January 18, 2023 2:22 am
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, theft of government property and aiding and abetting during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 Presidential election. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 11, 2023 for 29-year-old Jorden Robert Mink of Oakdale. Authorities say Mink used a baseball bat to shatter a window in the Capitol Building, entered the building through that broken window, and started removing property – including chairs. He handed the property to individuals in the crowd on the exterior of the building. Mink was also seen striking an adjacent window repeatedly with a baseball bat, in an apparent attempt to shatter it. In video surveillance, Mink is seen engaging in assaultive conduct, spitting at officers guarding one of the doors and then throwing several objects at them – including a traffic cone, a large rectangular-shaped object (possibly a step or drawer), and a stick. Mink was arrested on January 19, 2021, in McKees Rocks, PA. He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison for the felony charge and up to one year in prison for the misdemeanor, plus possible financial penalties.
January 18, 2023 2:20 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Democrat Josh Shapiro took the oath of office Tuesday to become the 48th governor of Pennsylvania, placing his hand on a stack of three Jewish Bibles at Tuesday’s inaugural ceremony outside the state Capitol to cap his blowout win in November’s election. Shapiro, 49, takes over in the nation’s fifth-most populous state with more experience in state government than any of his recent predecessors, including six years as Pennsylvania’s elected attorney general. He took the oath from Chief Justice Debra Todd on a cold winter day on a stage erected behind the state’s ornate Capitol in Harrisburg, with lawmakers, ex-governors, members of Congress and several thousand others looking on. “I am humbled to stand before you today as Pennsylvania’s 48th governor,” Shapiro said at the start of his remarks from the podium. “Along the winding road that has led to this moment, I have been grounded in my faith and family.” Shapiro succeeds term-limited Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, and is the first governor of Pennsylvania since 1966 to be elected to succeed a member of his own party. In his speech, Shapiro did not spell out specific policy aims, but he emphasized themes that he has developed before and after the election: that voters are embracing democracy, rejecting extremism and asking their leaders to protect their rights and make progress on important quality-of-life issues.
January 17, 2023 5:46 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Actor Jeremy Renner says he is out of the hospital after being treated for serious injuries from a snow plow accident. In response to a Twitter post Monday about his TV series “Mayor of Kingstown,” Renner tweeted that other than the brain fog that remains, he is very excited to watch the next episode with his family at home. Authorities in Nevada say Renner suffered serious chest injuries when he was run over by his own snow plow while helping free a relative’s car on a road near Lake Tahoe on New Year’s Day. The 52-year-old Oscar nominee also plays Hawkeye in Marvel’s “Avengers” movies.
January 17, 2023 7:49 am
A Charleroi man and a passenger in his tractor trailer were killed in a fiery crash in Dauphin County late Sunday night. State Police Harrisburg say 49 year old Greg Stupar was the driver of the truck that left Interstate 83 and struck the guard rail before hitting a concrete abutment and catching fire. Police say Troopers attempts to put out the fire were unsuccessful. Fire personnel finally put out the fire, but the two occupants were discovered deceased. The identity of the passenger has not yet been released. The investigation into the crash continues.
January 17, 2023 6:46 am
Authorities in Charleroi say a fire at a home at 713 McKean Avenue early Tuesday morning was accidental. Charleroi Fire Chief Bobby Whiten tells WJPA News that the blaze broke out just before four o’clock and started in a first floor electrical outlet. Whiten says a man and woman who lived in the home were injured. He says the woman suffered second degree burns to her hands while the man suffered smoke inhalation. Both were taken to Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital for treatment. Whiten says multiple fire departments assisted with the blaze and they were able to contain the fire to the home and prevent it from spreading to a house next door which was separated by only about five feet.
January 17, 2023 4:31 am
VISALIA, Calif. (AP) – Sheriff’s officials say six people including a 17-year-old mother and her 6-month-old baby were killed in a shooting early Monday at a home in central California, and authorities are searching for at least two suspects. The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office says deputies responded around 3:30 a.m. Monday to reports of multiple shots fired in Goshen. Officials say deputies found two victims dead in the street and a third person fatally shot in the doorway of the residence. Three more victims were found inside the home, including a man who was still alive but later died at a hospital. Investigators believe there is a gang connection to the killings.
January 17, 2023 4:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House is brushing aside criticism of its fragmented disclosures about the discovery of classified documents and official records at President Joe Biden’s home and former office. Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office, told reporters Tuesday the White House may withhold information to protect the Justice Department’s investigation and was releasing information as it deemed it “appropriate.” Responding to questions about the piecemeal disclosures, Sams said the White House has been trying to be mindful of the “risk” in sharing information “that’s not complete.”
January 17, 2023 4:28 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – A failed Republican candidate who authorities say was angry over his defeat and made baseless claims the election last November was rigged against him has been arrested in connection with a series of drive-by shootings targeting the homes of Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico’s largest city. Police say Solomon Pena was arrested Monday evening, just hours after SWAT officers took him into custody and served search warrants at his home. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina describes Pena as the “mastermind” of what he says appears to be a politically motivated conspiracy with four other men leading to shootings at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators between early December and early January.
January 17, 2023 4:26 am
POKHARA, Nepal (AP) – Nepalese authorities on Tuesday began returning to families the bodies of victims of a flight that crashed Sunday, and said they were sending the aircraft’s data recorder to France for analysis as they try to determine what caused the country’s deadliest plane accident in 30 years. The flight plummeted into a gorge on Sunday while on approach to land at the newly opened Pokhara International Airport in the foothills of the Himalayas, killing at least 70 of the 72 people aboard. Searchers found the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder on Monday, and combed through debris scattered down the 300-meter-deep (984-foot-deep) gorge in search of the people who remain missing, but are presumed dead. One body was found Tuesday, and two remain missing.
January 17, 2023 4:24 am
BEIJING (AP) – China has announced its first population decline in decades as what has been the world’s most populous nation ages and its birthrate plunges. The National Bureau of Statistics reported mainland China had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than over the previous year. That left a total of 1.41 billion, with 9.56 million births against 10.41 million deaths last year, the bureau said at a briefing Tuesday. Men also continued to outnumber women by 722.06 million to 689.69 million, the bureau said, a result of the now-abandoned one-child policy and a traditional preference for male offspring to carry on the family name. Officials did not discuss the impact of COVID-19, which was detected in China three years ago.
