August 16, 2019 4:16 am
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – President Donald Trump says that in the wake of two mass shootings in Ohio and Texas this month that he wants to focus on mental illness to prevent mass gun violence, not gun control. Trump told supporters at a rally in New Hampshire that he wants to re-open mental institutions across the country, but did not provide details on his proposal.
He said: “We will be taking mentally deranged and dangerous people off of the streets so we won’t have to worry so much about them. A big problem.” He added, “There are seriously ill people and they’re on the streets.” Trump said that what he won’t allow after those shootings are any measures to make it harder for “law-abiding” people to “protect themselves.”
August 16, 2019 4:12 am
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania man is accused of putting people at risk by placing unidentified substances into consumer product packaging and returning the items to retail stores. Police charged 58-year-old Robert Keith Burns of Mechanicsburg Wednesday with reckless endangerment, theft by deception and criminal mischief. The arrest affidavit says Burns wouldn’t tell investigators what materials were put inside of packaging for beauty aids and medication returned to stores or recovered from his home.
August 16, 2019 4:11 am
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (AP) – Authorities are investigating the death of a Michigan man who was trapped under part of a water tank he was working to disassemble in western Pennsylvania.
State police in Mercer County say 31-year-old Zachary Jock of Bad Axe, Michigan, was part of a company hired to disassemble the 100-foot tank in New Wilmington Township. Police said that during the disassembly process, a piece of the tank’s metal wall collapsed on Jock at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, trapping him. He was taken to UPMC Jameson, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Police are investigating but have classified the case an accidental death.
August 16, 2019 4:08 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Philadelphia’s police commissioner says a gunman who barricaded himself in a rowhouse and exchanged gunfire with police for hours had a military-style AR-15 and a handgun. Richard Ross told reporters Thursday that police still do not have access to the crime scene because tear gas was used there, so he is not sure if there were other weapons.
Six officers were wounded in the standoff and have since been released from hospitals. Ross said: “That was an incident unlike anything I’ve seen in my 30 years.”
August 16, 2019 3:35 am
WASHINGTON – Heavy rain, thunder, and lightning quickly pounded the Washington area mid-afternoon on Thursday. Fire crews from North Franklin Township and surrounding areas were headed to the West Chestnut Street Area and West Maiden Street Area for flooding as well as numerous trees and wires down including a telephone pole that split on Grove Avenue in the City. In the flood-prone West Chestnut Street area, two vehicles became disabled due to the high waters. A vehicle also crashed on Interstate 79 into the median near the Amity Lone Pine Exit, no word on injuries. The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning that expired at 3:30 p.m. (Photo: Facebook photo of West Chestnut area)
August 15, 2019 5:17 pm
ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (AP) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. was taken to a hospital after his plane crashed in east Tennessee. The NASCAR television analyst and former driver’s sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller, tweeted that “everyone is safe and has been taken to the hospital for further evaluation.” Federal Aviation Administration officials said a Cessna Citation rolled off the end of a runway and caught fire after landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport at 3:40 p.m. Thursday. FAA officials said the preliminary indication is that two pilots and three passengers were aboard. Carter County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Thomas Gray confirmed Earnhardt was aboard but said he wasn’t one of the pilots. Earnhardt retired as a full-time racer in 2017 and has been working as an analyst for NBC. He is part of the scheduled broadcast team for Saturday night’s Cup Series event in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo: WPXI-TV)
August 15, 2019 2:39 pm
BERLIN (AP) – Meteorologists say July was the hottest month measured on Earth since records began in 1880. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday that July was 0.95 degrees Celsius (1.71 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the 20th century average for the month. The results had been expected after several European countries reported new all-time temperature records in July. Scientists say the upward trend will likely continue because of man-made climate change. Last month narrowly topped the previous July record, set in 2016, by 0.03 C (0.05 F) June of this year had already set a sizzling record for that month over the past 140 years. The year to date is also 0.95 C (1.71 F) above the long-term average, but still slightly behind 2016.
August 15, 2019 2:37 pm
MADRID (AP) – Britain’s Foreign Office has warned Iran to abide by the assurances it provided to the government of Gibraltar that led to the release of a detained Iranian supertanker. In a statement hours after a Gibraltar court released the Grace I, U.K. authorities insisted they would not allow Iran or anyone else to bypass European Union sanctions meant to punish Syria for using chemical weapons against its own people. But the U.K. also insisted that there should be “no comparison or linkage” between the enforcement of sanctions and “Iran’s unacceptable and illegal seizure of, and attacks on, commercial shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.” Britain wants Iran to release the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which was seized by the Islamic Republic after British Marines took over the Grace I.
August 15, 2019 2:31 pm
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) – A man was taken into custody after a SWAT situation in Brookline Thursday, but part of Brookline Boulevard remains closed. Allegheny County police went to the home in the 1000 block of Brookline Boulevard just after 10 a.m. Thursday to serve a warrant. There was one man inside the home. Investigators haven’t said if he had any weapons inside. Negotiators were talking to the man who was taken into custody peacefully just before noon. (Photo: WPXI-TV)
August 15, 2019 2:27 pm
JERUSALEM (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is slamming Israel’s decision to deny admission to two Muslim-American congresswomen, calling the snub “beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel.” The California Democrat, long a supporter of Israel, also said President Donald Trump’s statements attacking liberal Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar and encouraging Israel to block their planned visit is “a sign of ignorance and disrespect, and beneath the dignity of the Office of the President.” Tlaib, of Michigan, and Minnesota Democrat Omar are critics of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, and many Republicans say Omar’s past rhetoric is anti-Semitic. Pelosi noted that Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, recently said that Israel would not deny any members of Congress from entering the country. She called the reversal “sad” and “deeply disappointing.”
