December 6, 2019 4:14 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – In a long anticipated safety report, ride-sharing giant Uber says more than 3,000 sexual assaults were reported during its U.S. rides in 2018. That figure includes 235 rapes. The company hailed the report released Thursday as the first of its kind. The company said it provides a look into the traffic deaths, murders and reported sexual assaults that took place during more than one billion annual rides arranged in the U.S. using Uber’s service. Uber and its ride-hailing competitor Lyft have long faced criticism for not doing enough to protect the safety of their riders and drivers.
December 6, 2019 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A senior Trump administration official says the White House will not participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s next impeachment hearing. The decision came Friday in a letter from White House counsel Pat Cipollone. The letter to Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler did not expressly state the White House’s refusal to participate. But a senior administration official says that was the point it was intended to communicate.
December 6, 2019 4:10 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf is commuting the life sentences of eight more people in prison, bringing the total to 19 since he took office in 2015. áWolf’s office said Thursday all eight have used their time in prison to rehabilitate themselves, remained largely free of any incident and shown remorse for their actions and victims. Wolf’s office says those receiving a commutation for a life sentence must go to a halfway house for a year, after which they are under parole supervision for the rest of their lives.
December 6, 2019 4:03 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – Several people are facing charges after more than $22,000 was stolen from a local school system using fraudulent checks. According to a police criminal complaint, 28 checks were written and cashed by 11 different people. Each check was counterfeit, appearing to be drawn on Propel Schools accounts through Dollar Bank. None of the checks were legitimate Propel Schools checks and were never made out by school personnel, police said. The total amount of money cashed using the school system’s actual bank account was more than $22,000. So far, five people have been charged in connection with the fake checks: Sasha Rucker, Nia Haley, Marquis Fussell, Alaysha Johnson and Terry Perry. Six other people were listed in the criminal complaint as having received and cashed some of the checks, but no charges have been filed against them yet.
December 6, 2019 2:26 am
A man who was the subject of a State Police search in Eighty-Four has been found dead. The Washington County Coroner’s Office has confirmed the identity of the 50- year-old man as Scott Manko of Eighty-Four. State Troopers began searching for him after he went to feed animals on Ross Farm along Route 519 and could not be located. He had last been contacted around 9 o’clock Wednesday night. Authorities say Manko was found dead on his property around three-thirty Thursday morning. He had been pinned beneath an ATV.
December 5, 2019 8:45 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House is moving forward to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Pelosi delivered the historic announcement Thursday from the speaker’s offices at the Capitol. Trump tweeted that if Democrats are going to impeach him, he wants them to “do it now, fast”‘ so he can get on to Senate trial On Wednesday, Democrats are charging toward a Christmastime vote on removing the 45th president, a situation Pelosi hoped to avoid. Democrats are probing Trump’s attempts to have Ukraine investigate Democratic rivals are grounds for impeachment.
December 5, 2019 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. companies added just 67,000 jobs in November, a private survey found, barely half the gain of the previous month. Payroll processor ADP said that manufacturers, construction firms and mining companies cut 18,000 jobs combined. Companies with fewer than 20 employees also slashed their payrolls. November’s job gain is the fewest in six months and suggests that hiring could be weakening, economists said. Yet job gains frequently fluctuate from month-to-month, so last month’s meager increase could also be a one-time blip. It typically takes roughly 100,000 or so new jobs a month to absorb population growth and keep the unemployment rate from rising. If November’s modest increase were to continue, the jobless rate could rise from its currently very low level of 3.6%.
December 5, 2019 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Kamala Harris’ exit from the Democratic presidential primary has set off a stampede among her former rivals, who are moving fast to win over donors who supported the California senator. Many of her supporters are still grieving. But even as they mourned, the fierce nature of a primary stirred intense competition among those who saw a potential gain in her exit. Fundraisers for former Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg are all courting her donors, hoping to gain an edge.
December 5, 2019 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Three leading legal scholars testified at a congressional House hearing that President Donald Trump’s attempts to have Ukraine investigate Democratic rivals are grounds for impeachment. Yet a fourth expert called by Republicans warned against rushing the process.áMeanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi tested whether House Democrats are willing to take that momentous next step. “Are you ready?” she asked behind closed doors. The answer, according to those present, was a resounding yes. That’s crucial because of the likely political aftermath in elections next year. Though no date has been set, the Democrats are charging toward a Christmastime vote.
December 5, 2019 4:15 am
HONOLULU (AP) – A military official says a sailor used his service weapons to kill two civilian workers and then himself at Pearl Harbor. The official who spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday says 22-year-old G. Romero was assigned to stand watch on a submarine undergoing maintenance at the military base in Hawaii. The shooting that also wounded a third civilian comes just days before thousands descend on the base to mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese bombing that propelled the United States into World War II.
