April 16, 2024 5:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is questioning whether federal prosecutors went too far in bringing obstruction charges against hundreds of participants in the Capitol riot. Former President Donald Trump also faces the same charge for his efforts to overturn his election loss in 2020. The justices heard arguments Tuesday over the charge of obstruction of an official proceeding in the case of Joseph Fischer, a former Pennsylvania police officer who has been indicted for his role in disrupting Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over Trump. Fischer is among 330 people facing that charge, which stems from a law passed 22 years ago in the aftermath of the Enron financial scandal. Next week, the justices will weigh whether Trump can be prosecuted at all.
April 16, 2024 5:19 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The first six jurors for Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial have been chosen after lawyers grilled members of the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide whether they can fairly sit in judgement of the former president. The court began filling out the jury of 12 people, along with six alternates, who will decide whether to convict Trump of charges accusing him of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal during his 2016 campaign for president. Possible jurors were quizzed for hours about their views on Trump and other issues, and eight were excused after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments.
April 15, 2024 5:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first criminal trial facing former President Donald Trump is also the one in which Americans are least convinced he committed a crime, a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds. Only about one-third of U.S. adults think Trump did something illegal in the hush money case for which jury selection began Monday, while close to half think he did something illegal in the other three criminal cases pending against him. Still, about half of Americans would consider Trump unfit to serve as president if he is convicted of falsifying business documents to cover up hush money payments to an adult film actor.
April 16, 2024 5:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for a vote on aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan this week. He has unveiled a plan to contort the package to squeeze it through the House’s political divides on foreign policy. Facing an outright rebellion from conservatives fiercely opposed to aiding Ukraine, the Republican speaker’s move on the foreign aid package is the first significant progress after he mulled it over for two months. But his plan to hold four separate votes on parts of the package also leaves it open to being significantly altered from the $95 billion aid package the Senate passed in February.
April 16, 2024 5:16 am
SPARROWS POINT, Md. (AP) — Salvage crews at the site of Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge are using the largest crane on the eastern seaboard to remove sections of the wreckage and deposit them at a nearby processing yard. Over 1,000 tons of steel have been removed from the waterway so far as authorities work toward their goal of opening a temporary channel later this month that would allow more commercial traffic to resume through Baltimore’s port. Crews are also working to remove some containers from the cargo ship Dali before lifting steel spans off its bow and refloating the vessel. It will then return to the Port of Baltimore.
April 16, 2024 3:57 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Whitey Herzog, the gruff and ingenious Hall of Fame manager who guided the St. Louis Cardinals to three pennants and a World Series title and perfected an intricate, nail-biting strategy known as “Whiteyball,” has died. Herzog, affectionately nicknamed “The White Rat,” was a manager for 18 seasons, compiling an overall record of 1,281 wins and 1,125 losses. He was named Manager of the Year in 1985. Under Herzog, the Cardinals won pennants in 1982, 1985 and 1987 and won the World Series in 1982, when they edged the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games. Cardinals spokesman Brian Bartow said Tuesday the team had been informed of his death by Herzog’s family. He was 92. (Photo: AP)
April 15, 2024 5:10 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The union that represents a Pittsburgh newspaper’s truck drivers, one of five unions that have been on strike for 18 months, has approved a new contract with the paper’s owners. But four other unions, including one representing the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s journalists and other newsroom employees, have not settled. The newspaper said the remaining members of Teamsters Local 211/205 voted unanimously to accept a labor dispute settlement agreement and dissolve their union at the newspaper. Details of the agreement were not disclosed. Four other unions — including the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which represents reporters, photographers and other newsroom employees — remain on strike. Their representatives said they were disheartened by the Teamsters’ settlement.
April 15, 2024 5:48 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — The historic hush-money trial of Donald Trump got underway Monday with the arduous process of selecting a jury to hear the case charging the former president with falsifying business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life. The day ended without any jurors being seated. The selection process was to resume Tuesday. The first criminal trial of any former U.S. president began as Trump vies to reclaim the White House, creating a remarkable split-screen spectacle of the presumptive Republican nominee spending his days as a criminal defendant while simultaneously campaigning for office.
April 15, 2024 5:45 pm
A Washington man was killed in a motorcycle accident on Amity Ridge Road in Amwell Township Monday afternoon. Authorities say twenty-year-old Noah Polites was riding a motorcycle when he lost control and struck a guardrail just before three o’clock. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Polites was not wearing a helmet, according to the Washington County coroner’s office. State police are investigating the crash.
April 14, 2024 5:19 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has arrived at a New York court for the start of jury selection in his hush money trial, making history as the first former president to stand trial on criminal charges. It’s the first of Trump’s four indictments to go to trial and will present a split-screen of a presidential candidate spending his days in court while, he has said, “campaigning during the night.” Scores of people are expected to be called into the courtroom as the process to find 12 jurors and six alternates begins. Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records and making payoffs to two women as part of a scheme to bury stories he worried would hurt his 2016 campaign.
