July 5, 2019 4:11 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Fireworks sales in West Virginia continue to bring in less revenue than predicted. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the fireworks safety fee brought in just under $644,000 in 2018. When the 6 percent sales tax is added, total tax revenue from fireworks sales comes to just under $966,000. That’s about one-third of the $2.8 million in annual revenue the Tax Department projected when the Legislature legalized fireworks sales in 2016. The 2019 Fireworks Safety Fee Report says the 12 percent fireworks safety fee could be contributing to low sales. It notes that neighboring states of Ohio and Kentucky collect only sales taxes on fireworks purchases. The report also notes that fireworks retailers in nearby states have permanent, year round locations.
July 5, 2019 4:09 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Police say 33 people protesting the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers were cited after briefly interrupting a Fourth of July parade in Philadelphia. About 300 people had marched to the Independence Mall area Thursday within sight of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell after demonstrating outside the building housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices. Police said some members of the group briefly interrupted the Salute to America parade, and 33 were detained and cited. Police said there were no injuries or property damage. The protesters, assembled by a group called “Never Again is Now,” were demanding the closure of border detention centers and the abolition of the immigration agency. Organizer Sarah Giskin said they want “safe and ethical solutions” allowing people to stay here and remain with their families.
July 5, 2019 4:06 am
OHIO TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WPXI) – One person is dead after a motorcycle crash on I-279 south in Ohio Township on Thursday. State police said Samuel Lopez, 25, from McKeesport, was killed when his motorcycle veered off the road and went down an embankment around 5 p.m. Police are asking anyone who saw what happened to give them a call because right now, it’s not clear why Lopez lost control.
July 5, 2019 4:04 am
CANONSBURG, PA – Another successful Canonsburg 4th of July Parade rolled through town, after a protest sparked controversy over the event earlier in the week. A social justice group wanted to relay the concerns of the welfare for minorities in Washington County to the public, and initially the group was looking to shut down the parade. Trey Willis of Washington led the group #Justice4ALL RALLY and claimed that the protest would be peaceful. After meeting with officials Wednesday, both sides came to a resolution to let protesters march in the parade to ensure their voices were heard. Willis has recently staged several demonstrations in connection with the shooting of a juvenile at the Regal Crown Center Theatre at Washington Crown Center Mall in North Franklin Township. Willis says the protests are designed to bring awareness to what he calls the light treatment of those accused of violence against black citizens.. The parade also commemorated former Mayor Anthony Colaizzo who recently passed away earlier this year at the age of 88. The parade committee wore Colaizzo’s signature bow ties and Panama hats during the event.
July 5, 2019 4:02 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WPXI) – Two people have been shot in Downtown Pittsburgh, according to police. The shooting happened in the 600 block of Penn Avenue around 11:10 p.m. Police said when they arrived, they found two males who were shot. One was shot in the head and the other male was shot in the stomach. Both victims were taken to a hospital in critical condition. Pittsburgh police are still investigating. Anyone who was in the area and may have witnessed the shooting is asked to call police at 412-323-7800. This happened after tens of thousands of people packed Downtown Pittsburgh for the July 4th fireworks show.
July 4, 2019 4:13 pm
(AP) California – The United State Geological Survey initially said it measured at a 6.6 magnitude. “It almost gave me a heart attack,” said Cora Burke, a waitress at Midway Cafe in Ridgecrest, a town of 28,000 people. “It’s just a rolling feeling inside the building, inside the cafe and all of a sudden everything started falling off the shelf, glasses, the refrigerator and everything in the small refrigerator fell over.” Video posted online of a liquor store in Ridgecrest showed the aisles filled with broken wine and liquor bottles, knocked down boxes and other groceries strewn on the floor. There was at least one house on fire in Ridgecrest. Veteran seismologist Lucy Jones said the earthquake Thursday was the strongest to hit Southern California in 20 years. The previous large quake was a 7.1 on that struck in the area on October 16, 1999, she said. Jones told reporters at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, that the 6.4 quake centered in the Mojave Desert near the town of Ridgecrest was preceded by a magnitude 4.3 temblor about a half hour earlier. She says it was vigorous aftershock sequence occurring and that she wouldn’t be surprise if a magnitude 5 quake occurred during the aftershocks. “We should be expecting lots of aftershocks,” she said. People from Las Vegas to the Pacific Coast reported feeling a rolling motion and took to social media to report it. Local emergency agencies also took to social media to ask people to only call 911 for emergencies. “We are very much aware of the significant earthquake that just occurred in Southern California. Please DO NOT call 9-1-1 unless there are injuries or other dangerous conditions. Don’t call for questions please,” the LAPD said in a statement published on Twitter. Ashleigh Chandler, a helicopter rescue EMT at Fort Irwin, California, said the quake happened as she was getting ready for a July 4th party. “I was just in the living room getting everything ready, we start to feel the shaking, so then I look up and then the wine bottles start rattling and I thought, ‘They’re going to fall.’ “My stepson was in the house and my dog, so we just got everyone outside and then it ended. It was like 15, 20 seconds, maybe. It was pretty good shaking, so I’m out of breath.” “Everyone’s OK.”
July 4, 2019 4:14 am
HONG KONG (AP) – A Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker is expressing fears that the situation could worsen after police announced the arrests of more than a dozen people following protests earlier this week. Legislative Council member Claudia Mo said Thursday that a massive police round-up could trigger a negative reaction among the youthful protesters. Police have arrested 12 people who tried to disrupt a ceremony Monday marking the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return from Britain to China in 1997. Another person was arrested for involvement in the storming of the legislature building that night. A second pro-democracy lawmaker told reporters that the legislature would not be able to meet for three months because of the extensive damage by the protesters. Helena Wong says that the fire prevention and electronic voting systems were destroyed.
July 4, 2019 4:13 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California has become the first state to ban workplace and school discrimination against black people for wearing hairstyles such as braids, twists and locks.
Democratic Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles, a black woman who wears her hair naturally, says the bill hits back against stereotypes about what is professional in the work place. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed the legislation Wednesday. He says the viral video last year of a black New Jersey high school wrestler having his dreadlocks cut off in order to compete was a clear example of discrimination over hairstyles. The beauty company Dove has raised the issue about hairstyle discrimination against black women and worked with Mitchell on the bill.
New York City has issued legal guidance aimed at protecting natural hairstyles.
July 4, 2019 4:11 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A former police detective who fought for the extension of health benefits for Sept. 11 responders was hailed as a hero at his funeral. Police Commissioner James O’Neill said Wednesday Luis Alvarez was among the responders who did not hesitate to serve following the terrorist attacks. David Alvarez says before his father “became an American hero, he was mine.”
Pallbearers in police uniforms carried his flag-draped coffin out of the church. Alvarez died Saturday of colorectal cancer. He attributed his illness to the three months he spent digging in that rubble after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
July 4, 2019 4:08 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – An appeals court has upheld a freeze on Pentagon money to build a border wall with Mexico, casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s ability to make good on a signature campaign promise before the 2020 election. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with a lower court ruling that prevented the government from tapping Defense Department counterdrug money to build high-priority sections of wall in Arizona and New Mexico. Wednesday’s decision is a setback for Trump’s ambitious plans. He ended a 35-day government shutdown in February after Congress gave him far less than he wanted. He then declared a national emergency that the White House said would free billions of dollars from the Pentagon. The case may still be considered, but the administration cannot build during the legal challenge.
