June 19, 2024 5:08 am
HOUSTON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of immigrants had reason to rejoice when President Joe Biden unveiled a highly expansive plan to extend legal status to spouses of U.S. citizens but, inevitably, some were left out. Biden says his administration will allow spouses without legal status to apply for permanent residency without having to first depart the country. To qualify, they must have lived in the United States for 10 years and be married to a U.S. citizen, both as of Monday. Every immigration benefit _ even those as sweeping as Biden’s election-year offer _ have cutoff dates and other eligibility requirements.
June 19, 2024 5:06 am
MOSCOW (AP) — A court in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok has convicted a visiting American soldier of stealing and making threats of murder, and it sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison. Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported Wednesday that the judge also ordered Staff Sgt. Gordon Black to pay $115 in damages. U.S. and Russian officials say Black had flown to the Pacific port city earlier this year to see his girlfriend and was arrested after she accused him of stealing from her. Black’s sentencing further complicates U.S.-Russia relations, which have grown increasingly tense as the fighting in Ukraine continues.
June 19, 2024 5:03 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Russian state media say Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have signed a partnership deal during a summit in Pyongyang. Russian state media said Putin and Kim spoke face-to-face for about two hours in a meeting Wednesday that was originally planned for one hour. Putin’s visit comes amid growing concerns over an arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Russia with badly needed munitions for Moscow’s war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
June 19, 2024 5:01 am
One person has been transported to Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh after a house fire in Peters Twp. Washington County 9-1-1 says it broke out just after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night in the 100-block of Clearview Drive. According to dispatchers, the home was fully engulfed in flames when firefighers arrived. The State Police Fire Marshall is now investigating. There is no word on the identity or condition of the person injured.
June 19, 2024 4:51 am
Prior to their agenda meeting on Tuesday, North Strabane Township Supervisors reconvened a public hearing from April 30. CC Realty Advisors is looking to rezone a parcel of land at the corner of Curry Avenue and Morganza Road. The parcel was originally zoned industrial and then rezoned commercial. CC Realty wants to take it back to Industrial zoning to begin the application process to build a “personal warehouse.” The meeting was adjourned with no public comment. Supervisors may take up the measure during their next voting meeting. During the agenda meeting the solicitor suggested that they may wish to table the issue to allow time and proper process to better define what a personal warehouse is and whether the ordinances for commercial zoning and industrial zoning should be amended to include it in their zones as conditional use or permitted use. Other items that supervisors will consider are several hirings and appointments to open positions with the township and a possible change in office hours to 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Supervisors will hold their voting meeting on June 25.
June 18, 2024 5:47 pm
(AP) – Boeing’s CEO is getting his day in front of Congress, and lawmakers are expected to have many questions about safety at the troubled aircraft company. CEO David Calhoun appeared in front of a Senate investigations subcommittee on Tuesday. It’s his first appearance on Capitol Hill since a panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Relatives of people who died in 2018 and 2019 crashes of 737 Max jetliners were in the room to remind him of what was at stake. The Senate panel released a 204-page report with new allegations from a whistle-blower who fears defective or improperly documented parts are going into Max jets.
June 18, 2024 1:42 pm
SAG HARBOR, N.Y. (AP) — Pop star Justin Timberlake has been charged with driving while intoxicated in a village in New York’s Hamptons. Police in Sag Harbor said he ran a stop sign and veered out of his lane early Tuesday while driving a 2025 BMW in Sag Harbor. The boy band singer-turned-solo star and actor was released without bond after his arraignment. The Suffolk County district attorney’s office says he was charged with a DWI misdemeanor. His next court date was scheduled for July 26. Timberlake’s lawyer and representatives did not immediately return requests for comment from The Associated Press. (Photo: AP)
June 18, 2024 5:09 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Majorities of Americans favor forgiving all or some of an individual’s medical debt if the person is facing hardships. That’s according to a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey found that about half of Americans say it’s extremely or very important for the U.S. government to provide debt relief for those who have yet to pay off medical treatments. Although reducing student loan debt has been a focus for President Joe Biden, the poll found that Americans are more likely to say medical debt relief should be a government priority.
June 18, 2024 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new Biden administration policy will give roughly half a million immigrants who are married to American citizens but lack legal status in the United States a pathway to citizenship for them and their children. It is one of President Joe Biden’s most sweeping immigration policy moves and one that migrant advocates had been heavily lobbying the administration to undertake. It will avoid what can be lengthy separations of families with the migrant spouses leaving the country to apply for legal status. It comes as other Biden immigration policies have made it much more difficult to qualify for asylum at the southern border and intensified removals of those who don’t qualify to stay.
June 18, 2024 5:06 am
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Extreme heat alerts are in effect for tens of millions of people in the United States as cities including Chicago break heat records. Warnings stretched from Iowa to Ohio and even into the upper reaches of Michigan on Tuesday. The dangerous heat wave is expected to linger until at least Friday. The mid-Atlantic and New England are likely to see highs in the 90s as the week progresses. Excessive humidity will make it feel even more oppressive. The U.S. last year saw the most heat waves since 1936. Officials are warning people to drink plenty of water and stay indoors.