August 10, 2019 10:52 am
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) – President Donald Trump says North Korea’s Kim Jong Un wants to meet once again to “start negotiations” after joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises end.
He says he’s looking “forward to seeing Kim Jong Un in the not too distant future!” Trump is tweeting more details from the “beautiful” three-page letter he told reporters Friday he’d received.
Trump said Saturday from his New Jersey golf club that Kim spent much of his letter complaining about “the ridiculous and expensive exercises.” He says that Kim offered him “a small apology” for the flurry of recent short-range missile tests that have rattled U.S. allies in the region and that Kim assured him they would stop when exercises end. The two leaders have met three times: in Singapore, Hanoi and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
August 10, 2019 10:24 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A former law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that Jeffrey Epstein has died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in New York.
The medical examiner’s office in Manhattan confirmed the financier’s death. The former law enforcement official said Epstein was found dead Saturday morning at the Manhattan Correctional Center. The official had been briefed on the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss it publicly. Epstein’s arrest last month launched separate investigations into how authorities handled his case initially when similar charges were first brought against him in Florida more than a decade ago. U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta resigned last month after coming under fire for overseeing that deal when he was U.S. attorney in Miami.
August 10, 2019 9:23 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea has reportedly fired two more projectiles into the sea. It is likely another protest at the United States and South Korea continuing joint military exercises that the North says are aimed at a northward invasion.South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Saturday that Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles were launched from an area near the North’s east coast.It didn’t immediately Identify the projectiles or how far they flew.
August 10, 2019 9:21 am
BEIJING (AP) – China has dismissed Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters as clowns and criminals while bemoaning growing violence surrounding the monthslong demonstrations.
That’s partly out of concern that protesters’ demands for expanded democracy could inspire like-minded officials and intellectuals on the mainland. Still, experts say, China shows no signs of preparing for a major crackdown, content to ignore the protests in the hopes that violence will turn Hong Kong’s silent majority against the movement.The protests also come at a sensitive time for President Xi Jinping, who after removing term limits last year effectively made himself leader for life. That has intensified criticism over his concentration of power even as his propaganda machine relentlessly promotes his achievements ahead of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1.
August 10, 2019 9:18 am
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) – New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is calling on Democrats to take on President Donald Trump with “faith in our ideals” and to “overcome his darkness with our light.”
Speaking at the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding fundraiser, Booker is reminding the crowd that “we have overcome worse times and darker times.” Booker, with his voice fading after a week of outspoken advocacy for gun control on the campaign trail, is comparing the current political era to major moments in civil rights history. He argues that “this is a referendum on us, and who we are going to be to each other.” The sermon-like speech drew huge applause from the crowd.
August 10, 2019 9:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has become a high-profile object of partisan scorn as he positions himself as President Donald Trump’s wingman. Both are running for reelection in 2020, and McConnell tells voters he and Trump “are making America great again!” McConnell has proven a loyal implementer of the president’s initiatives, and Trump has stopped assailing the senator on Twitter. But McConnell is drawing hecklers and protesters in his home state, Kentucky.
August 10, 2019 4:21 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – More than 550 residency slots at a Philadelphia teaching hospital have fetched a $55 million winning bid at a bankruptcy auction ahead of the facility’s impending closure.
The residency slots at Hahnemann University Hospital were won by a team of six local health systems at Thursday’s auction, topping bids by Tower Health and a California company that wants to reopen the hospital. Christiana Care Health System, Cooper University Health Care, and Main Line Health joined Einstein Healthcare Network, Jefferson Health and Temple University Health System in the winning bid. The salaries and benefits of those residencies are paid by Medicare, which has objected to the sale in bankruptcy court. Hahnemann is still in the process of closing, but the 496-bed hospital has no patients. It’s closing due to unsustainable financial losses. A bankruptcy hearing on the hospital’s sale has been rescheduled for Aug. 19.
August 10, 2019 4:15 am
MONACA, Pa. (AP) – President Donald Trump is coming to western Pennsylvania next week to visit a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker plant under construction.
A White House official said Thursday the visit to the 386-acre site in Monaca that had been planned for this week before two mass shootings occurred will take place on Tuesday.
The massive Shell Pennsylvania Chemicals plant will convert natural gas liquids into plastic pellets to be used in manufacturing. There are currently about 5,000 construction workers on the site. Shell has said it expects to have about 600 permanent workers at the Ohio River facility, once it’s fully built and up and running sometime in the early 2020s. The plant will be operated by Shell Polymers.
August 10, 2019 4:11 am
PLUM, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania man whose 3-year-old daughter drowned last week is now facing charges after police say he left his two young children alone in the pool to go inside and make a drink. According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday, 27-year-old Charles Mitchell told officers he returned to the backyard Aug. 1 to find his daughter submerged in the deep end of the pool and pulled her out and started CPR. Mitchell has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. No attorney is listed in court documents. Police say he told them his 4-year-old son wanted to swim but his daughter didn’t, so he put a life vest on his son and his daughter stayed outside while he left for five minutes to fix a ginger ale mixed with an apple-flavored alcohol. They say he later changed his statement to say it was only ginger ale.
August 9, 2019 4:45 pm
Walmart is removing from all of its stores signs, displays or videos that depict violence following a mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, store that killed 22 people. The retailer instructed employees in an internal memo to remove any marketing material, turn off or unplug video game consoles that show violent games, and to make sure that no violence is depicted on screens in its electronics departments. Employees were also ordered to turn off hunting season videos in the sporting goods department. Walmart spokeswoman Tara House said Friday that Walmart is taking the actions, “out of respect for the incidents of the past week.” No videos or video games that depict violence will be removed from shelves and there is no change in the company’s policy regarding gun sales.
