July 9, 2019 7:38 am
HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says the effort to amend an extradition bill is dead but it wasn’t clear if the legislation was being withdrawn as protesters have demanded.
Lam noted there were “lingering doubts about the government’s sincerity or worries whether the government will restart the process in the Legislative Council.” But she said at a news conference Tuesday, “I reiterate here, there is no such plan. The bill is dead.” Hundreds of thousands of people have protested in the territory for the past month against the extradition law and have expressed their growing fear that Hong Kong was losing the freedoms guaranteed to it when the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.
July 9, 2019 6:19 am
UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. – (WPXI) – A man suspected in the stabbing death of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son late Monday night in Union Township, Lawrence County, has been arrested in Youngstown, Ohio, Pennsylvania State Police announced Tuesday morning. The arrest of 43-year-old Keith Burley comes after New Castle police were called about 10:30 p.m. Monday to a home on High Street in Union Township, where a large police presence remained Tuesday morning. He was taken into custody in Ohio by U.S. Marshals, police said. According to investigators, the dispute involved Burley and his 36-year-old girlfriend, who managed to get out of the car after she was assaulted. Burley then drove away with his girlfriend’s two children to the home, where he fatally stabbed one of them, police said. The other child, who is 7 years old, was not hurt, authorities said. Burley is out of jail on parole for a previous homicide for which he was convicted, police said. He was released in March. Charges are forthcoming in Monday night’s deadly stabbing. Pennsylvania State Police in Lawrence County have taken over the investigation. (Photo: WPXI)
July 9, 2019 4:30 am
MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP, Pa. – (WPXI) – Police said the largest fentanyl bust in Pennsylvania history took place Monday morning along the turnpike in Westmoreland County. Troopers pulled over a car driven by Juan Gomez, of New York, when he failed to move over for a turnpike vehicle with its lights on in Mount Pleasant Township. During a search of the car, police discovered a hidden compartment behind the center console. Inside it, they found 3.5 pounds of fentanyl. “This is what you’d see out of a movie. That package would go to an area where it was cut with different agents, cut over and over again to where that’s over $1 million worth of street value in a 3.5-pound package,” State Trooper Steve Limani said. Police believe the fentanyl was headed to Pittsburgh, where it would be distributed and sold on the streets of western Pennsylvania. Hector Taveras was also in the car. Both men are now in Westmoreland County Jail on $1 million bond.
July 9, 2019 4:16 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – President Donald Trump has declared an emergency for California after two major earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks. Monday’s declaration paves the way for federal aid to help those hard-hit by the quakes. The declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts in Kern and San Bernardino counties. A magnitude 6.4 quake on Thursday and a 7.1 quake on Friday damaged many homes and roads in the Mojave Desert towns of Ridgecrest and Trona.
July 9, 2019 4:14 am
EDGEFIELD, S.C. (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Donald Trump wants to add a citizenship question to next year’s Census because he wants to “make America white again.” The California Democrat says the administration is battling in federal court to insert the question because it would have a chilling effect on who responds. Census Bureau experts and critics of the question say it would discourage people in the U.S. illegally from responding, including large numbers of migrants from Central America. Pelosi says at a San Francisco news conference that if people don’t answer their census forms, the administration will win. The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the question’s inclusion. The Census is used to distribute congressional seats and government funds. Undercounting migrants would shift federal representation and dollars away from areas where immigrants live.
July 9, 2019 4:12 am
LONDON (AP) – The British government is hunting for the source of a leak of diplomatic cables from Britain’s ambassador in Washington that branded President Donald Trump’s administration “dysfunctional” and “inept.” British officials are embarrassed by the publication of Kim Darroch’s unflattering assessment – but more alarmed that sensitive confidential information has been leaked, possibly for political ends. The leak embarrasses outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May, who has sometimes clashed with Trump. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Monday that his department was seeking the culprit. He said the ability to communicate frankly was “fundamental” to diplomacy. After Darroch’s assessments were published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Trump said the ambassador “has not served the U.K. well, I can tell you that. We are not big fans of that man.”
July 9, 2019 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Twenty-three U.S. governors are pointing to climate-damaging tailpipe emissions as they back California leaders in their showdown with the Trump administration over relaxing vehicle mileage standards. The stand by leaders of states and Puerto Rico – nearly all Democrats – comes as the Trump administration moves to freeze tougher mileage standards laid out by former President Barack Obama. The mileage program was one of Obama’s key efforts against climate change. The Trump administration says consumers increasingly want bigger, gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks. It also argues that demanding ever-more fuel-efficient vehicles will drive up automobile costs and keep less-safe, older vehicles on the road longer. Many engineers challenge that claim. The governors’ pledge commits to sticking to the program of annual tightening in mileage standards that reduce climate-changing carbon emissions.
July 9, 2019 4:08 am
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) – First lady Melania Trump is visiting West Virginia to learn how a city at the center of the nation’s opioid epidemic is grappling with the crisis. Trump on Monday participated in a roundtable discussion on opioids with federal, state and local officials in Huntington, West Virginia. Federal statistics show West Virginia has the highest opioid overdose rate in the U.S. During the roughly hour-long meeting, Trump heard about how police, schools and health care centers in the area are fighting the opioid scourge. Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said it’s a grim task, and added that his city would still have to deal with the epidemic for at least the next 40 years even if all heroin sales were to abruptly stop.
July 9, 2019 4:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s colleges and universities have a year to develop online, anonymous reporting systems to receive complaints about sexual assault from students and employees. That’s a requirement of a new law signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, who with the law’s backers say is the first law of its kind in the nation. Tracey Vitchers of the It’s On Us campaign says many schools already have online, anonymous reporting systems. Still, Vitchers says victims typically report their assault more quickly when they can report anonymously online, compared to when they report it in person. She says many victims are afraid to identify themselves to investigators. But Vitchers says anonymous reports also can help colleges and universities determine more quickly if there are problems on campus that they need to address.
July 9, 2019 4:04 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – U.S. Customs authorities have seized a cargo ship where agents discovered nearly 40,000 pounds, or almost 18,000 kilograms, of cocaine when the vessel arrived in Philadelphia last month. U.S. Attorney William McSwain says Customs and Border Protection officials obtained a warrant Thursday and seized the MSC Gayane. The cargo ship is owned by Swiss firm MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. McSwain says the ship is subject to possible forfeiture to the U.S. The value of the ship and its other contents hasn’t been released. MSC is one of the world’s largest shipping lines in terms of containers. A spokesman for MSC says the company has no immediate comment. At least six crew members have been charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine aboard a ship. The federal investigation continues.
