September 25, 2019 10:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A whistleblower complaint that has triggered a renewed impeachment effort in the House will be available to some members and staff of congressional intelligence committees Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the matter. The House and Senate intelligence committees have been working to pry loose the complaint, which was withheld from Congress and started a firestorm over President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. Lawmakers were hoping to review the complaint before hearings on Thursday with Acting Director of national Intelligence Joseph Maguire, and they have been negotiating with his agency to see it. The people were granted anonymity to discuss confidential deliberations. The complaint is at least in part related to a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
September 25, 2019 9:24 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The U.S. tobacco giants Philip Morris and Altria are calling off merger talks and Juul’s CEO is stepping down with safety concerns over e-cigarettes intensifying. The makers of Marlboro cigarettes said last month that they were in discussions to become a single company, more than a decade after splitting into two as lawsuits mounted. Altria has exclusively sold Marlboro cigarettes and other tobacco brands in the U.S., while Philip Morris has handled international sales. Philip Morris International Inc. CEO Andre Calantzopoulos said Wednesday that the companies will instead focus on launching IQOS in the U.S. IQOS is a heat-not-burn cigarette alternative made by Philip Morris. Altria Group Inc. also announced that K.C. Crosthwaite will become JUUL’s new CEO, replacing Kevin Burns.
September 25, 2019 9:22 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A grim new international science assessment concludes that climate change is making the world’s oceans warm, rise, lose oxygen and get more acidic at an ever-faster pace, while melting even more ice and snow. But that’s nothing compared to what Wednesday’s special U.N.-affiliated oceans and ice report says is coming if global warming doesn’t slow down. It projects three feet of rising seas by the end of the century, much fewer fish, weakening ocean currents, even less snow and ice and nastier hurricanes. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says warming of oceans and ice will harm people, plants, animals, food and the world economy. Report co-author Hans-Otto Portner says with sea level rise and all these changes, Earth is looking at a future completely different than it is now.
September 25, 2019 4:21 am
BOSTON (AP) – Additional charges are being added for the latest parent accused in the sweeping college admissions bribery scheme. Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that Xiaoning Sui faces new charges of international money laundering and additional fraud charges. She was charged Sept. 17 with a single count of conspiracy and fraud. Sui is accused of paying $400,000 to get her son into the University of California, Los Angeles, as a fake soccer recruit. New charging documents say the payments came from Canada, where Sui lives. Authorities say Sui was arrested in Spain last week and is being extradited to Boston. It was unclear if she has an attorney. Her son was admitted to UCLA in 2018 with a 25% scholarship. UCLA says it took “immediate corrective action” when it learned of the case.
September 25, 2019 4:18 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Iran’s president has warned world leaders that security in the energy-rich locus of the Persian Gulf can quickly collapse with a “single blunder.” In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, President Hassan Rouhani accused the U.S. of “merciless economic terrorism” against his country. He said Iran would not negotiate on the issue of its nuclear program as long as U.S. sanctions remain in place.
September 25, 2019 4:12 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Bill Cosby has been hit with a $2.75 million legal bill as he marks the end of his first year in prison. The 82-year-old Cosby had challenged a California arbitration award that upheld nearly $7 million of a $9 million bill submitted by just one firm in the run-up to his first sexual assault trial in Pennsylvania in 2017. A judge sided Friday with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, of Los Angeles, rejecting Cosby’s claim that the bill was “egregious.” Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt isn’t commenting on the fee dispute. But he says the actor is holding up well in a suburban Philadelphia prison, mentoring other inmates as he marks a year in prison Wednesday. Cosby is serving three to 10 years for drugging and molesting a woman in 2004. The Pennsylvania Superior Court is weighing his appeal of the 2018 conviction.
September 25, 2019 4:08 am
A nearly 3 year long PennDot construction project encompassing East Wylie Avenue, Allison Avenue and Jefferson Avenue and State routes 18 and 844 is slated to begin in April of 2020. Drainage, road widening and reconstruction plus the replacement of 3 traffic signals and the addition of two more will certainly have city residents looking for alternative routes. No cost for the project has been identified but PennDot Transportation Planning Manager Angela Saunders states that 80% of the funding will come from the federal government and the other 20% will be paid from multimodal funds from the state. The project is set to go out for bid and once construction begins, PennDot expects the project to last two and a half construction seasons. Barring any delays, construction will be complete in the spring of 2022.
September 25, 2019 4:05 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors took the final steps toward building a new fire station in the Eighty Four area of the Township. At their legislative meeting Supervisors awarded nearly $4 million dollars in bids to begin the construction of Station # 2. Robert Balogh, Supervisor Chairman indicated that insurance ratings played a large role in deciding to build the station. Balogh pointed out that once this station is built, residents all over the township could see a reduction in their fire insurance. Mark Grimm, Fire Chief is pleased that he will have a station that will be able to fit the equipment needed to serve the public in that area but will be able to serve the police as well. Staffing for the new station is set so no new hires will be needed. Grimm is appreciative of the relationship the fire department has with the township. Township officials expect the new station to be ready in the spring of 2020
September 24, 2019 4:50 pm
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) – Vehicles exceeding the weight limit of a West Virginia suspension bridge have led officials to close it indefinitely. News outlets report the Wheeling Suspension Bridge closed Tuesday morning and won’t be open to vehicular traffic for at least a year. Pedestrians can still walk or bike across. A charter bus weighing well over the weight limit caused the bridge to close for more than a month earlier this year. The bridge passed inspections and officials added barriers and signs. The Friends of Wheeling organization says those changes haven’t stopped violators. Members recently observed over 100 vehicles weighing more than the 2-ton (1.8-metric ton) weight limit drive over the bridge. West Virginia Department of Transportation Acting District Engineer Joe Juszczak says the bridge will be closed until permanent repairs are made.
September 24, 2019 3:20 pm
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Federal prosecutors say they’ve charged multiple medical professionals for overprescribing millions of opioids across Appalachia. Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski on Tuesday announced charges against 13 people in West Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee. Eleven of those charged are doctors. Benczkowski says the charges involve more than 17 million illegally prescribed opioid pills. Authorities used data that detailed prescriptions, insurance information and other factors to determine the overprescribing. In one example, officials said a doctor in a West Virginia city of 10,000 people prescribed nearly 2 million pills. The action comes after charges were filed against 60 people in April for the illegal distribution of opioids. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 115 Americans die every day from opioid-related overdoses.
