March 12, 2024 1:23 am
The Washington County Commissioners have announced the hiring of a new Department of Human Services Director. John Tamiggi will begin work on March 18. Tamiggi is a lifelong resident of southwestern Pennsylvania. Most recently Tamiggi was the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity. He received his doctorate from Point Park University where he also served as a professor. He will oversee a department that includes four agencies, three units and a housing and homeless coordinator.
March 11, 2024 5:21 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump is seeking to delay his March 25 hush money trial until the Supreme Court rules on the presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases. The Republican former president’s lawyers on Monday asked Manhattan Judge Juan Manuel Merchan to adjourn the New York criminal trial indefinitely until Trump’s immunity claim in his Washington, D.C., election interference case is resolved. Merchan did not immediately rule. Trump contends he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. His lawyers argue some of the evidence and alleged acts in the hush-money case overlap with his time in the White House and constitute official acts.
March 11, 2024 5:16 pm
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — President Joe Biden has issued a budget proposal for a second term aimed at getting voters’ attention with tax breaks for families, lower health care costs, smaller deficits and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations. The proposal for fiscal 2025 is unlikely to pass the House and Senate and become law. It’s an election year blueprint sketching what the future could hold. If it became law, deficits could be pruned $3 trillion over a decade. Parents could get an increased child tax credit. Corporate taxes would jump upward. Billionaires would be charged a minimum tax of 25%. It also has a $2,000 cap on drug costs. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the proposal a glaring reminder of the administration’s “insatiable appetite for reckless spending.”
March 11, 2024 5:14 pm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A law enforcement official says the driver and a suspected gunman are in custody in the shooting of eight Philadelphia high school students at a bus stop. The official on Monday says police continue to look for two juveniles who were also seen jumping out of the car last week and running toward the bus stop with the 18-year-old suspected shooter. The official is not authorized to discuss the case publicly and is speaking to The Associated Press with a grant of anonymity. The shooting Wednesday was the fourth in as many days on the public transit system.
March 11, 2024 5:22 am
LONDON (AP) — The Princess of Wales has apologized for “confusion” caused by her editing of a family photo released by the palace. The image of Kate and her children was intended to calm concern and speculation about the princess’s health, but had the opposite effect. Several news agencies that initially published the photo, including The Associated Press, withdrew the image over concerns about digital manipulation. Issued by the couple’s Kensington Palace office on Sunday, it was the first official photo of Kate since her abdominal surgery nearly two months ago. The retractions sent online speculation about Kate’s health into overdrive. On Monday, Kate said on social media that she occasionally edits photos. She offered an apology for any confusion.
March 11, 2024 5:20 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In Republican-led states across the U.S., conservative legislators are refusing to reevaluate abortion bans — even as doctors and patients insist the laws’ exceptions are dangerously unclear, resulting in denied treatment to some pregnant women in need. Instead, GOP leaders accuse abortion rights advocates of deliberately spreading misinformation and doctors of intentionally denying services in an effort to undercut the bans and make a political point. At the same time, however, some states are taking steps that they say will provide more clarity about when abortions can be legally performed. Abortion rights advocates say those steps will likely not be enough to solve the problem.
March 11, 2024 5:19 am
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians have begun fasting for Ramadan. The Muslim holy month arrived with cease-fire talks at a standstill, hunger worsening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to the five-month-old Israel-Hamas war. Prayers were held late Sunday outside amid the rubble of demolished buildings, and some people hung fairy lights and decorations in packed tent camps. But there was little to celebrate after five months of war that has killed over 30,000 Palestinians and left much of the territory in ruins. Families would ordinarily break the daily fast with holiday feasts, but even in those parts of Gaza where food is available, there is little beyond canned goods and the prices are too high for many.
March 11, 2024 5:17 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Oppenheimer,” a solemn three-hour biopic that became an unlikely billion-dollar box-office sensation, was crowed best picture at a 96th Academy Awards that doubled as a coronation for Christopher Nolan. The most closely watched contest of the Academy Awards went to Emma Stone, who won best actress for her performance as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things.” Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy have won their first Oscars. Robert Downey Jr. won best supporting actor at the Academy Awards, notching his first Oscar and handing the 58-year-old actor a crowning moment in an up-and-down career. Protests over Israel’s war in Gaza snarled traffic around the Academy Awards on Sunday, slowing stars’ arrival at the red carpet and turning the Oscar spotlight toward the ongoing conflict.
March 11, 2024 5:13 am
PITTSBURGH — The Powerball jackpot continues to grow, but someone in Pennsylvania still won a sizeable prize in Saturday night’s drawing. According to Powerball’s Draw Results, someone in Pennsylvania is one of 20 people across the country who won $50,000 by matching four of five white balls and the Powerball. The winning numbers drawn were 30-36-49-52-63 and the Powerball was 16. The Power Play was 5X. Since no one took home the grand prize, the jackpot is now worth an estimated $532 million.
March 11, 2024 5:04 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — An arbitrator has ordered the reinstatement of a Pittsburgh police officer fired following the death of a man a day after officers used a stun gun on him during an arrest. The ruling Friday came nearly two years after the officer and several others were fired in connection with the October 2021 death of 54-year-old Jim Rogers. His death was ruled accidental. No officers were charged. The city said it would fire five officers and discipline several others, but almost all settled for lesser penalties and returned to work; two retired. The city last year settled a federal lawsuit with Rogers’ estate for $8 million.
