December 7, 2019 4:45 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A senior Trump administration official says the White House will not participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s next impeachment hearing. The decision came Friday in a letter from White House counsel Pat Cipollone. The letter to Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler did not expressly state the White House’s refusal to participate. But a senior administration official says that was the point it was intended to communicate. Nadler says the House is disappointed by Trump’s decision, but it “will not prevent us from carrying out our solemn constitutional duty.”
December 7, 2019 4:43 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says he’s holding off on designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. In a tweet Friday, Trump says he was ready to issue a declaration but will delay at the request of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The Mexican president thanked him for the delay. Mexico had said such a step by the U.S. could end up violating its sovereignty. Trump had announced his plans last week in a radio interview. He cited American deaths attributed to drug trafficking and other activity by the cartels.
December 7, 2019 4:41 am
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) – The FBI says it’s not ready to release the identity of the Saudi aviation student who killed three people at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. An official also said during a news conference Friday night that it would not comment on the shooter’s possible motivations. She says there are reports circulating, but the FBI “deals only in facts.” The student opened fire in a classroom Friday morning, killing three people before a sheriff’s deputy fatally shot him. A national security expert is warning against jumping to conclusions. He says just because the shooter was a Saudi national doesn’t mean it was a terrorist attack.
December 7, 2019 4:40 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. officials say Russia’s foreign minister will visit Washington next week for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Sergey Lavrov’s trip Tuesday will be his first to the capital since a 2017 visit that came after President Donald Trump fired former FBI director James Comey. It comes as Ukraine-related impeachment proceedings – in which Russia has been a major topic – pick up steam in the House. It will also come a day after the release of a Justice Department inspector general report on the origins of the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
December 7, 2019 4:31 am
LEECHBURG, Pa. (WPXI) – Mike Diebold, the former police chief of Leechburg, is back in jail for reportedly violating his probation. Diebold was booked Friday for a 72-hour hold. Diebold’s attorney said he did not know what the specific allegations were but said he expects a hearing on Monday. Diebold was arrested last year during a child predator sting. He pleaded guilty and in January of this year was released on probation and required to register under Megan’s Law as a sex offender.
December 7, 2019 4:09 am
BETHEL PARK, Pa. – (WPXI) – The man who allegedly confessed to killing a Bethel Park woman claims he didn’t do it. John Chapman hasn’t been charged in the death of Jaime Feden, whose body was found in a Nevada desert in September, but he is charged with kidnapping her. On his way into a local courtroom on Thursday, he told our news partners at Channel 11 when he confessed to killing her, he was on medication. All charges against John Chapman have been held for court after his preliminary hearing. During that hearing, Feden’s lifelong best friend, a police officer and a detective all testified. Feden’s friend told the judge she texted Feden that her “Uncle Ralph” died and got a strange response that said she was sorry but couldn’t be around the family. It turns out Feden didn’t even have an Uncle Ralph. That is how she knew something was wrong. A detective testified that Chapman was using an app to mask his own number to communicate with Feden’s friends and family. “He’s a liar and will try to charm his way into anyone’s life,” said Kelly Murray, one of Chapman’s ex-wives.
December 7, 2019 1:00 am
City Councilman Matt Staniszewski took the next step in resolving his case of driving under the influence from August of this year. Charges of DUI and Restrictions on alcoholic beverages were held over for court. Defense Attorney Sean Logue stated the Staniszewski wants to take responsibility for his actions. “He owes that to the residents of the City of Washington. “ Logue presented Judge Ethan Ward and the District Attorney’s office documentation of Staniszewski’s in-patient and out-patient work toward sobriety since his arrest. The district attorney will study this information in the hopes of reaching a plea agreement within the next 30 days. No date has been set for the next hearing. Staniszewski is free on $25,000 bond.
December 6, 2019 3:26 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence is making another trip to the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania this year, this time in a campaign swing.Pence will appear Tuesday in Rochester, near Pittsburgh, to speak to a Veterans for Trump group before joining the president later at a rally in Hershey. Pence has already made three trips to Pennsylvania this year to visit manufacturers to make the case for Congress to pass the Trump administration’s rewrite of a trade pact with Canada and Mexico. Pennsylvania is important to Donald Trump’s re-election campaign next year, a state where he scored a surprise win in 2016.
December 6, 2019 3:19 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Health officials investigating a nationwide outbreak of vaping illnesses have listed, for the first time, the vape brands that are most commonly linked to hospitalizations. Most of the nearly 2,300 people who has suffered lung damage were vaping liquids that contain THC, the high-inducing part of marijuana. In a report released Friday, the government listed the THC containing products that patients most often said they’d been using. Dank Vapes was the brand cited by more than half of patients. But it’s not a licensed product coming from one business: It’s empty packaging that can be ordered from the internet.
December 6, 2019 9:20 am
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) – Two U.S. officials have identified the shooter at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola as a second lieutenant in the Saudi Air Force. The officials say authorities are investigating whether Friday’s attack was terrorism-related. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose information that had not yet been made public. Base commander Capt. Timothy Kinsella Jr. says the shooter was an aviation student, but would not comment on his nationality or potential links to terrorism. The shooting was the second at a U.S. Navy base this week. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says 12 people were shot, four of whom died, including the shooter.
