April 14, 2023 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative mega-donor Harlan Crow purchased three properties belonging to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his family, in a transaction worth more than $100,000 that Thomas never reported, according to the non-profit investigative journalism organization ProPublica. The 2014 real estate deal shines a new light on Thomas’s decades-old relationship with Crow, a real estate magnate and longtime financier for conservative causes. That relationship and the material benefits received by Thomas have fueled calls for an official ethics investigation. ProPublica previously revealed that Thomas and his wife Ginni were gifted with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of annual vacations and trips by Crow for decades.
April 13, 2023 4:12 pm
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police say a self-proclaimed tech consultant has been arrested in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco. Police Chief Bill Scott said during a news conference that 38-year-old Nima Momeni was booked Thursday morning on suspicion of murder. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Momeni is expected to be arraigned Friday. Police found Lee with stab wounds in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco at 2:30 a.m. April 4. He died at a hospital. On his LinkedIn profile, Momeni describes himself as an “IT Consultant/Entrepreneur” as well as “owner” at a company called Expand IT. Scott declined to say how police linked the death to the Momeni or how the men knew each other.
April 13, 2023 2:35 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Massachusetts Air National Guard member who has emerged as a main person of interest in the disclosure of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war was taken into custody Thursday by federal agents. Attorney General Merrick Garland made the announcement at the Justice Department Thursday. The guardsman was identified as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira. FBI agents converged Thursday at Teixeira’s Massachusetts home and heavily armed tactical agents took a man wearing a T-shirt and shorts into custody outside the property.
April 13, 2023 4:15 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is expected to visit the offices of New York’s attorney general for his second deposition in a legal battle over his company’s business practices. The Republican was scheduled to meet Thursday with lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump last year. Her lawsuit claims Trump misled banks and others about the value of his assets. Trump and his lawyers say the Democrat’s lawsuit against him is politically motivated. Trump met once previously with James’ lawyers, but refused to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. The lawsuit is unrelated to the felony criminal charges filed against Trump last week by the Manhattan district attorney.
April 13, 2023 4:12 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Its neighbors say North Korea has conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in a month as it extends a provocative run of weapons tests. Japan briefly urged residents on a northern island to evacuate in a sign of its vigilance over North Korea’s evolving missile threats. The missile was launched at a high angle, which North Korea usually does to avoid its neighbors, and it landed in the waters between the peninsula and Japan. A South Korean defense official said the military believes the test was of a new type of missile, possibly using solid fuel. It would be the first, if so. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to obtain several new weapons to cope with what he calls U.S. military threats.
April 13, 2023 4:10 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal appeals court has preserved access to an abortion drug for now but under tighter rules that would allow the drug only to be dispensed up to seven weeks, not 10, and not by mail. The drug, mifepristone, was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration more than two decades ago. It’s used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled Wednesday just before midnight. By a 2-1 vote a panel of three judges narrowed for now a decision by a lower court judge in Texas that had completely blocked the FDA’s approval of the drug following a lawsuit by mifepristone’s opponents.
April 13, 2023 4:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The electronics subsidiary of German company Merck KGaA says it will spend $300 million to expand its specialty gas production facility in eastern Pennsylvania. The announcement Wednesday was attended by Gov. Josh Shapiro. EMD Electronics says it will create the world’s largest integrated specialty gases facility to serve the fast-growing semiconductor industry. State officials hope it will boost Pennsylvania’s appeal to computer chip makers. Shapiro is pledging more than $1 million in state grants for the expansion in Schuylkill County. Company officials say the site houses a research center and synthesizes materials that form core building blocks of transistors, a component of microchips.
April 13, 2023 4:04 am
The Pennsylvania man charged with killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue tried for years to avoid a federal jury trial. Ultimately those efforts failed, and jury selection is less than two weeks away. The 46-year-old Robert Bowers had offered to plead guilty to the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history only if prosecutors take the death penalty off the table. But the Justice Department rejected that offer. Some argue the death penalty was made for egregious cases like the Tree of Life massacre. But families of some victims wanted the deal, in part to avoid painful testimony when the case goes to trial.
April 13, 2023 2:13 am
SOUTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – It was a surreal scene in Washington County Wednesday afternoon as a semi-truck dangled off one highway and over another, spilling thousands of pounds of cardboard. “The tractor cab was on the flyover and everything else was hanging over the ramp that was dangling over I-70 below it.” South Strabane Fire Chief Jordan Cramer said. “I gasped because it was so unnerving,” Caitlin Walther said. She was on her way to pick up her sons for soccer practice when she saw the tractor-trailer hanging off the bridge. “It is definitely a high bridge and the sides are kind of low. It’s something I’ve always been concerned about happening.” It’s a concern shared by Chief Cramer. He was the incident commander on-scene and has talked about the potential for an incident like this. “This is just an area of roadway that we know has the potential for this to happen,” he said. “Had he been carrying a different load, a heavier load of materials in the back, we’d probably be having a very different conversation right now.” The driver suffered only minor injuries and was treated at the scene. According to the Pennsylvania State Police, he is being cited for failing to properly negotiate a left curve.
April 12, 2023 12:41 pm
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has ruled that an election petition challenge filed on behalf of current Washington County Prothonotary Laura Hough was properly served to her republican challenger Kevin Hill and as a result, has reversed an order by Washington County Judge Michael Lucas. The matter has now been sent back to Judge Lucas who is expected to issue a ruling within the next week or so. The challenge that Hough filed against Hill involved him writing in his candidacy filing that he was “self-employed” despite a previous statement earlier this year that he was unemployed. Hill, of Mt. Pleasant Township, testified at a March 21st hearing challenging his candidacy, that he was self-employed on the date he filed his paperwork because he had recently started selling his sports memorabilia collection on an online auction site. Lucas though, dismissed Hough’s challenge because he determined that Hill was never personally served information notifying him of the date and time of the hearing, as required by Senior Judge Katherine Emery’s order.
