June 2, 2024 6:26 am
PITTSBURGH —(WPXI)- First Lady Jill Biden made a visit to Pittsburgh to speak at the Pride celebration on Saturday. Dr. Biden was featured at Allegheny Commons Park where the annual Pride Parade came to a close. She stopped to talk to people in the crowd and take photos on her way to the podium. In her speech, she delivered support for people in LGBTQ+ relationships who have ever felt afraid to express themselves. “It shouldn’t take courage to hold someone’s hand on the bus, to kiss them goodbye on the sidewalk, to love who you love,” Dr. Biden said. She also spoke out against any legislative efforts that are designed to restrict LGBTQ+ rights.
June 2, 2024 6:35 am
MT. LEBANON. Pa. —(WPXI)- Mt. Lebanon Police say they responded to an incident involving a barricaded person. Allegheny County dispatchers say emergency crews were called to the 800 block of North Meadowcroft at around 7:30 p.m. At 8:53 p.m. Mt. Lebanon Police posted on social media and asked residents to avoid the area. Mt. Lebanon Police say one person was taken into custody but have not provided any other information at this time. Police said the road was safe and back to normal at 10:19 p.m.
June 1, 2024 6:44 am
Emergency responders were dispatched to a two vehicle accident just before 6:00 am on Saturday. According to Washington County 9-1-1, the accident involved a tractor trailer and a car at mile marker 43.1 on Interstate 79 North. The accident closed both lanes of the road but were reopened at 7:30 am. One person was transported to the hospital by ambulance.
June 1, 2024 3:38 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump sought to move past his historic criminal conviction on Friday and build momentum for his bid to return to the White House with fierce attacks on the judge who oversaw the case, the prosecution’s star witness and the criminal justice system as a whole. Speaking from his namesake tower in Manhattan in a symbolic return to the campaign trail, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee delivered a message aimed squarely at his most loyal supporters. Defiant as ever, he insisted without evidence that the verdict was rigged and driven by politics.
June 1, 2024 3:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Congress are embracing Donald Trump’s strategy of blaming the U.S. justice system after his historic guilty verdict. They’re also enlisting themselves in his campaign of vengeance and political retribution. It’s all part of the GOP bid to reclaim the White House. On Friday, the House Judiciary chairman demanded the prosecutors in the New York hush money case appear for questioning. Republicans who expressed doubts about Trump’s innocence or political viability were instantly bullied to stay silent — or told to “leave the party.” President Joe Biden said the attacks on the justice system are “reckless” and “irresponsible.” Experts on authoritarianism warn that Trump is vowing to use the state against his opponents.
June 1, 2024 3:33 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has detailed a three-phase deal proposed by Israel to Hamas militants that he says would lead to the release of remaining hostages in Gaza and could end the grinding Mideast war. Biden on Friday added Hamas is “no longer capable” of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel as he urged Israelis and Hamas to come to a deal to release hostages for an extended cease-fire. The Democratic president calls the proposal “a road map to an enduring cease-fire and the release of all hostages.” One phase of the deal calls for beginning major reconstruction of Gaza. Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli attacks have killed 36,000 Palestinians.
June 1, 2024 3:30 am
SUMY REGION, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine and Russia have exchanged prisoners of war, each sending back 75 POWs in the first such swap in the past three months. The Ukrainians were returned on several buses that drove into the northern Sumy region. As they disembarked, they shouted joyfully and called their families to tell them they were home. Some knelt and kissed the ground, while many wrapped themselves in yellow-blue flags. They hugged one another, breaking into tears. Many appeared emaciated and poorly dressed. The exchange was the fourth prisoner swap this year and the 52nd since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Earlier in the day, the bodies of the fallen were also swapped.
June 1, 2024 3:43 am
SINGAPORE (AP) — United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a gathering of top security officials he didn’t see war with China as imminent, nor unavoidable, despite rapidly escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, stressing the importance of renewed dialogue between him and his Chinese counterpart in avoiding “miscalculations and misunderstandings.” Austin’s comments Saturday at the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore came the day after he met for more than an hour on the sidelines with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun, the first in-person meeting between the top defense officials since contacts between the American and Chinese militaries broke down in 2022.
June 1, 2024 3:25 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI)-A fire at the Pittsburgh Arts Fest panics visitors and vendors. Pittsburgh Fire officials say the flames came from a propane tank at one of the food court tents near the corner of 8th St. and Ft. Duquesne Blvd, right in the middle of the festival’s downtown footprint. “I was scared because I’ve seen it before where they actually explode so we all smelled the gas and it was like hissing and stuff I was just scared it was going to explode or something, but luckily that didn’t happen,” said face paint and henna vendor Edyn Marsland. According to Pittsburgh Fire Deputy Chief Bernard Mohan, a 28-year-old man working at the food tent was taken to Mercy Hospital in serious, but stable condition to be treated for second-degree burns to his arms and legs. “We believe the propane cylinder that was involved may have been over-pressurized. That’s the preliminary report that we’re getting, therefore when it was exposed to the heat, it caught fire,” Mohan said. Marsland saw it all unfold. “We had just got set up right here and then it just kind of went up in flames. I saw the guy. He kind of jumped back and we all just started running,” Marsland described. Once the fire was out and fire investigators were getting to work, just feet away, outside the police caution tape, Arts Fest got back to business. “The festival continues uninterrupted. The schedule is on. Our food court is temporarily shut down. The festival continues. Come on down for the concerts,” said Derek Scalzott, the Senior Director of Communications and Marketing Management for Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, which organizes the event. Visitors, like Kimberly Tymous, are also looking forward to the major downtown festival getting back on track. “It really is a great event,” she said. “I love to see everybody come together in unity, enjoy the music, enjoy the festivities, buy art, eat out. I love it.” Arts Fest runs through June 9. The Allegheny County Health Department will determine when the food court is able to reopen.
June 1, 2024 3:22 am
MOUNT OLIVER, Pa. —(WPXI)- Three juveniles were detained after shots were fired in Mount Oliver. Allegheny County dispatchers say officers were called to Hays Avenue at 1:58 p.m. The Mount Oliver Police Chief said he saw three juveniles shooting at a fourth when he arrived at Hays Avenue and Penn Avenue when he arrived. Police say the three shooters took off down Ormsby Avenue and went inside a house. Officers believe the house belongs to the sister of one of the shooters. SWAT units were called to the scene and the three shooters were detained. Police are still looking for the fourth person involved, the person who was being shot at. Allegheny County Sheriff’s Department vans were on Ormsby Avenue. Pittsburgh Police were also called for assistance. Officers are working on getting a search warrant so they can go inside the house on Ormsby Avenue. Medics were not called to the scene.
