July 27, 2024 4:44 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A key question is looming for Vice President Kamala Harris as she edges closer to gaining the Democratic presidential nomination: Can she turn the Biden-Harris economic record into a political advantage in a way that President Joe Biden failed to do? In some ways, her task would seem straightforward: The administration oversaw a vigorous rebound from the pandemic recession, one that shrank the U.S. unemployment rate to a half-century low of 3.4% in early 2023. Yet the cumulative jump in average prices over the past three years — roughly 20%, only partly offset by higher paychecks — has contributed to a general unease about the country’s direction.
July 27, 2024 4:42 am
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s military has ordered the evacuation of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it’s planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis. Saturday’s evacuation order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It’s the second evacuation issued this week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel’s punishing air and ground campaign. The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
July 27, 2024 4:40 am
California’s largest active fire has exploded in size, growing rapidly amid bone-dry fuel and threatening thousands of homes as firefighters scramble to meet the danger. The Park Fire’s intensity and rapid spread Friday evening led fire officials to make unwelcome comparisons to the monstrous Camp Fire, which burned out of control in nearby Paradise in 2018, killing 85 people and torching 11,000 homes. More than 130 structures have been destroyed by this fire so far, and thousands more remain threatened. Communities elsewhere in the U.S. West and Canada were under siege Friday, from a fast-moving blaze in rural Idaho to a new blaze that was causing evacuations in eastern Washington.
July 27, 2024 4:35 am
VERSAILLES, Pa. – A McMurray man is facing charges that include criminal homicide and assault of a law enforcement officer. The charges were filed against 40 year old Robert Kail in connection with a stabbing in Versailles that left a man dead and two other people taken to a local hospital. It happened around 8 p.m at a home along Worthington Street. First responders found a man on the porch of a duplex. He had been stabbed multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim was later identified by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office as Vincent Bazzone, 38. A man in the adjacent home was also stabbed and a woman was assaulted. They were both taken to a local hospital. Initial investigation shows Bazzone and Kail were involved in an altercation that led up to the stabbing. Police say Kail then went into the attached home and got into an altercation with the residents, stabbing the man and assaulting the woman, before driving away. The car was found in McKeesport and Kail was arrested. While he was being taken into custody, police say he fought with officers. An officer and a police K-9 were injured in the fight. Kail was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
July 27, 2024 4:35 am
Washington County Coroner Tim Warco says a Cecil Township man died in a tractor accident Wednesday night. Warco says eighty-six-year-old Robert Cowden was the operator and sole occupant of a tractor that went over a hillside in the one-hundred block of Ciaffoni Road around seven-thirty. Warco says his death is being investigated as a medical emergency and is being handled by the Cecil Township Police Department. Meanwhile, an autopsy is pending.
July 26, 2024 7:48 am
Funeral services have been announced for Michael “Mickey” Flynn. The longtime owner of the Union Grill Restaurant in downtown Washington died Wednesday at the age of 82. He was a native of Washington and a 1959 graduate of Washington High School. He served in the U.S Navy before returning to Washington and acquiring the restaurant in 1967. He operated it for some forty years before turning it over to his daughter. Friends will be received Sunday from 2 p.m to 7 p.m. at the William G. Neal Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Monday at 10 a.m at Immaculate Conception Church with burial to follow at Washington Cemetery. (PHOTO: William G. Neal Funeral Home)
July 26, 2024 7:27 am
ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris in her White House bid, giving the vice president the expected but still crucial backing of the nation’s two most popular Democrats. The endorsement was announced Friday in a video showing Harris accepting a joint phone call from the former first couple. It comes as Harris builds momentum as the party’s likely nominee after President Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection bid and endorse her against Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump. Harris thanks the Obamas for their backing and says she looks forward to campaigning with them ahead of the Nov. 5 Election Day.
July 26, 2024 5:14 am
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans have a crucial decision ahead of them. On Sunday, they decide whether to give President Nicolas Maduro a third six-year term in office or to allow the opposition a chance to deliver on their promise to undo the policies that caused economic collapse and forced millions to emigrate. Maduro is being challenged by nine candidates. Maduro has fended off previous challenges by barring rivals from elections and painting them as out-of-touch elitists in league with foreign powers. But this time, he is allowing the coalition of main opposition parties to participate with former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia as its candidate.
July 26, 2024 5:13 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood’s video game performers are going on strike, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections. The strike will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday. It’s the second strike for video game actors and performers under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It comes after nearly two years of negotiations with gaming giants. Union negotiators say gains have been made over wages and job safety but that the game studios will not make a deal over the regulation of generative AI.
July 26, 2024 5:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has told reporters that she’s “ready to debate Donald Trump.” She accused Trump of “backpedaling” away from a previous agreement for a debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10. Trump has said he would prefer to shift the event to Fox News, but he would be open to holding two debates with Harris. She says, “I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage.” She spoke to reporters after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a trip to Indiana and Texas.
