November 8, 2019 4:03 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – Crews have made an unexpected discovery in the investigation into what caused a massive sinkhole on 10th Street downtown less than two weeks ago. PWSA officials confirm a damaged 6-inch water line underneath the road was not connected to a nearby building, as its records indicated. It’s unclear how long the line has been disconnected, but a PWSA spokesman says it could have been decades. “We really just don’t know when it happened. Although we’re fairly certain it wasn’t a recent occurrence,” said PWSA communications director Will Pickering. Since the line was improperly capped near the building and not closer to the water main as expected, Pickering said any potential damage likely would have gone undetected. How and when that happened is being investigated, and PWSA said it remains unclear if that line played any role in the road’s collapse.
November 8, 2019 3:57 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania is seeking passage of a measure that’s squarely aimed at several Democratic presidential candidates and designed to prevent a president from banning hydraulic fracturing. Toomey said Friday his new resolution makes it clear that Congress believes a president doesn’t have the authority to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Toomey’s resolution is in response to an all-out prohibition on the controversial natural gas extraction process that’s backed by two leading Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The prospect of banning fracking is dividing Democrats and their traditional allies in organized labor in what’s shaping up as a premier battleground state in next year’s presidential election. Pennsylvania is also the nation’s No. 2 natural gas state, behind Texas.
November 8, 2019 3:36 am
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) – Authorities in West Virginia say a woman has died after being hit by a truck then dragged under another vehicle for miles. Wheeling Police Department spokesman Philip Stahl says officers received a report on the initial crash around 6:30 a.m. Thursday in the 100 block of Warwood Avenue. He says the first driver told police he thought he hit someone, but officers couldn’t find a body. The department then received another call around 15 minutes later about a vehicle dragging a body on Interstate 70 east at the Washington Avenue exit 2B, nearly 5 miles away. The woman has been identified as 54-year-old Michelle Lynn Czoka of Bridgeport, Ohio. Police are still investigating.
November 7, 2019 2:36 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – A New York judge ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging he misused his charitable foundation to further his political and business interests. Judge Saliann Scarpulla also signed off on an agreement Thursday to close the Trump Foundation and distribute about $1.7 million in remaining funds to other nonprofit groups. A request for comment was emailed to Trump’s lawyer. New York’s attorney general filed a lawsuit last year alleging Trump and his family illegally operated the foundation as an extension of his businesses and his presidential campaign. Attorney General Letitia James had been seeking about $2.8 million in restitution from the president. Scarpulla cut that amount to $2 million. Foundation lawyers have previously said the lawsuit is politically motivated.
November 7, 2019 5:44 am
WPXI-TV meteorologist Kevin Benson is facing DUI charges following a traffic stop here in Washington County back in September. Troopers say they responded to a report of a vehicle driving erratically and pulled the 60 year old Benson over along Interstate 70 in South Strabane Township September 20. Police say he smelled of alcohol, had glassy eyes, and was slurring his speech. According to reports, Benson became “loud and uncooperative” with nurses when he was taken to the hospital to draw blood. That blood test showed Benson had a blood alcohol content nearly four-times the legal limit. WPXI has not commented on the arrest. He’s worked at WPXI since 1987.
November 7, 2019 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Juul Labs says it will stop selling its mint-flavored electronic cigarettes. Mint is the vaping company’s best-selling flavor. The voluntary step comes days after new research showed that mint was the most popular vaping flavor among many high school students who use e-cigarettes. The federal government is expected to soon unveil its plans for removing most vaping flavors.
November 7, 2019 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters are insisting that no course correction is needed despite stinging Republican defeats in battleground suburbs and a Democrat on the verge of victory in the governor’s race in deep-red Kentucky. But the blue wave that swept through the suburbs in 2018 and gave Democrats control of the U.S. House barreled through communities outside Philadelphia, Washington and Cincinnati on Tuesday. With nearly a year until the presidential election, there is a risk of drawing firm conclusions about the meaning of Tuesday’s results. But coming amid an intensifying impeachment inquiry, they raise questions about Trump’s ability to help other Republicans across the finish line. Some GOP strategists say the party needs to confront its eroding support in the suburbs.
November 7, 2019 4:18 am
GALEANA, Mexico (AP) – Mexican officials say a suspect who was arrested in the border city of Agua Prieta with assault rifles was not involved in the killing of three American women and six children. Alfonso Durazo, a public security official, said Wednesday that preliminary information indicates that the suspect who was detained Tuesday is not linked to the attack. Criminal investigators in northern Mexico earlier said the suspect was under investigation for a possible connection to the killings.
November 7, 2019 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine has told lawmakers in private that he understood President Donald Trump proposed a quid pro quo with Ukraine. Now he’s expected to repeat that testimony in the impeachment inquiry’s initial public hearings next week. The diplomat, William Taylor, will be the first to testify. The focus is on pressure placed on Ukraine by Trump to investigate political foe Joe Biden and the unsupported idea that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. In newly released transcripts of his private testimony, Taylor says it was his “clear understanding” that financial support would not come until Ukraine’s president committed to pursue an investigation. The chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, says Americans will a chance to decide for themselves if the impeachment inquiry is warranted.
November 7, 2019 4:09 am
MONONGAHELA, Pa. – (WPXI) – A former police officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a police cruiser while he was on duty is heading to trial. The alleged incident happened while Dustin Devault, 47, served as an officer in Monongahela. He then worked as a part-time officer with Forward Township and Highmark but is no longer at either department. Devault first met the woman during a traffic stop, a grand jury found. The two met and texted several times after. The woman told authorities it was her understanding that Devault was going to help her become a police officer and seek treatment for a loved one who was suffering from substance use, according to investigators. On one occasion that the two met, Devault allegedly showed up in full uniform in an unmarked car. While in the car, the woman claims Devault inappropriately touched her several times and repeatedly asked her to have sex with him. The grand jury found Devault lied to his superiors in the Monongahela Police Department — where he was removed from his position — about his interactions with the woman and encouraged a co-worker to also lie. Defense attorney Blaine Jones said this is the first allegation of inappropriate behavior against his client with a long history of service.
