July 2, 2019 6:53 am
LA SERENA, Chile (AP) – Tens of thousands of tourists flocked to cities and towns across northern Chile to stake out spots in one of the world’s best locations to witness Tuesday’s total solar eclipse. Millions are expected to gaze at the cosmic spectacle that will begin in the South Pacific and sweep along a path 6,800 miles (11,000 kilometers) across open waters to Chile and Argentina. Those are the only places the total eclipse will be seen aside from an uninhabited island. The eclipse is expected to make its first landfall in Chile at La Serena, a city of some 200,000 people where the arrival of more than 300,000 visitors forced the local water company to increase output and service gas stations to store extra fuel. Police and health services were also reinforced.
July 2, 2019 6:51 am
CLINT, Texas (AP) – The head of the U.S. Border Patrol says sexist posts and comments mocking migrant deaths in a closed Facebook group for agents and employees are “completely inappropriate.” Carla Provost said in a statement Monday that any employee who violated standards will be held accountable. ProPublica published a report on the group that comprises about 9,500 current and former employees. There are about 20,000 active Border Patrol agents. Group members posted graphic doctored images of U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat. Other posts refer to Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Veronica Escobar, of Texas, in sexually explicit ways. One member encouraged agents to throw burritos at them during a facility tour Monday. The assistant commissioner of the office of professional responsibility says the “disturbing social media activity” is being investigated.
July 2, 2019 6:47 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Legislation to help Pennsylvania agriculture is going into effect, including measures to foster younger farmers, help clean water going into Chesapeake Bay and expand butchering services for small farmers. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf signed eight related farm bills in the Capitol on Monday as he was flanked by state presidents of the Future Farmers of America and the 4-H. The $23 million initiative includes funding for agricultural business development, marketing, educational programs and conservation practices. Money will also go to encourage specialty products such as hardwood, hemp and hops, and to build agricultural infrastructure in urban areas. State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding calls it “the most comprehensive investment in agriculture in a generation.”
July 2, 2019 4:18 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – Six NICU patients and six staff members have tested positive for MRSA at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. UPMC announced the discovery Monday afternoon. The hospital said all of the patents have been tested MRSA, also known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Only one of the six patients that tested positive was symptomatic. According to the hospital a portion of the population carries MRSA but never has symptoms. “UPMC always follows CDC guidelines, and isolation protocols and infection control procedures are in place. We immediately notified the Allegheny County Health Department and Pennsylvania Department of Health,” a statement from the hospital said.
July 2, 2019 4:13 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) – The case of a decorated Navy SEAL charged with murder and other crimes in Iraq is in the hands of a jury. Jurors in San Diego will resume deliberations Tuesday in the court-martial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who is accused of killing a wounded war prisoner in Iraq in 2017. He has pleaded not guilty. Closing arguments wrapped up Monday with a military prosecutor asserting that the proof of Gallagher’s guilt is his own words, his own photos and the testimony of his fellow troops. Defense lawyers called the case a “mutiny” by entitled, junior SEALs trying to oust a demanding chief. The jury is made up of five Marines and two sailors, including a SEAL, many of whom had been in heavy combat in Iraq.
July 2, 2019 4:10 am
NEW YORK (AP) – President Donald Trump has accused New York’s Democratic governor and attorney general of going after him in a “political Witch Hunt.” In several tweets Monday, Trump accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Letitia James of “harassing all of my New York businesses in search of anything at all they can find to make me look as bad as possible.”
He said Cuomo “uses his Attorney General as a bludgeoning tool.” James is suing the Trump Foundation, saying it was improperly involved in the president’s political campaign and private business affairs. She is also investigating whether Trump gave misleading information to banks. James responded on Twitter that “no one is above the law.” Cuomo told reporters Trump is letting “his paranoia” get the better of him.
July 2, 2019 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – At least two Army tanks have arrived in Washington ahead of a Fourth of July celebration that President Donald Trump says will include military hardware. An Associated Press photographer says the two M1A1 Abrams tanks are with four other military vehicles on a freight train in a railyard at the southeastern edge of Washington. The vehicles are being guarded by military police but are visible to passersby on nearby paths. A military official earlier told the AP that the tanks were transported north from Fort Stewart in Georgia. Trump told reporters Monday that the tanks will be stationed outside the Fourth of July celebration but has not given details on how they will be used.
July 2, 2019 4:08 am
VIENNA (AP) – Iran’s foreign minister is expressing his exasperation over a White House statement on his country’s nuclear program. Mohammad Javad Zarif simply wrote early Tuesday on Twitter: “Seriously?” That was in response to a White House statement late Monday claiming: “There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms.” The White House did not elaborate on how Iran could break the terms of the deal that had yet to be implemented. Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers saw it limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the accord last year. On Monday, officials acknowledged Iran broke through the limit the deal placed on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium.
July 2, 2019 4:02 am
ERIE, Pa. (AP) – State environmental regulators are moving to shut down a coke plant in northwestern Pennsylvania, citing “years of numerous repetitive environmental violations.” The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said Monday it has denied Erie Coke Corporation’s application to renew its operating permit and filed a complaint in Erie County Court to shut down the plant. The department said it had received “persistent complaints” from the community for more than a decade, but although Erie Coke had been given many opportunities to address the violations, the “frequency and severity” of the violations had only increased. Ed Nesselbeck, Erie Coke Environmental Director, told the Erie Times-News that the company was reviewing the department’s statement. He told WICU-TV last week that environmental compliance “though challenging, will be doable” and asked for “cooperation and patience.”
July 2, 2019 4:00 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is broadening a college tuition benefit for National Guard members who sign up for another six-year enlistment. Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday signed legislation he calls the nation’s most extensive higher education benefit for a state Guard unit . Since 1996, National Guard members who sign up for a six-year enlistment get 10 semesters, or five years, of tuition credits equal to the annual tuition rate charged by Pennsylvania’s state system universities. The new reenlistment benefit is identical, but can also be used by spouses or children.
The institution must be approved by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. The benefit starts immediately for Guard members. Family members can start claiming the benefit next summer. The new benefit is projected to cost about $12 million annually by 2024.
