December 10, 2024 5:42 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are trying to preserve President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money conviction as he returns to office, and they’re suggesting various ways forward. One novel notion is based on how some courts handle criminal cases when defendants die. In court papers made public on Tuesday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office proposed an array of options for keeping the historic conviction on the books. The proposals included freezing the case until he’s out of office, or agreeing that any future sentence wouldn’t include jail time. Another idea: closing the case with a notation that acknowledges his conviction but says that he was never sentenced and that his appeal wasn’t resolved because of presidential immunity. There’s no immediate response from Trump’s lawyers.
December 10, 2024 5:41 pm
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO struggled with deputies and shouted while arriving for a court appearance in Pennsylvania a day after he was arrested at a McDonald’s and charged with murder. Luigi Nicholas Mangione emerged from a patrol car, spun toward reporters and shouted something partly unintelligible while deputies pushed him inside Tuesday. At the brief hearing, the defense lawyer informed the court that Mangione would not waive extradition to New York but instead wants a hearing on the issue. Mangione was denied bail. Brian Thompson, who led the United States’ largest medical insurance company, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. (Photo: AP)
December 10, 2024 7:38 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The grinding war pitting Ukraine against its Russian invaders has escalated ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration. President Joe Biden is rushing out billions more in military aid before U.S. support for Kyiv’s defenses is thrown into question under the new administration. Russia, Ukraine and their global allies are scrambling to put their side in the best possible position for any changes that Trump may bring to American policy in the nearly 3-year-old war. The president-elect insisted in recent days that Russia and Ukraine immediately reach a ceasefire, and said Ukraine should likely prepare to receive less U.S. military aid. A Ukrainian military commander says his forces will keep fighting but when the aid runs out, they’ll be destroyed.
December 10, 2024 7:36 am
Emergency crews were busy Tuesday morning as they were called out to crashes in both the City of Washington and North Strabane Township. The first occurred in the 600-block of South Main Street in Washington. Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers say a vehicle went into a utility pole. The driver was evaluated at the scene but was not transported . The pole was sheared off and wires came down across the roadway. West Penn Power crews were called in to make repairs. Meanwhile, crews responded to a one-vehicle, rollover crash along Route 519 near Wilson Road and International Paper just before 7 a.m. Dispatchers tell WJPA News that the female driver was transported to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. There was no word on her identity or condition.
December 10, 2024 5:15 am
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare has made it clear he isn’t going to make things easy on authorities. Luigi Nicholas Mangione was shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court Tuesday. Once inside he objected to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance weren’t expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson. Little new information has come out about possible motivation, though writings found in Mangione’s possession hinted at a vague hatred of corporate greed.
December 10, 2024 5:11 am
A federal judge in Texas has rejected the auction sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet, criticizing the bidding process as flawed as well as the amount of money that families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting stood to receive. The decision late Tuesday night is a victory for Jones, whose conspiracy theory platform was put up for sale as part of his bankruptcy case in the wake of the nearly $1.5 billion that courts have ordered him to pay over falsely calling one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history a hoax. Families of the Sandy Hook victims had backed The Onion’s bid.
December 10, 2024 4:57 am
WEST BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Brittany Crile, 36, and her husband, Joseph Crile, 46, were killed after their car missed a turn onto Clarksville Road and rolled 150 feet down a steep hillside late Saturday night. The two were coming home from a holiday party and were less than a mile away. Sunday morning, someone driving by spotted the car and called 911. When first responders got there, they found Brittany Crile near the car. She had been thrown from the car and did not survive. The woman who owns the car said she couldn’t get a hold of her son, Joseph Crile and her Ford App sent a notification that all of the tires were deflated. State Police pieced it together and searched for Joe Crile all day Sunday. Trooper Rocco Gagliardi with Pennsylvania State Police said investigators searched multiple properties including an abandoned home 400 feet from the scene of the crash. That’s where Joe Crile was found dead. Trooper Gagliardi says there are still so many unanswered questions. “Did something else happen at that crash site and then he gets into an abandoned house? Is he looking for assistance or medical aid or did something else happen that we’re not aware of,” Gagliardi said. State Police say the coroner will be able to determine exactly how Joe Crile died. Until then, the crash will remain under investigation.
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.
