December 30, 2024 3:40 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is warning the public about a new scam. Scammers are calling people in the area and impersonating a deputy. The scammer commonly refers to himself as Deputy Tony Androns and says they are calling about a “confidential matter.” They also ask for a return call. Officials said the number being given for return calls is 724-409-8449. This is not the sheriff’s office number or a Washington County number. Deputies reminded the public that they would never call anyone to collect money. This is the second scam impersonating the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in the past month. Anyone who receives a call like this is asked to contact their local police department.
December 30, 2024 5:02 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials plan to conduct safety inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines, as they struggle to determine what caused a weekend plane crash that killed 179 people. Acting President Choi Sang-mok also instructed authorities on Monday to conduct an emergency review of the country’s aircraft operation systems. The plane operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air skidded off a runway at Muan International Airport, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into a fireball. All but two of the 181 people aboard were killed.
December 30, 2024 5:00 am
Cases of a wretched stomach bug are surging in parts of the United States this winter, according to government data. The most recent numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show there were 91 outbreaks of norovirus reported during the week of Dec. 5, up from 69 outbreaks the last week of November. Numbers from the past few years show a maximum of 65 outbreaks reported during that first week of December. A norovirus infection is characterized by sudden vomiting and diarrhea. Outbreaks are often seen on cruise ships, in congregate living situations like nursing homes and jails, as well as schools and places where people are close together. Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States, responsible for 58% of such infections acquired in the country each year, according to the CDC. Norovirus infections are caused by a group of viruses that spread easily, with as few as 10 viral particles having the ability to make someone sick, health experts say. There are about 2,500 norovirus outbreaks reported annually in the United States. The outbreaks can occur throughout the year but are most common from November to April. Along with with vomiting and diarrhea, common symptoms include nausea, stomach pain, body ache, headache and fever.
December 30, 2024 5:04 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Linda Lavin, a Tony Award-winning stage actress who became a working class icon as a waitress on the TV sitcom “Alice,” has died at age 87. Lavin’s representative says she died Sunday of complications from lung cancer. Lavin was already a success on Broadway when she was chosen to star in a new CBS sitcom in 1976 based on the Oscar-winning film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” She become a role model for working moms as Alice Hyatt, a widowed mother with a 12-year-old son working in a roadside diner. The show would run until 1985. In 1987, Lavin won a Tony for the Neil Simon play “Broadway Bound.”
December 29, 2024 4:33 pm
ATLANTA (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died. He was 100 years old and had spent more than a year in hospice care. The Georgia peanut farmer served one turbulent term in the White House before building a reputation as a global humanitarian and champion of democracy. He defeated President Gerald Ford in 1976 promising to restore trust in government but lost to Ronald Reagan four years later amid soaring inflation, gas station lines and the Iran hostage crisis. He and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, then formed The Carter Center, and he earned a Nobel Peace Prize while making himself the most active and internationally engaged of former presidents. The Carter Center said the former president died Sunday afternoon in Plains, Georgia.
December 29, 2024 6:49 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A jetliner skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames in South Korea after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy. Officials said all but two of the 181 people on board were killed Sunday in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters. The 737-800 operated by Jeju Air plane arrived from Bangkok and crashed while attempting to land in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul. Footage of the crash aired by South Korean television channels showed the plane skidding across the airstrip at high speed, evidently with its landing gear still closed.
December 29, 2024 6:47 am
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump appears to be siding with Elon Musk and his other backers in the tech industry as a dispute over immigration visas has divided his supporters. Trump, in an interview with the New York Post on Saturday, praised the use of visas to bring skilled foreign workers to the U.S. The issue has become a flashpoint among his conservative base. Trump said he has “always liked the visas,” and is a “believer” in the program, though in the past he has criticized it.
December 29, 2024 6:44 am
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people. He stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible. The Kremlin said that air defense systems were firing near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike as the plane attempted to land on Wednesday. Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.” The Kremlin also says Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are jointly investigating the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
December 28, 2024 4:20 am
President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. Trump’s request Friday came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court. Oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. The brief said Trump opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”
December 28, 2024 4:16 am
TORONTO (AP) — Two top Canadian Cabinet ministers have met with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary at Mar-a-Lago as Canada tries to avoid sweeping tariffs when Trump takes office. New Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, as well as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department. The meeting was a follow up to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month. Trump has threatened to impose sweeping tariffs if Canada does not stem what he calls a flow of migrants and fentanyl into the United States.
