December 2, 2019 12:53 pm
Shoppers, many of them using smartphones, spent $3.6 billion buying online from small businesses on Saturday. Adobe Analytics, which tracks online sales, says that’s up 18% from a year earlier. Adobe reports that holiday season sales are on track to grow 14.9% from 2018. Small businesses garnered $68.2 billion in online sales from Nov. 1 to Nov. 30. More people are shopping on their phones. Adobe said Sunday that smartphone revenue made up 41.2% of all e-commerce revenue on Saturday. That is up 22% from a year ago. Saturday’s top-selling products included toys from Disney’s “Frozen 2,” “Madden 20” and “FIFA 20” video games, Amazon’s Fire TV and Apple AirPods.
December 2, 2019 8:19 am
One person was transported to an area hospital following a one-vehicle crash Monday morning in North Franklin Township. It happened around 4:30a.m in the one-hundred block of Cleveland Road. Reports are that the vehicle struck a pole. No other details have been released. There is no word on the identity nor the condition of the individual transported from the scene.
December 2, 2019 4:25 am
CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) – Police say heavy fog may have helped cause a nearly 60-car pileup that snarled holiday traffic on an interstate highway in western Maryland. Maryland State Police say there were 58 vehicles involved in 29 separate collisions Sunday on westbound Interstate 68. Police say 10 people were taken to a local hospital with injuries, none of them life-threatening. Authorities say it’s unclear what caused the initial collision but heavy fog in the area is believed to be a factor in the pileup. Police said the westbound portion of the interstate was closed for about four hours. (Photo: WPXI)
December 2, 2019 4:23 am
MADRID (AP) – Delegates from almost 200 countries have begun a two-week international climate conference in Madrid that seeks to step up efforts to stop global warming. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that the efforts so far are insufficient to overcome the “point of no return” in climate change. “What is lacking is political will,” Guterres told reporters on the eve of the COP25 meeting, which opened Monday. The summit, which moved to the Spanish capital after Chile had to pull out amid anti-government protests, aims to put the finishing touches to the rules governing the 2015 Paris accord. That involves creating a functioning international emissions-trading system and compensating poor countries for losses they suffer from rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change.
December 2, 2019 4:22 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A wave of new laws in 15 states that allow people to make claims of sexual abuse going back decades could bring a deluge of lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Church that could surpass anything seen so far in its clergy abuse crisis. Associated Press interviews with attorneys and clergy abuse watchdog groups found it could result in at least 5,000 new cases against the church and more than $4 billion in payouts. It’s a financial reckoning playing out in such Catholic strongholds as New York, California and New Jersey, among eight states that go the furthest with “lookback windows” allowing sex abuse claims no matter how old. Catholic leaders worry about the difficulty of defending such old cases, and more dioceses are considering bankruptcy and victim compensation funds.
December 2, 2019 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Democratic majority on the House Intelligence Committee says an impeachment report on President Donald Trump will speak for itself in laying out evidence of “wrongdoing and misconduct” over his dealings with Ukraine. The report is being made available for committee members to review ahead of a vote Tuesday to send it to the Judiciary Committee. The White House counsel has turned down an invitation to appear before the first meeting of the Judiciary Committee, scheduled for Wednesday.
December 2, 2019 4:19 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Pennsylvania Game Commission says it is investigating a video circulated on social media showing two males apparently beating an injured deer. In a Facebook post Sunday, the commission called the conduct portrayed in the video “reprehensible and potentially a violation of the law.” In the video, the two appear to kick the animal in the face repeatedly and rip off one of its antlers. Game wardens are investigating and asked anyone with information to call its Operation Game Thief hotline or the northwest region dispatch office. The commission told KDKA-TV that although the two individuals are reportedly from Brookville in Jefferson County, that doesn’t mean the incident occurred there. Brookville police told WJAC-TV that the events occurred outside of their jurisdiction and that “proper authorities were notified.”
December 2, 2019 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Retired Navy admiral and former congressman Joe Sestak is calling off his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. The 67-year-old Pennsylvania Democrat says in a statement that without the privilege of national press, it is unfair to ask others to continue making sacrifices. In joining the crowded field last June, Sestak called for strong action to deal with climate change, corporate accountability and China’s geopolitical threat. Sestak made little impression with donors or other supporters and failed to qualify for any of the party-sponsored debates. He recently completed a walk across New Hampshire to drum up interest in his campaign. Sestak graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and spent three decades in the Navy. He served two terms in the House, 2007-2011.
December 2, 2019 4:16 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – Police have arrested two people, including free agent NFL WR and QB Terrelle Pryor, after Pryor was stabbed in Pittsburgh. Pryor, 30, reportedly underwent surgery after a violent dispute inside his Heinz Lofts apartment. A woman — identified as Shalaya Briston, 24 — was also injured. According to the police criminal complaint, officers were initially called to the Heinz Lofts apartments around 4:15 a.m. Saturday for a domestic disturbance call. When police arrived, they found a trail of blood leading from Pryor’s apartment to the elevator and across the garage to his Mercedes Benz. Inside Pryor’s car, police said detectives found a semi-automatic Glock pistol with a flashlight on the front passenger seat. Detectives later found out Pryor and Briston were involved in a relationship, and that they lived in the Heinz Lofts apartment together. Witnesses described their relationship as very volatile, and witnesses told police that Pryor “always had his hands all over her.” According to the criminal complaint, another witness told police the incident started when Briston and Pryor got into an argument in the hallway outside their apartment. It escalated, and once inside, police said Pryor knocked that witness to the floor. Pryor then allegedly grabbed Briston and “began to tussle with her.” Police said it continued into the kitchen, and as witnesses were trying to break it up, Pryor backed away and grabbed his chest. He then ran out of the apartment while bleeding noticeably, according to police. Pryor was a standout with the football team while playing in high school at Jeannette.
December 2, 2019 4:09 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – The Smithfield Street Bridge in downtown Pittsburgh reopened early Monday morning, hours after it closed because a barge hit it, a spokesperson for Pittsburgh Public Safety confirmed to our news partners at Channel 11. There were no injuries or obvious damage, according to a tweet from Allegheny County. The bridge was shut down until PennDOT inspected it. As of 3 a.m., it was back open.
