May 30, 2024 5:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A string of security, logistical and weather problems has battered the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a U.S. military-built pier. Broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational, the project faces criticism it hasn’t lived up to its initial billing or its $320 million price tag. U.S. officials say, however, that the pier is being repaired, then will be reinstalled and working again soon. Aid groups have mixed reactions, welcoming the aid yet calling the pier a distraction that takes pressure off Israel to open more land routes. The Biden administration has said from the start that the pier wasn’t meant to be a total solution.
May 30, 2024 5:11 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico goes into Sunday’s election deeply divided: friends and relatives no longer talk politics for fear of worsening unbridgeable divides. Drug cartels have divided the country into a patchwork quilt of warring fiefdoms. The atmosphere is literally heating up, amid a wave of unusual heat, drought, pollution and political violence. It’s unclear whether Mexico’s next president — both major-party candidates are female — will be able to rein in the underlying violence and polarization. Soledad Echagoyen, a Mexico City doctor who supports President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party, says she can no longer talk about politics with her colleagues, noting “there have been personal attacks already.”
May 30, 2024 5:10 am
HONG KONG (AP) — Fourteen pro-democracy activists have been convicted in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case by a court that said their plan to effect change through an unofficial primary election would have undermined the government’s authority and created a constitutional crisis. After a 2019 protest movement that filled the city’s streets with demonstrators, authorities have all but silenced dissent in Hong Kong through reduced public choice in elections, crackdowns on media and the Beijing-imposed security law under which the activists were convicted.
May 30, 2024 5:13 am
ConocoPhillips is buying Marathon Oil in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $17.1 billion as energy prices soar and big oil companies reap massive profits. The deal announced Wednesday is valued at $22.5 billion when including $5.4 billion in debt. Marathon Oil shareholders will receive 0.2550 shares of ConocoPhillips common stock for each share of Marathon Oil common stock that they own. ConocoPhillips said Wednesday that the transaction will add highly desired acreage to its existing U.S. onshore portfolio.
May 29, 2024 1:44 pm
Authorities say a Washington teenager is in custody in connection with a double shooting that killed one teenage girl and left another in the hospital. Police say 17-year-old Anthony Barfield was arrested over the weekend when he was found in an alley off Lennox Street in Uniontown. He faces charges of homicide and conspiracy of criminal homicide. Authorities say they believe Karon Whitlock and Anthony’s brother, Windale Barfield Jr., carried out the shooting of 18-year-old Annalaya Wilkerson of Monongahela at the direction of Anthony Barfield. Wilkerson and her friend were found shot on the side of Jolly School Road in South Franklin Township on April 13th. Wilkerson, who had been shot in the chest, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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.
