May 14, 2019 6:46 pm
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Five victims of sex abuse by Catholic priests plan to sue the Vatican and are demanding to know the names of thousands of predator priests they say have been kept secret. Attorney Jeff Anderson plans to file his lawsuit on Tuesday. The plaintiffs include three brothers who were abused by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer as recently as 2012 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Wehmeyer pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct and child pornography in connection with his contact with two of the boys, who were 12 and 14. The brothers plan to speak about the case at a Tuesday news conference. Wehmeyer’s arrest led prosecutors to charge the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for failing to protect children. It also led to the forced resignation of then-Archbishop John Nienstedt.
May 14, 2019 6:46 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – President Donald Trump is coming to Pennsylvania for a rally the day before voters in a congressional district in the northcentral part of the state pick a new representative to go to Washington. Trump’s rally is next Monday at hangar by Williamsport Regional Airport in Montoursville. His campaign says Trump was last there in 2015. Republican Fred Keller and Democrat Marc Friedenberg are vying to fill an open seat created by Republican Tom Marino’s resignation in January. The district is heavily Republican and voters there backed Trump in 2016’s presidential election by better than 2 to 1 over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump beat Clinton in Pennsylvania, by less than 1 percentage point, and the state is part of his likeliest path to winning a second term.
May 14, 2019 6:45 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General William Barr has appointed a U.S. attorney to examine the origins of the Russia investigation and determine if intelligence collection involving the Trump campaign was “lawful and appropriate.” That’s according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on Monday. The person couldn’t discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person said Barr has appointed John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to conduct the inquiry. The inquiry will focus on whether the government’s methods to collect intelligence relating to the Trump campaign were lawful and appropriate. Durham has previously investigated law enforcement corruption, the destruction of CIA videotapes and the Boston FBI office’s relationship with mobsters. He will continue to serve as the chief federal prosecutor in Connecticut.
May 14, 2019 6:44 pm
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – “We were about maybe 2 miles from home. Get out of the car. Run around to the passenger side. She had already had the baby and was holding it in her arms. He was very blue. We couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not,” said Kyle and Vicky Blizzard. The Blizzards’ new baby was born in a gas station parking lot on Mother’s Day. The parents were in a panic because the child was not breathing. But first responders were not far away. The Blizzards said their baby’s birth caught them completely by surprise. They said he was 10 weeks early. It was not the Mother’s Day either of the new parents expected. Surveillance cameras captured the moment Sunday morning as the Shaler couple were on their way to the hospital. They pulled into a BP gas station in Millvale. “She said, ‘No the baby is coming now. Pull over. I’m delivering the baby in the car,” Kyle Blizzard said. It happened before he could even get to the other side of the car. The child was not breathing, and the 911 dispatcher was able to walk Kyle Blizzard through CPR. The boy was OK because he was still attached to the umbilical cord. Police and paramedics arrived quickly and took over. The newborn is in the neonatal intensive care unit at West Penn Hospital, where he’ll have to stay for six to eight weeks.
May 14, 2019 6:44 pm
BROWNSVILLE, Pa. – The man killed in a fire at an apartment building in Fayette County early Sunday morning has now been identified. He is 34 year old Vernon Pratt Sr. The chief of the South Brownsville Fire Department says the blaze broke out in the man’s top floor apartment on Second Street. All of the other tenants managed to get out safely. The Red Cross is helping about 10 people. Brownsville Fire Chief Ron Barry said it was a tough fire to get under control because of the heavy smoke, heats and flames. “Very, very difficult fire. Very stubborn fire. And again, the layout of the building and the age of the building. There were a lot of spaces where the fire had a good head start before we got there,” Barry said. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. (Photo: WPXI)
May 14, 2019 6:43 pm
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Authorities say a western Pennsylvania professor working as an Uber driver has been charged with holding two women against their will in his vehicle over the weekend. Thirty-six-year-old Richard Lomotey is charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and harassment. Pittsburgh police said Lomotey picked the women up early Saturday and was supposed to drive to Penn Hills, but veered from the route, pulled over, said “You’re not going anywhere” and tried to lock the doors, but the women escaped. Penn State-Beaver says Lomotey is an assistant professor but has been placed on leave following the “deeply troubling” allegations. Uber called the alleged actions “unacceptable” and said his access to the app has been removed. Court documents don’t list a defense attorney and a listed number for Lomotey couldn’t be found Monday.
May 14, 2019 6:41 pm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The attorney general of Pennsylvania says he’s filing a lawsuit accusing a pharmaceutical giant of fueling the opioid epidemic. Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office said it would announce details of the lawsuit Tuesday afternoon. Pennsylvania is one of the states hardest hit by opioid addiction. Shapiro’s office two years ago joined with dozens of other states to investigate companies that make and distribute opioid painkillers. Several Pennsylvania counties have already sued drugmakers, and a federal judge in Cleveland is overseeing more than 1,500 lawsuits filed by local governments, American Indian tribes and others against the opioid industry. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says opioids, including prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and illicit drugs such as fentanyl and heroin, were involved in a record 48,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2017.
May 14, 2019 6:38 pm
MOSCOW (AP) – U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo has told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the start of their talks in Russia that he hopes that the U.S. and Russia can mend their relations and find areas of mutual cooperation. Pompeo said in televised remarks at the meeting venue in the Black Sea resort of Sochi that he has come to Russia because President Donald Trump is “committed to improve this relationship.” He said that each country wants to protect its interests but that there are areas for mutually beneficial cooperation, including the fight against terrorism. Pompeo said that an improved relationship, damaged by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, its interference in the 2016 U.S. elections and U.S. sanctions against Russia, “will be good not only for our two countries but for the whole world as well.”
May 14, 2019 6:37 pm
Peters Township Council is still trying to figure out just what to do about an aquatics facility. Council held a public hearing recently and was unable to really come to some consensus. What the meeting did do is bring out more questions than answers. Several self described younger residents attended the meeting and voiced strong support for a pool. Council is struggling with just what to build and when. Councilman David Ball wonders if spending $11 million dollars on an outdoor facility used 3 months a year is the right idea. Should a year round facility be under consideration? Council Chairman Frank Kosir is looking to make sure that what is built is what best suits residents now and in the future. He wants to make sure that whatever is built is something that everyone can be proud of 20 years from now. In an effort to answer some of these questions, council did authorize a marketing survey to be done.
May 14, 2019 6:37 pm
BEIJING (AP) – U.S. trade officials have issued a $300 billion target list of Chinese imports including laptop computers for more tariff hikes, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing.
The U.S. Trade Representative said the list is aimed at carrying out President Donald Trump’s threat to extend punitive 25% duties to all Chinese goods shipped to the United States. The release follows Beijing’s announcement of tariff hikes on $60 billion of American imports in response to U.S. higher duties imposed on Chinese imports last week in an escalation of their fight. The U.S. list includes laptop computers, industrial equipment and a range of farm goods. The USTR noted it excludes pharmaceuticals and rare earths. The flurry of penalties and retaliatory moves has deepened concerns the dispute will hobble economic growth, shaking financial markets.
