August 1, 2019 4:05 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvanians who prefer not to be identified as neither male nor female will soon have a gender-neutral option on their state-issued driver’s licenses. The state joins more than 10 others that have rolled out plans to give residents options. The Daily Item of Sunbury reports Pennsylvania Department of Transportation expects to have the new procedure in place by the middle of next year. It will let motorists use “X” as a third option to indicate gender. A department spokeswoman says the agency is able to make the change on its own and doesn’t need authorization from the Republican-controlled Legislature. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday that the department made the decision but it’s consistent with his opinions about equity and fairness.
July 31, 2019 2:55 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Harold Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Cabaret,” “Company” and “Sweeney Todd” and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards, has died. Prince was 91. Prince’s publicist Rick Miramontez says Prince died Wednesday after a brief illness in Reykjavik, Iceland. Prince was known for his fluid, cinematic director’s touch and was unpredictable and uncompromising in his choice of stage material. He often picked challenging, offbeat subjects to musicalize, such as a murderous, knifing-wielding barber who baked his victims in pies or the 19th-century opening of Japan to the West. (Photo: broadway.com)
July 31, 2019 1:38 pm
(WPXI) – Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Merril Hoge is suing the company that makes Roundup. According to the complaint, Hoge was first exposed to Monsanto’s weed killer back in 1977. He claims his exposure to the chemical led to him developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Hundreds of similar lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto. The popular weed-killer company is already paying $2 billion to a California couple for a similar case. The couple claims they used Roundup for 30 years and it caused both of them to be diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The company that makes Roundup says the EPA considers the product to be safe.
July 31, 2019 12:43 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvanians who prefer not to be identified as male or female will soon have a gender-neutral option on their state-issued driver’s licenses. The Daily Item of Sunbury reported PennDOT expects to have the new procedure in place by the middle of next year. It will let motorists use “X” as a third option to indicate gender. A PennDOT spokeswoman says the agency is able to make the change on its own and doesn’t need authorization from the Republican-controlled Legislature. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf says PennDOT made the decision but it’s consistent with his opinions about equity and fairness.
July 31, 2019 12:42 pm
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A western Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to 21 to 42 years in the death of his 4-month-old daughter. Thirty-one-year-old Joseph Gazzam of Mount Lebanon was convicted of third-degree murder in a degree-of-guilt hearing that followed his guilty plea to a general count of homicide. Allegheny County Judge Randal Todd sentenced him Wednesday to 20 to 40 years in on the murder count and a consecutive one to two years on a child endangerment count. Prosecutors said his daughter, Victoria, was repeatedly struck in November 2017. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that during the degree-of-guilt hearing the judge said the defendant knew his daughter was born premature and was fragile, so his actions were more than mere negligence, but there was little evidence that his actions were premeditated or malicious.
July 31, 2019 10:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The annual wages and benefits for U.S. workers rose in the second quarter at a slightly slower pace than the first, suggesting that the lowest unemployment levels in a half century have not triggering rapid gains in worker compensation. The Labor Department said Wednesday that pay and benefits for all U.S. workers increased 2.7% in the April-June quarter from a year earlier, down from a 2.8% rise in the first quarter compared to a year ago. The 12-month peak so far in this expansion for wages and salaries was a 2.9% gain for the period ending in December of last year. The unemployment rate fell to a half century low of 3.6% in April and May and ticked up slightly to a still historically low 3.7% in June.
July 31, 2019 9:59 am
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. – (WPXI) – A woman has turned herself in after a bizarre incident at the Walmart in West Mifflin, police said. The woman is accused of urinating on potatoes at Walmart. Surveillance pictures of the woman were released by police. Police identified her as 20-year-old Grace Brown. She’s facing multiple charges including open lewdness, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. However, she will not be held in jail and will instead receive a summons in the mail. Police did not say if they know why Brown allegedly relieved herself on the produce. A Walmart representative said a store employee saw what the woman was doing. “My first reaction is one, kind of horrified. I realize that some people have issues that might lead them to do things that might be considered unusual,” said Beth Elliot, who shops at the store. Walmart issued the following statement: “This type of obscene conduct is outrageous and we immediately disposed of the affected products and sanitized the area to ensure its cleanliness and safety for our customers. We’re working with the West Mifflin Police Department to find the responsible party and have them prosecuted.”
July 31, 2019 9:52 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration says it will set up a system allowing Americans to legally access lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement Wednesday morning. Azar, a former drug industry executive, says U.S. patients will be able to import medications safely and effectively, with oversight from the Food and Drug Administration. States, drug wholesalers and pharmacists would act as intermediaries for consumers. The administration’s move comes as the industry is facing a litany of consumer complaints over drug prices, as well as legislation from both parties in Congress to rein in costs. President Donald Trump is supporting a Senate bill to cap medication costs for Medicare recipients.
July 31, 2019 8:48 am
DETROIT (AP) – Democratic presidential candidates are closing out the latest debate in Detroit. Marianne Williamson, who won over the crowd with her comments on Flint, Michigan’s water crisis, is calling for “some radical truth telling.” Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, who clashed with two of the leading progressives on stage, says Democrats must offer “real solutions, not impossible promises” to defeat President Donald Trump. But Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Democrats should be the “big party of structural change.” And Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he is running to “transform this country and to stand with the working class of America,” which he says has been decimated for decades.
July 31, 2019 8:44 am
EAGLEVILLE, Pa. (AP) – Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has been released from jail after serving less than a year for a grand jury secrecy violation. The 53-year-old left the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in the Philadelphia suburbs about 8:20 a.m. Wednesday. Kane is a Scranton native who was the first Democrat and first woman elected to be the state’s top prosecutor. She resigned after being convicted in 2016 of perjury, obstruction and other counts for leaking grand jury material and lying about it. She began serving a 10- to 23-month term in late November, and had a couple months shaved off for good behavior. Her lawyer says Kane couldn’t wait to get home to see her two sons.
