February 15, 2020 4:06 am
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – President Donald Trump’s $1.5 billion proposal to prop up the country’s nuclear fuel industry has emboldened at least one company to take steps toward boosting operations at dormant uranium mines around the West, including outside Grand Canyon National Park. The company, Canada-based Energy Fuels Inc., has announced a stock sale and says it will use the proceeds for its uranium mining operations in the U.S. West. Energy Fuels confirms that may include moving to start operations at a controversial new uranium mine near Grand Canyon National Park. Conservation groups and Democratic lawmakers fear mining there could contaminate water resources.
February 15, 2020 4:05 am
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas and national Democratic Party groups have sued the Republican official who oversees the state’s elections. The lawsuit filed Friday accuses Kansas Secretary Scott Schwab of violating voters’ rights by delaying implementation of a law designed to make voting on Election Day more convenient. The lawsuit was filed in state district court in Topeka. Schwab says his office will need another year to draft regulations needed for counties to take advantage of a 2019 state “vote anywhere” law. The law permits counties to allow voters to cast their ballots at any polling place within their borders on Election Day.
February 15, 2020 4:01 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The West Virginia Senate has passed a bill encouraging power companies to use solar energy in a bid to lure businesses to the state. But they’re making it clear that they don’t want the coal industry to feel left out. Lawmakers approved the bill Friday. It would create a regulatory program for utilities to use a small amount of renewable energy. Many lawmakers were quick to note that it won’t hurt the fossil fuel industry. The state commerce department pushed for the bill, saying big companies want to know that they can use renewable energy sources before relocating to a state.
February 15, 2020 4:00 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pittsburgh kindergarten student brought a gun to school Friday morning. A school district spokeswoman says a staff member at Allegheny K-5 in the city’s North Side neighborhood was helping at the building’s metal detector and found the gun in the student’s bag. Pugh says the incident was reported to the state’s child abuse reporting hotline, and families would be notified.
February 15, 2020 2:22 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A jury has returned a not guilty verdict against the remaining defendant in the slayings of five people and an unborn baby at a western Pennsylvania cookout almost four years ago. The jury returned the verdict for 33-year-old Cheron Shelton in the 2016 Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, shooting just after noon Friday. Jurors had deliberated since Tuesday morning after hearing nearly six days of testimony in the case. Shelton had been charged with first- and third-degree murder. Charges were dismissed earlier against Shelton’s co-defendant, 31-year-old Robert Thomas.
February 15, 2020 2:09 am
PennDot has announced that Clare Drive in South Strabane Township has reopened to local traffic only with one lane of access. The township says it will remain that way until guide rails are installed at a later date. The Township also anticipates resurfacing portions of the road during this summer’s road paving program. Crews had been working to secure the hillside and the roadway after a large portion of the the road collapsed late Monday night and led officials to close the road and recommend that residents in about a dozen homes evacuate.
February 14, 2020 12:53 pm
State Police are investigating the cause of a fire on January 31st in Twilight Borough that destroyed a home owned by 79-year-old Keith Barber of Charleroi. Troopers say the fire was discovered by a passing motorist on Interstate 70 who called 911. The building was vacant and firefighters had to force their way in to fight the fire. Police say they believe the fire began in the rear of the home in a small utility room where the oil furnace and washer and dryer were located. Anyone with information is asked to call the state police at 724-439-7111. Police say the damage to the home is estimated at over three-hundred-thousand-dollars.
February 14, 2020 9:26 am
MUNICH, Germany (AP) – U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper is defending his decision to divert billions of dollars from the Pentagon budget to help build President Donald Trump’s long-promised wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Pentagon chief said Friday the move announced Thursday is legal and should not have been a surprise. Esper was responding to a reporter’s question about criticism from members of Congress who called the diversion of money from its intended purpose a violation of Congress’ constitutional authority to determine how tax dollars are appropriated and spent. Esper spoke on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich. Trump repeatedly promised that Mexico would pay for the wall, but Mexico refused.
February 14, 2020 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh is drawing bipartisan criticism for saying the country won’t elect openly gay Democrat Pete Buttigieg because it’s not ready for a president who ‘loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage.” Limbaugh is a Trump ally and made the remarks Wednesday on his nationally syndicated radio show. Buttigieg has finished near the top in Democrats’ first two presidential contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. Fellow Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says Buttigieg has honor and courage. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he doesn’t think a candidate’s sexual orientation would hurt his or her chances.
February 14, 2020 4:14 am
BEIJING (AP) – China has reported another sharp rise in the number of people infected with a new virus, as the death toll neared 1,400. The National Health Commission said Friday that 121 more people had died and there were 5,090 new confirmed cases. The number of reported cases has been rising more quickly after the hardest hit province changed the way it is counting them Thursday. There are now 63,851 confirmed cases in mainland China, of which 1,380 have died. Hubei province is now including cases based on a physician’s diagnosis and before they have been confirmed by lab tests. Of the 5,090 new cases, 3,095 fell into that category.
