December 10, 2024 4:48 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, is making her case on Capitol Hill. The former Democrat-turned-Republican is facing fresh scrutiny about her proximity to Russian-ally Syria amid that country’s sudden collapse of its hardline Assad regime. Trump wants Gabbard to be his director of national intelligence. But nearly 100 former national security officials have implored senators to hold a closed-door briefing on her work. Gabbard ignored shouted questions about her 2017 visit to war-torn Syria as she ducked into private meetings with senators Monday. She delivered a statement saying she stands by Trump’s approach to foreign affairs.
December 10, 2024 4:47 am
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s prime minister says most cabinet ministers are still at work after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad. But some state workers failed to return to their jobs, and a United Nations official said the country’s public sector had come “to a complete and abrupt halt.” Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighboring countries, hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for friends and relatives who disappeared during Assad’s brutal rule. There were already signs of the difficulties ahead for the rebel alliance now in control of much of the country.
December 10, 2024 4:41 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump’s second term comes with the specter of the world’s richest man serving as his political enforcer. Within the president-elect’s team, there is a feeling that Elon Musk not only supports Trump’s agenda and Cabinet appointments, but is intent on seeing them through to the point of threatening Republicans who may be less devout. A week after Trump won the election, Musk suggested on his social media site that he would “play a significant role in primaries.” One Trump adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal political dynamics, noted Musk had come to enjoy his role on the campaign and that he clearly had the resources to stay involved.
December 10, 2024 2:56 am
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) is updating its Regional Active Transportation Plan. They were in Washington on Monday for a listening session so that residents of Washington County could weigh in on transportation that is not dedicated to automobiles. This plan aims to improve biking, walking, and other active transportation options to create safer, more accessible communities. Leann Chaney is the Senior Active Transportation Planner for the SPC. She says the update is needed because the original plan is five years old and much has changed in active transportation in the region. There has been a growth in trails. Bike lanes have been extended and, in some areas recently installed. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, work patterns and transportation patterns have changed that reflect an increased need for improvements and access for people to walk and ride bikes. Leisure activity is not the only criteria of concern. Connectivity is also important. Can a person easily access a trail or bike lane to use it for a work commute or a shopping trip. Can the user limit use of a car to use an active transportation mode. Residents are still able to weigh in with their thoughts about improvements and even concerns and frustrations with transportation by foot or by bike. A survey is available at https://arcg.is/1TSifn2 .
December 10, 2024 2:03 am
Peters Township Council acted to approve stop signs at two intersections. Currently at the intersection of Crossbow Court and Crosswinds Drive, there is a single stop sign. A recommendation from the township’s traffic engineer suggested that the intersection be an all stop intersection. Limited sight distance is the reason for the addition. The intersection of Royalbrooke and Sutherland Drives will also become an all stop intersection. Limited sight distance at the intersection is also causing the need for additional stop signs. In other township business, council was briefed on a request for proposal to update the township’s Comprehensive Plan. The township hopes to award a contract to a consultant in March. Also discussed was the size and make up of the committee to draft the updates to the plan. It could take at least a year for the proposal to be complete. Council will meet again next Monday, December 16. The meeting was moved one week earlier due to the Christmas Holiday.
December 9, 2024 4:29 pm
(AP) – Jacques Audiard’s audacious musical “Emilia Pérez,” about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender affirming surgery, led nominations to the 82nd Golden Globes on Monday, scoring a leading 10 nods. That put it ahead of other contenders like the musical smash “Wicked,” the papal thriller “Conclave” and the post-war epic “The Brutalist.” The nominations for Globes, which will be televised by CBS and streamed on Paramount+ on Jan. 5, were announced on Monday morning by Mindy Kaling and Morris Chestnut. The young Donald Trump drama “The Apprentice” also landed nominations for its two central performances, by Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn.
December 9, 2024 4:26 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — A Marine veteran who put an agitated subway rider in a choke-hold on a New York subway has been acquitted in the man’s death. A Manhattan jury cleared Daniel Penny on Monday of a criminally negligent homicide charge. The verdict came after a more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed because the jury deadlocked on that count. The case arose from Jordan Neely’s May 2023 death and became a prism for differing views about public safety, valor and vigilantism. The 26-year-old Penny gripped Neely around the neck for about six minutes. Penny’s defense said he was protecting fellow subway passengers.
December 9, 2024 12:50 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s police commissioner says police have arrested a 26-year-old with a weapon “consistent with” the gun used in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson died in a dawn ambush Wednesday as he walked to the company’s annual investor conference from his hotel to the company’s annual investor conference across the street. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Luigi Nicholas Mangione was taken into custody Monday. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said said at a news conference that Mangione was taken into custody after police got a tip that he had been spotted at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
December 9, 2024 5:21 am
Depending on who you ask, the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election rattled the country or were cause for celebration. Is it any surprise the Merriam-Webster word of the year is “polarization”? In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Merriam-Webster editor at large Peter Sokolowski says “polarization means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division.” Originating in the 1800s, the word is now most commonly used to mean “causing strong disagreement between opposing factions or groupings.” Merriam-Webster chooses its word of the year based on data, tracking a rise in search and usage.
December 9, 2024 5:20 am
A new report says Earth just experienced its second-warmest November on record — second only to 2023 — making it all but certain that 2024 will end as the hottest year ever measured. A report Monday by the European climate service Copernicus says 2024 also is expected to be the first calendar year in which the average temperature was more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times. The world’s goal is to limit human-caused warming below that threshold. Scientists say the main driver is burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas.
