November 30, 2019 4:10 am
BEAVER CO., Pa. (WPXI) – State troopers are searching for a person who they said led them on a chase in Beaver County and then ran into a wooded area. Troopers tried to pull the suspect’s vehicle over on I-376 westbound in Brighton Township around 12 p.m. Friday when the driver took off, according to Pennsylvania State Police Beaver. Investigators said the driver led police on a pursuit until that person got out and ran into a wooded area. Police have not identified the suspect, and the investigation is ongoing.
November 29, 2019 3:44 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania will allow landowners to legally notify hunters and others that they’re trespassing by painting purple stripes on trees or posts. The bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Tom Wolf is designed to ease a landowners’ task of posting “no trespassing” signs that deteriorate over time. The law takes effect in 60 days. The purple stripes must be vertical lines at least 8 inches long and 1 inch wide. They must be 3 to 5 feet off the ground, readily visible to a person approaching the property and no more than 100 feet apart. The law applies everywhere, except in Philadelphia and Allegheny County. Numerous other states have adopted a purple-paint law, and paint manufacturers have formulated cans of spray paint and brush paint specifically marketed as “no hunting” paint.
November 29, 2019 2:42 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is creating the criminal offense of sexual extortion to help combat what authorities say is a growing crime targeting children.
The legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Tom Wolf takes effect in two months. The law makes it a third-degree felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison, if the victim is under 18 or the perpetrator has shown a pattern of engaging in sexual extortion. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tedd Nesbit of Mercer County, says Pennsylvania law didn’t adequately cover the crime and the legislation helps Pennsylvania keep pace in a digital age that facilitates sexual extortion. The law defines sexual extortion as using a threat of some type of coerce a victim into a sex act, simulating a sex act, undressing or making a video or image of it.
November 29, 2019 2:40 pm
WASHINGTON, Pa. – Injuries resulted following a two-vehicle crash Friday afternoon just after 1:00 along Route 40 in South Strabane Township. According to Washington County 9-1-1, fire and EMS crews were headed to the area of 2972 East Maiden St. and the Interstate 79 interchange as one vehicle was on fire. EMS crews transported patients to the hospital. No update on a cause or the condition of the injured.
November 29, 2019 1:06 pm
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) – One lane of the Parkway North was closed for a time Friday morning after a pursuit that started on I-79 near Carnegie. State police said speeds reached 105 mph at one point as the driver of a black Dodge Magnum, Walter Rohm, 50, refused to stop. Troopers said Rohm flew down Greentree Hill and through the Ft. Pitt tunnels at 70-80 mph before continuing onto the Parkway North. The Magnum was eventually boxed in by troopers who then wrestled Rohm to the ground. Rohm was taken to the Allegheny County Jail and was charged with fleeing and eluding, and resisting arrest.
November 29, 2019 12:20 pm
LONDON (AP) – London police say two people were killed in a stabbing near London Bridge that ended when the attacker was shot dead by police.
Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick said “tragically” two members of the public had lost their lives in the Friday attack. Police earlier said only that “a number” of people had been injured. Police say the stabbing happened at a premises near the bridge. The fleeing attacker, who was wearing a hoax explosive device, was tackled by members of the public before being shot by police.
November 29, 2019 11:21 am
DONEGAL, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say an ATV driver was killed when he was struck by another vehicle in western Pennsylvania. The Westmoreland County coroner’s office says Joshua Torrence was eastbound on Route 130 in Donegal when a westbound Jeep that was trying to make a left turn hit him around 4:40 p.m. Wednesday. The 27-year-old Cook man, who was riding by himself, was thrown from the ATV. He was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later. The driver of the Jeep was not injured. That person’s name has not been released. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
November 29, 2019 4:20 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea says the latest test-firing of its “super-large” multiple rocket launcher was a final review of the weapon’s combat application. A Friday report from the Korean Central News Agency likely means North Korea is preparing to mass produce and deploy the new weapons system soon. KCNA says leader Kim Jong Un expressed “great satisfaction” over the results of the test-firing. South Korea’s military says North Korea fired two projectiles into its eastern waters on Thursday. It says the projectiles were likely fired from that “super-large” rocket launcher. It was the fourth test-launch of projectiles from the multiple rocket launcher since August. North Korea has fired other new weapons in recent months in what some experts say is an attempt to wrest concessions from the United States in nuclear diplomacy.
November 29, 2019 4:19 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Black Friday once again kicks off the start of the holiday shopping season. But with six fewer days, it will be the shortest season since 2013 because Thanksgiving fell on the fourth Thursday in November – the latest possible date. That means customers will have less time to shop and retailers will have less time to woo them. The National Retail Federation baked the shorter season into its forecast, but it says the real drivers will be the job market. It forecasts that holiday sales will rise between 3.8% and 4.2%, an increase from the disappointing 2.1% growth seen in the November and December 2018 period. Black Friday is expected to once again be the largest shopping day of the season, followed by the last Saturday before Christmas.
November 29, 2019 4:18 am
HONG KONG (AP) – Police in Hong Kong are preparing to reopen access to a university campus after blocking it for 12 days to try to arrest protesters holed up inside. Assistant Commissioner Chow Yat-ming said Friday morning that officers had almost finished a 1 1/2-day operation to collect evidence and remove gasoline bombs and other dangerous materials from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He says they did not encounter any protesters. One masked protester told media before police came in that about 20 people were still hiding to avoid arrest. They are the holdouts from roughly 1,000 protesters who had retreated inside the campus after battling police on the streets. A few escaped a police cordon, but police say they arrested 700 people and recorded the details of 300 minors.
