May 29, 2024 4:42 am
After a tornado touched down in Peters Township on May 11, residents in Peters Township registered concerns with members of council and staff about emergency notifications. Residents said that weather notifications from the National Weather Service were not received that would have alerted them of the tornado. Council heard them and entered into a contract with OnSolve. According to Township Manager Paul Lauer, OnSolve is an industry leader in mass emergency notification systems. The township would use their notification system called CodeRED, that is currently employed in Mt. Lebanon, Dormont and South Strabane Township. The system is also used by the Pennsylvania American Water Company. The township would get phone contact information from PAWC to use for emergency purposes, in a township wide emergency or in targeted areas of concern such as when a tornado would strike. It has an opt in selection to allow residents to determine how emergencies would be broadcast to their phone. Other community interest applications are available also. Council approved a three year, $16,491 contract. Community education about the system will begin in earnest. Information is planned to be available for residents at Community Day. Other education events are being planned.
May 29, 2024 4:44 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A new lawsuit is trying to prevent thousands of mail-in ballots from being thrown out in the November election in Pennsylvania. The battleground state that is expected to play a critical role in selecting a new president. The lawsuit filed Tuesday by left-leaning groups is the latest of several cases to challenge a provision in Pennsylvania law that voters must write the date when they sign their mail-in ballot envelope. Voters not understanding that provision has meant that tens of thousands of ballots have been thrown out since 2019. The latest lawsuit says that a voter-written date is meaningless and that rejecting someone’s ballot over it should violate Pennsylvania’s Constitution.
May 29, 2024 3:58 pm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden is renewing his election-year pitch to Black voters. At an appearance in Philadelphia with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, he lashed out at what he called Donald Trump’s “MAGA lies” and said the winner of this year’s White House race will make crucial decisions, including nominees for the Supreme Court, that could affect the country for decades. Biden also argued that Trump is peddling misinformation in an effort to win back the White House. Biden called on the crowd at a boarding school where the student body is predominantly Black to help him and Harris win a second term. Biden has seen his solid support among Black voters show signs of erosion.
May 28, 2024 2:40 am
Preliminary hearings were held for a Monessen man charged in two separate incidents that occurred in Charleroi in September and December of last year. Samuel Valle, 20 is accused of burglary and assault in one case and attempted homicide and aggravated assault in the second. Neither Valle or his attorney appeared for the hearing, so the prosecution held a hearing without them. Braylon Brite was the victim in the burglary case and she testified to how Valle kicked down the door of her residence and came in and pulled her hair and slapped her face causing bruises. Brite also testified against Valle in the second case. She stated that Valle and two other men pressured Lance Brooks, who was attending a party at her home, to hand over his gun. Brooks refused and left. She testified that Valle, Trevian Thompson and a juvenile followed Brooks out of the home and she heard shots fired. Police testimony centered on an interview with Lance Brooks and his involvement in the shooting. No injuries were reported but property damage did occur. The judge held all charges for court in both cases. Valle is free on $10,000 bond in each case. A warrant for Valle’s arrest was also issued.
May 28, 2024 2:39 am
(WPXI) – A state trooper is out on bail, after he allegedly beat a man unconscious during a confrontation. James Stevenson, 29, is facing charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment, burglary, criminal trespass and criminal mischief. Stevenson was off-duty when he arrived at a house in Connellsville on May 26 and charged past a man who lived in the same house on the porch to get inside. He went into an upstairs bedroom, where he found a man and woman, both without their pants on, the criminal complaint said. Stevenson jumped on the man and began “beating” his face to the point where he got knocked out, the complaint said. He also grabbed the woman, shook her and told her they were leaving. The pair went downstairs together and the woman ran to her car and left. The man who was outside during the attack passed Stevenson on his way out, while he was heading upstairs to check on the man, who was unconscious on the bed. The man went after Stevenson and reached through the driver’s side window to grab him. Stevenson opened the door, which pushed him to the ground and broke his glasses, and left the scene, the complaint said. The man who Stevenson allegedly beat up was taken to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with several facial injuries. Stevenson, who enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Police in June 2020, is suspended without pay.
May 29, 2024 4:53 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial has ended its first day of deliberations without a verdict. The panel asked Wednesday to rehear potentially crucial testimony about the alleged hush money scheme at the heart of the history-making case. Jurors also asked to rehear at least part of the judge’s legal instructions. The notes sent to the judge were the first burst of communication with the court after the jury of seven men and five women was sent to a private room just before 11:30 a.m. to begin weighing a verdict. The 12-person jury was sent home around 4 p.m. after about 4 1/2 hours of deliberations. The process is to resume Thursday.
May 29, 2024 5:16 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is congratulating Justice Samuel Alito for rejecting calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving Trump and Jan. 6 defendants because of the controversy over flags that flew over Alito’s homes. Alito says in letters to members of Congress on Wednesday that his wife was responsible for flying an upside-down flag over his Virginia home in 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at his New Jersey beach house last year. Both flags were like those carried by rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021 while echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Alito says neither incident at his homes merits his recusal.
May 28, 2024 4:54 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The Washington Post says it reported on a story about a controversial flag being flown outside the home of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito years ago, but chose not to write about it. The story broke in The New York Times earlier this month about an upside-down U.S. flag outside of the Alito house shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection — a symbol that had been used by some supporters of former President Donald Trump that day. The Post said it had accepted the explanation that Alito’s wife was responsible for the flag, and it wasn’t sure the dispute was political.
May 29, 2024 4:55 am
HOUSTON (AP) — Storm-weary Texas has been hammered again by powerful storms bearing forceful winds that left one person dead, collapsed homes under construction and uprooted trees. In Dallas, where some homes were damaged by trees, the city has opened respite centers where people can get shelter and air conditioning. The high winds were blamed for the collapse of a house under construction Tuesday in the Houston suburb of Magnolia. A 16-year-old construction worker was killed in the collapse. The storms were a continuation of deadly storms over the Memorial Day weekend, when 24 people were killed in seven states.
May 29, 2024 4:56 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Renewed Israeli shelling and strikes have killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah. That’s according to witnesses, first responders and hospital officials. The bombardment overnight and into Tuesday pummeled the same area where Israeli strikes triggered a deadly fire in a camp for displaced Palestinians days earlier, killing 45 people. The tent camp inferno has drawn widespread international outrage over Israel’s expanding offensive into Rafah. The U.N. says more than a million people have fled the city in recent weeks. And in a sign of Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday.
