February 11, 2024 4:00 am
BROWNSVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI)-Seven pit bulls belonging to a couple arrested earlier this week after they were accused of keeping a child in a cage were taken to a kennel Friday evening. The dogs had been left alone in the home but were being cared for by the owner of the house. “I’ll be honest with you, if I wasn’t a dog lover, I wouldn’t do it,” Tim Cole said. He’s been walking the dogs and feeding them out of his own pocket. “This definitely is not my responsibility. I like the dogs more than I like the tenants, that’s for sure,” he said. Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele came to the house Friday evening. He says the defendants were supposed to make arrangements but never did. He tried entering the home with Cole but one of the dogs ripped his pants. “I’m okay. It’s okay. He just got a little excited,” Aubele said of the incident. Aubele stayed at the home with Cole until late into the evening when animal control workers from a kennel arrived to take the dogs. The dogs were taken to Hoffman Animal Control. If you’d like to inquire about possibly adopting one of the dogs, you can call 724-468-5505.
February 11, 2024 1:53 am
North Franklin Township Supervisor Chairman and the townships Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Sabot says he’s concerned that there will be environmental and possibly road damage after an accident Thursday morning that shut down Interstate 70 between the Chestnut Street and Taylorstown Exits. One person was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital after a crash involving a tanker tractor trailer and a car just after 2 a.m. State Police say 48-year-old Eric Joseph of Florida lost control of his truck while traveling in the left lane of Interstate 70 eastbound and crossed the grass median and struck the car head-on in the westbound lanes. Forty-four-year old Lewis Stiltner of Belle Vernon was injured and was flown to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. Hazmat crews were called to the scene to address the issues of chemicals that were leaking from the truck. Sabot says he anticipates the clean-up to be a long process. He says crews from various state departments, including the Department of Environmental Resources and the Fish and Game Commission are on site trying to mop up the leaking materials. He says he’s concerned that the chemicals have gone into Chartiers Creek or neighborhood gas wells, and he’s also worried about possible damage to roads that are currently seeing heavy truck traffic.
February 10, 2024 4:56 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats have been reminded of President Joe Biden’s political shortcomings this week. But Biden’s team hopes it has found an unlikely opportunity to go on offense — and perhaps to unite an anxious Democratic Party — following the release of a special prosecutor’s report that questioned his memory. Republican former President Donald Trump has done just that in the wake of far greater legal challenges. Special counsel Robert Hur on Thursday cleared Biden of criminal charges, despite finding evidence that the president willfully retained and shared highly classified information as a private citizen. The special counsel made repeated negative references to the 81-year-old president’s age and memory that echo broader concerns raised by voters in both parties.
February 10, 2024 4:53 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump told thousands of members of the National Rifle Association that “no one will lay a finger on your firearms” if he returns to the White House, and bragged that during his time as president he “did nothing” to curb guns. “During my four years nothing happened. And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing. We didn’t yield,” he said as he addressed the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg Friday evening. The Republican presidential nominating campaign Trump has dominated is turning toward South Carolina, where the Feb. 24 GOP primary may prove to be the last chance for Nikki Haley to blunt Trump’s march to the nomination.
February 10, 2024 4:50 am
HONOLULU (AP) — A magnitude 5.7 earthquake has struck the world’s largest active volcano. The Friday quake that struck Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii knocked items off shelves in nearby towns, but no major damage has been reported. No tsunami is expected. The earthquake was centered on Mauna Loa’s southern flank at a depth of 23 miles, 1.3 miles southwest of Pahala. The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported it as a magnitude 6.3 quake but downgraded it a short time later. Mauna Loa last erupted in late 2022. It’s one of five volcanoes that make up the Big Island.
February 10, 2024 4:47 am
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has hit back at criticism over the conduct of its parliamentary elections, which were held amid sporadic militant attacks and an unprecedented suspension of all mobile phone services. It insists the vote was peaceful and successful. Saturday’s strongly worded reaction from the Foreign Ministry came after the U.S. State Department said Thursday’s vote was held under undue restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly. The European Union has also said it regrets the lack of a level playing field. No political party has gained a simple majority in the election but independent candidates backed by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan took a lead in the vote count.
February 10, 2024 4:03 am
BALDWIN BOROUGH, Pa. — (WPXI)-A woman was shot and killed in Baldwin Borough on Friday afternoon. According to Allegheny County Police, emergency crews were called to the 5400 block of Youngridge Drive at 4:32 p.m. Once on scene, police found a woman who had been shot multiple times inside her apartment. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim has been identified as Ramiah Griffin, 20. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-833-ALL-TIPS.
February 9, 2024 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seems poised to reject attempts to kick former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot. A definitive ruling for the leading Republican candidate for president would largely end efforts in Colorado, Maine and elsewhere to prevent his name from appearing on the ballot. In more than two hours of arguments Thursday, both conservative and liberal justices raised questions of whether Trump can be disqualified from being president again because of his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. Their main concern was whether Congress must act before states can invoke a constitutional provision that was adopted after the Civil War to prevent former officeholders who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office again.
February 9, 2024 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A special counsel report has found evidence that President Joe Biden “willfully” retained and shared highly classified materials when he was a private citizen, including documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan. The Justice Department report nonetheless says no criminal charges are warranted for Biden or anyone else. In remarks at the White House Thursday evening, Biden denied that he improperly shared classified information and angrily lashed out at special counsel Robert Hur for questioning his mental acuity. The report from Hur, released earlier Thursday, represents a harshly critical assessment of Biden’s handling of sensitive government materials and includes unflattering characterizations of his memory.
February 9, 2024 5:07 am
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel has bombed targets in Rafah, after U.S. officials warned Israel against expanding its Gaza ground offensive to the southern city where more than half of the territory’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge. Airstrikes overnight and into Friday in Rafah and a central area of Gaza killed 12 people, including women and children. Meanwhile, widening disagreements between Israel and the United States were on display over the future of the war, now in its fifth month. U.S. President Joe Biden said Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack was “over the top.” Israel’s stated intentions to expand its ground offensive to Rafah also prompted a harsh backlash in Washington.
