November 29, 2019 11:21 am
DONEGAL, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say an ATV driver was killed when he was struck by another vehicle in western Pennsylvania. The Westmoreland County coroner’s office says Joshua Torrence was eastbound on Route 130 in Donegal when a westbound Jeep that was trying to make a left turn hit him around 4:40 p.m. Wednesday. The 27-year-old Cook man, who was riding by himself, was thrown from the ATV. He was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later. The driver of the Jeep was not injured. That person’s name has not been released. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
November 29, 2019 4:20 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea says the latest test-firing of its “super-large” multiple rocket launcher was a final review of the weapon’s combat application. A Friday report from the Korean Central News Agency likely means North Korea is preparing to mass produce and deploy the new weapons system soon. KCNA says leader Kim Jong Un expressed “great satisfaction” over the results of the test-firing. South Korea’s military says North Korea fired two projectiles into its eastern waters on Thursday. It says the projectiles were likely fired from that “super-large” rocket launcher. It was the fourth test-launch of projectiles from the multiple rocket launcher since August. North Korea has fired other new weapons in recent months in what some experts say is an attempt to wrest concessions from the United States in nuclear diplomacy.
November 29, 2019 4:19 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Black Friday once again kicks off the start of the holiday shopping season. But with six fewer days, it will be the shortest season since 2013 because Thanksgiving fell on the fourth Thursday in November – the latest possible date. That means customers will have less time to shop and retailers will have less time to woo them. The National Retail Federation baked the shorter season into its forecast, but it says the real drivers will be the job market. It forecasts that holiday sales will rise between 3.8% and 4.2%, an increase from the disappointing 2.1% growth seen in the November and December 2018 period. Black Friday is expected to once again be the largest shopping day of the season, followed by the last Saturday before Christmas.
November 29, 2019 4:18 am
HONG KONG (AP) – Police in Hong Kong are preparing to reopen access to a university campus after blocking it for 12 days to try to arrest protesters holed up inside. Assistant Commissioner Chow Yat-ming said Friday morning that officers had almost finished a 1 1/2-day operation to collect evidence and remove gasoline bombs and other dangerous materials from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He says they did not encounter any protesters. One masked protester told media before police came in that about 20 people were still hiding to avoid arrest. They are the holdouts from roughly 1,000 protesters who had retreated inside the campus after battling police on the streets. A few escaped a police cordon, but police say they arrested 700 people and recorded the details of 300 minors.
November 29, 2019 4:17 am
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) – President Donald Trump is back in the United States after his Thanksgiving Day visit to Afghanistan. Air Force One landed in Florida, where the president is spending the holiday weekend. Trump took off early Friday from Bagram Air Field after several hours with U.S. troops and a brief meeting with Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani. Trump said the U.S. and the Taliban have been engaged in peace talks and he thinks the Taliban want to make a deal that would end America’s longest war.
November 29, 2019 4:14 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Travelers are urged to pack some patience as they use Pennsylvania’s roads, rails and airports over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The Pennsylvania Turnpike predicts 3.6 million cars and trucks will use the toll road through Sunday. Officials are expecting 735,000 vehicles will use the turnpike on Wednesday with the heaviest traffic volume between 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Amtrak is rolling extra trains for the holiday. The railroad says Philadelphia’s Gray 30th Street Station saw a 39% increase in ridership on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Amtrak’s Keystone Service and Pennsylvanian trains will require reservations through Monday. Travelers should expect longer lines at security checkpoints at the state’s airports.
November 29, 2019 4:13 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Thanksgiving is here and 2000 Turkeys has surpassed our goal of $100,000 to help families in need. All money donated goes towards helping families in need throughout Washington County have a complete Thanksgiving dinner. Donations of all sizes are being accepted through the week . If you would like to donate, you can send a check to; 2000 Turkeys P.O. Box 2000 Washington, Pa. 15301. Special thanks to Range Resources who held their annual donation drive on the streets of downtown Washington on Friday. Range employees took to the streets to accept cash, check and food donations throughout the day and when it was all over, more than $11,000 was collected.
November 29, 2019 4:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s governor is turning to an engineer who’s served most recently as a top PennDOT administrator to be the agency’s next transportation secretary. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced his choice of Transportation Department Executive Deputy Secretary Yassmin Gramian to take over from outgoing Secretary Leslie Richards. Richards is leaving to become general manager of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority public transit agency. Gramian has spent decades as a project engineer, including several high-profile works in the Philadelphia area. She’s scheduled to assume the top duties on Dec. 6.
November 29, 2019 4:11 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Pennsylvania court has rejected the appeal of a man convicted of killing two sisters who lived next door to him in Pittsburgh and were sisters of an Iowa state lawmaker.
Forty-nine-year-old Allen Wade was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the February 2014 deaths of Sarah and Susan Wolfe, who were found shot to death in the basement of their East Liberty home. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that a Superior Court panel rejected his appeal arguments, including a challenge to prosecutors’ use of a hat containing his DNA found in the victims’ home five weeks before their deaths. Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but a jury deadlock led to a life without parole sentence.
November 29, 2019 4:09 am
GLASSPORT, Pa. – (WPXI) – A woman was rushed to the hospital after she was found shot inside a home in Glassport. The incident happened around 8:30 p.m. Thursday at a home in the 600 block of Ohio Avenue. First responders found a 52-year-old woman who had been shot in her right shoulder. She was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital where officers talked with her to get more details. Police said the woman and her boyfriend, Jonah Reid, were arguing. Reid is physically disabled and in a wheelchair. The woman said Reid was going to leave and as he was packing his belongings, he took his gun off a bedroom dresser. The pair continued arguing and the woman said she slapped Reid at some point. He jerked back in reaction, had the gun in his hand and fired it, hitting the woman’s shoulder, police said.
