November 25, 2019 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Defense Secretary Mark Esper has fired the secretary of the Navy in connection with the controversy over a SEAL whose case has been championed by President Donald Trump. A Pentagon spokesman says in a statement Sunday that Esper has lost trust and confidence in Navy Secretary Richard Spencer “regarding his lack of candor” over conversations with the White House involving the handling of the SEAL case. Spokesman Jonathan Hoffman says Spencer submitted his resignation at Esper’s request. Esper has also recommended to Trump a replacement.
November 25, 2019 4:16 am
BETHEL PARK, Pa. (AP) – Authorities are investigating the death of a man found on light rail tracks in western Pennsylvania. Allegheny County police say a Port Authority trolley operator spotted a man on the rails at the South Hills Village Station shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday. Police and emergency medical personnel responded, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The county medical examiner’s office identified the man as 56-year-old Mark Setar of Canonsburg. Police said he “was likely struck” by a light rail train and was then spotted by the operator of the next train.
Police say they don’t know how the man came to be on the tracks. Port Authority and county police are reviewing video surveillance from the area. Anyone with information is asked to call investigators.
November 25, 2019 4:14 am
The medical examiner has identified a man and teenager who were shot to death Sunday night in Wilkinsburg. The victims are Jerrell Jeffries, 22, and Elarrah Findley, 18, of Pittsburgh. Police were called about 9 p.m. to Midland Street, where Findley was found lying in the street with multiple gunshot wounds. Jeffries, who was also shot multiple times, was found in a car a little further up the street. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believe the victims were sitting in the front seat of the car while a third person was in the back seat. Police believe that back seat passenger shot the man, then chased and shot the woman as she ran down the street. A shooter has not been identified, police said. Drugs were found in the car, according to police. “There were stamp bags of suspected heroin or fentanyl in the vehicle, leading us to believe this might have been some sort of drug transaction and potential robbery,” Allegheny County Police Inspector Andrew Schurman said. Anyone with information is asked to call the Allegheny County Police
November 24, 2019 8:23 am
(AP – Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to a hospital Friday for chills and a fever. Ginsburg, 86, was evaluated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington before she was transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital where she will continue to be evaluated and undergo treatment, the court said in a release. Her condition has improved through the use of antibiotics and intravenous fluids. She is expected to be released as soon as Sunday morning. This is not the first health scare for the justice. In August, she was treated for pancreatic cancer. Last year, she underwent treatment to have cancerous nodules removed. Two months before that, she fractured three ribs after falling in her office.
November 24, 2019 8:16 am
Mason Rudolph has reportedly been fined by the NFL for his role in the Steelers-Browns brawl. Rudolph was not suspended for being involved in the fight in the final moments of a “Thursday Night Football” match up against divisional rival, the Cleveland Browns, in which Myles Garrett ripped off his helmet and then smashed Rudolph over the head. The NFL said all discipline doled out to Garrett will be upheld: an indefinite suspension including any remaining games of this current season and fines. Steelers’ center Maurkice Pouncey has had his suspension reduced from three games down to two. Garrett has accused Rudolph of calling him a racial slur prior to the brawl erupting during the game. While the league said there has been no evidence or corroborating information or statements to confirm that accusation, Garrett continues to stand by his allegation. Rudolph has repeatedly denied using a racial slur.
November 24, 2019 8:00 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. – According to our news partner WPXI, a Florida man who operated multiple Asian massage parlors in Western Pennsylvania and others in Virginia and Florida is facing a possibility of 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges. David Williams, 41, pleaded guilty to racketeering, money laundering, transporting women for prostitution and harboring illegal aliens for commercial purposes. Search warrants were executed at six Western Pa. businesses:
Ci Ci Wellness – 639 Brown Ave., Turtle Creek, Pa.
Thai Massage – 39 W. Main St., Carnegie Pa.
Massage 10 – 6545 US 30, Jeannette, Pa.
Thai Massage – 423 Chartiers St., Bridgeville, Pa.
1407 Peninsula Massage – 1702 Peninsula Dr., Erie, Pa.
Undisclosed location – McKees Rocks
Many of the women who Williams employed were trafficked from Flushing, N.Y, according to the court documents. The records from financial institutions also revealed that Williams and his conspirators laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars through bank accounts that were opened in others’ names in an effort to distance Williams from the illegal activity. According to TribLIVE, Williams faces up to 10 years imprisonment on charges related to transporting women for purposes of prostitution and harboring them for financial gain. He also faces up to five years imprisonment for racketeering and up to 20 additional years imprisonment for engaging in a money laundering conspiracy. He also could be fined up to $1 million.
November 23, 2019 9:10 am
TOKYO (AP) – Pope Francis will fulfill his dream to be a missionary in Japan when he arrives for a three-day visit with two main aims: to appeal for nuclear disarmament and minister to a tiny Catholic flock with a rich but bloody history. Francis travels Saturday from Thailand to another Asian country where Catholics are a minority – less than 0.5% of Japan’s 127 million people, most of them loosely affiliated with Buddhism or Shinto, or both. The community he will find has changed dramatically with an influx of foreign workers, who make up more than half of Japan’s Catholic population of 440,000. Francis will minister to them, including in Nagasaki, which remains a center of Catholicism centuries after St. Francis Xavier first brought Christianity to the archipelago in 1549.
November 23, 2019 8:54 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Prosecutors say a political fundraiser who funneled foreign money into U.S. elections offered more than $6 million to silence witnesses. The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles made those claims Friday just before Imaad Zuberi pleaded guilty there to tax evasion and campaign-finance violations. The venture capitalist has been under federal scrutiny over large political contributions, including donations to the inaugural committees of both President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump. Zuberi has not been charged with bribing witnesses, but prosecutors intend to present the allegations as evidence at his sentencing hearing. Prosecutors say he also acted as an unregistered agent for Sri Lanka and Turkey and Libyan government officials, as well as a Bahraini national, a Ukraine national and Pakistani nationals. Zuberi’s attorney declined to comment on the allegations.
November 23, 2019 8:49 am
BAGHDAD (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence is making an unannounced visit to Iraq in the highest-level American trip since President Donald Trump ordered a pullback of U.S. forces in Syria two months ago. Pence is meeting with Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani in a move meant to reassure the U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State after Syrian Kurds suffered under a bloody Turkish assault last month after the withdrawal.
November 23, 2019 4:51 am
The lawsuit brought against Washington County Clerk of Courts Frank Scandale will be prosecuted by the attorney general’s office. That confirmation comes from the press secretary for Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Scandale, 51 of Canonsburg has been charged with theft, failure to make required disposition of funds received and misapplication of governmental entrusted property. All of these charges are based on missing county funds of approximately $96,000. He has entered a plea of “not guilty”. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for December.
