August 30, 2019 4:12 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – Another priest within the Diocese of Pittsburgh has been placed on leave following accusation of sexually abusing a minor. Father Robert Cedolia has been a priest for the past 41 years in various capacities. The allegation is from the 1990s while Cedolia served as pastor at Our Lady of Joy Parish in Holiday Park. According to the diocese, Cedolia was currently serving as priest-administrator of Saint Clare Parish in Clairton, Holy Spirit Parish in West Mifflin, Saint Thomas a Becket in Jefferson Hills and Saint Elizabeth of Hungary in Pleasant Hills. “(The) safety of young people is of utmost concern to the Diocese of Pittsburgh. We will follow our procedures for response to such allegations,” the diocese said in a statement. The Allegheny County District Attorney has been notified of the new abuse allegation, which the diocese said was made through the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program. (Photo: WPXI)
August 30, 2019 3:14 am
An Avella man was shot and killed Wednesday night in Independence Township. The Washington County Coroner’s Office says 31-year-old Joshua Ryan Bowlan was shot by his mother’s significant other, 64-year-old Arnold Webster during an apparent domestic dispute at 156 Camp Ground Road just before nine o’clock. State Police say when they arrived on the scene they found a sawed-off shotgun owned by Webster. He was at that time, charged with owning a prohibited offensive weapon. There’s been no word yet on what, if any, other charges Webster will now be facing. Webster was released Thursday from the Washington County Jail on a $5,000 unsecured bond set by District Judge Robert Redlinger.
August 29, 2019 10:56 am
(AP) – A government report says mumps has swept through 57 immigration detention facilities in 19 states since September. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday new mumps cases continue as migrants are taken into custody or transferred between facilities. As of last week, outbreaks were happening in 15 facilities in seven states. It’s the first official report on the outbreaks in the overloaded immigration system. Mumps is a contagious virus that causes swollen glands, puffy cheeks, fever, headaches and, in severe cases, hearing loss and meningitis. The virus has sickened 898 adult migrants and 33 detention center staffers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox says medical professionals at detention facilities screen new detainees within 24 hours of their arrival to ensure that highly contagious diseases are not spread.
August 29, 2019 10:55 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department’s inspector general says former FBI Director James Comey violated FBI policies in his handling of memos documenting private conversations with President Donald Trump. The watchdog office says Comey broke FBI rules by giving a memo containing unclassified information to a friend with instructions to share the contents with a reporter. Comey wrote a series of memos about conversations with Trump he says unnerved him.
August 29, 2019 8:57 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. economy slowed in the spring, and many economists think the slowdown will continue through the second half of the year, a possible headwind for President Donald Trump’s hopes that a surging economy will provide the backdrop for his 2020 re-election campaign. The Commerce Department reports that the gross domestic product, the country’s broadest measure of economic health, advanced at a moderate 2% annual rate in the April-June quarter, down from a 3.1% gain in the first quarter. The new estimate was lower than the government’s initial estimate a month ago of 2.1% annual growth. Trump has pledged to boost GDP growth to annual rates of 3% or better, but many economists see GDP slowing sharply after hitting 2.9% last year.
August 29, 2019 7:48 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to revoke many of its regulations covering oil-industry leaks of methane, a potent climate-changing gas. EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler says in a statement Thursday that the agency is following President Donald Trump’s directive to remove regulatory burdens on the oil and gas industries. The government’s plan would rescind many of the requirements on oil and gas sites to monitor for methane leaks and plug them. Methane is one of the most potent climate-changing gases. Environmental advocates say the measure signals the Trump administration waiving its legal authority to regulate methane as a way to fight climate change. The oil and gas industry says the Obama-era regulations on methane were unlawful and unnecessary.
August 29, 2019 4:19 am
LONDON (AP) – Ireland’s foreign minister says it’s too late to renegotiate Britain’s departure deal from the European Union. Foreign Minister Simon Coveney on Wednesday reiterated Ireland’s opposition to the EU renegotiating the Brexit agreement approved by former U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May. Coveney said there wouldn’t be enough time before Britain’s Oct. 31 departure deadline “even if we wanted to” reopen the negotiations. He estimated working out a new deal and getting it approved by EU leaders and British lawmakers “would need six or eight weeks.”
However, Coveney says Ireland is ready to study alternatives to a post-Brexit “backstop” aimed at avoiding a new border between the EU’s Ireland and U.K.’s Northern Ireland.
He noted the importance of keeping the peace on an “island that has a tragic and violent history.” The U.K.’s new prime minister, Boris Johnson, opposes the backstop provisions in his predecessor’s deal, which failed to gain parliamentary approval. Coveney said any alternative Irish border arrangements “have got to do the same job as the backstop.”
August 29, 2019 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand is dropping out of the presidential race. The 52-year-old New York senator announced her decision Wednesday on Twitter as her campaign, which once looked to ride strong #MeToo credentials, was plagued by low polling and fundraising struggles. She had failed to meet thresholds for required numbers of donors and polling to qualify for the September debate in Houston. Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate in 2009 to fill the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. She was vocal on curbing sexual harassment and promoting equal pay for women and family leave, making those and defending abortion rights the core of her presidential bid. But Gillibrand also was the first Senate Democrat to call for Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s resignation and says that alienated donors and some voters.
August 29, 2019 4:13 am
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Hurricane Dorian is moving over open waters after doing limited damage in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, though forecasters warn it is gaining strength and probably will grow into a dangerous storm while heading toward Florida’s east coast. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said late Wednesday Dorian is expected to strengthen into a dangerous Category 3 hurricane as it stays well to the east of the southeastern and central Bahamas over the next two days. The forecast calls for the storm to pass near or over the northern Bahamas on Saturday and close in on Florida by Sunday afternoon. The storm was a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday when it swirled through the islands of the northeastern Caribbean, causing power outages and flooding in places no major damage.
August 29, 2019 4:09 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania prison officials are planning to close another prison, as the inmate population continues to decline and prison costs rise. A state lawmaker, Sen. John Yudichak, told The Associated press on Wednesday that prison officials had just briefed him and Retreat state prison staff in northeastern Pennsylvania about its plans to close it. Gov. Tom Wolf’s office isn’t commenting. Retreat has about 400 employees and is at full capacity with almost 1,100 inmates. Pennsylvania’s state prison population is about 48,000, after reaching nearly 52,000 in 2012. Retreat is about 10 miles west of Wilkes-Barre. Wolf’s administration closed a state prison in Pittsburgh in 2017. Retreat’s original buildings date back to the 19th century and it has the fewest beds of any of Pennsylvania’s 25 state prisons.
