July 3, 2019 7:53 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The owner of an alligator that escaped from a Pittsburgh home last month is facing charges stemming from the discovery of numerous animals at the residence. Police filed 33 counts of neglect against Mark McGowan on Tuesday, along with single counts of animal cruelty and recklessly endangering another person. Authorities started investigating McGowan after “Chomp,” a 5-foot (1.52-meter)-long alligator, was found along a city street June 6. A few days later, they removed 32 animals – many of them exotic – from the home where they allegedly were living in substandard conditions. Among them were three more alligators, including one with a neck injury; three snakes, including Burmese pythons, a lizard and some iguanas. Multiple dead animals were also discovered.
July 3, 2019 5:54 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A recent series of Facebook video ads for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is using models to portray actual supporters. The ads show a young woman on a beach in Florida, a Hispanic man on a city street in Texas and a bearded hipster in a coffee shop in Washington, D.C., all making glowing, voice-over endorsements of the president. But the people in the videos are actually models in stock footage produced in France, Brazil and Turkey, and available to anyone for a fee. Though the videos include a disclaimer that says “actual testimonial, actor portrayal,” they raise the question why a campaign that can fill arenas with supporters would have to buy stock footage of models to portray them. Trump’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
July 3, 2019 4:37 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Officials believe a visitor to a western Pennsylvania hospital likely was the source of an antibiotic-resistant staph infection contracted by a dozen people, including six babies. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center says six babies and six staff members at the Children’s Hospital neonatal intensive care unit were confirmed to have the MRSA infection. Diane Hupp, chief nursing officer, said Tuesday that officials believe the source was “potentially a visitor” to the NICU. She declined to provide details but said the hospital is “still investigating.” Hupp said that none of the babies have shown symptoms since the infection was confirmed Friday, although one was being treated “as a precaution.” Most MRSA infections remain on the skin, but they can become more serious if they spread into the body or bloodstream.
July 3, 2019 4:20 am
The Trump administration says the 2020 Census questionnaire is moving ahead without a question about citizenship. That’s according to an attorney for a civil rights group that helped fight the addition of the question. Kristen Clarke said Tuesday that Trump administration attorneys notified parties in lawsuits challenging the question that the printing of the hundreds of millions of documents for the 2020 counts would be starting soon. The White House didn’t immediately comment on the decision. President Donald Trump has decried last week’s Supreme Court ruling saying the question was sought under a false pretext. Spokespeople for the U.S. Census Bureau have not responded to emails or phone calls seeking comment.
July 3, 2019 4:19 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) – A Navy SEAL acquitted of killing a wounded war prisoner in Iraq says he’s “happy and grateful.” Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher spoke briefly with reporters Tuesday after a military jury in San Diego found him not guilty of murder and all but one other charge. The jury is scheduled to sentence him Wednesday in San Diego. Gallagher could face up to four months confinement after being convicted of a single charge of posing for photographs with a dead war casualty. But he could receive credit for the more than six months he served awaiting trial.
July 3, 2019 4:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s Senate are warning that they’ll reassign the duties of Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman as the chamber’s presiding officer if he defies the chamber’s rules again. Republicans issued the two-page letter publicly Tuesday. It came six days after the chamber devolved into shouting, name-calling and bare-knuckled procedural tactics over a Republican bill to end a decades-old program that temporarily offers $200 a month to people deemed unable to work. Senate Democrats contended that Republicans used questionable procedure to block Democrats from offering amendments. Fetterman later ignored a “point of order” by Senate Republican Leader Jake Corman while Democratic Sen. Katie Muth was speaking. For nearly three minutes , Muth spoke while Corman shouted over her at Fetterman to acknowledge him. Senate Democrats and Fetterman say it’s time to move on.
July 3, 2019 4:09 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf is signing legislation that his office says clarifies the options for who school districts and private schools can hire as armed security guards, although Wolf’s administration says it bars districts from allowing teachers to be armed. The bill Wolf signed Tuesday also expands training requirements for armed school officers. It says schools can hire armed security guards on contract, as long as they meet certain certification standards. It also expands the definition of a school officer to include a county sheriff or deputy sheriff. Wolf’s office says schools were already employing both. In a statement, Wolf says teachers cannot be considered security personnel, and aren’t authorized to be armed in schools under any law in Pennsylvania.
Most Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill, saying allowing more guns into school won’t solve school shootings.
July 3, 2019 4:07 am
DETROIT (AP) – Former colleagues say ex-Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca has died at age 94 in Bel Air, California. Iacocca was a master pitchman. He put the Mustang in Ford’s lineup in the 1960s. Two decades later, he became a corporate folk hero when he resurrected Chrysler. He was famous for his TV ads from that time, in which he said: “If you can find a better car, buy it!” Iacocca also wrote two best-selling books and was courted as a presidential candidate for 1988. He had a 32-year career at Ford and Chrysler and helped launch some of Detroit’s most significant cars – including the minivan, the Chrysler K-car and the Ford Escort.
July 3, 2019 4:05 am
SEATTLE (AP) – A federal judge in Seattle has blocked a Trump administration policy that would keep thousands of asylum seekers locked up while they pursue their cases. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled Tuesday that people who are detained after entering the country to seek protection are entitled to bond hearings. Attorney General William Barr announced in April that the government would no longer offer such hearings, but instead keep them in custody. It was part of the administration’s efforts to deter a surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Immigrant rights advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project sued to block the policy, which was due to take effect July 15.
July 2, 2019 5:57 pm
SAN DIEGO (AP) – A military jury in San Diego has found a Navy SEAL not guilty of committing murder in Iraq. The jury Tuesday also found Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher not guilty of all other counts except for the violation of posing for photographs with a dead war casualty. Gallagher was accused of fatally stabbing an Islamic State prisoner who had been wounded by an airstrike in Iraq in 2017 and other crimes. He had also been accused of attempted murder.
