March 31, 2024 7:48 am
BALTIMORE (AP) — Engineers in Maryland are working on the daunting task of removing the remains of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge from the Patapsco River. Crews on Saturday started to cut the first section of twisted steel so it can be loaded onto a barge. Seven floating cranes, 10 tugboats and nine barges have been tapped to help. Clearing the river will allow officials to reopen the economically vital Port of Baltimore. A massive cargo ship felled the span Tuesday after smashing into a pillar. The bodies of two of six workers missing after the collapse were recovered earlier this week. But four more have yet to be located and are presumed dead.
March 31, 2024 7:00 am
(AP) – Thousands of old bridges across the U.S. are awaiting replacement or repairs after inspectors found them in poor condition. About 167 million vehicles travel daily over about 42,000 bridges that are categorized as poor. An Associated Press analysis determined that four-fifths of those have problems with the substructures that hold them up or the superstructures that support their load. And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago. A recent federal infrastructure law is providing $40 billion for bridges over five years. But even that is far short of what’s needed to make all the repairs.
March 31, 2024 7:56 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Powerball jackpot climbed to an estimated $975 million after no one matched the six numbers drawn, continuing a nearly three-month stretch without a big winner. The numbers drawn Saturday night were: 12, 13, 33, 50, 52 and the red Powerball 23. No one has won Powerball’s top prize since New Year’s Day, amounting to 38 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner. The $975 million prize is for a sole winner who chooses an annuity paid over 30 years. A winner opting for cash would be paid $471.7 million. As the prizes grow, the drawings attract more ticket sales and the jackpots subsequently become harder to hit. The game’s long odds for Saturday’s drawing were 1 in 292.2 million. (Photo: AP)
March 31, 2024 7:00 am
A firefighter was injured while battling a brush fire in Fayette County on Friday. Fayette County dispatchers say emergency crews were called to the area of 3300 National Pike Wharton Township at around 1:39 p.m. on Friday. The firefighter had to be taken to a hospital to be treated for their injuries, a supervisor said. Their condition is also unknown at this time. Members of the Addison Volunteer Fire Company say they were called to assist with the fire but said the injured firefighter was not from their department.
March 30, 2024 5:03 am
SOUTH PARK TOWNSHIP, Pa. —(WPXI) – A person involved in an ATV crash on a hillside was rescued in South Park Township on Friday. Broughton Volunteer Fire Department said firefighters were called to the area of Green Mans Tunnel in the afternoon after Allegheny County dispatchers received a call about a person who had an ATV in an unstable position. The SHACOG Technical Rescue Team was also sent to the scene. When firefighters arrived they found an injured patient on a hillside. Rescuers used a UTV to get to the person. Paramedics began treating them and rescue teams used a rope to lower them off of the hillside. A medical helicopter was called to the scene but was later dismissed after the patient was ruled stable. The Library Volunteer Fire Company, South Park Township Police Department, Baldwin Emergency Medical Service and Peters Township EMS also helped in the rescue.
March 30, 2024 4:55 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Pennsylvania judge has overturned the convictions of three men imprisoned for decades in the 1997 slaying of a 70-year-old woman even though their DNA never matched what was found at the scene. They will remain in prison while a prosecutor decides whether to appeal. The Delaware County judge on Thursday ordered new trials for Derrick Chappell, who was 15 at the time of his arrest, and cousins Morton Johnson and Sam Grasty. The legal director of the nonprofit group Centurion says the three should have never been charged. A bail hearing is set for May.
March 30, 2024 5:06 am
BALTIMORE (AP) — Engineers in Maryland are focused on the daunting task of removing what had been the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the Patapsco River. A massive cargo ship felled the span Tuesday after striking one of its main supports. Salvage crews will want to break the broken bridge parts into even smaller pieces to lift them out of the water. The tools needed for that are coming into place. They include seven floating cranes, 10 tugboats and nine barges. Clearing the river will allow officials to reopen the economically vital Port of Baltimore.
March 30, 2024 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is raising gobs of cash. And it has an election-year strategy that aims to spend more — and spend faster. His campaign is making significant early investments both on the ground and on air and hopes to create a massive organizational advantage that leaves Republican Donald Trump scrambling to catch up. But while the money pouring in has given Biden and the Democrats a major cash advantage, it’s also becoming clear Biden will need it. Throughout his life in business and politics, Trump’s provocations have earned him near limitless free media attention. Robby Mook, campaign manager for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid, says, “It’s one of the stubborn challenges of Trump.”
March 30, 2024 5:09 am
Televised images have swept Peru of government agents from an investigative team breaking into the president’s residence with a sledgehammer. The raid was authorized by the judiciary at the request of the attorney general’s office. Dina Boluarte is being preliminarily investigated for possessing an undisclosed collection of luxury watches since she came to power in July 2021 as vice president and Social Inclusion minister, and then as president in December 2022. Earlier in the week, the attorney general criticized Boluarte’s request to delay her appearance before the court for two weeks, emphasizing her obligation to cooperate with the investigation. Critics accuse Boluarte’s government of taking an increasingly authoritarian bent as it staves off demands for early elections.
March 30, 2024 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated a message he has sounded in recent weeks: While the Fed expects to cut interest rates this year, it won’t be ready to do so until it sees “more good inflation readings’’ and is more confident that annual price increases are falling toward its 2% target. Speaking at a conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Powell said he still expected “inflation to come down on a sometimes bumpy path to 2%.″ But the central bank’s policymakers, he said, need to see further evidence before they would cut rates for the first time since inflation shot to a four-decade peak two years ago.
