July 13, 2024 3:53 am
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge has thrown out the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin in the middle of his trial and said it cannot be filed again. The 66-year-old actor wept and hugged his lawyers and his wife after Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer announced her decision on Friday. She dismissed the case based on the misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense. Baldwin, the star of “30 Rock” and frequent host of “Saturday Night Live,” could have gotten 18 months in prison if he had been convicted.
July 13, 2024 3:49 am
HOUSTON (AP) — In the wake of Hurricane Beryl, fresh food and cool air are coming from Houston community groups that have honed their disaster services in a city frequently battered by extreme weather. Nonprofits and mutual aid organizations are bringing relief for some of the millions without power after the Category 1 storm knocked electricity out across the major American city. But some find their resources drained by the repeat extreme weather. And it is only the beginning of what experts say will be a busy hurricane season. The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s Sally Ray says climate change requires donors to proactively help build the capacity of emergency services.
July 13, 2024 3:46 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief is appealing for funding for the beleaguered U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East. He’s also accusing Israel of issuing evacuation orders in the war-torn territory forcing Palestinians “to move like human pinballs across a landscape of destruction and death.” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a donor’s conference Friday that the agency, known as UNRWA, faces “a profound funding gap.” UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said at the start of the conference that the agency only had funds to operate through August. At the end, he told reporters the total amount in pledges won’t be known until next week. But he is confident there will be enough new money to keep the agency running through September.
July 13, 2024 3:44 am
DETROIT (AP) — President Joe Biden is forcefully defying the growing number of critics in his own party who have called on him to exit the race, pivoting to warnings about a second Donald Trump term and declaring he is “not done yet.” As a raucous Detroit crowd chanted “don’t you quit!” and “we got your back!” Biden said again that he was still running for reelection and vowed to “shine a spotlight” on Trump. The show of force from Biden at the Friday evening rally was part of his team’s relentless sprint to convince fretting lawmakers, nervous donors and a skeptical electorate that at the age of 81, he is still capable of being president.
July 13, 2024 2:49 am
A structure fire in Bentleyville has been extinguished. The Bentleyville Tavern at 843 Main street caught fire. Washington County 9-1-1 officials state that the fire started in the kitchen at about 2:06 PM. Apartments upstairs suffered smoke damage. No injuries were reported. The state fire marshal has been contacted. Fire companies from Bentleyville, Ellsworth, Cokeburg, Fallowfield Twp., North Strabane, Charleroi and Donora all responded to assist in the event.
July 13, 2024 2:46 am
Day three of testimony is in the books in the murder trial for Scott Edmonds, the North Strabane physical therapist accused of killing his wife, 49 year old Louise Weis-Edmonds in March of 2014. The prosecution brought 2 witnesses to the stand. The first was a toxicologist to indicate that the victim was too intoxicated at the time of her death to be able to hold a gun in the position used in the killing to commit suicide. A police detective testified that he had been called to a previous domestic incident at the Edmonds’ home where both were intoxicated. The prosecution then rested and the defense called their own toxicologist to try and refute the prosecution’s toxicology experts. The trial will resume on Monday at 9:30 AM
July 13, 2024 1:53 am
BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally, days before he was to accept the Republican nomination for a third time. A barrage of gunfire set off panic Saturday, and a bloodied Trump was surrounded by Secret Service and hurried to his SUV as he pumped his fist in a show of defiance. Trump’s campaign said the presumptive GOP nominee was doing “fine” after the shooting, which he said pierced the upper part of his right ear. The FBI early Sunday named 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the subject involved in the assassination attempt. A local prosecutor said the suspected gunman and at least one attendee were dead.
July 12, 2024 4:57 am
SHIJAIYAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians have returned to breathtaking scenes of destruction in Gaza City after Israeli troops withdrew, ending a two-week offensive there. Civil defense workers said Thursday they had so far found the bodies of 60 people in the rubble. Nearly every building in the Shijaiyah neighborhood is flattened for block after block. Most are reduced to giant piles of concrete and twisted rebar. Families who fled Israel’s assault ventured back to salvage whatever they could. One resident, Sharif Abu Shanab, found his family’s four-story building collapsed. “I can’t enter it. I can’t take anything out of it, not even a can of tuna. We have nothing, no food or drink.” Israel says it was pursuing militants who regrouped in the district.
July 12, 2024 4:56 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden faced a test Thursday that he had avoided so far this year — a solo news conference with questions from the White House press corps. He made at least two notable flubs, referring at an event beforehand to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” and then calling Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” when asked about her by a reporter. But he also gave detailed responses about his work to preserve NATO and his plans for a second term. And he insisted he’s not leaving the race even as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers ask him to step aside.
July 12, 2024 4:53 am
Republicans have nominated Donald Trump for the presidency twice before. But the third time will be different. The Republican National Convention that begins Monday in Milwaukee marks the first time Trump comes into a summer convention with the GOP in crisp lockstep behind him and Democrats reeling. In 2016 and 2020, he was the underdog, and he faced persistent skeptics even among Republicans. Some of those dissidents remain. But they won’t be inside the arena in Milwaukee. Delegates will hear from Trump and ratify the GOP platform that he approved. They’ll be introduced to Trump’s vice presidential running mate. And, of course, they’ll hear plenty of speakers mock President Joe Biden as a failure.
