January 13, 2020 4:12 am
UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Closing arguments are scheduled Monday in the homicide trial of a western Pennsylvania woman charged in the stabbing death of her boyfriend on Christmas Day in 2018. Twenty-eight-year-old Dominique Jones took the stand Friday and alleged that the stabbing at the Holiday Inn Express in Uniontown followed years of abuse. She said she wasn’t trying to kill 25-year-old Tre Montel McCargo but “was just trying to get him off of me.” Fayette County prosecutors, however, say Jones believed McCargo was cheating on her. The (Uniontown) Herald-Standard reports that testimony was to continue Saturday, but prosecutors opted not to call rebuttal witnesses.
January 13, 2020 4:10 am
PITTSBURGH — A man was arrested after a nearly five-month long investigation started when children showed up to school in August with severe bruises, according to court papers. Randall Blair was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child, strangulation and making terroristic threats. According to a criminal complaint, police were notified after two girls and a boy were admitted to UPMC Children’s Hospital when they showed up to school with bruises and a black eye. The oldest girl had vision issues after Blair allegedly put immense pressure on her eye while beating her with a belt. A second girl said the kids had missed the first day of school because they were being punished and missing class was part of the punishment laid out by Blair and his girlfriend. She had pink and purple bruises. The third child, a boy, was “visibly dirty” when doctor’s examined him, had bruising on various parts of his body and tested positive for cocaine and cocaine metabolites. The children also told investigators that Blair and his girlfriend also only provide them with two meals per day and that they were not allowed snacks. Blair was taken to the Allegheny County Jail and was unable to post $5,000 bail, according to court records.
January 13, 2020 4:07 am
BALDWIN, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a man who tried to commit a home invasion at a western Pennsylvania apartment was shot and killed by a man who lives in the unit. The 22-year-old would-be robber was armed with a handgun when he went to the apartment in Baldwin around 7 p.m. Sunday. Authorities say he was soon confronted by a 25-year-old man, who got his handgun and shot the intruder, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The 25-year-old man’s fiance and their 10-month-old child were in the apartment when the shooting occurred but were not injured. It’s not yet known if any charges will be filed.
January 12, 2020 8:11 am
BURRAGATE, Australia (AP) — Two wildfires merged to form a massive inferno in southeastern Australia and a man suffered serious burns protecting a home, in a night of treacherous conditions during the nation’s unprecedented wildfire crisis, officials said Saturday. Authorities were assessing the damage after firefighters battled flames fanned by strong winds through the night and lightning strikes sparked new blazes in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia’s most populous states. Conditions were milder Saturday and forecast to remain relatively benign for the next week. New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters that officials were “extremely relieved” the fires were not more destructive overnight.
January 12, 2020 8:09 am
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) —Two U.S. service members were killed and two others injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement Saturday. In keeping with defense department rules, the U.S. military did not identify the service members. The Taliban immediately took responsibility for the attack. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yusouf Ahmadi, said it occurred in the southern Kandahar province. More than 2,400 U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan. Last year was one of the deadliest for the United States, with 23 American troops killed, even as Washington engaged in peace talks with the Taliban. The latest attack seemed certain to stall fresh efforts to restart the on-again, off-again peace talks between Washington and the Taliban.
January 12, 2020 8:08 am
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A magnitude 5.9 quake shook Puerto Rico on Saturday, causing millions of dollars of damage along the island’s southern coast, where previous recent quakes have toppled homes and schools. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8:54 a.m. (1254 GMT) quake hit 8 miles (13 kilometers) southeast of Guanica at a shallow depth of 3 miles (5 kilometers). It was followed by several aftershocks, including a magnitude 5.2 temblor less than two minutes later. No injuries or deaths were reported, officials said. Saturday’s quake occurred four days after a 6.4 magnitude quake in the same area and amid a spate of more than 1,200 mostly small quakes over the past 15 days, all at shallow depths.
January 12, 2020 8:06 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s security forces deployed in large numbers across the capital on Sunday, expecting more protests after its Revolutionary Guard admitted to accidentally shooting down a passenger plane at a time of soaring tensions with the United States. Riot police in black uniforms and helmets massed in Vali-e Asr Square, Tehran University and other landmarks as calls circulated for protests later in the day. Revolutionary Guard members patrolled the city on motorbikes and plainclothes security men were also out in force. People looked down as they walked briskly past the police, hoping not to draw attention to themselves. The plane crash early Wednesday killed all 176 people on board, mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians. After initially pointing to a technical failure and insisting the armed forces were not to blame, authorities on Saturday finally admitted to accidentally shooting it down in the face of mounting evidence and accusations by Western leaders.
January 12, 2020 8:03 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — A house fire in Oakland may have been sparked by power lines that were knocked down by high winds. Fire crews rushed to put the flames out at the home on Robinson Street. 911 dispatchers said power lines fell on the roof of the home and may have caused the fire. The incident may have also caused a widespread power outage in Oakland. Duquesne Light crews were on scene working to get the power lines back up and in service. As of 7:15 a.m., there were 168 customers without power.
January 12, 2020 8:00 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Lower prices for natural gas last year will mean a 21% drop in drilling fee revenue for Pennsylvania’s state programs and county and municipal governments even as production grew from exploration in the vast Marcellus Shale reservoir, according to new state estimates. The Independent Fiscal Office projected Wednesday that impact fee collections for 2019 will be $198 million, a nearly $54 million drop from 2018, but still above 2016′s low point of $173 million. Payments are due by July 1, and the money largely stays in drilling communities. The drop breaks two straight years of rising revenue in Pennsylvania, the nation’s No. 2 natural gas state behind Texas. The Independent Fiscal Office said the decrease is largely due to the average annual price of natural gas on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropping below $3, which triggered a $5,000 per-well decrease in fees. About 600 new wells were started in 2019, the second-lowest total in a decade other than 2016, when the average annual price also dropped below $3. With 2019 production in Pennsylvania headed to a record 6.8 trillion cubic feet last year, the effective tax rate of the fee fell from 2.2% to 2.1% last year, the Independent Fiscal Office said. The per-well “impact fee” was enacted in 2012.
January 12, 2020 7:57 am
UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania woman on trial on a criminal homicide charge in the stabbing death of her boyfriend on Christmas Day in 2018 has taken the stand to assert that she acted in self-defense. The (Uniontown) Herald- Standard reports that 28-year-old Dominique Jones alleged on the stand Friday that the stabbing at the Holiday Inn Express in Uniontown followed years of abuse by 25-year-old Tre Montel McCargo. Jones said an argument that day turned physical and she grabbed a kitchen knife and swung it to defend herself, ultimately stabbing him in the neck. But she said “I was just trying to get him off of me. I wasn’t trying to kill him.” Fayette County prosecutors, however, earlier characterized her as a jealous and angry woman. Assistant District Attorney Wendy O’Brien said Jones believed McCargo was cheating on her after she looked at his cellphone while he slept on Christmas Day. Jurors were expected to return to court to hear closing arguments and begin deliberations.
