June 12, 2024 5:11 am
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Hezbollah has fired scores of rockets into northern Israel to avenge the killing of a top commander. The massive barrage on Wednesday escalated regional tensions as the fate of an internationally-backed plan for a cease-fire in Gaza hangs in the balance. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region to push a cease-fire proposal with global support that has not been fully embraced by Israel or Hamas. The militant group submitted its first official response late Tuesday, requesting “amendments” to the deal. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed ally of Hamas, has traded fire with Israel nearly every day since the 8-month-long Israel-Hamas war began and says it will only stop if there is a truce in Gaza. That has raised fears of a wider war.
June 12, 2024 5:10 am
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Hunter Biden’s legal woes are not over after his conviction on three felony firearms charges in a trial that put a spotlight on his drug-fueled past. Now, President Joe Biden’s son faces sentencing, and another trial on tax charges in the middle of his father’s reelection campaign. Jurors found Hunter Biden guilty on Tuesday after three hours of deliberations over two days in Wilmington, Delaware. The case stemmed from a gun Hunter Biden bought in 2018 while, prosecutors say, he was in the throes of a crack cocaine addiction. Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said after the verdict that they will “continue to vigorously pursue all the legal challenges available.”
June 12, 2024 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is making a triumphant return to Capitol Hill to meet with House and Senate Republicans for the first time since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. GOP lawmakers find themselves newly energized and reinvigorated by Trump’s bid to retake the White House. This is despite the federal charges against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and his recent guilty verdict in an unrelated hush money trial. He is expected to visit House and then Senate Republican campaign headquarters near the Capitol to discuss party priorities. It’s his first as the party’s presumptive nominee. He’s also speaking at the Business Roundtable.
June 12, 2024 5:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight individuals from Tajikistan with suspected ties to the Islamic State group have been arrested in the United States in recent days. That’s according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The people say the arrests took place in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles and the individuals, who entered the U.S. through the southern border, are being held on immigration violations. The nature of their suspected connections to IS was not immediately clear, but the men were tracked by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. They were in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which made the arrests, pending removal proceedings.
June 12, 2024 5:01 am
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A West Virginia man is facing charges after a loaded gun was found at Pittsburgh International Airport on Tuesday morning. TSA agents found the gun in a backpack at the alternate security checkpoint at 6:50 a.m. Franklin Barker, 58, was identified as the passenger carrying the gun. Allegheny County police said Barker did not have a valid concealed carry permit. Barker is charged with carrying a firearm without a license.
June 12, 2024 4:57 am
UNIONTOWN, Pa. — (WPXI) – A man is dead and two others are recovering after two shootings Tuesday afternoon in Uniontown. Uniontown police are leading the investigation into the initial, deadly shooting and Pennsylvania State Police are taking the lead on the second shooting. Investigators believe it’s too early to know whether they’re connected, or if the timing is simply coincidental. District Attorney Michael Auble says the two shootings unfolded within 90 minutes and half a mile apart. The first, he said, started with an argument outside a home on Dunlap Street just after 2 p.m. According to Auble, Joshua Stevens, 33, was shot and killed. “He attacked the defendant with a knife and apparently the defendant shot him and he fled the scene afterwards. He’s still at large at this time,” Auble said. While Uniontown investigators and the DA were on scene, around 3:30, p.m. they heard more gunshots ring out just a few streets over near the corner of Varndell and Liberty Streets. Auble said two people fired more than a dozen shots at this black sedan, shattering multiple windows. According to Auble, the car began driving toward the crime scene on Dunlap Street. Officers jumped in to help the two injured young men. One was flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown by helicopter, the other went by ambulance. Both are expected to survive, Auble said. Police have not publicly named any suspects or announced any arrests.
June 12, 2024 4:53 am
The Public Defender representing Nikolaus Breland, 34 of Monongahela against charges of false imprisonment, sexual assault and promotion of prostitution filed a motion to dismiss the case on Tuesday. The case centers on a November 2022 incident where a woman texted Washington County 9-1-1 that she was being held against her will and asked authorities to come and help her in a home on Main Street in Monongahela. The motion centered on accusations that the District Attorney did not properly disclose evidence to the defense with regards to a cell phone that was taken from the defendant during his arrest. The defense attorney argued that when they went to inspect the evidence, a cell phone and door key were present and not listed on an evidence ledger authored by the Pennsylvania State Police. The phone and key were taken by Monongahela Police when Breland was arrested and listed in a register authored by them that disclosed both sets of evidence. Prosecutors said they were unaware of the phone until it was disclosed by the defense. The defense argues that the case should be dismissed because the defendant was denied his right to a speedy trial because the phone was not properly disclosed, and even though prosecutors said they were ready for trial, they couldn’t be ready without examining the phone thus they were holding Breland beyond the time to begin trial. The defense said that examining the phone is vital to the case because the entire reason that the case began is from a text message from the victim to authorities asking to be rescued. The defense accused prosecutors of not performing their due diligence in gathering all pertinent evidence specifically the cell phone. The judge hearing the case will make a ruling via written order in the near future. Additionally, Breland will face a preliminary hearing on June 12 on charges of witness intimidation and other charges related to the case.
June 11, 2024 5:16 pm
(WPXI) – A man is dead and two others are hurt after two separate shootings in Uniontown on Tuesday afternoon. According to Uniontown police, a man was shot and killed on Dunlap Street. While police were on the scene of the first shooting, two males inside a car were injured when someone in another car opened fire on them. Both victims were taken to the hospital. One was flown via medical helicopter.
June 11, 2024 12:35 pm
(WPXI) – Emergency crews are on the scene of several buildings on fire in Etna. Allegheny County 911 said crews were called to 86 Vilsack Street at 11:42 a.m. At least two buildings were on fire. An explosion was reported in one of the buildings, and one of the buildings also collapsed. One of the buildings involved is an apartment building, possibly a duplex, while the other appears to be a home. One firefighter was taken to the hospital but there’s been no word on what type of injuries they suffered.
June 11, 2024 11:28 am
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Hunter Biden has been convicted of all three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018 when, prosecutors argued, he lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. Jurors found Hunter Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
