August 16, 2019 6:16 am
JERUSALEM (AP) – Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib says she won’t visit her relatives in the West Bank after Israel issued a permit on humanitarian grounds, citing “oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me.” Israel barred Tlaib and another congresswoman from visiting Jerusalem and the West Bank over their support for the international boycott movement, but said Tlaib could visit her relatives in the West Bank on humanitarian grounds. The Interior Ministry released a letter purportedly signed by Tlaib in which she promised not to advocate boycotts during her visit.
In an official statement released later Friday, Tlaib said “visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother’s heart.” She added that “silencing me with treatment to make me feel less-than is not what she wants for me – it would kill a piece of me that always stands up against racism and injustice.”
August 16, 2019 4:20 am
ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (AP) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. will take the weekend off from broadcasting to be with his wife and daughter after the three were in a plane crash landing Thursday near Bristol Motor Speedway. The 44-year-old television analyst and retired driver was taken to a hospital for evaluation after the crash in east Tennessee. Earnhardt was with wife Amy, 15-month-old daughter Isla, a dog and two pilots. “We’re incredibly grateful that Dale, his wife Amy, daughter Isla, and the two pilots are safe following today’s accident,” NBC Sports said in a statement. “After being discharged from the hospital, we communicated with Dale and his team, and we’re all in agreement that he should take this weekend off to be with his family. “We look forward to having him back in the booth next month at Darlington.” 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 the jet. The National Transportation Safety Board tweeted that it’s sending two representatives to Elizabethton to begin investigating the crash. Carter County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Thomas Gray confirmed Earnhardt was aboard but said he wasn’t one of the pilots.
August 16, 2019 4:19 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea’s military says North Korea fired more projectiles into the sea to extend a recent streak of weapons tests believed to be aimed at pressuring Washington and Seoul over slow nuclear diplomacy. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday projectiles were twice launched from an area on the North’s eastern coast. The Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t immediately say what the weapons were or how far they flew. The North has conducted a slew of short-range ballistic tests in recent weeks in what is seen as an effort to build leverage ahead of negotiations with the United States, which may resume sometime after the end of joint U.S.-South Korea military drills later this month.
August 16, 2019 4:18 am
ATLANTA (AP) – If Georgia election officials fail to meet the tight timeline they’ve set to implement an entirely new voting system, they’ll have to quickly pivot to hand-marked paper ballots for the March presidential primaries. That’s according to a Thursday ruling by U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said the state’s new voting system will be in place for the March 24 primaries. The ruling means the state can keep its plans to use the old system for special and municipal elections this fall. Voting integrity advocates and individual voters had asked Totenberg to order an immediate switch to hand-marked paper ballots. She declined, citing concerns about the state’s capacity to make an interim switch to hand-marked paper ballots while working to implement a new system.
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)
