July 22, 2024 9:57 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joe Manchin says he won’t compete with Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination now that President Joe Biden has left the race. The West Virginia senator left the Democratic Party this year but had considered re-registering to vie for the nomination against Harris. But Manchin told CBS News on Monday he would not be a candidate. Additional endorsements Monday have left a dwindling list of potential rivals to Harris, who’s still the only candidate. Harris is moving swiftly to secure Democratic delegates behind her White House campaign since Biden stepped aside Sunday amid concerns from within their own party he’d be unable to defeat Republican Donald Trump.
July 21, 2024 5:06 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign has spent the last year-and-a-half viciously attacking Joe Biden, ridiculing his policies, mocking his fumbles and relishing a rematch they felt they were winning. But they have also spent weeks preparing for the possibility that Biden might exit the race, readying a bevy of attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris that they unleashed as soon as Biden made his stunning announcement Sunday that he would step aside. Biden soon after endorsed Harris, who was quickly winning support from Democrats to be the party’s nominee. The shakeup less than four months before Election Day lays out new challenges for Trump’s team, which had until recently been focused on contrasting the former president’s vigor and mental acuity with Biden’s.
July 22, 2024 5:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret Service’s director says the roof where a shooter opened fire at Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally was identified as a potential vulnerability days before the event. Director Kimberly Cheatle made the comments Monday as she was grilled by lawmakers over the July 13 assassination attempt of the Republican presidential nominee. Cheatle acknowledges the agency was told about a suspicious person “between two and five times” before the assassination attempt of the former president. Cheatle told lawmakers during a congressional hearing, “On July 13, we failed.” Cheatle was berated for hours by Republicans and Democrats, repeatedly angering lawmakers by evading questions about the investigation into the shooting.
July 22, 2024 4:57 am
BROWNSVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI) – Flames have torn through a church in Fayette County. Dispatchers say emergency crews were called to Market Street in Brownsville at around 5:35 p.m. Firefighters from Brownsville Fire Company say their crews were met with heavy fire and smoke coming from the abandoned First Baptist Church. Part of the church collapsed while crews were battling the flames. A machine will be brought in to tear down the rest of the damaged wall. One firefighter was taken to a hospital to be treated for heat exhaustion. Investigators say the church has been condemned for years. 13 departments that came from both Fayette and Washington counties responded to the fire. The Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal has been called to investigate the cause of the fire.
July 22, 2024 5:02 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Airlines, including Delta Air Lines, continued to struggle to restore operations two days after a faulty software update caused technological havoc worldwide and resulted in several carriers grounding flights. Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian said in a statement Sunday that flight cancellations continued as the airline tried to recover its systems and restore operations. He noted that the pause in Delta’s operations resulted in more than 3,500 Delta and Delta Connection scrubbed flights. Delta has been offering waivers to affected customers.
July 22, 2024 4:26 pm
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints that some Ram pickups and Jeep Wagoneer SUVs can lose power, shift into park and apply the emergency brake. The probe announced Monday covers about 150,000 vehicles made by Stellantis from 2022. All have a 5.7-liter Hemi e-Torque mild hybrid system. The agency says the system converts energy from braking to power some electrical components. The system has a 48-volt battery pack and a motor generator that sends power to the crankshaft during gear changes. The agency says it has 80 complaints from owners that the engines can shut down, often at low speeds. Sometimes they can’t be restarted. Investigators will look into how often the problem happens and the cause of the engine stalling. Stellantis says it’s cooperating in the probe.
July 22, 2024 2:59 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The last surviving original member of the Four Tops has died. Abdul “Duke” Fakir was 88. He was a charter member of the Motown group along with lead singer Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Lawrence Payton. Between 1964 and 1967, the Tops had 11 top 20 hits and two No. 1′s: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and the operatic classic “Reach Out I’ll Be There.” Other songs, often stories of romantic pain and longing, included “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” “Bernadette” and “Just Ask the Lonely.” (Photo: AP)
July 22, 2024 2:13 am
A group of preservationist activists called Friends of Peters Lake hosted a Community Walk on Sunday to draw attention to their concerns about the Peters Township nature preserve park if a 41 home development is to be built in neighboring North Strabane Township bordering Peters Lake Park. Approximately 175 people of all ages turned out at Rolling Hills Park to walk in protest to the development of The Collective At Peters Lake, proposed by Laurel Communities, that was recently given conditional use approval. Residents expressed their concerns about construction activity polluting the lake. They are also worried about chemicals such as fertilizers and other pollutants entering the lake if the development were to be completed. Several people that participated were participants in a walk 30 years ago sponsored by The Lake and Woodland Society, formed to protect the lake from possible development in Peters Township. Their efforts were instrumental in influencing Peters Township Officials to purchase the lake from the Pennsylvania American Water Company in 1996. State Representative Natalie Mihalek (R-40) was also in attendance to support preservation efforts. She stated that it is important now that people get involved by expressing their concerns to regulatory agencies such as the DEP and PennDot to closely monitor the application process to assure that any approvals take into account the preservation of the lake. She said the best way to influence all of the agencies and governmental bodies is to call, email and send letters.
July 22, 2024 3:53 pm
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Cleveland-Cliffs announced Monday it will produce electrical transformers in a $150 million investment at a West Virginia facility that closed earlier this year. The company hopes to reopen the Weirton facility in early 2026 and “address the critical shortage of distribution transformers that is stifling economic growth across the United States,” it said in a statement. As many as 600 union workers who were laid off from the Weirton tin production plant will have the chance to work at the new facility. The tin plant shut down in February and 900 workers were idled after the International Trade Commission voted against imposing tariffs on tin imports. The state of West Virginia is providing a $50 million forgivable loan as part of the company’s investment.
July 21, 2024 3:12 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for reelection following a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about his fitness for office just four months before the election. The decision comes after escalating pressure from Biden’s Democratic allies to step aside following the June 27 debate, in which the 81-year-old president trailed off, often gave nonsensical answers and failed to call out the former president’s many falsehoods. Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take on Trump, and encouraged his party to united behind her. Biden plans to serve out the remainder of his term in office, which ends at noon ET on Jan. 20, 2025. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter posted to his X account. Nearly 30 minutes later, Biden throw his support behind Harris, the party’s instant favorite for the nomination at its August convention in Chicago. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” he said in another post on X. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump.” Biden’s decision came as he has been isolating at his Delaware beach house after being diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, huddling with a shrinking circle of close confidants and family members about his political future. Biden said he would address the nation later this week to provide “detail” about his decision. A party’s presumptive presidential nominee has never stepped out of the race so close to the election. The closest parallel would be President Lyndon Johnson who, besieged by the Vietnam War, announced in March 1968 that he would not seek another term. (Photo: AP)
