March 29, 2024 5:10 am
The Moscow concert hall attack a week ago that left more than 140 people dead was a major blunder for Russia’s law enforcement agencies. While the government register of terrorist and extremist groups in the country includes al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, it also lists LGBTQ+ activists and political opposition groups like that of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. That has raised questions about how Russia’s vast security services evaluate threats to the country and how gunmen could easily kill so many people at a public event. President Vladimir Putin came to power 24 years ago by taking a tough line against what he labeled as terrorism.
March 29, 2024 5:11 am
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The top United Nations court has ordered Israel to take measures including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into Gaza to tackle crippling shortages in the war-ravaged enclave. The International Court of Justice issued two new so-called provisional measures in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of acts of genocide in its military campaign launched after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. Israel stringently denies it is committing genocide and says its military campaign is self defense. Thursday’s order came after South Africa sought more provisional measures, including a ceasefire, citing starvation in Gaza. Israel urged the court not to issue new orders.
March 29, 2024 2:46 am
(AP) – Now we know what Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who predicts whether an early spring will arrive each Feb. 2, does on the other 364 days. The Pennsylvania group that handles Phil, and his groundhog wife, Phyliss, says the couple have become parents. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club said in a Facebook post Wednesday that Phyliss recently gave birth to two healthy babies. It did not specify their sex or give names for either one. “We’re pleased to announce that Punxsutawney Phil has had his first children; we believe there are two baby groundhogs and that Phil and Phyllis have started a family,” said Thomas Dunkel, president of a tuxedo-clad group called The Inner Circle that carries on the groundhog tradition each year. “We’re pleased about it, and I talked to Phil with my cane, which lets me speak Groundhogese, and Phil could not be more excited that he started a family.” Dunkel said a club member discovered the babies Saturday when he came to feed their parents fruit and vegetables. Phil emerges from his burrow each year the morning of Feb. 2. If he sees his shadow, tradition holds, there will be six more weeks of winter. This year, he did not see his shadow, heralding an early spring. Although the best known, Phil is far from the only groundhog to try his hand at meteorology. There have been weather-predicting groundhogs in at least 28 U.S. states and Canadian provinces, and less formal celebrations far and wide. Phil and Phyliss live in climate-controlled quarters at the Punxsutawney Memorial Library. But like most growing families, they now need larger digs. The club plans to move them to a larger home on the library’s grounds. Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, Punxsutawney Phil comes with his own mythology, including the claim that he will live forever, due to imbibing some magic juice called “The Elixir Of Life.” (His wife is not allowed to partake of the elixir, and thus, is not immortal. Where are groundhog suffragettes when they’re truly needed?)
March 29, 2024 9:58 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 87. Gossett always thought of his early career as a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him from an early age and propelling him forward, toward his Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman.” He also was a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964 and recently played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of “The Color Purple.”
March 28, 2024 3:13 pm
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. — A former Bridgeville police officer is facing aggravated assault by vehicle charges after a pedestrian crash in December 2023. The officer’s name is Daine Lower. Last year, a 25-year-old woman was walking across a pedestrian walkway when she was hit by the patrol car. She was taken to a hospital in critical condition. According to investigators, Lower’s body camera shows him using his cell phone video while driving, just before the crash. Police say he appeared to be watching a video on his phone. Video from the patrol vehicle shows the officer was traveling 29 mph when he hit the victim and that he didn’t hit the brakes at impact, according to Allegheny County police. Lower is also charged with reckless driving and recklessly endangering another person. Lower is no longer employed with the Bridgeville Police Department, according to police. Bridgeville Police Chief Chad King released a statement, saying in part that the department has fully cooperated with the investigation.
March 28, 2024 4:40 am
Members of the Washington County Opioid Overdose Coalition met Wednesday to discuss data related to opioid overdoses and prevention in Washington County. Cheryl Andrews, Executive Director of the Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission led off the meeting by discussing the Commission’s foundation in 2016 and its affiliation with the Opioid Overdose Coalition. The WDAC is the provider of education, training and overdose prevention supplies. Kiandra Foster is a program manager at the University of Pittsburgh Program Evaluation and Research Unit. She spoke on a number of topics regarding stigma of opioid use disorder and how to eliminate it. She also spoke on harm prevention strategies to assist those with an opioid use disorder. Physical tools available are Narcan kits that can help revive someone experiencing an overdose. Fentanyl and xylazine test strips allow users to test their samples. According to Foster, studies show that if a user finds fentanyl in their sample, between 70%-90% of those users will choose not to continue that particular usage. She also spoke of a strategy of Never Use Alone. That means that if a user chooses to use, they should have someone present to call for medical assistance in case of an overdose. If no one is available, they can call the Never Use Alone hotline to have someone there to make contact with emergency responders if the user overdoses while on the phone. Common Pleas Court Judge John DiSalle (pictured) is a co-chair of the coalition and directs the specialty courts for the county, specifically the drug treatment court. He says that it is impossible to prosecute our way out of the overdose problem. We must overcome the stigma of substance abuse disorders and educate and treat users so that they may find their way out of their addiction. Studies show that there is a 76% drop in recidivism when specialty courts are employed.
March 28, 2024 4:44 am
BULLSKIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A man was killed in a crash in Bullskin Township on Wednesday afternoon. Crews were called to Route 119 near Kingview Road at 3:23 p.m., a Fayette County 911 supervisor said. The victim has been identified as Joseph Baker Jr., 25. Route 119 was closed between Route 819 in East Huntingdon Township and Kingview Road. No one else was hurt, according to dispatchers.
March 28, 2024 4:48 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal appeals court says a requirement for Pennsylvania voters to put accurate handwritten dates on the outside envelopes of their mail-in ballots doesn’t run afoul of a civil rights law. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday to uphold enforcement of the required date on return envelopes. The dates are a technical mandate that caused thousands of votes to be declared invalid in the 2022 election. The total number is a small fraction of the large state’s electorate. The court’s ruling puts additional attention on Pennsylvania’s election procedures ahead of the presidential election.
March 28, 2024 2:20 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A proposal to ban the purchase, sale and production of untraceable gun parts has passed the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives. The bill passed on Wednesday, with Democrats in the House using their majority to propel gun control after years of stagnation in a divided state government. The legislation passed the House 104-97, with almost all Democrats and three Republicans voting in favor of it. The bill will likely face a cold reception in the GOP-controlled state Senate, which has not taken up gun control measures advanced by the House this session.
March 28, 2024 4:52 am
BALTIMORE (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says the cargo ship that crashed into and collapsed a bridge in Baltimore underwent “routine engine maintenance” in port beforehand. U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said at a news conference Wednesday that authorities had been informed that the ship was going to undergo the maintenance. He added that they were not informed of any problems. The ship collided into a support pillar early Tuesday, causing the span to buckle into the river. The bodies of two of six workers who plunged into the water were recovered earlier in the day. The others are presumed dead.
