July 29, 2019 2:48 pm
The Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the Southpointe CEO Association sponsored a panel discussion featuring the Grow America’s Infrastructure Now Coalition. The group advocates the construction of underground pipelines to transport natural gas to areas of the country that would use the gas or to deliver it to facilities to ship elsewhere in the United States or overseas. GAIN Strategic Advisor Brigham McCown spoke to the safety advantages of pipeline delivery. GAIN Spokesperson Craig Stevens expressed the need to communicate effectively the needs and efficiencies of underground pipelines. Also on the panel, former Chester County state Senator Earl Baker described how the Mariner Pipeline running across Pennsylvania can provide a dual purpose solution for immediate needs for people in Johnstown and also delivery to export facilities in Marcus Hook, PA. Locally, state Senator Camera Bartolotta expressed the needs of this infrastructure investment so that possible ethane storage facilities currently under study in Greene County may come about. Information about pipeline infrastructure construction may be found at www.gainnow.org.
July 29, 2019 10:35 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has signed a bill ensuring that a victims’ compensation fund related to the Sept. 11 attacks never runs out of money. Appearing in the Rose Garden on Monday with first responders from the 2001 terrorist attacks, Trump approved a bill extending the fund through 2092, essentially making it permanent. The $7.4 billion fund had been rapidly depleting, and administrators recently cut benefit payments by up to 70%. The bill passed Congress on a bipartisan basis but only after delays by some Republicans that exposed the legislative branch to withering criticism from activists, including comedian Jon Stewart. More than 40,000 people have applied to the fund, which covers illnesses potentially related to being at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon or Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the attacks.
July 29, 2019 10:16 am
CONNOQUENESSING, Pa. (AP) – State police say a deer struck by a car in western Pennsylvania went airborne and through the windshield of an SUV, killing an Ohio man driving the SUV. The crash occurred late Sunday afternoon on Route 68 in Connoquenessing. Authorities say 53-year-old Anthony McCoppin, of Blawnox, was driving eastbound when he hit the deer. The animal went airborne, directly into the path of the westbound SUV driven by 73-year-old Michael Modjallal, 73, of Akron, Ohio. He was killed and his passenger was hurt
July 29, 2019 9:20 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A mother is defending her husband in the deaths of infant twins he left in a hot car in New York City while working an eight-hour shift. Marissa Rodriguez says her husband, Juan Rodriguez, is a good person and would never have hurt the children intentionally. She said in a statement to NBC New York that she is “hurting more than I ever imagined possible.” She said her husband “will never forgive himself for this mistake.” Juan Rodriguez is charged with two counts each of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Police said he discovered the twins, Phoenix and Luna Rodriguez, on Friday after finishing work at a Bronx hospital. He told authorities he thought he had dropped them off at a day care before starting his shift.
July 29, 2019 4:33 am
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) – Police in Medford, Oregon, say Montana authorities have found a body believed to be that of a missing Oregon child. Montana police were searching for 2-year-old Aiden Salcido, the son of Daniel Salcido and Hannah Janiak. The boy’s parents were found dead Wednesday in Kalispell, Montana, after police stopped them following a chase because they had felony burglary warrants for their arrest. Medford police say a dead 2-year-old believed to be Aiden was found in a remote area of Montana. The body was found in the same area that Janiak and Salcido were seen several days earlier. Medford police say witnesses called in tips after seeing the story on the news and were instrumental in helping to locate a remote camp believed to have been occupied by the family.
July 29, 2019 4:31 am
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – The woman who is supposed to replace Puerto Rico’s embattled governor amid a political crisis says she doesn’t want the job. Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez said Sunday in a Twitter post that she hopes Gov. Ricardo Rosselló will appoint a secretary of state before resigning Aug. 2 as planned. Former secretary of state Luis Rivera Marín would have been next in line according to the U.S. territory’s Constitution. But he is one of more than a dozen officials who have resigned since someone leaked an obscenity-laced chat in which Rosselló and close advisers insulted people including women and victims of Hurricane Maria. Vázquez, who is next in line, said she has told Rosselló about her wishes. Her comments come as Puerto Ricans also demand her ouster amid the political crisis.
July 29, 2019 4:30 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Facing growing accusations of racism for his incendiary tweets, President Donald Trump is seeking to deflect the criticism by labeling a leading black congressman as himself racist. In the latest rhetorical shot at non-white lawmakers, Trump said Sunday that his weekend comments referring to Rep. Elijah Cummings’ majority-black Baltimore district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live” were not racist. Instead, Trump argued, “if racist Elijah Cummings would focus more of his energy on helping the good people of his district, and Baltimore itself, perhaps progress could be made in fixing the mess.” His comments capped a weekend of attacks on Cummings, the son of former sharecroppers who rose to become the powerful chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
July 29, 2019 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats is leaving his job next month, ending a two-year tenure marked by President Donald Trump’s clashes with intelligence officials.
Trump tweeted Sunday that the nation’s top intelligence official would step aside on Aug. 15, and that he would nominate a Texas congressman, Republican John Ratcliffe, to the post. Coats frequently appeared out of step with Trump and disclosed to prosecutors how he was urged by the president to publicly deny any link between Russia and the Trump campaign. The frayed relationship reflected broader divisions between the president and the government’s intelligence agencies. Ratcliffe is a frequent Trump defender who questioned special counsel Robert Mueller last week during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
July 29, 2019 4:24 am
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a 10-year-old boy was found with a gunshot wound after he collapsed on the field at an eastern Pennsylvania baseball park shortly before the start of a game. Allentown police say the boy was in right field at Coca-Cola Park at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday for a promotional event for the IronPigs’ Harry Potter Night when he fell to the ground. Police say an X-ray at a hospital revealed that he had a bullet lodged in the back of the knee. He was taken to the trauma unit with an injury not considered life-threatening. Police say no gunshots were heard in the area and there’s no indication the shot came from within the park. A spokesman for the team declined comment.
July 29, 2019 4:23 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The past year has been a difficult one for U.S. charities affiliated with the Catholic Church. Even as many donors reacted in dismay to the church’s sex-abuse scandals, the charities faced new challenges due to the immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. For the biggest agencies – Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services – it’s too early to gauge the overall financial impact of recent sex-abuse developments. But several local Catholic Charities affiliates report a drop in donations due at least in part to the scandals. Those included abuse allegations that led to former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s ouster from the priesthood and a Pennsylvania grand jury report asserting that about 300 Roman Catholic priests had abused children at six of the state’s dioceses over seven decades.
