January 1, 2020 9:10 am
HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) – The Hershey Co. will soon retire its vehicles that are shaped like its Hershey’s Kisses. The Hershey Kissmobiles are each made up of three huge Kisses candies and have traveled across the country since 1997. The chocolate company has confirmed that the 26-foot-long vehicles won’t return in 2020. A Hershey Co. spokesman says the company decided to pull the aging Kissmobiles out of safety concerns for employees and the public. It has also become more difficult to find replacement parts for the custom vehicles. One of the Kissmobiles will be available for public viewing at the AACA Museum in Hershey.
January 1, 2020 9:08 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – More than 60,000 Pennsylvania residents are expected to see a pay increase in 2020 as a new federal overtime rule goes into effect. The rule taking effect Wednesday guarantees time-and-a-half pay to nearly all hourly employees who work more than 40 hours a week and salaried workers making less than about $35,500 per year. Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry Jerry Oleksiak tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the rule should benefit about 61,000 people in the state. The minimum wage remains $7.25 an hour in Pennsylvania. That’s the same it’s been since 2009.
January 1, 2020 9:03 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Just before 7:30 a.m. Monday, a corrections officer found a male inmate dead at the Allegheny County Jail, according to law enforcement. Police said corrections officers and medical personnel performed CPR until paramedics could arrive. Officials said the man was declared dead by 7:49 a.m. Allegheny County Police are investigating what happened. The identity of the inmate has not yet been released.
December 31, 2019 8:44 am
Revelers around the world usher in the new decade. Many locations around the world already have rung in the new year. In Auckland, New Zealand, half a ton of fireworks burst from the Sky Tower above the city center. The Pacific island nation of Kiribati was one of the first countries to welcome the new decade, with its 3,200 coral atolls that are strewn more than 3 million square miles, straddling the equator. Samoa’s New Year’s Eve was more somber than usual. Fireworks erupted at midnight as people remembered the 81 lives lost in 2019’s measles epidemic.
December 31, 2019 5:25 am
BAGHDAD (AP) – Hundreds of angry Iraqis have tried to break into the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad following deadly U.S. airstrikes this week that killed 25 fighters from an Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq. The incident came after supporters of the militia and mourners held funerals for the killed in a Baghdad neighborhood on Tuesday. They then marched on to the heavily fortified Green Zone and kept walking till they reached the sprawling U.S. Embassy complex there. AP journalists saw the crowd try to push into the embassy, shouting “Down, down USA!” The protesters apparently didn’t get beyond the outer wall of the embassy compound.
December 31, 2019 4:14 am
CHICAGO (AP) – A lawsuit filed Monday in state court in San Francisco alleges that a Jesuit priest with ties to Mother Teresa sexually abused an American boy “more than 1,000 times, in multiple states and countries.” In interviews with The Associated Press, Robert Goldberg describes sexual abuse he suffered from age 11 into adulthood while working as a valet for the late Donald McGuire. McGuire died in prison in 2017 while serving a 25-year sentence for molesting other victims. Monday’s lawsuit doesn’t currently name the defendants, but Goldberg’s attorneys say they will include top Jesuit leaders. Jesuit officials declined comment.
December 31, 2019 4:13 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A powerful Argentine big-game hunter and a sociable French water dog have made the American Kennel Club’s list of recognized breeds. The club announced Tuesday that the barbet and the dogo Argentino are now part of the 195-breed pack. That means they can compete starting Wednesday in many traditional, breed-judging dog shows. The newcomers can’t vie for best in show at the famous Westminster Kennel Club show until 2021, however. The curly-coated, bearded barbet (pronounced “bar-BAY’) has a long history as a hunter’s helper in France. The dogo Argentino was developed by an Argentine doctor in the last century.áThe AKC cautions that only experienced dog owners should get a dogo.á
December 31, 2019 4:12 am
NEW YORK (AP) – President Donald Trump has signed an anti-robocalls law that is expected to help Americans deal with the torrent of unwanted calls promising lower interest rates or pretending to be the IRS. The new law gives authorities more enforcement powers and could speed up measures the industry is already taking to identify robocalls. It also bars phone companies from charging for blocking robocalls. This should help Americans dodge many of the billions of robocalls they get each month. But experts also warn that scammers will adapt with new ways to trick people on their phones. Trump signed the law late Monday.
December 31, 2019 4:10 am
PERTH, Australia (AP) – Wildfires burning across Australia’s two most-populous states have trapped residents of a seaside town in apocalyptic conditions, destroyed many properties and caused at least two fatalities. About 4,000 people fled to the waterfront of a southeastern town as winds pushed an emergency-level wildfire towards their homes. The town of Mallacoota was shrouded in darkness from the smoke before turning an unnerving shade of bright red. The state’s leader said there were plans to evacuate the trapped people by sea. Two people were dead and five missing in Victoria and New South Wales states. That comes after a volunteer firefighter died Monday.
December 31, 2019 4:08 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Federal authorities say remains of an American soldier killed during the Korean War have been accounted for and will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Monday it verified the remains of 28-year-old Army 1st Lt. Robert C. Styslinger of Pittsburgh in August. It says his remains were among 55 boxes turned over by North Korea in July 2018, after a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un. Styslinger was reported to have been killed in action in November 1950 in North Korea.
