November 8, 2019 7:49 am
A West Newton man pled guilty and has been sentenced in connection with the brutal assault of a man at the Charleroi Slovak club earlier this year. The Washington County District Attorney’s office says 24 year old Corey Volk, a member of the Pagans motorcycle club, was sentenced to a consecutive term of three-to-six years on charges of aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. His total sentence will be seven-to-14 years in prison. District Attorney Gene Vittone says Volk and several others brutally assaulted Troy Harris back in April. A total of 11 people have been charged in connection with that attack.
November 8, 2019 4:11 am
NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. health officials are reporting a breakthrough in their investigation into the cause of an outbreak of vaping illnesses. A government lab found the same chemical compound in lung fluid from 29 patients. The compound – vitamin E acetate – was previously found in vaping fluid used by many of those who got sick. But officials said Friday that this is more direct evidence that the chemical may be to blame. Vitamin E is safe as a vitamin pill or to use on the skin, but inhaling oily droplets can be harmful. It has recently been used as a thickener in vaping fluid, particularly in black market vape cartridges. More than 2,000 Americans who use electronic cigarettes have gotten sick this year, and at least 40 have died.
November 8, 2019 4:09 am
LA MORA, Mexico (AP) – After burying some of the nine American women and children slain in a cartel ambush, residents of this town of about 300 are left to come to grips with the fear the attacks inspired among the tightly knit community. “I do not feel safe here, and I won’t, because the truth is we aren’t safe here as a community,” David Langford said at the funeral for his wife, Dawna Ray Langford. While the sibling community of Colonia Le Baron has been peaceful since the 2009 murder of one of its members and subsequent installation of a security base, La Mora lacks such a presence – at least until Monday’s killings prompted state and federal forces to deploy in the town. How long they stay could be crucial to its future.
November 8, 2019 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, is opening the door to a 2020 presidential campaign. Bloomberg announced earlier this year that he would not seek the Democratic nomination. But in a statement Thursday, his political adviser Howard Wolfson says Bloomberg is worried that the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates is “not well positioned” to defeat President Donald Trump. A Bloomberg adviser says the former mayor has not made a final decision on whether to run. But he is expected to file to get on the ballot in Alabama’s presidential primary.
November 8, 2019 4:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Former national security adviser John Bolton has information about “many relevant meetings and conversations” related to Ukraine that House impeachment investigators have not yet heard testimony about. That’s according to a letter that Bolton’s attorney, Charles Cooper, sent Friday to the House that suggests Bolton would appear in the probe only if a court orders him to do so. In the letter, Cooper says there’s a tall barrier to forcing Bolton and his former deputy, Charles Kupperman, to testify because any testimony that they would give would implicate sensitive matters of national security and foreign affairs. Kupperman has sued to request a judge’s guidance on whether he can be forced to appear. The letter says both Bolton and Kupperman are prepared to appear if a federal judge resolved the dispute in Congress’s favor.
November 8, 2019 4:03 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – Crews have made an unexpected discovery in the investigation into what caused a massive sinkhole on 10th Street downtown less than two weeks ago. PWSA officials confirm a damaged 6-inch water line underneath the road was not connected to a nearby building, as its records indicated. It’s unclear how long the line has been disconnected, but a PWSA spokesman says it could have been decades. “We really just don’t know when it happened. Although we’re fairly certain it wasn’t a recent occurrence,” said PWSA communications director Will Pickering. Since the line was improperly capped near the building and not closer to the water main as expected, Pickering said any potential damage likely would have gone undetected. How and when that happened is being investigated, and PWSA said it remains unclear if that line played any role in the road’s collapse.
November 8, 2019 3:57 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania is seeking passage of a measure that’s squarely aimed at several Democratic presidential candidates and designed to prevent a president from banning hydraulic fracturing. Toomey said Friday his new resolution makes it clear that Congress believes a president doesn’t have the authority to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Toomey’s resolution is in response to an all-out prohibition on the controversial natural gas extraction process that’s backed by two leading Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The prospect of banning fracking is dividing Democrats and their traditional allies in organized labor in what’s shaping up as a premier battleground state in next year’s presidential election. Pennsylvania is also the nation’s No. 2 natural gas state, behind Texas.
November 8, 2019 3:36 am
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) – Authorities in West Virginia say a woman has died after being hit by a truck then dragged under another vehicle for miles. Wheeling Police Department spokesman Philip Stahl says officers received a report on the initial crash around 6:30 a.m. Thursday in the 100 block of Warwood Avenue. He says the first driver told police he thought he hit someone, but officers couldn’t find a body. The department then received another call around 15 minutes later about a vehicle dragging a body on Interstate 70 east at the Washington Avenue exit 2B, nearly 5 miles away. The woman has been identified as 54-year-old Michelle Lynn Czoka of Bridgeport, Ohio. Police are still investigating.
November 7, 2019 2:36 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – A New York judge ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging he misused his charitable foundation to further his political and business interests. Judge Saliann Scarpulla also signed off on an agreement Thursday to close the Trump Foundation and distribute about $1.7 million in remaining funds to other nonprofit groups. A request for comment was emailed to Trump’s lawyer. New York’s attorney general filed a lawsuit last year alleging Trump and his family illegally operated the foundation as an extension of his businesses and his presidential campaign. Attorney General Letitia James had been seeking about $2.8 million in restitution from the president. Scarpulla cut that amount to $2 million. Foundation lawyers have previously said the lawsuit is politically motivated.
November 7, 2019 5:44 am
WPXI-TV meteorologist Kevin Benson is facing DUI charges following a traffic stop here in Washington County back in September. Troopers say they responded to a report of a vehicle driving erratically and pulled the 60 year old Benson over along Interstate 70 in South Strabane Township September 20. Police say he smelled of alcohol, had glassy eyes, and was slurring his speech. According to reports, Benson became “loud and uncooperative” with nurses when he was taken to the hospital to draw blood. That blood test showed Benson had a blood alcohol content nearly four-times the legal limit. WPXI has not commented on the arrest. He’s worked at WPXI since 1987.
