July 31, 2024 4:25 pm
CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump falsely suggested Kamala Harris had misled voters about her race as the former president appeared before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago Wednesday in an interview that quickly turned hostile. The Republican former president wrongly claimed that Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past only promoted her Indian heritage. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said while addressing the group’s annual convention.
July 31, 2024 2:58 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — U.S. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania says he’s recovering from COVID-19 at home. Fetterman said in a statement Tuesday that he was at his home in Braddock, just outside Pittsburgh, recovering and missed the day’s votes in the Senate. That included the Senate’s 91-3 passage of legislation that is designed to protect children from dangerous online content. The vote pushes forward with what would be the first major effort by Congress in decades to hold tech companies more accountable for the harm that they cause. In the statement, Fetterman says he supports the legislation and urged the House to pass it as soon as possible. (Photo: AP)
July 31, 2024 2:55 pm
DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president, giving her union firepower for the likely contest this November against Republican Donald Trump. UAW President Shawn Fain says the union’s “job” in this year’s election is to defeat Trump. The union has more than a million active and retired members with a strong base in what the Democrats call the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
July 31, 2024 1:56 pm
Multiple roads in Washington County are closed after a tractor-trailer hit a bridge. PennDOT says the roadways that are shut down in both directions include Route 40 (National Pike) between Route 43 (Mon-Fayette Expressway) in California Borough and Route 88 (California Road)/Blaine Hill Road in West Brownsville Borough, Route 2079 (Knob Road) overpass between Wilson Road in California Borough and Old National Pike in West Brownsville Borough. Drivers are being asked to seek alternate routes. Washington County 911 tells WJPA that a tractor-trailer ran into the Knob Road Bridge around noon. There were no injuries. There’s been no word on how the accident happened. (Photo: WPXI)
July 31, 2024 12:18 pm
(AP) – The popular deli meat company Boar’s Head is recalling an additional 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat products made at a Virginia plant as an investigation into a deadly outbreak of listeria food poisoning continues. The U.S. Agriculture Department says the new recall includes 71 products made between May 10 and July 29 under the Boar’s Head and Old Country brand names. It follows an earlier recall of more than 200,000 pounds of sliced deli poultry and meat. The new items include meat intended to be sliced at delis as well as some packaged meat and poultry products sold in stores. They include liverwurst, ham, beef salami, bologna and other products made at the firm’s Jarratt, Virginia, plant.
July 31, 2024 12:16 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. will pay for flu shots for farmworkers this year, a strategy to prevent bird flu from changing into something more dangerous. Dairy and poultry farms are dealing with outbreaks of bird flu, and 13 workers have picked up infections. All cases are mild and are believed to have spread directly from infected animals to people. But health officials are worried about what might happen if people are infected with bird flu and seasonal flu at the same time. It’s possible the viruses could swap gene segments, in a process that scientists call re-assortment.
July 31, 2024 5:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the end of their two-year fight against inflation in sight, Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday are likely to set the stage for the first cut to their key interest rate in four years. That would signify a major shift in policy that could eventually lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. Inflation has been falling steadily closer to the Fed’s 2% target for the past several months. And the job market has cooled, with the unemployment rate rising about a half-point this year to 4.1%. Financial market traders have priced in 100% odds that the Fed will reduce its benchmark rate at its Sept. 17-18 meeting, according to futures markets.
July 31, 2024 5:16 am
BEIRUT (AP) — Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ supreme leader in exile who landed on Israel’s wanted list after the militant group staged its surprise Oct. 7 attacks, was killed in an airstrike in the Iranian capital early Wednesday. He was 62. Hamas said Haniyeh was killed at his residence in Tehran in an Israeli airstrike after he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president. Israel has not commented on the accusation. His death makes him the latest Hamas official to be killed by Israel since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel.
July 31, 2024 5:08 am
A group of nearly 70 people allege they were sexually abused as children while housed in detention centers in Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs filed suit in state or federal court Wednesday against 10 different juvenile facilities across Pennsylvania, three of them state-operated. Some of the plaintiffs said they were repeatedly raped by staff members and threatened with harm if they reported it. Others said their reports of sexual abuse were ignored. Their lawyers say none of the facilities protected the children in their care. The litigation adds to earlier lawsuits targeting what the accusers’ lawyers say is Pennsylvania’s broken juvenile justice system.
July 31, 2024 5:07 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — (WPXI) – TSA officers prevented two guns from getting on planes at the Pittsburgh International Airport last week. A revolver was found in a woman’s backpack on Sunday. The Allegheny County Police Department says that woman is facing charges for carrying a firearm without a license. Now, TSA says a loaded handgun was found in the carry-on of a Claysville man on Friday. “Since mid-June our officers have intercepted 10 firearms at our checkpoints here at Pittsburgh,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. “Let’s be very clear about this. Firearms are not permitted past our security checkpoints. Period. Bringing a gun to a checkpoint means that travelers are introducing threats to the airport environment.” Passengers can travel with guns only in checked baggage if they are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided locked case. Then the locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website. Civil penalties for bringing a weapon into a checkpoint can reach up to $15,000, depending on the specific weapon and the circumstances. So far in 2024, TSA officers have stopped 27 guns from getting on planes at Pittsburgh International Airport.
