October 8, 2024 4:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is calling former President Donald Trump “incredibly irresponsible” for spreading falsehoods about the federal response to Hurricane Helene’s destruction. Harris on Monday offered especially sharp words as a new storm bears down on Florida with just weeks until Election Day. She said, “There’s a lot of mis- and disinformation being pushed out there by the former president.” Trump has made false claims since Helene, including saying the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims. He also falsely claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had run out of money because all of it had gone to programs for immigrants in the country illegally.
October 8, 2024 4:48 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to uphold a Biden administration regulation on ghost guns, the difficult-to-trace weapons found at crime scenes in increasing numbers. Key conservative justices seemed open to the government’s argument that kits for quickly making nearly untraceable guns at home can be regulated like other firearms, with background checks and serial numbers. The court previously allowed the rule to go into effect, and ghost gun numbers have since dropped in several cities. But manufacturers and gun rights groups argue the Biden administration overstepped by trying to regulate gun parts that had long been legal with hobbyists.
October 8, 2024 5:22 pm
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two pioneers of artificial intelligence have won the Nobel Prize in physics. John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton were awarded the prize Tuesday for discoveries and inventions that formed the building blocks of machine learning. Hinton said he was flabbergasted at being honored. He said AI is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats to humanity. Hopfield, who signed early petitions by researchers calling for strong control of the technology, compared the risks and benefits to work on viruses and nuclear energy, capable of helping and harming society. Both laureates urged vigilance in how the new technology is used.
October 7, 2024 4:51 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cissy Houston, a two-time Grammy-winning singer who performed alongside superstar musicians like Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin and the mother of Whitney Houston, has died. She was 91. Her daughter-in-law Pat Houston tells The Associated Press that Houston died Monday morning in her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease. The acclaimed gospel singer was surrounded by family members. Houston was in the well-known vocal group, the Sweet Inspirations, with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warwick. Houston won Grammys for her albums “Face to Face” in 1997 and “He Leadeth Me” the following year in the best traditional soul gospel album category.
October 7, 2024 5:13 am
No injuries are reported after a two-vehicle crash overnight in the City of Washington. Washington County 9-1-1 says it happened around 12:30 a.m. in the 500-block of East Maiden Street. Dispatchers say a pole was knocked down. The roadway was closed after the crash but reopened before 6 a.m.
October 6, 2024 5:25 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Severe thunderstorms rolled through Western Pennsylvania Sunday evening leaving thousands of people without power. As of 11:30 p.m., First Energy Corp (Penn Power) reported thousands of outages from multiple different counties. Here in Washington County there were only about 30 customers without service. Allegheny County had more than 230 outages. Greene County had more than 340 and Fayette County just 57.
October 7, 2024 5:15 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Sunday night showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys has started after a lengthy weather delay. The original scheduled start time of 8:20 p.m. was delayed nearly 90 minutes when a line of thunderstorms made their way through downtown Pittsburgh at around 8 p.m. The Steelers were just about to be introduced when the delay was called. With plenty of lightning around Acrisure Stadium, fans retreated to the concourse during the hour-long downpour.
October 7, 2024 5:27 am
BELLEAIR BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Milton strengthened rapidly into a Category 5 hurricane on a path toward Florida. The system is threatening the densely populated Tampa area with a potential direct hit and menacing the same stretch of coastline that was battered by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. The center of the storm could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay region, which has not endured a head-on hit by a hurricane in more than a century. Scientists expect the system to weaken slightly before landfall, though it is still forecast to hit as a Category 3 hurricane or higher.
October 7, 2024 5:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official says false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, which are being spread most prominently by Donald Trump, are “demoralizing” aid workers and creating fear in people who need recovery assistance. Deanne Criswell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency tells ABC that “it’s frankly ridiculous, and just plain false. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people.” She says the unfounded allegations have created a sense of fear and mistrust from residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground.
October 7, 2024 8:52 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — No one is likely to be happy with the projected higher deficits laid out in a new analysis of Kamala Harris’ and Donald Trump’s economic plans. The analysis released Monday by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests a Harris presidency could increase the national debt over 10 years by $3.5 trillion. That’s even though the vice president’s campaign insists her proposed investments in the middle class and housing would be offset by higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. The same analysis says former President Trump’s ideas could heap another $7.5 trillion onto the debt and possibly as much as $15.2 trillion.
