February 26, 2020 9:47 am
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Joe Biden has won the endorsement of Rep. Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking black member of Congress and the kingmaker of South Carolina’s Democratic political orbit. Clyburn says he knows Biden’s “character, his heart, and his record.” The House majority whip’s backing could provide a much-needed boost for the Democratic presidential candidate before South Carolina’s primary. Before Clyburn’s Wednesday announcement, Biden lauded the South Carolinian at a ministers’ breakfast hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton. It had long been expected the former vice president would win Clyburn’s support. The men were in Congress together for more than a decade. Biden attended two days of funeral and homegoing services for Clyburn’s wife last year.
February 26, 2020 7:36 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Million-selling novelist Clive Cussler has died. Alexis Welby, spokeswoman for Cussler’s publisher, says he died Monday at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 88. The cause was not disclosed. The Illinois-born Cussler was an adventure writer and real-life thrill-seeker who wove personal details and spectacular fantasies into his page-turning novels about underwater explorer Dirk Pitt. Cussler’s plots ranged from the bold to the incredible. Cussler dispatched Pitt and pal Al Giordino on worldwide missions highlighted by shipwrecks, treachery, espionage and beautiful women, in popular works including “Cyclops,” “Night Probe!” and his commercial breakthrough, “Raise the Titanic!”
February 26, 2020 4:24 am
BOSTON (AP) – Officials say a utility company will pay $53 million for breaking pipeline safety laws and causing a series of natural gas explosions that killed one person and damaged dozens of homes. Authorities said Wednesday that Columbia Gas of Massachusetts has agreed to plead guilty to violating the Pipeline Safety Act and will pay the largest criminal fine ever imposed under the law. The explosions rocked three communities in the Merrimack Valley, north of Boston, in September 2018. The company said in an emailed statement that it takes full responsibility for the disaster. (Photo: CNN)
February 26, 2020 4:18 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Virus cases in South Korea jumped again and the first U.S. military soldier tested positive. His infection and many others are connected to a southeastern city where the government has been mobilizing public health tools to contain the virus. South Korea said 134 of the 169 new cases were confirmed in Daegu. The U.S. soldier is quarantined at his off-base home and several base amenities are closed. South Korea’s total was expected to rise as health workers test members of a Daegu church that has an infection cluster. China reported another 406 cases and 52 deaths, all in hard-hit Hubei province.
February 26, 2020 4:16 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The owner of four Pittsburgh area grocery stores has admitted pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars by claiming customers used coupons he had employees take out of unsold newspapers. Michael Mihelic pleaded guilty Monday to theft by deception and was sentenced to four years of probation. Authorities said the 60-year-old Franklin Park man made roughly $300,000 through the scam but has already paid $275,895 in restitution. Mihelic directed staff at his four Shop ‘n Save supermarkets to cut out the coupons, which were then submitted for credit. A former employee told investigators the practice began under Mihelic’s late father and continued after Mihelic took over.
February 26, 2020 3:19 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – The Ohio Senate has approved a resolution calling on the U.S. Congress to put the country permanently on daylight saving time. Resolution sponsor Sen. Kristina Roegner is a Republican from Hudson in northeastern Ohio. She calls the twice-yearly switch between standard and daylight saving time “government-induced biannual jetlag.” The resolution is one of several bills and resolutions approved by state legislatures calling on Congress to pass its “Sunshine Protection Act of 2019.” U.S. lawmakers have introduced bills to make the change, and even President Donald Trump has tweeted that he’s in favor of the idea.
February 26, 2020 2:51 am
(WPXI) — A private high school in the North Hills will shut down at the end of the current school year, according to a press release. School officials with Vincentian Academy said they do “not have the financial resources” to continue offering classes. The Sisters of the Church of Nazareth, which runs the school, have been dealing with issues including declining enrollment and losing money. Vincentian Academy was founded as a school for young women “aspiring to the religious life” 87 years ago. The first students enrolled in 1939, the school became co-ed in 1975 and the facility entered into a partnership with Duquesne University in 1995. Principal/Head of School, Mrs. Rita Canton, said, “I was heartbroken to receive the news that our school is closing. Vincentian Academy is a close-knit family. You have students, parents, teachers who care about each other.” She noted the teachers’ commitment to their students. “We will now work to finish the academic year strong and assist our students and their parents with enrollment into a new school.”
February 26, 2020 2:38 am
(WPXI) – A Uniontown funeral home director who authorities said stole a half million dollars’ worth of prepaid funeral policy payments from the elderly was sentenced to prison on Tuesday.
Stephen Kezmarsky has been sentenced to four to eight years in prison, 20 years of probation and $555,000 in restitution. Kezmarsky pleaded guilty in October 2019 and owes more than $500,000 to clients for prepaid funeral expenses. According to the Office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Kezmarsky accepted the payments from 2005 until 2017 but never submitted the policies to the insurance company. “Anyone who defrauds Pennsylvanians, especially vulnerable people planning for the end of their lives, will be held to account for their crimes,” Shapiro said. “For 12 years, Kezmarsky deceived dozens of Pennsylvanians who believed they were making final plans, and now he will spend a long time behind bars and repay what he stole.”
February 25, 2020 5:24 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The National Transportation Safety Board says the driver of a Tesla SUV who died in a Silicon Valley crash two years ago was playing a video game on his smartphone while his vehicle was being controlled by a partially automated driving system. Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at the start of a hearing Tuesday that systems like Tesla’s Autopilot cannot drive themselves. Yet he says drivers continue to use them without paying attention. The board will determine a cause of the crash at the hearing and make recommendations to prevent it from happening again.
February 25, 2020 8:49 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – The man investigators said kidnapped and killed a Bethel Park woman in the Nevada desert is now facing federal charges. 40 year old John Chapman is now charged with kidnapping resulting in death, among other charges. In court documents, FBI agents said neighbors told them they had not seen Jaime Feden or her special access van in months. But they did see Chapman coming and going from her apartment. Feden was last seen by her family and friends Sept. 15 before she took a trip to Las Vegas with Chapman. He lured her into the desert outside Las Vegas under the pretext of conducting a photoshoot, investigators said. According to court documents, once Chapman got to the desert, he bound her hands and feet with zip ties and tied her to a signpost. He allegedly put duct tape on her mouth and nose until she couldn’t breathe and watched her as she died from asphyxiation. Investigators said that once he came back to Bethel Park. Chapman stayed at Feden’s house, passing it off as his own. In addition to the federal charges, local law enforcement in Nevada said they were filing murder charges against Chapman there.
