March 21, 2023 4:19 am
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Top Republicans, including some of Donald Trump’s potential rivals for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, are rushing to his defense after Trump said he’s bracing for possible arrest. The reaction points to the political risks faced by would-be opponents who are eager to convince voters that it’s time to move on from the former president but also fear alienating his loyal base. The comments came hours after Trump declared in a social media post that he expects to be arrested this coming week in a case that the Manhattan district attorney is investigating over hush money payments made to women who alleged Trump had sexual encounters with them. Trump has denied the allegations.
March 21, 2023 4:17 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is telling employees in a memo that the company plans to eliminate 9,000 more jobs in the next few weeks. The job cuts would mark the second largest round of layoffs in the company’s history. Amazon had already cut 18,000 in the past few months. In the memo on Monday, Jassy said the second phase of the company’s annual planning process completed this month and led to the additional job cuts. This time around, the job cuts will hit profitable areas for the company including its cloud computing unit AWS and its burgeoning advertising business. Twitch, the gaming platform Amazon owns, will also see some layoffs.
March 21, 2023 4:13 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida began a surprise visit to Ukraine early Tuesday, hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in neighboring Russia for a three-day visit. The dueling summits come as the longtime rivals are on diplomatic offensives. Kishida will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital. He will “show respect to the courage and patience of the Ukrainian people who are standing up to defend their homeland under President Zelenskyy’s leadership, and show solidarity and unwavering support for Ukraine as head of Japan and chairman of G-7,” during his visit to Ukraine, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in announcing his trip to Kyiv.
March 21, 2023 4:07 am
DUNBAR TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A woman was killed and a student and school van driver were flown to trauma centers after a three-vehicle crash in Fayette County on Monday afternoon. According to Fayette County 911, emergency crews were called to Furnace Hill Road in Dunbar Township at 3:33 p.m. State Police said a woman driving one of the vehicles involved was attempting to pass another vehicle in front of her in the westbound lane. While the woman was attempting to pass, a Connellsville Area School District van was traveling in the eastbound lane. The woman failed to get back into her correct lane of travel and struck the school van head on. The woman’s car was thrown back into the westbound lane on impact and was struck by a third car that was unable to stop. The woman, Brenda Dewitt, 56, was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other students were hospitalized for minor injuries. All of the students involved were elementary age, according to the Connellsville superintendent. State Police said alcohol and speed are believed to be contributing factors in the crash.
March 21, 2023 2:47 am
Pennsylvania agencies will maintain a long term presence in Darlington Township, Beaver County as it relates to the nearby train derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in nearby East Palestine, Ohio. Governor Josh Shapiro’s office announced the plan on Monday. Beginning Thursday March 23 staff from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health will be on site at the Darlington Township Building every Thursday from noon until 5:00 PM to meet with residents. Commonwealth agency staff and Beaver County staff will be on hand at open houses that will be held Thursday evenings from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM to offer one on one discussions and provide resources and information. Residents will continue to have access to expert staff and ask questions about their health and the health of pets, farm animals and inquire about air, soil and water testing. Resource materials will be available on days when agency officials are not on site.
March 21, 2023 2:28 am
The Chartiers Township Fire Department is announcing that they have been notified by MarkWest and Sunoco that they will be flaring at their plant on Western Avenue near Westland this week. The hope is that the flaring will be completed by this weekend but there are factors that could impact the completion date. Officials from the companies also state that residents should expect the normal sounds associated with flaring to be common during the week.
March 21, 2023 2:18 am
City of Washington police are asking for the public’s help to find a missing teen. Brena Lee Conard, 15, was last seen the night of March 10. She is 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a dark blue or gray fleece hoodie, gray fleece pants or joggers and tan, leopard-print shoes. She is known to hang out at the Jefferson Avenue McDonalds and Dairy Queen, near the Washington Hospital, the West End neighborhood and the Avella area. Anyone with information is asked to call Washington police or 1-800-THE-LOST.
March 20, 2023 4:55 pm
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Police says one student was fatally shot and another injured when a third student opened fire outside a Dallas-area high school Monday morning before being arrested on murder charges. Officials say the shooting began on a high school campus in the suburb of Arlington around 6:55 a.m., before many students arrived for the first day back to classes after the spring break. Arlington police Chief Al Jones says a male student who was shot died at a hospital and a female student was receiving medical care after being “grazed” by gunfire, causing injures that aren’t life threatening. He said another male student was arrested at the scene.
March 20, 2023 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters. Even some of his most ardent loyalists are dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap. The ambivalence raises questions about whether Trump still has the power to mobilize far-right supporters the way he did more than two years ago before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. It also suggests that the hundreds of convictions and long prison sentences that followed the Capitol riot may have dampened the desire for repeat mass unrest.
March 20, 2023 4:26 am
GENEVA (AP) — Swiss President Alain Berset said banking giant UBS is acquiring its smaller rival Credit Suisse for almost $3.25 billion in an effort to avoid further market-shaking turmoil in global banking. Markets remained jittery despite the best efforts of regulators to restore calm, however, with shares in Asia mostly lower. Banks stocks also fell. The combination of the two biggest and best-known Swiss banks leaves Switzerland, a global financial center, on the cusp of having a single national champion in banking. UBS officials said they plan to sell off parts of Credit Suisse, or reduce the size of the bank over the coming months and years.
