February 22, 2023 4:21 am
WARSAW (AP) – President Joe Biden is wrapping up his whirlwind, four-day visit to Poland and Ukraine. He’s reassuring eastern flank NATO allies that his administration is highly attuned to the looming threats and other impacts spurred by the grinding Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before departing Warsaw on Wednesday, Biden will hold talks with leaders from the Bucharest Nine. The collection of nations on the most eastern flank of NATO was formed in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The B9 countries’ anxieties have become more heightened as many worry Putin could move to take military action against them if he’s successful in Ukraine.
February 22, 2023 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration says it will generally deny asylum to migrants who show up at the U.S. southern border without first seeking protection in a country they passed through. That mirrors an attempt by the Trump administration that never took effect because it was blocked in court. The measure stops short of a total ban but imposes severe limitations on asylum for any nationality except Mexicans, who don’t have to travel through a third country to reach the U.S. It doesn’t take effect immediately and is almost certain to face legal challenges, and it has to first go through a 30-day public comment period.
February 22, 2023 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Thousands of hours of surveillance footage from the attack on the U.S. Capitol are being made available to Fox News host Tucker Carlson. It’s a stunning level of access granted by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and it’s raising new questions about the Republican leader’s commitment to transparency, oversight and safety at the Capitol. A hard-right political commentator, Carlson says his team is spending the week at the Capitol pouring through the video and preparing to reveal their findings. But granting such high-profile access to sensitive security details to such a deeply partisan figure is a highly unusual move that is raising alarms on Capitol Hill.
February 22, 2023 4:06 am
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — (WPXI) – Residents living near the East Palestine train derailment site are reporting a lot of health concerns. Rashes, sore throats, headaches and runny eyes are the most common complaints 11 News has heard from folks living in and around the original evacuation zone in East Palestine, Ohio and Darlington Township in Beaver County. However, it’s not all physical symptoms. The uncertainty has a lot of people feeling on edge and concerned about their long-term health. Folks have also been sharing pictures of the rashes they say they’re experiencing just from being in their homes. Some are so severe they look like chemical burns. Our news partners at Channel 11 talked to one neighbor, Eric Cozza, who said his wife has an autoimmune disease and her rashes have been so bad, they had to go to the emergency room. Cozza lives .3 miles from the derailment site. He’s lived in East Palestine his entire life and said he’s never experienced the symptoms he’s now dealing with. He said he won’t let his kids or dogs in the yard because he’s afraid the soil is contaminated. “Headaches, non-stop headaches,” Cozza tells Channel 11. “Yesterday I went to Boardman for roughly two hours. All my symptoms went away. When we got home, they all came back.”
February 22, 2023 4:05 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – For the third time this month, warm winds could push temps back to record levels again Thursday. Highs will climb into the 60s through the day and could touch 70 degrees or more. The current record is 70 degrees set in 1922. For comparison, the average high temperature is 42. The warmth won’t stick around though with colder winds dropping the temperature more than 30 degrees by Friday morning. Wind chills in the low 20s will make it chilly at the th bus stop. Temperatures will rebound back into the mid 40s to start the weekend, with highs climbing near 50 by Sunday.
February 22, 2023 4:02 am
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wants the nation’s freight railroads to immediately act to improve safety while regulators try to strengthen safety rules in the wake of a fiery derailment in Ohio that forced evacuations when toxic chemicals were released and burned. Buttigieg announced the reforms Tuesday — two days after he warned Norfolk Southern to fulfill its promises to clean up the mess just outside East Palestine, Ohio, and help the town recover. The railroad reiterated its commitment to safety and aiding East Palestine but didn’t directly respond to Buttigieg’s criticism. The head of the EPA plans to return to the town Tuesday to talk about the next steps in the cleanup and efforts to keep people safe.
February 21, 2023 1:53 pm
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) – Federal environmental regulators have taken charge of the cleanup from the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment and chemical burn and ordered Norfolk Southern to foot the bill. The Environmental Protection Agency told Norfolk Southern to take all available measures to clean up contaminated air and water. Regulators also said the company would be required to reimburse the federal government for a new program to provide cleaning services for impacted residents and businesses. The EPA warned Norfolk Southern that if failed to comply with its order, the agency would perform the work itself and seek triple damages from the company.
February 21, 2023 4:24 am
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – It’s Mardi Gras – or Fat Tuesday in New Orleans – and the annual, ebullient climax of the city’s Carnival season comes this year with some political intrigue. Mild weather is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of tourists and locals to city streets, many of them in costume, to mark the raucous end of Carnival season. Among the revelers will be opponents of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who are gathering last-minute signatures ahead of a Wednesday deadline to force a recall election. There’s also an undercurrent of worry about recurring violent crime. One person was killed and four wounded when gunfire broke out during a Sunday night parade.
February 21, 2023 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court is taking up its first case about a federal law that is credited with helping create the modern internet. The law shields Google, Twitter, Facebook and other companies from lawsuits over content posted on their sites by others. The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday about whether the family of a terrorism victim can sue Google for helping extremists spread their message and attract new recruits. The case is the court’s first look at Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, adopted early in the internet age to protect companies from being sued over information their users post online.
February 21, 2023 4:16 am
ISTANBUL (AP) – Authorities and media in Turkey and Syria say the death toll has risen to eight in a new and powerful earthquake that struck two weeks after a devastating temblor killed nearly 45,000 people. Turkey’s disaster management authority said Tuesday that six people were killed and 294 others were injured with 18 in critical condition after Monday’s 6.4-magnitude quake. Pro-government media outlets said in Syria reported that a woman and a girl died as a result of panic during the earthquake in the provinces of Hama and Tartus. The earthquake’s epicenter was in the town of Defne in Turkey’s Hatay province bordering Syria. It was also felt in Jordan, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and as far away as Egypt. It was followed by a 5.8 temblor and dozens of aftershocks.
