May 15, 2024 5:07 am
OCALA, Fla. (AP) — Investigators say a man with a long record of dangerous driving told them he smoked marijuana oil and took prescription drugs hours before he sideswiped a bus. Eight farm workers from Mexico were killed and dozens more were injured. Bryan Maclean Howard pleaded not guilty Wednesday to driving under the influence-manslaughter, and a judge denied bail. The Florida Highway Patrol says the 41-year-old drove his pickup into the center line on a two-lane road early Tuesday and hit the farmworker bus, causing it to veer off the road, strike a tree and flip over. Howard’s arrest report says he had bloodshot and watery eyes and slurred speech after the crash.
May 15, 2024 5:01 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A miniature poodle named Sage has won the top prize at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Sage bested six other finalists to claim the best in show award Tuesday night at the United States’ most illustrious canine event. A German shepherd named Mercedes placed second. Each stood, strode and sought to shine before the judge at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the home of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. In all, more than 2,500 dogs spanning about 200 breeds and varieties entered the show. They’re judged according to which one best matches the “standard,” or ideal, for its breed.
May 14, 2024 2:55 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Cohen is testifying again in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. But there’s been no witness-stand bombast or fireworks so far from Cohen, a man who was defined for years by his braggadocio as Trump’s problem-zapper. Instead, his testimony is about purposefully mislabeled checks, false receipts and blind loyalty. And it underscored the foundational argument of the case — that it’s not about the spectacle of what Trump was paying for, but rather his effort to illegally cover up those payments. A shocking moment did come, but it was courtesy of House Speaker Mike Johnson who appeared at the courthouse with Trump and declared the Manhattan criminal trial illegitimate. (Photo: AP)
May 14, 2024 2:57 pm
OCALA, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Highway Patrol says a bus carrying farmworkers in central Florida has overturned, killing eight people and injuring another 40 passengers. Authorities say the bus was transporting 53 farmworkers early Tuesday morning when it collided with a truck and swerved off a road in Marion County, north of Orlando. The bus crashed through a fence and ended up on its side in a field. The workers were being transported to Cannon Farms in Dunellon, which has been harvesting watermelons. Cannon Farms describes itself as a family owned commercial farming operation that has farmed its land for more than 100 years.
May 14, 2024 8:44 am
Two people were flown to area hospitals following a two vehicle crash Tuesday morning in Somerset Township. Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers say it happened just before 6 a.m. in the 1900 block of Route 136. The crash closed the roadway between Mosier Road and Brownlee Road for about two hours. There is no word on the identity or condition of those injured.
May 14, 2024 5:00 am
FINLEYVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI) – Joyce and Gene Abel were throwing a birthday party for their 4-year-old granddaughter, Thea, on Saturday and said they didn’t see or hear it coming. “Wind started to pick up a little bit, I was leaning on the railing, that tornado appeared right there – right in front of my face,” Abel recalled. Gene was outside with his son and said the tornado was roaring and he couldn’t hear anyone yelling for him to get inside. “I literally had to hold onto that railing, it was pulling my feet out from under me,” Abel said. “It couldn’t have lasted any more than 30 seconds.” Abel says the kids made it safely into the basement just before the roof of the home was sucked up into the air. His massive, 200-year-old oak trees were twisted and snapped. Insulation and debris are now tangled in the limbs. Dead birds were found all over his front yard. You can see the path the tornado took, tearing through town from Abel’s house to Crossroads Ministries on Walter Long Road. Nearly 100 people were inside the church during Saturday evening mass when the tornado hit. The windows of the church were blown out and the glass cut a couple of people inside as it swirled in the wind. They were not seriously hurt. The Abels don’t yet know if their home is a total loss but they’re preparing to be in a hotel for the next eight months.
May 14, 2024 1:51 am
A world-renowned forensic pathologist who served Allegheny County for two decades has died. A spokesperson for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts confirmed Cyril Wecht died on Monday. He was 93. During his time as the Allegheny County coroner, Wecht performed about 21,000 autopsies and reviewed or been consulted on 42,000 additional postmortem exams, according to a biography on Duquesne University. Some of the high-profile cases he was involved in include O.J. Simpson, Kurt Cobain, the Menendez Brothers, Scott Peterson, Chandra Levy, Elvis Presley and Jeffrey Epstein. He likewise investigated the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. He detailed his career and personal life, including his professional pitfalls and public corruption trial, in a memoir titled “The Life and Deaths of Cyril Wecht: Memoirs of America’s Most Controversial Forensic Pathologist.” Wecht held faculty positions at several Pittsburgh area schools, including the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University and Carlow University.
May 13, 2024 5:11 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-foe awaits a bruising round of questioning from the former president’s lawyers after testimony that linked the celebrity client to all aspects of a hush money scheme that prosecutors say was aimed at stifling stories that threatened his 2016 campaign. Michael Cohen returns to the stand Tuesday as the prosecution’s star witness, where a day earlier he delivered matter-of-fact testimony that went to the heart of the former president’s trial. He said, for instance, that Trump had promised to reimburse the money he fronted for the payments and was constantly updated about behind-the-scenes efforts to bury stories feared to be harmful to the campaign.
May 14, 2024 5:09 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced diplomatic mission to reassure Ukraine that it has American support as it struggles to defend against increasingly intense Russian attacks. The two-day visit starting Tuesday comes less than a month after Congress approved a long-delayed foreign assistance package that sets aside $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, much of which will go toward replenishing badly depleted artillery and air defense systems. It’s Blinken’s fourth trip to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. U.S. officials say Blinken will underscore the Biden administration’s commitment to Ukraine’s defense and long-term security.
May 14, 2024 5:08 am
The United Nations says more than half a million Palestinians have been displaced in recent days by escalating Israeli military operations in both southern and northern Gaza. Aid workers are struggling to distribute dwindling supplies to Palestinians in makeshift tent camps facing catastrophic levels of hunger. The United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees says around 450,000 Palestinians were driven from the southern Gaza city of Rafah over the past week. The U.N. said Monday that 100,000 people were displaced so far by Israeli evacuation orders in northern Gaza. Israeli forces are battling militants in northern areas despite launching major operations earlier in the war. Palestinian officials say Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed at least 12 people overnight and into Tuesday.
