December 9, 2019 4:25 am
BOSTON (AP) – A former college baseball player whose battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease helped inspire the ice bucket challenge has died. Pete Frates was 34. Frates’ family says he died Monday. The ice bucket challenge has raised more than $200 million worldwide for research into ALS, which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Participants would challenge others to share videos of themselves dumping a bucket of icy water over their own heads to raise awareness. The fundraiser began in 2014 when pro golfer Chris Kennedy challenged his wife’s cousin Jeanette Senerchia, whose husband has ALS. (Photo: CNN)
December 9, 2019 4:24 am
WHAKATANE, New Zealand (AP) – A New Zealand volcanic island has erupted in a tower of ash and steam while dozens of tourists were exploring the moon-like surface, killing five people and leaving many more missing. The site was still too dangerous hours later for police and rescuers to search for the missing. Both New Zealand and overseas tourists were among the injured. Most of the 18 who survived were injured and some had suffered severe burns. Already people are questioning why tourists were still able to visit the island after scientists recently noted an uptick in volcanic activity.
December 9, 2019 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Top House lawyers are sparring heatedly with lawmakers and each other over the impeachment case against President Donald Trump in an acrimonious hearing as Democrats prepare formal charges. Democrats insisted that Trump’s push to have Ukraine investigate rival Joe Biden while at the same time withholding U.S. military aid ran counter to U.S. policy and benefited Russia as well as himself. But in one testy exchange Monday, Republican attorney Stephen Castor dismissed the transcript of Trump’s crucial call with Ukraine as “eight ambiguous lines” that did not amount to the president seeking a personal political favor.dismissed the transcript of Trump’s crucial call with Ukraine as “eight ambiguous lines” that did not amount to the president seeking a personal political favor.
December 9, 2019 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – FBI Director Chris Wray says the problems found by the Justice Department watchdog examining the origins of the Russia probe are “unacceptable.” He told The Associated Press on Monday that they are “unrepresentative of who we are as an institution.” His comments came after the watchdog found that the FBI was justified in opening its investigation and did not act with political bias, but there were “serious performance failures” up the bureau’s chain of command. The findings undercut President Donald Trump’s claim that he was the target of a “witch hunt.”
December 9, 2019 4:21 am
ALSACE TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) – Officials say a Pennsylvania man has fatally shot himself with a crossbow while he was hunting on his property. The Berks County coroner’s office announced that 75-year-old James Jacobs died on Wednesday. The Reading Eagle reportsáJacobs and his son were deer hunting when troopers said he lost his footing, fell and discharged a crossbow into his left side and abdomen. The death was ruled an accident caused by sharp force trauma. It was the second hunting fatality this week in the Berks: A 69-year-old man was killed Tuesday when he fell about 25 feet from a tree stand.
December 9, 2019 4:20 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Police in Ohio say a car that ran into a building, leaving three people dead and another person injured, apparently was traveling at a high rate of speed when it crashed. Columbus police say áthe car failed to make a curve on an exit ramp of Interstate 71, crashing into an NTB Tire & Service Center around 3 a.m. Sunday. Police say 18-year-old Otoniel Alcauter, 19 year-old Luis Guzman and an unidentified male who were in the car died at the scene. áA 17-year-old male who was in the vehicle was hospitalized in critical condition. No one was in the building.
December 9, 2019 4:18 am
MONONGAHELA, Pa. – (WPXI)- Two people are in custody and one was rushed to the hospital after police responded to an incident in Monongahela. There was a large police presence on Finley Street after a man and a woman were taken away in police cars in the Washington County neighborhood Saturday. Police said this was a follow-up investigation to an aggravated assault in that area, but the details on what happened are still unclear. Our news partners at Channel 11 were there when two people were loaded into police cars. We also saw officers take a pink baseball bat away from a home on Finley Street, but they did not specify what its significance is. SWAT and K-9 units were initially called to assist, but police said they were not needed.
December 8, 2019 8:27 am
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says his country will depend less on oil revenue next year, in a new budget that is designed to resist crippling U.S. sanctions. Rouhani said on Sunday at Parliament’s opening session that the U.S. and Israel will remain “hopeless” despite their goal of weakening Iran.áHe said Iran’s budget in the next fiscal year will also benefit from a $5 billion loan from Russia that’s being finalized. The U.S. re-imposed sanctions that block Iran from selling its crude oil abroad, following President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
December 8, 2019 8:26 am
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) – A US official says the Saudi student who fatally shot three sailors at Naval Air Station Pensacola had hosted a dinner party earlier in the week to watch videos of mass shootings. The official says a second Saudi student who attended the party recorded video outside the classroom building where the shooting was happening. The official also says 10 Saudi students are being held at the base and that several others are unaccounted for. The official spoke on condition of anonymity after being briefed by federal investigators. The FBI says the dead shooter was a 21-year-old member of the Royal Saudi Air Force.
December 8, 2019 8:25 am
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – SpaceX has made an early holiday delivery to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule arrived at the orbiting outpost Sunday, delivering “mighty mice,” pest-killing worms and a smart, empathetic robot. Station commander Luca Parmitano used a large robot arm to capture the Dragon on Sunday. Launched Thursday from Florida, the capsule holds 3 tons of supplies, including extra brawny mice dubbed “mighty mice” for a muscle experiment. There are also 120,000 roundworms, or nematodes of a beneficial variety that are part of an agricultural experiment. Plus there is a large, round robot head with artificial intelligence and Christmas presents.
