March 19, 2023 8:09 am
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Memphis police supervisor on scene when Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by officers retired with his benefits the day before a hearing to fire him. Documents filed to revoke Lt. DeWayne Smith’s law enforcement certification show he ignored Nichols saying he couldn’t breathe after the beating, failing to take off his handcuffs or get medical help. The documents say Smith didn’t wear his body camera and told Nichols’ family he was intoxicated with no evidence. Nichols’ family attorney Ben Crump says letting Smith retire was a cowardly move to avoid consequences. Smith is not one of the five officers charged with second degree murder in Nichols’ death.
March 19, 2023 8:07 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United Nations officials say an unprecedented wartime deal that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia has been extended. Neither the U.N. nor Erdogan said how long the agreement would last. Ukraine announced a 120-day extension on Saturday, the day the deal was set to expire. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson says Moscow agreed to a 60-day renewal. Ukraine and Russia signed separate agreements with the U.N. and Turkey last year to allow food to leave the Black Sea region after Russia invaded its neighbor more than a year ago. Moscow has complained about the implementation.
March 19, 2023 8:07 am
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — An earthquake that shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru has killed at least 15 people and left others trapped under rubble. The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of about 6.8 on Saturday about 50 miles south of Guayaquil. That’s Ecuador’s second-largest city. Ecuador’s emergency response agency reports two people died in the highlands state of Azuay and 12 others in the coastal state of El Oro. Peruvian authorities say a 4-year-old girl died from head trauma she suffered when her home collapsed. In Ecuador, authorities also reported cracks on buildings and homes and some collapsed walls.
March 19, 2023 8:06 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump says in a social media post that he expects to be arrested Tuesday and he’s calling on supporters to protest. A New York grand jury is investigating hush money payments to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president. But there’s no evidence that prosecutors have made any formal outreach to him. And a spokesperson and a lawyer for Trump says his Truth Social post was based on media reports rather than any actual update from, or communication with, prosecutors. The district attorney’s office declined to comment. Trump’s post seems designed to preempt a formal announcement from prosecutors and to galvanize outrage from his base of supporters in advance of charges widely seen as coming soon.
March 19, 2023 8:05 am
PARIS (AP) — A parody photo appearing on protest signs and online in France shows President Emmanuel Macron sitting on piles of garbage. The image references the trash going uncollected with sanitation workers on strike, but also what many French people think about their 45-year-old leader. Macron hoped his push to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 would cement his legacy as the president who transformed France’s economy for the 21st century. Instead, he finds his leadership contested, both in parliament and on the streets of major cities. His decision to force a pension reform bill through without a vote could hamper his government’s ability to pass legislation for the remaining four years of his term.
March 19, 2023 8:04 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Kremlin says that Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the occupied port city of Mariupol, his first trip to Ukrainian territory that Moscow illegally annexed in September. Mariupol became a worldwide symbol of defiance after outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces held out in a steel mill there for nearly three months before Moscow finally took control of it in May. Putin traveled to Mariupol late Saturday after visiting Crimea, a short distance southwest of Mariupol, to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine. The visit has come as a show of defiance by the Russian leader two days after a court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.
March 19, 2023 4:15 am
MCKEESPORT, Pa. (WPXI) — The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania filed a notice of intention to seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing a McKeesport police officer and injuring another in February. Johnathan Morris is accused of killing Officer Sean Sluganski and injuring Officer Charles Thomas on Feb. 6. Police were responding to a call from his mother, who said the military veteran was having a PTSD episode. Morris allegedly fled from police when they tried talking to him, ending up in a yard in the 1300 block of Grandview Avenue. Witnesses driving on Grandview Avenue told police Morris approached them and told them police were trying to kill him. He asked them to film him, which they did, according to court documents. The witnesses told police that soon after, Officer Thomas, driving a police car, pulled into an alley off 1300 Grandview Avenue, and Officer Sluganski arrived on foot. Morris pulled out a gun and shot Officer Thomas and then shot Officer Sluganski, according to court documents. Morris was shot in the leg when Officer Thomas returned fire. He fled to a nearby convenience store, where a man applied a tourniquet to his leg before more officers arrived and took Morris into custody. He was taken to the Allegheny County Jail after being released from the hospital. Morris is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, assault of a law enforcement officer and criminal attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.
March 19, 2023 1:52 am
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh says there was a drug bust in the city of Washington on Friday. Walsh says a search warrant was served at 90 East Beau Street following a several months long investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies. According to Walsh, the bust resulted in the arrest of 45-year-old Carl Darnell Jones. He says agents, during their search, seized some seven ounces of cocaine, cash and drug paraphernalia. Jones was subsequently arraigned on multiple drug charges and lodged in the Washington County Jail in lieu of 150-thousand-dollars cash bond.
March 19, 2023 1:20 am
No April fools joke. It’s going to cost more to ride Freedom Transit come April 1. For the first time since 2018, fares will increase for Shared Ride and ADA Complementary Paratransit service. Executive Director Sheila Gombita says rising operating costs are to blame. Shared Ride passengers will pay between 25-and-50-cents more per one-way trip. Riders on the ADA Complementary Paratransit service will pay 45-cents more per trip. Gombita says the average cost per trip has increase by 33-percent since the last fare increase. Those increases include fuel, wages and insurance. Trips to senior centers and adult day cares for registered individuals age 65 and older will continue to be provided at no charge thanks to a sponsorship from the Southwest Pa. Area Agency on Aging. Freedom Transit will also be offering same-day trips for riders registered in the Shared Ride program. Historically, riders have been required to make reservations at least one day in advance. Under the pilot program, passengers with last minute needs can request a trip for the same day as long as space is available at no additional cost.
March 18, 2023 4:28 am
BEIJING (AP) — The mystery to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic now has some new clues. International scientists have found raccoon dog DNA commingled with the virus in previously unavailable genetic data. It came from samples collected in early 2020 at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, shortly after the first human cases were detected in the city. It could mean that the pandemic originated from animals, not one of the labs near the market. But their analysis has not been reviewed for publication and other scientists say how the virus began sickening people remains to be determined.
