July 23, 2019 3:26 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has confirmed Army veteran and former defense industry lobbyist Mark Esper as secretary of defense. Esper’s confirmation ends a stretch of seven months the Pentagon didn’t have a permanent leader. Esper won Senate confirmation on Tuesday by a vote of 90-8 and is to be sworn in by day’s end. The Pentagon had been without a permanent boss since Jim Mattis stepped down last New Year’s Eve. Deputy Secretary Patrick Shanahan became the acting secretary, but after six months as the fill-in the former Boeing executive abruptly quit. Esper then became the acting secretary, but once he was nominated last week he had to step aside until a Senate vote. For the past week the Pentagon has been run by yet another fill-in, Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer. (Photo: CNN)
July 23, 2019 3:22 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – President Donald Trump is suing the House Ways and Means Committee and New York state officials to prevent his state tax returns from being turned over to the congressional committee. The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Washington, seeks an injection to block a new state law. The law, which went into effect earlier this month, would allow the Democratic-controlled House and Ways Means Committee to obtain the returns. This is the latest legal front on which Trump is battling House Democrats. The committee sued the Treasury Department and IRS officials this month in an attempt to enforce a law that allows its chairman to obtain any taxpayer’s returns. The administration and the president’s business have repeatedly tried to stall Democrats’ investigations by filing lawsuits and by not cooperating.
July 23, 2019 3:14 pm
ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WPXI) – One person was killed Tuesday after a shootout with police in the parking lot of a McKnight Road shopping center. Police at the scene told Channel 11’s Rick Earle there was a shootout between the suspect and police in the area outside of Big Lots in Ross Township. Law enforcement sources told Earle this was a multi-jurisdiction drug investigation that involved an undercover drug operation in the parking lot. The police officer involved was with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office “The OAG officer involved in today’s shooting was shot twice and is in stable condition with no life-threatening injuries. This incident occurred during an operation by our Bureau of Narcotics Investigations. The Attorney General plans to travel to Allegheny County to visit with the officer and his family,” a statement from the Attorney General said. The suspect was killed at the scene. The police officer was shot twice and taken to the hospital. Investigators at the scene said he is expected to be OK. Earle spoke to a woman who was in the store at the time. She said she heard the shooting and barricaded herself in a room in the store and moved a refrigerator to block the door. The shooting happened while dozens of police officers were at the funeral for Pittsburgh police officer Calvin Hall, who was shot and killed last week.
July 23, 2019 1:48 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – David Hedison, who starred in the original sci-fi classic “The Fly” and appeared in two James Bond films, has died. He was 92. A representative from Hedison’s family says in an email Monday that he died peacefully Thursday in Los Angeles with his daughters at his side. He is also known for his role as Capt. Lee Crane in the long-running sci-fi television series “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and as Spencer Harrison on the series “Another World.” Hedison played scientist Andre Delambre who turned into an insect in the 1958 film “The Fly.” He played CIA agent Felix Leiter in Bond films “To Live and Let Die” and “License to Kill.”
July 23, 2019 12:47 pm
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) – Pope Francis named Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop Mark Brennan to lead West Virginia’s Catholics on Tuesday following a scandal over the former bishop’s sexual harassment of adults and lavish spending of church money. The 72-year-old Brennan replaces Bishop Michael Bransfield, who resigned in September after a preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual and financial misconduct. Last week, Francis barred Bransfield from public ministry and prohibited him from living in the diocese, while also warning that he will be forced to make amends “for some of the harm he caused.” The full investigation, first reported by The Washington Post, determined that Bransfield spent church funds on dining out, liquor, personal travel and luxury items, as well as personal gifts to fellow bishops and cardinals in the U.S. and Vatican. Bransfield had been investigated for an alleged groping incident in 2007 and was implicated in court testimony in 2012 in an infamous Philadelphia priestly sex abuse case. He strongly denied ever abusing anyone and the diocese said it had disproved the claims. He continued with his ministry until he offered to retire, as required, when he turned 75 last year. He has disputed the findings of Lori’s investigation, telling The Post “none of it is true.” The Wheeling-Charleston diocese includes nearly 75,000 Catholics and 95 parishes and encompasses the entire state of West Virginia.
July 23, 2019 9:26 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Pittsburgh TV reporter has sued over injuries he says he suffered during a promotional stunt in which he plunged 22 feet into the Allegheny River in a homemade flying machine. The lawsuit by KDKA reporter Dave Crawley names EQT Three Rivers Regatta, Red Bull and a marketing agency. It stems from an August 2017 media piece before the Red Bull Flugtag event, in which teams in homemade devices “fly” from a pier into a river. The suit contends Crawley was left with spleen and diaphragm injuries and a traumatic brain injury. The regatta declined to comment, saying officials were still “gathering information and reviewing the details” of the lawsuit. Red Bull says “the safety of spectators and participants is always our primary concern.” (Photo; KDKA YouTube)
July 23, 2019 9:21 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Funeral services for an off-duty Pittsburgh police officer who was shot to death in a street confrontation more than a week ago were held Tuesday morning. Thirty-five-year-old Officer Calvin Hall died Wednesday, three days after he was shot three times in the back during a street dispute in the Homewood neighborhood as a party was going on. Police announced a criminal homicide charge against 30-year-old Christian Bey on Monday afternoon as a viewing for the slain officer was being held. Officials said the indictment is sealed so further details weren’t being released. Officials have said the off-duty officer may have been “acting under the color of law” at the time of his death. It was unclear whether Bey had an attorney. A number listed for him was out of service Monday. Funeral services were held at Soldiers and Sailors Hall in Oakland. Burial will follow at Homewood Cemetery. (Photo: WPXI)
July 23, 2019 4:26 am
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – The political crisis in Puerto Rico has escalated to a point where many wonder how Gov. Ricardo Rosselló will be able to govern the U.S. territory in the coming days and possibly weeks amid the massive protests to oust him. Rosselló dug his heels in late Monday after what seems to have been the biggest protest the island has seen in nearly two decades, telling Fox News that he has already apologized and made amends following the leak of an offensive, obscenity-laden online chat between him and his advisers that triggered the crisis. But Puerto Ricans remained unsatisfied and vowed to keep protesting until he steps down, no matter how long it takes. Tuesday marked the 11th consecutive day of protests as government officials around Rosselló kept resigning.
July 23, 2019 4:24 am
LONDON (AP) – Brexit hardliner Boris Johnson has won the race to lead Britain’s governing Conservative Party, and will become the country’s next prime minister. He defeated his rival Jeremy Hunt overwhelmingly in a vote of Conservative Party members. He will be installed as prime minister in a formal handover from Theresa May on Wednesday. The victory is a triumph for the 55-year-old Johnson, an ambitious but erratic politician whose political career has veered between periods in high office and spells on the sidelines. Johnson has vowed that Britain will quit the European Union, “come what may,” on the scheduled Brexit departure date of Oct. 31 even if it means leaving without a divorce deal. He faces a rocky ride from a Parliament determined to prevent him from taking the U.K. out of the bloc without a withdrawal agreement.
July 23, 2019 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is promising the Senate will vote on the budget deal agreed to by congressional leaders and the White House before senators leave town for the August recess. The Republican leader said Monday he’s “very encouraged” by the agreement reached by President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. McConnell says the “reality of divided government means this is not exactly the deal Republicans would have written on our own.” But he says all sides have made “enormous strides” funding national defense recently and the deal “is what we need to keep building on that progress.” The deal sets federal funding levels for the next two years and allows continued borrowing. The House is expected to vote first, with the Senate voting before recessing next week.
