December 6, 2019 4:52 am
The news was good coming out of Washington City Council as they passed a balanced budget for 2020. Councilman Joe Manning and his staff worked hard to hold the line on taxes. The budget is a $14.7 million dollar offering and according to Manning citizens will see even more infrastructure improvements in the new year. Council also worked on the funding for the city’s Community Block Development Grant. Highlights from that are funds for a new roof at the Stone Pavilion and $260,000 toward the purchase of a new fire truck. Council will also take on a new look next year with Councilwoman Monda Williams stepping down and business man Joe Pintola stepping in to take her place.
December 6, 2019 4:19 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A veteran television producer and entertainment executive whose credits included “Starsky and Hutch” and current drama series “Blue Bloods” has died. According to a family statement, Leonard Goldberg died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The statement says the 85-year-old died from injuries suffered in a fall. During his tenure as president of Twentieth Century Fox, the studio produced hit films including “Broadcast News,” “Big,” “Die Hard” and “Wall Street.” Starting in the 1970s, he joined with prolific TV producer Aaron Spelling to make TV series including “Charlie’s Angels,” “Hart to Hart” and “Fantasy Island.”
December 6, 2019 4:18 am
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) – Three soldiers with the Minnesota National Guard were killed when the Black Hawk helicopter they were riding in crashed. Gov. Tim Walz confirmed the deaths of the soldiers Thursday, but their names were not released pending notification of family. The crash is being investigated and preliminary information on the cause of the crash is not being released. The Guard lost contact with the helicopter shortly after it took off on a maintenance test flight from St. Cloud. Minnesota National Guard Master Sgt. Blair Heusdens says the helicopter called mayday about nine minutes after takeoff.
December 6, 2019 4:15 am
MIAMI (AP) – Court and prison records show the two robbery suspects who hijacked a UPS driver on a wild police chase across South Florida had criminal histories. Cousins Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill died along with UPS driver Frank Ordonez (pictured) and an unidentified bystander during Thursday’s gunbattle with police. Officials say Alexander and Hill robbed a jewelry store, seized the UPS truck and fired at pursuing officers before getting in at a stoplight. Relatives of the victims are questioning why officers had to unleash a torrent of gunfire. Policing experts say they had to contain the criminals before others were taken hostage.
December 6, 2019 4:14 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – In a long anticipated safety report, ride-sharing giant Uber says more than 3,000 sexual assaults were reported during its U.S. rides in 2018. That figure includes 235 rapes. The company hailed the report released Thursday as the first of its kind. The company said it provides a look into the traffic deaths, murders and reported sexual assaults that took place during more than one billion annual rides arranged in the U.S. using Uber’s service. Uber and its ride-hailing competitor Lyft have long faced criticism for not doing enough to protect the safety of their riders and drivers.
December 6, 2019 4:13 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.
December 6, 2019 4:10 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf is commuting the life sentences of eight more people in prison, bringing the total to 19 since he took office in 2015. áWolf’s office said Thursday all eight have used their time in prison to rehabilitate themselves, remained largely free of any incident and shown remorse for their actions and victims. Wolf’s office says those receiving a commutation for a life sentence must go to a halfway house for a year, after which they are under parole supervision for the rest of their lives.
December 6, 2019 4:03 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – Several people are facing charges after more than $22,000 was stolen from a local school system using fraudulent checks. According to a police criminal complaint, 28 checks were written and cashed by 11 different people. Each check was counterfeit, appearing to be drawn on Propel Schools accounts through Dollar Bank. None of the checks were legitimate Propel Schools checks and were never made out by school personnel, police said. The total amount of money cashed using the school system’s actual bank account was more than $22,000. So far, five people have been charged in connection with the fake checks: Sasha Rucker, Nia Haley, Marquis Fussell, Alaysha Johnson and Terry Perry. Six other people were listed in the criminal complaint as having received and cashed some of the checks, but no charges have been filed against them yet.
December 6, 2019 2:26 am
A man who was the subject of a State Police search in Eighty-Four has been found dead. The Washington County Coroner’s Office has confirmed the identity of the 50- year-old man as Scott Manko of Eighty-Four. State Troopers began searching for him after he went to feed animals on Ross Farm along Route 519 and could not be located. He had last been contacted around 9 o’clock Wednesday night. Authorities say Manko was found dead on his property around three-thirty Thursday morning. He had been pinned beneath an ATV.
December 5, 2019 8:45 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House is moving forward to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Pelosi delivered the historic announcement Thursday from the speaker’s offices at the Capitol. Trump tweeted that if Democrats are going to impeach him, he wants them to “do it now, fast”‘ so he can get on to Senate trial On Wednesday, Democrats are charging toward a Christmastime vote on removing the 45th president, a situation Pelosi hoped to avoid. Democrats are probing Trump’s attempts to have Ukraine investigate Democratic rivals are grounds for impeachment.
