January 6, 2023 2:20 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s newly minted state House speaker is moving to make his major policy goal regarding victims of child sexual abuse to be the chamber’s urgent priority. Speaker Mark Rozzi on Friday backed Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement of an immediate special session to consider a constitutional amendment that would give victims of child sexual abuse a two-year window in which to file otherwise time-barred lawsuits. Rozzi says no other legislation will be considered until the proposal passes. House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County says a special session devoted to that single topic isn’t warranted. Cutler says consideration of the amendment can be done as regular legislative business.
January 5, 2023 10:42 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Moscow’s armed forces to hold a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine this weekend for the Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday. The order follows a proposal by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. Putin’s order said: “Based on the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the combat areas, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a cease-fire and give them the opportunity to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the Day of the Nativity of Christ.”
January 5, 2023 4:18 am
BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Authorities say the DNA of the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students was found on a knife sheath recovered at the crime scene. In court documents unsealed Thursday, Brett Payne, a police corporal in Moscow, Idaho, also says cellphone data shows that 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger had visited the area near the home where the Nov. 13 attack occurred about a dozen times since June. He says a woman who lived at the home and who wasn’t harmed awoke to the sound of crying that night to find a masked man in black clothing who walked past her and toward a sliding glass door. Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary.
January 5, 2023 4:16 am
ENOCH, Utah (AP) – A Utah man fatally shot his five children, his mother-in-law and his wife, then killed himself two weeks after the woman had filed for divorce, according to authorities and public records. Enoch Police Chief Jackson Ames said during a Thursday news conference that officers had been involved in investigations involving the 42-year-old man and his family a “couple of years prior.” He did not elaborate. The crime rocked Enoch, a small town in southern Utah about halfway between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. It’s one of the fastest-growing areas of the country and communities of new homes are made up of large families that belong, like most of Utah, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church.
January 5, 2023 4:15 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) – Bells tolled for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who made history by retiring, as thousands of mourners packed St. Peter’s Square for a rare requiem Mass of a dead pontiff presided over by a living one. The faithful applauded as pallbearers carried Benedict’s cypress coffin out of the fog-shrouded St. Peter’s Basilica and rested it before the altar. With red-robed clergy looking on, Benedict’s longtime secretary bent down and kissed a book of the Gospels that was left open on the coffin. Heads of state and royalty, clergy from around the world and thousands of regular people flocked to the Vatican, despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and official efforts to keep the first funeral for an pope emeritus in modern times low-key.
January 5, 2023 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Pressure is building on Republican Kevin McCarthy to determine whether or not he can win over enough fellow Republicans to become House speaker. Thursday is Day 3 of the standoff between McCarthy and 20 colleagues withholding the support he needs for the job. So far, ten votes have failed to elect a speaker. The impasse has left the House unable to fully form and govern. McCarthy said after a round of late talks Wednesday that progress is being made. But Colorado Republican Ken Buck has told the GOP leader to “figure out” the path forward. His right-flank detractors appear intent on waiting him out, as long as it takes.
January 5, 2023 4:06 am
NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. — (WPXI) – Funeral arrangements for Brackenridge police chief Justin McIntire, who was shot and killed in the line of duty Monday, have been announced. Ross Walker Funeral Home, located at 217 Freeport Road in New Kensington, confirmed that they will be holding McIntire’s public visitation and funeral. The visitation will take place Monday, Jan. 9 and Tuesday, Jan. 10 from 2 to 8 p.m. The funeral service will be held Wednesday, Jan. 11 at noon at Mt. Saint Peters Church in New Kensington. Both services will be open to the public.
January 5, 2023 4:03 am
CINCINNATI — Days after collapsing and requiring CPR on-field in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills Damar Hamlin remains in critical condition but is showing signs of improvement. Jordon Rooney, a spokesman for the family and a friend of Hamlin’s, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the player’s recovery is moving in “a positive direction” and “we all remain optimistic.” He told the AP he could not go into further detail, citing a request by Hamlin’s family. The Buffalo Bills said Wednesday afternoon on Twitter that Hamlin remained in the intensive care unit in critical condition “with signs of improvement noted yesterday and overnight.” The team said Hamlin is expected to remain in the ICU. “My greatest fear has flashed in front of me that particular moment, but to the goodness and Grace of God, Damar is still here and he’s still fighting,” Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations, told reporters in a news conference on Wednesday, according to CNN. Rooney told the AP that Hamlin’s family was staying positive and was touched by the outpouring of support from fans and fellow athletes.
January 5, 2023 2:32 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former Philadelphia election official who has told of enduring death threats for defending the city’s 2020 vote-counting against former President Donald Trump’s lies will be nominated for the top election administration post in Pennsylvania. Al Schmidt will be nominated to be Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro’s secretary of state, the campaign said Thursday, setting him up to oversee what is expected to be a hard-fought 2024 election in the critical presidential battleground. Shapiro, a Democrat, made the post his first Cabinet selection to be publicly announced ahead of his Jan. 17 inauguration. “Al Schmidt has a proven track record of defending our democracy, protecting voting rights and standing up to extremism — even in the face of grave threats,” Shapiro said in a statement. Schmidt, 51, is a Republican, fitting in with Shapiro’s theme of fashioning a bipartisan administration in politically divided Pennsylvania. Schmidt is currently president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a good-government group in Philadelphia. Before he joined the group a year ago, Schmidt spent a decade as a Republican elected to the three-member board that oversees elections in Philadelphia. Holding the post of secretary of state is subject to confirmation in the Republican-controlled Senate.
January 4, 2023 3:48 pm
BOSTON (AP) – The mastermind of the nationwide college admissions bribery scheme that ensnared celebrities, prominent businesspeople and other parents has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Rick Singer’s punishment is the longest sentence handed down in the sprawling scandal that exploded into newspapers headlines in 2019. Singer pleaded guilty nearly four years ago to paying off entrance exam administrators and coaches to get often undeserving students into elite schools with inflated test scores and bogus athletic credentials. He also helped authorities build the case against dozens of others by secretly recording phone calls and meetings with wealthy parents who paid huge sums to get their kids into the school of their choice.
