November 30, 2019 4:24 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Attention has shifted from discounters like Walmart and Target on Thanksgiving Day to malls on Black Friday, where traffic has been on the decline amid the increasing popularity of online shopping. Many mall executives nonetheless say they are pleased with Friday’s turnout. Stephen Lebovitz, CEO of CBL Properties, which owns and manages more than 100 malls nationwide, says the crowds have been building all day and are similar to a year ago. He also believes that a shortened season – with six fewer shopping days than last year – won’t impact sales. Steve Yalof, CEO of Simon Property Group’s Premium Outlets says customer traffic at the outlets on the East Coast was up on Black Friday compared with a year ago. Many of the outlet stores in Woodbury, New York are discounting designer merchandise by 50%, on top of discounts of 35% to 65%. With a shorter season, shoppers came out for sales earlier in the week, Yalof noted.
November 30, 2019 4:23 am
A powerful storm stretching from California to New England is threatening major disruptions during the year’s busiest travel weekend. Forecasters have warned that snow and ice could thwart millions of people hoping to get home after Thanksgiving. The storm has already shut down highways, stranding drivers in California and prompting authorities in Arizona to plead with travelers to wait out the weather. The storm is expected to track east through the weekend – into the plains on Friday, the Midwest by Saturday and the Northeast on Sunday – pummeling the country with snow, ice or flash flooding. The National Weather Service alerted that travel could become impossible in some places. The weather could become particularly disruptive Sunday, when the airline industry’s trade group expects 3.1 million passengers on what could be the busiest day ever recorded.
November 30, 2019 4:22 am
LONDON (AP) – UK counterterrorism police are searching for clues into an attack that left two people dead and three injured near London Bridge. Police said Saturday a man imprisoned six years for terrorism offenses before his release last year stabbed several people on Friday before being tackled by members of the public and shot dead by officers on the bridge. Neil Basu, London’s police counterterrorism chief, said 28-year-old Usman Khan was attending a program that works to educate prisoners when he launched the attack. He killed a man and a woman and injured three others just yards from the site of a deadly 2017 van and knife rampage. Health officials said one of the injured was in critical but stable condition, one was stable and the third had less serious injuries.
November 30, 2019 4:11 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania will allow landowners to legally notify hunters and others that they’re trespassing by painting purple stripes on trees or posts. The bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Tom Wolf is designed to ease a landowners’ task of posting “no trespassing” signs that deteriorate over time. The law takes effect in 60 days. The purple stripes must be vertical lines at least 8 inches long and 1 inch wide. They must be 3 to 5 feet off the ground, readily visible to a person approaching the property and no more than 100 feet apart. The law applies everywhere, except in Philadelphia and Allegheny County. Numerous other states have adopted a purple-paint law, and paint manufacturers have formulated cans of spray paint and brush paint specifically marketed as “no hunting” paint.
November 30, 2019 4:10 am
BEAVER CO., Pa. (WPXI) – State troopers are searching for a person who they said led them on a chase in Beaver County and then ran into a wooded area. Troopers tried to pull the suspect’s vehicle over on I-376 westbound in Brighton Township around 12 p.m. Friday when the driver took off, according to Pennsylvania State Police Beaver. Investigators said the driver led police on a pursuit until that person got out and ran into a wooded area. Police have not identified the suspect, and the investigation is ongoing.
November 29, 2019 3:44 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania will allow landowners to legally notify hunters and others that they’re trespassing by painting purple stripes on trees or posts. The bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Tom Wolf is designed to ease a landowners’ task of posting “no trespassing” signs that deteriorate over time. The law takes effect in 60 days. The purple stripes must be vertical lines at least 8 inches long and 1 inch wide. They must be 3 to 5 feet off the ground, readily visible to a person approaching the property and no more than 100 feet apart. The law applies everywhere, except in Philadelphia and Allegheny County. Numerous other states have adopted a purple-paint law, and paint manufacturers have formulated cans of spray paint and brush paint specifically marketed as “no hunting” paint.
November 29, 2019 2:42 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is creating the criminal offense of sexual extortion to help combat what authorities say is a growing crime targeting children.
The legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Tom Wolf takes effect in two months. The law makes it a third-degree felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison, if the victim is under 18 or the perpetrator has shown a pattern of engaging in sexual extortion. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tedd Nesbit of Mercer County, says Pennsylvania law didn’t adequately cover the crime and the legislation helps Pennsylvania keep pace in a digital age that facilitates sexual extortion. The law defines sexual extortion as using a threat of some type of coerce a victim into a sex act, simulating a sex act, undressing or making a video or image of it.
November 29, 2019 2:40 pm
WASHINGTON, Pa. – Injuries resulted following a two-vehicle crash Friday afternoon just after 1:00 along Route 40 in South Strabane Township. According to Washington County 9-1-1, fire and EMS crews were headed to the area of 2972 East Maiden St. and the Interstate 79 interchange as one vehicle was on fire. EMS crews transported patients to the hospital. No update on a cause or the condition of the injured.
November 29, 2019 1:06 pm
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) – One lane of the Parkway North was closed for a time Friday morning after a pursuit that started on I-79 near Carnegie. State police said speeds reached 105 mph at one point as the driver of a black Dodge Magnum, Walter Rohm, 50, refused to stop. Troopers said Rohm flew down Greentree Hill and through the Ft. Pitt tunnels at 70-80 mph before continuing onto the Parkway North. The Magnum was eventually boxed in by troopers who then wrestled Rohm to the ground. Rohm was taken to the Allegheny County Jail and was charged with fleeing and eluding, and resisting arrest.
November 29, 2019 12:20 pm
LONDON (AP) – London police say two people were killed in a stabbing near London Bridge that ended when the attacker was shot dead by police.
Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick said “tragically” two members of the public had lost their lives in the Friday attack. Police earlier said only that “a number” of people had been injured. Police say the stabbing happened at a premises near the bridge. The fleeing attacker, who was wearing a hoax explosive device, was tackled by members of the public before being shot by police.
