July 21, 2023 8:45 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Tony Bennett, the eminent stylist and last of the great saloon singers whose devotion to classic American songs and knack for creating new standards such as “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” graced a decades-long career, has died at 96. His publicist said he died Friday. Bennett often said his lifelong ambition was to create “a hit catalog rather than hit records,” which he accomplished through more than 70 albums. Bennett was praised often by fellow performers, but never more meaningfully than by what Frank Sinatra said in a 1965 Life magazine interview: “For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business.
July 21, 2023 5:09 am
ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has executed a man for the 2001 beating death of a woman as the state resumes lethal injections following a pause to review procedures. James Barber was pronounced dead at 1:56 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison Friday. The 64-year-old was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 beating death of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps. Prosecutors say Barber confessed to killing Epps with a claw hammer and fleeing with her purse. His was the first execution carried out in the state this year. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced a pause on executions in November after the state halted two lethal injections because of difficulties inserting IVs into the condemned men’s veins.
July 21, 2023 5:07 am
When devastating rains swept through the Northeast, farmers in the region were dealt a devastating blow at the worst possible time. Plants were too early to harvest, but are now too late to replant in the abbreviated growing season. Some of the hardest hit farms were located along rivers in Vermont where farmers who’d spent months nurturing tomato, watermelon and other plants saw their efforts wiped out in a matter of hours. Storms dumped up to two months’ worth of rain in a couple of days in parts of the region, surpassing the amount that fell when Tropical Storm Irene blew through in 2011.
July 21, 2023 5:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley has released an unclassified document that Republicans claim is significant in their investigation of Hunter Biden. Republicans say the information is significant as they probe the financial affairs of the President Joe Biden’s family, reviving previously debunked claims of financial wrongdoing. House Oversight Chairman James Comer had issued a subpoena to the FBI for the document. It was made public for the first time Thursday. It involves claims a confidential informant made in 2020 about Hunter Biden’s alleged business dealings when he served on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma. The White House rejected the information as having been “debunked for years.”
July 21, 2023 2:50 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden has paid a visit to Philadelphia’s shipyard to make a pitch that unions will be building America’s renewable energy future. He’s courting organized labor at a moment when some major unions are weighing strikes that could disrupt the growth he wants to campaign on in 2024. The president toured the shipyard on Thursday where there was a steel-cutting ceremony for a vessel needed to build offshore wind farms. Biden ticked through the various union jobs being created by the project. Biden said his frends in organized labor know that “when I think climate, I think jobs.”
July 20, 2023 5:22 pm
(AP) – Striking screenwriters and actors are holding rallies in Philadelphia and Chicago TODAY – as the labor dispute that has halted Hollywood spreads to more cities. While Los Angeles and New York are the epicenters of strike actions, there are dozens of mid-sized and small locals across the country representing performers and writers. The Philadelphia rally at Love Park drew actors Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lisa Ann Walter, stars of the hit Philly-set TV show “Abbott Elementary.” The unions and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers – which represents studios, streamers and production companies – seem far apart, with no negotiations happening or planned.
July 20, 2023 12:43 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is courting unions as a cornerstone of the United States’ economic future with a speech at a Philadelphia shipyard. Thursday’s speech comes just as some major unions are weighing strikes that could disrupt the growth the Democratic president wants to campaign on in 2024. Tensions are rising between unions and companies about a rapidly evolving economy in which artificial intelligence, clean energy and e-commerce are rewriting some of the basic rules of work. Biden is trying to allay those concerns by saying unions should be part of that future. But Biden also knows a strike could harm his reelection chances.
July 20, 2023 8:43 am
Washington County Commissioners are expected to approve a measure Thursday afternoon to enter into a contract with Susquehanna Accounting and Consulting Solutions of Harrisburg to provide needed services in the County’s Finance Department. Washington County Commissioners Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan says that department is in “crisis mode” following the departure of three individuals since the end of June. Longtime Director Joshua Hatfield left to take another job and two others have since departed. Irey Vaughan says she has never experienced anything like this in her 28-years as a Commissioner. County government also recently saw Chief of Staff Mike Namie and Human Services Director Kim Rodgers retire. According to Irey Vaughan, there has been a “toxic environment” within County government “for the past several years” and because of that potential candidates are rejecting job opportunities because of the upcoming election and the uncertainty that exists in regards to longterm viability in the job because of changes to leadership on the Board of Commissioners.
July 20, 2023 5:02 am
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A tornado has heavily damaged a major Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in North Carolina — the latest in a string of extreme weather events plaguing the U.S. Torrential rains flooded communities in Kentucky while an area from California to South Florida endured more blistering heat on Wednesday. Pfizer reported no serious injuries but authorities said medicine was damaged after a tornado damaged the plant near Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Elsewhere, Phoenix, Arizona, broke an all-time record Wednesday morning for a warm low temperature of 97 degrees. And Kentucky braced under a forecast of more rain after flash floods prompted rescues from homes and vehicles in some waterlogged communities.
July 20, 2023 5:00 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A third night of Russian air attacks pounded Ukraine’s southern cities, including the port city of Odesa, and wounded at least 21 people, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. At least 19 people were injured in the southern city of Mykolaiv in the overnight attack, officials said Thursday. Another two people were injured in the port city of Odesa and buildings were damaged in the city center. The attacks came one day after particularly intense Russian bombardment using drones and missiles that damaged critical port infrastructure in Odesa, and came a few days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to send grain to countries facing the threat of hunger.
