April 7, 2024 5:12 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has declined to endorse a national abortion ban and says he believes abortion should be left to the states. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee released a video outlining his position Monday. Trump says whatever the states decide “must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state.” Trump declines to lay out a timeline for when he believes abortion should be banned. President Joe Biden’s Democratic campaign says Trump is “endorsing every single abortion ban in the states, including abortion bans with no exceptions.” One of the country’s most prominent groups opposed to abortion rights says it’s “deeply disappointed” in Trump’s position.
April 8, 2024 5:08 am
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Joe Biden says student loan relief will empower Americans to pursue their dreams without the burden of debt. He is visiting Wisconsin on Monday to announce details of a new plan to help more than 30 million people. The trip comes a week after primary voting in the Midwest battleground state highlighted weaknesses for the Democratic president as he runs for reelection. Young voters have been impatient for Biden to follow through on his campaign promise to slash debt after the U.S. Supreme Court foiled his initial plan last year. The new plan is smaller and would expand federal student loan relief to new categories of borrowers through the Higher Education Act.
April 8, 2024 5:34 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to delay his April 15 hush money criminal trial while he fights to move the case out of Manhattan. The decision came Monday, a week before jury selection was set to start. Trump’s lawyers had argued at an emergency hearing that the trial should be postponed while they seek a change of venue to move it out of heavily Democratic Manhattan.
April 8, 2024 5:13 am
Israel’s military says it has withdrawn its forces from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, wrapping up a key phase in its ground offensive against the Hamas militant group and bringing its troop presence in the territory to one of the lowest levels since the six-month war began. But defense officials said Sunday that troops were merely regrouping as the army prepares to move into Hamas’ last stronghold, Rafah. Israel for weeks has vowed a ground offensive in nearby Rafah. But the city shelters some 1.4 million people — more than half of Gaza’s population. The prospect of an offensive has raised global alarm, including from Israel’s top ally, the U.S., which has demanded to see a credible plan to protect civilians.
April 7, 2024 7:02 am
BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and sent a message of mutual cooperation despite the nations’ differences. After focusing on trade and economic issues for the first two days of her visit, Yellen turned to the broader U.S.-China relationship in Sunday’s meeting with Li, one of China’s top leaders. She told him that in the past year “we have put our bilateral relationship on more stable footing.” She also addressed U.S. concerns about China’s trade relationship with Russia. Yellen is the first Cabinet member to visit since Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in California in November.
April 7, 2024 7:00 am
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Mexico’s government has severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest a former Ecuadorian vice president. It was an extraordinary use of force that shocked and mystified regional leaders and diplomats. Ecuadorian police late Friday broke through the external doors of the embassy in the capital, Quito, to arrest Jorge Glas, who had been residing there since December. Glas sought political asylum at the embassy after being indicted on corruption charges. The raid prompted Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to announce the breaking off of diplomatic relations with Ecuador on Friday evening, while his government’s foreign relations secretary said the move will be challenged at the World Court in The Hague.
April 7, 2024 6:57 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia United Students’ Union is the leading oppositional force against cuts at the state’s flagship university. The union has organized protests, circulated petitions and helped save a handful of teaching positions before 143 faculty and 28 majors were ultimately cut. West Virginia University in September cut its world language department and dozens of other programs in subjects such as English, math and music amid a $45 million budget shortfall. Led by many first-generation college students and those receiving financial aid in the state with the fewest college graduates, union members say they want to usher in a new era of student involvement in university political life.
April 7, 2024 6:53 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Powerball player in Oregon has won a jackpot worth more than $1.3 billion, ending a winless streak that had stretched more than three months. Powerball says the single ticket matched all six numbers drawn early Sunday to win a jackpot worth $1.326 billion. The jackpot has a cash value of $621 million if the winner chooses to take a lump sum rather than an annuity paid over 30 years. The winning numbers were: 22, 27, 44, 52, 69 and the red Powerball 9. No one had won Powerball’s top prize since New Year’s Day, leading to 41 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner. The $1.326 billion prize ranks as the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history. The odds of winning were 1 in 292.2 million.
April 7, 2024 6:49 am
South Strabane Township officials provided an update to the circumstances surrounding the landslide that occurred on Thursday afternoon. The slide that is in the 2000 block of Rt. 40 is adjacent to Interstate 79 caused South Strabane Emergency Management/Department of Fire and Emergency Services to temporarily close one lane of Rt. 40. During the shutdown, Verizon was able to relieve tension on its cables running across I-79. Meetings with PennDot and a geotechnical engineer determined that Rt. 40 could remain open. The slide is on private property but temporary barriers were placed around the property, creating a safety perimeter, as well as concrete barriers on Walters Spur. More land movement is expected and officials ask that people respect the perimeters that have been established. Any questions can be directed to Fire Chief Jordan Cramer at jcramer@southstrabane.com.
April 7, 2024 6:47 am
Traffic Signals in Charleroi Borough will have improvements made by PennDot. Beginning April 8, Rt. 88 will see intermittent single lane restrictions as 11 traffic signals will be replaced, 4 signals removed and updates to ADA ramps, sidewalks, curbs, pavement markings and signs are made. The $4.3 million dollar project will run from McKean Avenue at First Street to 10th Street and on Fallowfield Avenue from 9th Street to First Street. The work is expected to last through the beginning of November.
