November 29, 2019 4:17 am
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) – President Donald Trump is back in the United States after his Thanksgiving Day visit to Afghanistan. Air Force One landed in Florida, where the president is spending the holiday weekend. Trump took off early Friday from Bagram Air Field after several hours with U.S. troops and a brief meeting with Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani. Trump said the U.S. and the Taliban have been engaged in peace talks and he thinks the Taliban want to make a deal that would end America’s longest war.
November 29, 2019 4:14 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Travelers are urged to pack some patience as they use Pennsylvania’s roads, rails and airports over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The Pennsylvania Turnpike predicts 3.6 million cars and trucks will use the toll road through Sunday. Officials are expecting 735,000 vehicles will use the turnpike on Wednesday with the heaviest traffic volume between 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Amtrak is rolling extra trains for the holiday. The railroad says Philadelphia’s Gray 30th Street Station saw a 39% increase in ridership on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Amtrak’s Keystone Service and Pennsylvanian trains will require reservations through Monday. Travelers should expect longer lines at security checkpoints at the state’s airports.
November 29, 2019 4:13 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Thanksgiving is here and 2000 Turkeys has surpassed our goal of $100,000 to help families in need. All money donated goes towards helping families in need throughout Washington County have a complete Thanksgiving dinner. Donations of all sizes are being accepted through the week . If you would like to donate, you can send a check to; 2000 Turkeys P.O. Box 2000 Washington, Pa. 15301. Special thanks to Range Resources who held their annual donation drive on the streets of downtown Washington on Friday. Range employees took to the streets to accept cash, check and food donations throughout the day and when it was all over, more than $11,000 was collected.
November 29, 2019 4:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s governor is turning to an engineer who’s served most recently as a top PennDOT administrator to be the agency’s next transportation secretary. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced his choice of Transportation Department Executive Deputy Secretary Yassmin Gramian to take over from outgoing Secretary Leslie Richards. Richards is leaving to become general manager of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority public transit agency. Gramian has spent decades as a project engineer, including several high-profile works in the Philadelphia area. She’s scheduled to assume the top duties on Dec. 6.
November 29, 2019 4:11 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Pennsylvania court has rejected the appeal of a man convicted of killing two sisters who lived next door to him in Pittsburgh and were sisters of an Iowa state lawmaker.
Forty-nine-year-old Allen Wade was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the February 2014 deaths of Sarah and Susan Wolfe, who were found shot to death in the basement of their East Liberty home. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that a Superior Court panel rejected his appeal arguments, including a challenge to prosecutors’ use of a hat containing his DNA found in the victims’ home five weeks before their deaths. Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but a jury deadlock led to a life without parole sentence.
November 29, 2019 4:09 am
GLASSPORT, Pa. – (WPXI) – A woman was rushed to the hospital after she was found shot inside a home in Glassport. The incident happened around 8:30 p.m. Thursday at a home in the 600 block of Ohio Avenue. First responders found a 52-year-old woman who had been shot in her right shoulder. She was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital where officers talked with her to get more details. Police said the woman and her boyfriend, Jonah Reid, were arguing. Reid is physically disabled and in a wheelchair. The woman said Reid was going to leave and as he was packing his belongings, he took his gun off a bedroom dresser. The pair continued arguing and the woman said she slapped Reid at some point. He jerked back in reaction, had the gun in his hand and fired it, hitting the woman’s shoulder, police said.
November 28, 2019 4:30 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The northbound lanes of Interstate 5 have reopened heading from Redding, California, all the way to the Oregon border. California transportation officials said Wednesday the freeway was clear and no chains are required. I-5 was closed in both directions near the California-Oregon border Tuesday, stranding hundreds of people. The southbound lanes reopened at Ashland, Oregon early Wednesday. Don Anderson, deputy director of the California Department of Transportation in Redding, says Caltrans and many other agencies worked hard to communicate the seriousness of the storm but that many drivers were still caught by surprise.
November 28, 2019 4:29 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A New York judge has rejected Harvey Weinstein’s bid to throw out the most serious charges in his sexual assault case. Weinstein is accused of raping a woman in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His lawyers recently objected to two of the counts – predatory sexual assault, which carries a maximum life sentence. Other rulings made public Wednesday also went against the movie mogul. Judge James Burke rejected Weinstein’s claim that emails obtained from his movie studio are private. Burke also denied Weinstein access to the personnel file of a police detective whose alleged witness coaching led prosecutors to drop a charge last year. Weinstein’s spokesman said his lawyers didn’t have an immediate comment.
November 28, 2019 4:28 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea says North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile. A brief statement Thursday from Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff gave no further details, such as what kind of projectile was launched and where it landed. In the past, such reports by South Korea about North Korean launches have turned out to be test launches of missiles and artillery pieces. The reported launch came three days after North Korea said its troops performed artillery drills near its disputed sea boundary with South Korea. U.S.-led diplomacy on ending the North Korean nuclear crisis has remained stalled for months.
November 28, 2019 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer has written an opinion article sharply critical of President Donald Trump for intervening in the war crimes case of a Navy SEAL. Spencer wrote in The Washington Post on Wednesday that Trump’s actions were “shocking” and unprecedented. Spencer was fired Sunday by Defense Secretary Mark Esper for working a private deal with the White House to ensure that Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher be allowed to retire without losing his SEAL status. In his opinion article, Spence acknowledged his mistake, but also asserted that Trump has “very little understanding” of how the military operates and polices its members.
