Area Nurse Facing More Charges

November 3, 2023 2:48 am

(WPXI) – A local nurse previously charged for allegedly killing two patients and hurting another with intentional doses of insulin is facing more accusations of mistreatment. According to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, Heather Pressdee, 41, is facing dozens of new charges for allegedly administering lethal doses of insulin to 19 additional patients at five different care facilities between 2020 and 2023. Seventeen patients died under Pressdee’s care, the attorney general said. Some were diabetic and required insulin but some were not. Officials said Pressdee would administer the insulin during overnight shifts when staffing was low. She is accused of mistreating 22 patients in total, including the three involved in the previous charges. The victims were ranged in age from 43 to 104. Pressdee is currently being held in the Butler County Prison. Anyone with information about these incidents or Heather Pressdee is asked to contact the Office of Attorney General’s tip-line at 888-538-8541.

Time To “Fall Back”

November 3, 2023 2:32 am

CHICAGO (AP) — Brunch dates and flag football games might be a little easier to get to this Sunday, when phones grace early-risers with an extra hour of rest before alarm clocks go off.  The downside: Next week across most of the U.S., the sun will set well before many folks step foot out of the office, leaving them to run errands or take walks in utter darkness. Come Nov. 5, daylight saving time is out and standard time is in, and will last until March 10th.  No need to wait till the midnight hour to prepare for the time change that clocks in early Sunday, when 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. Before bed beckons Saturday night, rewind the clock on the microwave, oven, car, or any other device not yet clever enough to make the leap on its own.  Besides scheduling stumbles and sleep habit disruptions, experts say the twice-yearly ritual can have more serious effects on human health.  Many Americans are already sleep-deprived, and a change in time messes with sleep schedules even more, says Dr. Phyllis Zee, a sleep researcher at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, although she says “falling back” and gaining an extra hour is generally easier on the body than “springing forward” and losing one.  (Photo:  AP)

Synagogue Shooter Appeals His Death Sentence

November 3, 2023 2:18 am

((WPXI) – Robert Bowers, the man convicted in the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, has appealed his death sentence and is asking for a new trial. According to federal documents, Bowers seeks a judgment of acquittal and a new trial. The appeal is nearly 40 pages long and alleges prosecutors excluded potential jurors who were Black, Hispanic and Jewish. It also claims there was insufficient evidence to prove Bowers’ hatred of the victims was “because they were religious or secular or were engaged in religious practices.” Eleven people were killed in the shooting on Oct. 27, 2018. Bowers was found guilty on June 16, 2023, and sentenced to death on Aug. 3, 2023.

Pennsylvania Announces Partnership With CNX Resources

November 3, 2023 1:54 am

Governor Josh Shapiro and Nick Deiuliis, CEO of CNX Resources Corporation met at a well pad outside of Claysville, PA to sign what they call an historic Collaboration Agreement. Shapiro states that the agreement that was reached after many months of talks will have CNX follow many of the suggestions that were made by the 43rd Statewide Grand Jury that was convened in 2020 when Shapiro served as the Attorney General. Some of those guidelines being addressed will be the disclosure of chemicals used by CNX in the fracking process and increased setbacks for drilling activities surrounding homes and schools. The agreement will have CNX gather air, water and ground pollution data and take corrective action to address any health concerns. Shapiro, for his part will empower the Department of Environmental Protection to increase their enforcement and penalize any non-compliance of fracking companies going forward. David Masur of PennEnvironment applauded the agreement as a good first step to protecting the health of Pennsylvania Residents. In a written statement after the agreement, the group stated that they still call for a complete banning of fracking activities. Locally, Lisa DePaoli, Communications Director of the Center for Coalfield Justice called the agreement a “slap in the face” to southwestern Pennsylvania residents. It likened CNX’s self-reporting of data to the fox guarding the hen house. She pointed to over 400 environmental violations racked up by CNX since the Grand Jury report.

The Final Beatles Recording Has Been Released

November 2, 2023 5:42 pm

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The final Beatles recording featuring John, Paul, George and Ringo is here. Released Thursday and titled “Now and Then,” the song comes from a batch of unreleased demos written by the late John Lennon in the ’70s. Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr used the tape to construct the songs “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love,” released in the mid-1990s. But there were technical limitations to finishing “Now and Then.” That changed in 2022, 21 years after Harrison’s death, when Starr and McCartney were able to utilize the same artificial intelligence restoration methods used during the making of “The Beatles: Get Back” to complete “Now and Then.”  (Photo:  AP)

Vaping By High School Students Is Down

November 2, 2023 5:40 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — A new government report shows fewer high school students are vaping. About 10% of high school students said they had used electronic cigarettes in the previous month. That’s down from 14% from the same survey conducted last year. Fewer high schools students also smoked cigarettes and cigars. The use of e-cigarettes among middle school students was about the same as last year. The report was released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC considers the annual survey its best measure of youth smoking trends.

Migrants In Need Of Medical Care May Not Find It

November 2, 2023 5:02 am

Migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and travel to cities around the country are running into a disjointed health care systems when they need treatment. There is no national system to track the medical care that new arrivals may have received. Doctors say that most migrants are healthy but that the arduous journey and lack of consistent medical care can turn manageable health issues into emergencies. Doctors also say they struggle to keep track of patients because of unstable or fluid housing situations.

Putin Expected To Seek Reelection In Russia

November 2, 2023 4:59 am

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Vladimir Putin is expected to seek another term in the Kremlin when Russia holds presidential elections next March. But he is 71 years old, an age when death or serious illness are hardly distant concerns. If Putin was not on the ballot for some reason, it’s not clear who might take his place. At the national level, Russia’s political system has no primary elections in which voters can choose a candidate. Political parties select their own contenders and then present them to the electorate. However the process plays out, a candidate almost certainly would come from within the current power structure, as none of the lesser parties’ candidates would have wide recognition or support.

Trump Jr. Clarifies His Testimony At Father’s Fraud Trial

November 2, 2023 4:58 am

NEW YORK (AP) — Eric Trump has testified that he was never involved with or aware of financial statements that New York state lawyers say fraudulently puffed up the ex-president’s wealth and the worth of their family business. He clarified his answer Thursday after he was shown decade-old emails from a fellow Trump executive asking him for information for the financial statement. Eric Trump testified: “We’re a major organization, a massive real estate organization — yes, I’m fairly sure I understand that we have financial statements.” But, he insisted: “I had no involvement and never worked on” Donald Trump’s financial statement. Eric Trump followed brother and co-executive Donald Trump Jr. in testifying at the family’s New York civil fraud trial. Their father is scheduled to testify Monday.

Court Fights Invoking ‘Insurrection Clause’ Against Trump

November 2, 2023 4:56 am

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Efforts to use the Constitution’s “insurrection” clause to prevent former President Donald Trump from running again for the White House are turning to Minnesota with oral arguments before the state Supreme Court. Thursday’s hearing will unfold as a similar case plays out in Colorado. Both cases argue that Trump is disqualified from running under a Civil War-era section of the 14th Amendment that bans anyone from higher office who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it. Trump’s lawyers argue that while the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol devolved into a riot, it was not an insurrection in the constitutional sense.