August 16, 2019 4:56 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – New York City’s medical examiner has ruled Jeffrey Epstein’s death a suicide. The medical examiner’s office said in a statement Friday that an autopsy and other evidence confirms the 66-year-old financier hanged himself in his cell at a federal jail. Epstein was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls. He was found dead Aug. 10.
August 16, 2019 4:26 pm
SANTA ANA, California (AP) – A review of 38 legal claims obtained by The Associated Press – some of which have never been made public – shows taxpayers could be on the hook for more than $200 million in damages as a result of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy. Dozens of migrant children and their families say they suffered trauma during forced separations and prolonged detention. The claims are precursors to lawsuits, and many more are expected. Some of the children, including an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy now living in Southern California, allege they were sexually molested by other children in foster care homes funded by the U.S. government. The departments of Justice and Homeland Security, which are both named in claims, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Health and Human Services said it doesn’t respond to pending litigation and treats the children in its care with dignity and respect.
August 16, 2019 2:52 pm
ORLANDO, Fla. (WPXI) – A chef is suing former Pittsburgh Steelers and current Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown, claiming Brown owes him nearly $40,000 for cooking during the 2018 NFL Pro Bowl weekend. The lawsuit names Stefano Tedeschi as a celebrity chef who has appeared on ESPN and Fox Sports, and has been hired at times for cooking at private events for NFL sponsors and players. The suit said Tedeschi and Brown “entered into a verbal contract” and that Tedeschi would cook for Brown’s family and friends during the weekend of the 2018 Pro Bowl. Court documents said Tedeschi cooked all the meals, and that Brown still had not paid. The suit put the total owed to Tedeschi at $38,521.
August 16, 2019 11:46 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s jobless rate is up slightly but remains near record lows under state records that go back four decades.
The Labor and Industry Department said Friday the 3.9% rate in July was 0.1 percent higher than the record low that was in place from April to June. The national rate of 3.7 percent was unchanged from June. The size of the state’s workforce rose by 1,000 to nearly 6.5 million. The number of unemployed Pennsylvanians rose by 4,000, which is the first increase in the current calendar year. The state’s unemployment rate a year ago was 0.3 percentage points higher.
August 16, 2019 11:44 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is directing state police and other agencies under his control to focus greater efforts on addressing gun violence, two days after a gunman shot and wounded six Philadelphia police officers. The Democratic governor on Friday announced changes that include a new Special Council on Gun Violence, which will have six months to recommend how to reduce mass shootings, domestic violence, suicide and accidental shootings. Wolf is setting up a new Office of Gun Violence Prevention at the state commission on crime and delinquency. He wants state police to expand and support gun buy-back programs and increase monitoring of hate groups and white nationalists. The governor’s office says more than 1,600 people in the state died of gunshot wounds in 2017.
August 16, 2019 9:59 am
NEW STANTON, Pa. (AP) – Motorists will face detours when a section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike closes for bridge work. The toll road will close in both directions between New Stanton Exit 75 and Breezewood Exit 161 starting at 11 p.m. Saturday until approximately 6 a.m. Sunday, weather permitting. The turnpike commission says the closure is needed for workers to safely remove the temporary bridge over the turnpike at milepost 110 in Somerset. A new bridge opened to traffic on July 19. Motorists will be permitted to enter the turnpike eastbound at the Bedford interchange and westbound motorists can enter the toll road at the Somerset exchange. Detours will be posted.
August 16, 2019 8:54 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Two suspicious objects that prompted an evacuation of a major lower Manhattan subway station during the morning commute Friday are not explosives, police said. The bomb squad cleared the items found at the Fulton Street station, New York Police Department Counterterrorism Chief James Waters said on Twitter. Waters posted photos of the objects, which looked like pressure cookers or electric crockpots. “The suspicion is that they were placed there to suggest that they were electronic devices and possible bombs,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on WCBS-AM after the all clear was given. The devices were found at the line that carries No. 2 and 3 trains around 7 a.m. The station is a busy transit hub a few blocks from the World Trade Center.
August 16, 2019 7:57 am
There has been another issue with a ride at the Washington County Agricultural Fair. According to reports, one end of a car on the Sky Driver ride appeared to come loose around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, according to fair officials. Operators stopped the ride and removed the car. No one was hurt. This comes a day after a child was hurt on another ride.
August 16, 2019 6:20 am
UNIONTOWN, Pa. – (WPXI) – A traffic stop led to a scary discovery in Fayette County. Pennsylvania State Police pulled over a car Thursday night on Route 119 in Uniontown. The driver ran away, but then police found explosives in the car. Officers closed Route 119 for about an hour and a half. Police are not saying whether they found the driver or why they stopped the car. Pennsylvania State Police are expected to release more information later in the day. (Photo: WPXI)
August 16, 2019 6:16 am
JERUSALEM (AP) – Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib says she won’t visit her relatives in the West Bank after Israel issued a permit on humanitarian grounds, citing “oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me.” Israel barred Tlaib and another congresswoman from visiting Jerusalem and the West Bank over their support for the international boycott movement, but said Tlaib could visit her relatives in the West Bank on humanitarian grounds. The Interior Ministry released a letter purportedly signed by Tlaib in which she promised not to advocate boycotts during her visit.
In an official statement released later Friday, Tlaib said “visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother’s heart.” She added that “silencing me with treatment to make me feel less-than is not what she wants for me – it would kill a piece of me that always stands up against racism and injustice.”
