July 1, 2019 7:29 am
FAIRMONT, W.Va. (AP) – NASA is holding a formal ceremony to rename a West Virginia facility after a mathematician whose calculations helped astronauts return to Earth. The ceremony is set for Tuesday in Fairmont for the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility. Congress passed a bill allowing the name change and President Donald Trump signed it into law on Dec. 11. In June, George Mason University named a building on its Manassas, Virginia, campus in Johnson’s honor. Johnson, who is now 100, worked at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton as a human “computer.” She was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson in the film “Hidden Figures,” which documented the contributions of her and two other African-American women while overcoming racism and sexism. Last year, Johnson was honored by alma mater West Virginia State University with a bronze statue and scholarship dedication.
July 1, 2019 7:26 am
HONG KONG (AP) – Police in Hong Kong have used tear gas to clear a crowd of protesters gathered outside the city’s legislature after several hundred broke into the building and spray-painted pro-democracy slogans on the walls of the main chamber. In a slow and deliberate operation, large numbers of officers began moving in after taking positions outside the legislature around midnight. Protesters had swarmed into the building about 9 p.m. Monday after breaking windows and prying open metal security curtains. Some who had gathered outside quickly scattered as police lobbed tear gas canisters and advanced behind tall clear shields. Inside the legislature building, police wearing helmets entered the main chamber with shields but found only media inside.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of other protesters marched through the city on Monday to demand expanded democracy on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.
July 1, 2019 6:56 am
LA HACHADURA, El Salvador (AP) – The bodies of the father and daughter who drowned together while trying to cross the Rio Grande River to the U.S. have returned to El Salvador.
The remains of Oscar Alberto Martínez and his young daughter Valeria entered the Central American country by land on Sunday. They are expected to be buried in a private ceremony in the capital Monday. Photographs of Valeria, face down with her little arm wrapped around her father’s neck, broke hearts around the world and underscored the dangers that migrants undertake in trying to reach the U.S. The father and daughter were swept up in a current between Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas.
July 1, 2019 6:20 am
UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) – State police reportedly have a juvenile in custody – who they believe is responsible for firing a gun during a fireworks show at a mall in Fayette County over the weekend. Police were called to the Uniontown Mall just before 10 p.m. Sunday, but the person who fired the shot was gone. In video obtained by WPXI-TV, someone can be heard screaming “Get your kids in the car. He’s shooting.” No one was injured. State Police say they were dispatched to the Mall for a report of a single gunshot. (Photo: WPXI)
July 1, 2019 6:17 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) – No matter the outcome, the murder trial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher accused of killing a wounded Islamic State captive and shooting civilians in Iraq in 2017 has provided a rare view into the insular Navy SEAL community and likely will have a long-term impact on one of the military’s most secretive and revered forces. Closing arguments are expected on Monday. Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and other charges. Nearly a dozen Alpha platoon members of SEAL Team 7 testified during the court-martial at Naval Base San Diego. Many were granted immunity, including a Navy SEAL who stunned the court when he testified that he killed the militant after Gallagher stabbed him by plugging his breathing tube.
July 1, 2019 5:59 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Democratic lawmakers in the United States, including some running for the White House, say there’s little in President Donald Trump’s diplomatic track to convince them that his meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un may lead to a nuclear breakthrough. Trump is coming under criticism for what Democrats see as his affinity for authoritarian leaders such as Kim and they are skeptical that the Trump-Kim sit-down at the Demilitarized Zone may amount to anything more than a photo opportunity. Sen. Chuck Schumer says “dictators seem to get elevated and people who believe in democracy not.” Former Obama Housing Secretary Julian Castro, a presidential candidate, wonders why Trump appears keen to raise Kim’s profile when, according to Castro, Kim hasn’t abided by past commitments about the North’s weapons programs. And Sen. Bernie Sanders, also a 2020 candidate, says he’s not opposed to sitting down with America’s adversaries, but he tells ABC’s “This Week” that “we need real diplomacy” and he hasn’t seen that under Trump
July 1, 2019 5:46 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf has signed legislation barring Pennsylvania’s municipalities from taxing or banning the sale or distribution of plastic bags and other containers, wrappings and bags. The measure Wolf signed Friday is a 69-page budget-related bill that lawmakers unveiled two days ago. A three-paragraph provision prohibits municipal bans or taxes on plastic bags or packaging for one year while legislative agencies study the economic and environmental impact. Senate Republican Leader Jake Corman of Centre County says he wanted the provision because his district includes a plastics manufacturer and a township considering a fee on plastic bags. Philadelphia city officials are also considering a ban on plastic bags and a fee on reusable bags that many stores provide. Wolf in 2017 vetoed legislation preventing counties and municipalities from taxing or banning plastic bags.
July 1, 2019 5:38 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is confirming that he’ll run for Congress and seek next year’s Democratic nomination for the Harrisburg-area 10th District held by four-term Republican Rep. Scott Perry. DePasquale made the announcement on social media Sunday. The Associated Press reported last week DePasquale had told Democratic Party figures that he planned to run. Perry, an Iraq war veteran, owns the most conservative voting record among Pennsylvania’s 18-member U.S. House delegation, according to American Conservative Union ratings. DePasquale’s second four-year term as the state’s elected fiscal watchdog runs through 2020. The 10th District has 23,000 more registered Republican voters than Democrats. Perry won re-election in November by almost 3 percentage points in a tight race against first-time candidate George Scott. Democrat Tom Brier also has announced his candidacy.
July 1, 2019 5:35 am
DALLAS (AP) – Federal officials say two crew members and eight passengers were killed when a small, twin-engine plane crashed into a hangar during takeoff at a Dallas-area airport. National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said the plane crashed at 9:11 a.m. Sunday at the Addison Municipal Airport. He says, “We don’t know a lot about the people on board at this point.” Landsberg says the plane was headed to St. Petersburg, Florida. He also said the plane had recently changed hands so it’s not clear what the proper tail number currently was.
Jennifer Rodi, the NTSB’s lead investigator on the accident, said it had previously been owned by a private charter company in Chicago.
June 30, 2019 11:11 pm
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Prosecutors say a Milwaukee father is accused of fatally punching his 5-year-old son because the boy ate some of the cheesecake he had gotten for Father’s Day. Travis Stackhouse is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the child’s death last Saturday. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the boy died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen. A complaint says the 29-year-old father initially told police his son was injured after falling down the stairs. Paramedics didn’t think the boy’s injuries were consistent with a fall. Authorities say Stackhouse became angry his children were eating his cheesecake, went to a bar and returned about 2 a.m., at which time the mother of the child called 911. Court records don’t list an attorney who could speak on the defendant’s behalf.
