged in Delaware with lying in October 2018 on a federal form for gun purchasers when he swore he wasn’t using or addicted to illegal drugs.
January 11, 2024 5:03 am
NORTH HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Land owned by North Huntingdon Township could be leased to a local business owner who is looking to build a multi-million dollar sports facility. Shane Larkin, the owner of N Zone Sports Westmoreland, said it’s a big project in the works. “We’re looking to do an indoor and outdoor sports space on about a 15 to 18-acre piece of property,” he said. That property is currently owned by North Huntingdon Township for the Public Works facility. Last month, the township and Larkin had a meeting to discuss the potential of leasing that site for this project. Larkin is partnering with RocStreet Sports for this project. Larkin wants it to have indoor and outdoor turf fields, basketball courts, pickleball courts, dek hockey and inline hockey rinks, and an indoor and outdoor track. RocStreet is investing that $10 million for the development of this project – so that means if they end up leasing land from the township – it wouldn’t cost taxpayers. Atwood said while the talks are still in the very early stages, he’s excited to see the possibility of development on the western part of Route 30. If all goes according to plan, Larkin says they could break ground as early as this summer.
January 11, 2024 4:57 am
BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – With just over 100,000 voters, Beaver County historically was a solid rock built by the Democratic Party to control Pennsylvania politically. “We will continue to fight to keep our democratic congressman, democratic senators, our democratic governor, our democratic president,” said Erin Gabriel who’s the Beaver County Democratic Committee Chair. That rock has started to crumble as this blue county is turning red. “We continue to trend towards being a Republican majority as far as voter registration goes. Last November we were about 2300 voters away and we knew we had the numbers and with the demographics here in Beaver County we knew we just needed to get them to switch,” said Roman Kozak who’s the Beaver County Republican Committee Chair. For the last decade, many of the county seats were won by Republicans, but for the first time there are now nearly 200 more registered Republicans than Democrats something the Republican Party hopes to push even higher come the 2024 election.
January 11, 2024 2:24 am
BEAVER FALLS, Pa. — (WPXI) – Beaver Falls police are investigating after a woman’s body was found Thursday morning on a walking trail off College Avenue, right behind the track at Geneva College. Officers were first called to the scene just before 9:30 a.m. and spent nearly nine hours investigating along the quarter-mile trail. A school spokesperson confirmed to Channel 11 the woman was not a Geneva student or employee. Beaver Falls police have not released the name of the woman who died, but officers confirmed she is the same person they took a missing person’s report for on Tuesday. Investigators say she left her home Sunday and never returned. Sources tell Channel 11 she was in her 40s. Beaver Falls Police say they have not determined her cause of death, nor manner of death.
January 10, 2024 5:38 pm
WINDHAM, N.H. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is planning to announce he’s dropping his Republican presidential bid at his New Hampshire town hall on Wednesday night. That’s according to a person with direct knowledge of the former New Jersey governor’s plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions. Christie has been under intense pressure to exit the race as critics of Donald Trump work to unify behind a viable Republican alternative to the former president. It wasn’t clear whether Christie would be immediately endorsing one of his rivals, but he was overheard on a live mic ahead of the event saying that Nikki Haley is “going to get smoked.” (Photo: AP)
