February 2, 2020 8:25 am
RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Gunfire erupted after a funeral Saturday in Florida, killing a teenager and a man and leaving one other person wounded, police said. Riviera Beach police said in a statement that the shooting happened near the Victory City Church shortly after 2:30 p.m. They said a 15-year-old boy and 47-year-old Royce Freeman died at the scene. The teen’s name wasn’t immediately released. Police initially said a woman and a teenager were also wounded, but later released a statement Sunday night saying the juvenile male was shot at a different location in Riviera Beach. The woman, whose name police didn’t immediately release, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said. No arrests were announced as of late Saturday.
February 2, 2020 8:23 am
NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidates promised voters in Iowa on Saturday they would unify the party to take on President Donald Trump even as they kept up their criticism of each other and navigated the lingering divides from the 2016 campaign. About 20 miles away in Cedar Rapids, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren updated her stump speech to include a more explicit call for unity. And Bernie Sanders insisted he would back the ultimate Democratic nominee even if it’s not him. On the eve of Monday’s Iowa caucuses, the unity pledges marked an early — and urgent — effort to avoid the divides that some Democrats say helped Trump win the presidency in 2016. After a year of campaigning, most polls show a tight race between Biden, Warren, Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Those candidates, along with Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and businessman Andrew Yang, crisscrossed Iowa on Saturday seeking a breakout victory that would propel them deeper into the contests that will decide the Democratic nomination.
February 2, 2020 8:20 am
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday pressed Kazakhstan to be wary of Chinese investment and influence, urging the Central Asian nation and others to join calls demanding an end to China’s repression of minorities. Bringing a message similar to the one he has delivered repeatedly to other countries, Pompeo told senior Kazakh officials that the attractiveness of Chinese investment comes with a cost to sovereignty and may hurt, instead of help, the country’s long-term development. Pompeo began his brief visit to the country by meeting with ethnic Kazakhs whose families have gone missing or been detained in China’s widespread crackdown on Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities in its western Xinjiang region.
February 2, 2020 8:17 am
DONORA, Pa. (WPXI) — A father and son were left without a home after an apartment caught fire overnight in Donora. The fire happened at a building along Fifth Street and McKean Avenue. The man who lived in the unit that caught fire said his 22-year-old son jumped out of a window to escape the smoke and flames. The family said they were sleeping and woke up to smoke filling the apartment. Fire officials said the blaze was caused by a stove. Four other families live in the building and they were allowed to return once it was ventilated.
February 2, 2020 8:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s sixth budget proposal to Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature will come out Tuesday, and the Democrat is expected to seek more money for public schools and emphasize the urgency of addressing student-loan debt and cleaning up lead and asbestos in schools. Many details of the plan, which could exceed $35 billion, remain under wraps, although the governor’s office in recent days has rolled out some features. Wolf himself said his spending blueprint for 2020-21 fiscal year that starts July 1 would hold the line on taxes and contain “no surprises.” To a large degree, Wolf is hemmed in by the Legislature’s Republican majorities. While Wolf’s relationship with top Republican lawmakers has been stable since a protracted budget dispute in 2017, they have generally blocked his most expansive proposals since he took office in 2015.
February 2, 2020 8:11 am
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s most famous groundhog on Sunday declared: “Spring will be early, it’s a certainty.” At sunrise on Groundhog Day, members of Punxsutawney Phil’s top hat-wearing inner circle revealed the cuddly oracle’s prediction — his 134th, according to the Pennsylvania Tourism Office. Awoken by the crowd’s chants of “Phil!” the groundhog was hoisted in the air for the assembly to hail before making his decision. He then grasped the glove of a handler as a member of his inner circle announced that spring would come early this year. The annual event has its origin in a German legend that says if a furry rodent casts a shadow on Feb. 2, winter continues. If not, spring comes early. In reality, Phil’s prediction is decided ahead of time by the group on Gobbler’s Knob, a tiny hill just outside Punxsutawney. That’s about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
February 2, 2020 5:24 am
A city man was sentenced to prison on robbery charges in Washington and Chartiers Twp. Glenn Edward “Boo” Davis, Jr. 30 pleaded guilty to felony aggravated assault for an incident that occurred outside a Chartiers Twp. bar in 2018. The victim was treated at a Pittsburgh Hospital with injuries including fluid on the brain. Davis avoided a jury trial on these charges by entering guilty pleas for a robbery on Chestnut St. in Washington in December. Davis pled guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and possession of a firearm after a prior conviction. Judge Valerie Costanzo heard the cases and Davis was sentenced to 4-10 years in prison followed by 5 years of probation.
February 1, 2020 9:51 am
MINSK, Belarus (AP) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States can provide Belarus with 100% of its oil and gas, a slap at Russia which recently cut off supplies. Pompeo was in Belarus on Saturday seeking to improve ties with the former Soviet republic as its relations with Russia become further strained. Belarus fears Russia is trying to absorb it, using energy as leverage, and Pompeo said “all you have to do is call” for the U.S. to fill the vacuum. He’s the first secretary of state to visit Belarus in 26 years and pressed the country’s authoritarian president to do more to promote human rights and democracy if he wants normalized ties with the U.S.
February 1, 2020 9:49 am
BEIJING (AP) – China’s death toll from a new virus has risen to 259 and a World Health Organization official says other governments need to prepare for”domestic outbreak control” if the disease spreads. Beijing criticized Washington’s order barring entry to most foreigners who visited China in the past two weeks. Australia announced similar measures. Meanwhile, South Korea and India flew hundreds of their citizens out of Wuhan, the city at the center of an area where some 50 million people are barred from leaving in a sweeping anti-virus effort. Indonesia also sent a plane. The number of confirmed cases in China rose to 11,791, surpassing the number in the 2002-03 outbreak of SARS. Japan, Vietnam and Australia have reported one more case each.
February 1, 2020 9:46 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa presidential campaign has kicked into high gear at the start of weekend. Democratic candidates are launching a final, frenetic weekend of campaigning ahead of the Iowa caucuses, kick-starting the battle to take on President Donald Trump in November. The Senate pushed back voting on Trump’s impeachment trial until Wednesday, which allowed the senators who had been stuck in Washington to begin returning to the campaign trail. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren flew to Iowa late Friday night and headed straight to a Des Moines brewery.
