February 9, 2023 4:16 am
Hundreds of thousands of students who have dropped off public school rolls since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic are unaccounted for. An analysis by The Associated Press, Stanford University’s Big Local News project and Stanford education professor Thomas Dee found 240,000 students in 21 states who have gone missing from schools. They did not move out of state, and did not sign up for private school or home-school. Early in the pandemic, school staff went door-to-door to reengage kids, but most such efforts have ended. Dee says the data suggests a need to understand more about the children who aren’t in school and how that will affect their development.
February 9, 2023 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration says the China balloon shot down by the U.S. was equipped to collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial spy program that has targeted more than 40 countries. In a statement Thursday, the administration cited imagery of the balloon from American U-2 spy planes. Meanwhile, the U.S. House voted unanimously to condemn China’s actions. The administration statement from a senior State Department official offered the most detail to date linking China’s People’s Liberation Army to the balloon that traversed the United States. The public details are meant to refute China’s persistent denials of wrongdoing, including a claim Thursday that U.S. accusations about the balloon amount to “information warfare” against Beijing.
February 9, 2023 4:12 am
BRUSSELS (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is wrapping up a whirlwind tour of his major European backers. Already he will head home with heaps of goodwill, promises of more military aid and France’s highest medal of honor. The European Union’s 27 leaders were awaiting the man in khaki in Brussels on Thursday and hoped to impress on him that the powerful bloc is steadfast in its support of embattled Ukraine as Russia is feared to be making moves for a new offensive around the Feb. 24 one-year anniversary of the war.
February 9, 2023 4:10 am
ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) – Thousands who lost their homes in a catastrophic earthquake huddled around campfires and clamored for food and water in the bitter cold, three days after the temblor and a series of aftershocks hit Turkey and Syria. More than 20,000 were killed. Emergency crews used pick axes, shovels and jackhammers to dig through twisted metal and concrete. They occasionally still pulled survivors out. But in some places, they switched the focus to demolishing unsteady buildings. While stories of miraculous rescues briefly buoyed spirits, the grim reality of the hardship facing tens of thousands who survived the disaster cast a pall.
February 9, 2023 4:00 am
A Washington man accused of selling cocaine laced with fentanyl to two other Washington men pleaded guilty to felony charges of drug delivery resulting in death. Robert Hayes, 41 was charged with selling the fatal doses of cocaine to Brandon Howard, 37 in December of 2019 and then to Joseph Francis, 43 in January of 2020. Hayes’ cases were scheduled for trial beginning on Monday. He avoided trial by pleading guilty to two counts of drug delivery resulting in death and one count of illegal use of a communications device. All three felonies will net him incarceration in state prison for 8½ to 20 years. Hayes avoided a possible sentence of 20 to 40 years in each case if a jury were to find him guilty. He will be responsible for restitution to both families for funeral expenses in an amount more than $21,000. A portion of that restitution could be paid by a co-defendant in the Howard case. Ashley Matthews is facing similar charges as Hayes. Her case is working its way through the court system.
February 9, 2023 3:59 am
A California man who is accused of supplying liquor to minors and allowing them to play with a hand gun in September of 2022 pleaded guilty on Wednesday. Jeremy Jackson pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. He was sentenced to time served to 23 months on parole. He will also serve two years of probation. Jackson had already spent eight days in jail before being released on $30,000 bond. Jacksons wife Trisha faces similar charges and remains in the Washington County Jail as her case works through the court.
February 9, 2023 2:25 am
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — (WPXI) – The evacuation order issued to East Palestine and some Beaver County residents due to the train derailment has been lifted. Residents within a one-mile radius of the train derailment site, including some in Darlington Township, were told to leave their homes Sunday after the temperature dropped in one of the rail cars, putting it at risk for an explosion. Officials with Norfolk Southern say testing will be made available for both wells and air in homes. “We’re right beside the creek. We can smell the chemicals. It’s bad,” Chase Ammon said. He lives between East Palestine and Negley. Safety officials will continue to monitor the area and are offering air quality readings to people who would like them done within their homes. Norfolk Southern Railroad is paying for a contractor to work with police, members of EPA and state officials to hold the tests. Free water tests will also be available for anyone with a private well, including all of the private wells in Pennsylvania. Until the tests are done, people with private wells are asked to use bottled water. Anyone who is uncomfortable going back to their home can contact the railroad assistance center at 800-230-7049 to ask about hotel assistance.
February 8, 2023 4:18 pm
PHOENIX (AP) – Damar Hamlin has been named winner of the NFLPA’s Alan Page Community Award and made a brief appearance in Phoenix during Super Bowl week to receive the award. Hamlin read a brief statement with his parents on stage with him at the Phoenix Convention Center. The Buffalo Bills safety received the award a little over a month after he went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati. Hamlin’s toy drive fundraiser has raised more than $9 million since he collapsed.
February 8, 2023 4:19 am
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Documents released Tuesday provide a scathing account of what authorities are calling the “blatantly unprofessional” conduct of five officers involved in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop last month – including new revelations about how one officer took and shared pictures of the bloodied victim. The officer, Demetrius Haley, stood over Nichols as he lay critically injured from a police beating and took photographs, which he sent to other officers and a female acquaintance, according to documents released by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission. Haley’s lawyer declined to comment, and lawyers for the other four officers either declined to comment or could not be reached.
February 8, 2023 4:18 am
LONDON (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Britain on Wednesday in his first trip to the U.K. since the war began. The British government says Zelenskyy will meet with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and address Parliament on Wednesday. The U.K. is one of the biggest military backers of Ukraine and has sent the country more than 2 billion pounds ($2,5 billion) in weapons and equipment.
