June 28, 2024 5:25 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is working to quell Democratic anxieties over his unsteady showing in his debate with ex-President Donald Trump. He’s not the debater he used to be, Biden conceded at a rally Friday in North Carolina. But he added that “The choice in this election is simple: Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it.” Democratic lawmakers are expressing plenty of concern but sticking by him for now. Meanwhile, Trump’s attacks on critics and his policy falsehoods served as a reminder of the daily turbulence of his Republican presidency.
June 29, 2024 1:50 am
(WPXI) – A man was found dead in the Monongahela River in Fayette County on Thursday evening. State troopers were called around 7:05 a.m. to a report of a male floating unresponsive near Point Marion. The 50-year-old man, later identified as Larry Christopher Greene of Greensboro, was pulled from the river and pronounced dead by the Fayette Deputy Coroner at 8:28 p.m. This case is under investigation by the coroner’s office and state police.
June 28, 2024 2:44 am
PITTSBURGH —(WPXI)- Five tornadoes touched down throughout the Pittsburgh region during Wednesday’s storms, the National Weather Service confirms. The NWS said an EF-1 tornado touched down in the Oakdale area of Allegheny County. It skipped along the path and uprooted or snapped trees starting from Old Steubenville Pike near the intersection of Highway 22 and Potato Garden Road. Other tree damage was noted along Seabridge Road and Kelso Road. The NWS also said a storm survey confirmed EF-2 tornado damage just south of US Highway 22 from south of Delmont to southwest of Shieldsburg and New Alexandria. Winds hit around 115 mph and numerous large trees snapped or uprooted. Another tornado touched down in Westmoreland County, near Trafford and Harrison City, the NWS said. Thursday night, it was confirmed that a fourth tornado touched down near the Blairsville area in Indiana County. The fifth tornado, confirmed Friday morning, touched down near Mount Morris, Greene County, according to the NWS. Snapped trees, minor roof damage and a carry-on trailer tossed into a ditch were among some of the damage reported to NWS.Storm survey crews from the NWS in Pittsburgh will be out for a few days to confirm whether more widespread damage was caused by tornadoes. Multiple tornado warnings were issued Wednesday night and potential tornado damage was widespread through Allegheny, Westmoreland, Greene and Indiana counties.
June 28, 2024 12:54 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland says he’s disappointed the Supreme Court has made it harder to charge Capitol riot defendants with obstruction. The charge also has been brought against former President Donald Trump. The justices ruled Friday the charge of obstructing an official proceeding must include proof defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents. Only some of the people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, fall into that category. Garland says the court’s decision “limits an important federal statute” but cases against the “vast majority” of people charged Jan. 6 won’t be affected. Trump calls the ruling “Big News!” The Republican ex-president says it’s a “massive victory” for those arrested Jan. 6.
June 27, 2024 3:55 am
ATLANTA (AP) — A raspy and sometimes halting President Joe Biden repeatedly sought to confront Donald Trump in their first debate ahead of the November election. But Biden’s uneven performance crystallized the concerns of many Americans that at, age 81, he is too old to serve as president. It sparked a fresh round of calls for the Democrat to step aside. Meanwhile, the 78-year-old Trump’s rhetoric offered Americans an unwelcome reminder of the bombast he launched daily during his tumultuous four years in office, as he struggles to win over skeptical voters. He declined to clearly state he would accept the results of the November election.
June 27, 2024 4:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case of Donald Trump has granted the former president’s request for a hearing on whether prosecutors were permitted to improperly breach attorney-client privilege when they obtained crucial evidence from one of his ex-lawyers. The order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ensures further delays in a criminal case that’s been snarled by significant postponements. They’ve led to the indefinite postponement of a trial that had been set to begin on May 20 in Fort Pierce, Florida. Cannon will revisit a different judge’s order from last year that permitted prosecutors to get testimony and other evidence from a Trump attorney that wound up being cited in Trump’s indictment.
June 28, 2024 4:04 am
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli authorities say 68 people — 19 sick and injured children and their companions — have been allowed out of the Gaza Strip and into Egypt in the first medical evacuation since May, when the territory’s sole travel crossing was shut down. The Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs says the evacuation was carried out in coordination with officials from the United States, Egypt and the international community. The children and their companions left the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing, and the patients were to travel to Egypt and further abroad for medical treatment. The nearly nine-month Israel-Hamas war has devastated Gaza’s health sector and forced most of its hospitals to shut down.
June 28, 2024 4:08 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranians have started voting in a presidential election to replace late President Ebrahim Raisi. The voting on Friday follows the May helicopter crash that killed Raisi, the foreign minister and several other officials. Analysts broadly describe the race as a three-way contest, with two hard-liners — a former nuclear negotiator and the Iranian parliament speaker. The sole reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, has aligned himself with those who had supported Tehran’s efforts to reach the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. While Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has final say on all matters of state, presidents can bend Iran toward confrontation or negotiations with the West.
June 28, 2024 5:29 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Two astronauts are spending extra time at the International Space Station as NASA and Boeing troubleshoot capsule problems that popped up on the way there. The veteran astronauts expected to stay for a week or so at the space station during a test flight of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, the first with a crew. But their return trip has been put on hold while the thruster trouble and helium leaks are analyzed. On Friday, NASA said there’s no rush to bring the astronauts home and more tests on the ground would be done first.
June 28, 2024 2:12 am
(WPXI) – A Washington County man is facing charges after he allegedly stole over $130,000 from a club’s game of chance machines. Timothy Hoffman, 63, from California, is charged with several theft by deception charges. According to the criminal complaint, officers were called to a report of a theft at the Young Men’s Club. Club officers told police that Hoffman, who was a member, was in charge of removing the money from the machines and was shorting them. Court documents said Hoffman reportedly stole $53,037 in 2021, $32,329 in 2022, $41,785 in 2023 and $5,898 for one month in 2024. There is a report that before Hoffman was dismissed from his duties, he took $188,249. Of that total, he was to give the club $55,200, meaning he profited $133,249.
