January 9, 2024 5:07 am
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — A group of armed, masked men in Ecuador launched an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast and so revealed the country’s spiraling violence in the wake of an apparent recent prison escape. The imprisoned leader of a drug gang mysteriously vanished from his cell in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Sunday, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency. On Tuesday, thousands of viewers tuned in to TC Television watched live as the men threatened presenters and studio hands with firearms and what appeared to be sticks of dynamite. Sounds resembling shots were audible, as well as pleas and moans of pain.
January 9, 2024 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump says a president “has to have immunity.” But federal appeals court judges in Washington are expressing deep skepticism that he is immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden. On Tuesday Trump returned to the federal courthouse in Washington for his appeal of charges against him. The three-judge panel also questioned whether they had jurisdiction to consider the appeal at this point in the case, raising the prospect that Trump’s appeal could be dismissed. During lengthy arguments, the judges repeatedly pressed Trump’s lawyer to defend claims that Trump was shielded from criminal charges.
January 9, 2024 5:06 am
An Israeli drone strike hit a car Tuesday morning in southern Lebanon, killing three people inside it, security officials in the area and the state news agency said. The strike, about 6 miles from the border with Israel, came a day after a similar attack killed a commander with the militant Hezbollah group. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on an urgent mission aimed primarily at preventing the Israel-Hamas conflict from spreading into a regional war. He said Monday that Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey would consider participating in post-conflict reconstruction and governance of Gaza. The United Nations humanitarian office says the intensifying Israeli offensive in central and southern Gaza has had “devastating consequences.”
January 9, 2024 5:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black, white, Hispanic and Asian adults in the U.S. largely agree that the government should focus on the economy and foreign policy issues in 2024, but recent polling shows that views diverge on some high-profile topics, including racism and immigration. That’s according to two recent polls by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and AAPI Data. About 7 in 10 adults across backgrounds name economic issues. Black adults are less likely than others to call immigration a top priority, and white adults are especially likely to name issues related to politics.
January 9, 2024 5:03 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The National Park Service is retracting a proposal to take down a statue of William Penn at a Philadelphia historical site as part of a renovation that touched off a torrent of criticism over the legacy of the man who founded the province of Pennsylvania. In a statement Monday, Independence National Historical Park said it withdrew the proposal it had announced quietly before the weekend about the wider renovation of Welcome Park, just blocks from the Liberty Bell. The proposal, it said, was released “prematurely” and hadn’t undergone a complete internal review. The retracted plan had also involved expanding the telling of the Native American history of Philadelphia.
January 9, 2024 4:58 am
SOUTH FAYETTE TOWNSHIP, Pa. – (WPXI) – Two people are dead after a house fire in South Fayette Township, according to Oak Ridge Volunteer Fire Chief Bill Supan. Flames tore through the home on Thoms Run Road Monday, eventually causing the roof to collapse. Firefighters were called to the scene just after 1:00 p.m. and spent around seven hours there. According to Supan, a hoarding situation at the home made rescuing two people inside impossible. Supan said two bodies were pulled from the rubble. They were found on the second floor of the home. The victims have been identified as 81 year old Benito Bonilla and 77 year old Barbara Bonilla. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Allegheny County Fire Marshal.
January 9, 2024 4:54 am
Snow showers could slow the morning commute again early Wednesday. Heavy snow is not expected but steady snow at times could create icy spots on untreated surfaces. Most areas will see an inch or less through the day, with higher amounts east in the ridges of Westmoreland and Fayette counties. Strong winds will also disrupt your plans on Wednesday with gusts up to 50 mph possible. As for power outages, as of 10 a.m, West Penn Power was reporting more than 160 customers without service in Washington County. They are widespread and it is unclear when those customers will have their service restored. Another strong system moves in on Friday bringing more rain, wind and snow with much colder air expected this weekend. Highs will struggle to get back into the 20s and lows will drop into the teens.
January 8, 2024 5:36 pm
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — United Airlines says it has found loose bolts and other problems on a key part of its grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners. The planes are being inspected after federal officials grounded Max 9s after a plug used to replace a door blew out of an Alaska Airlines Max 9 on Friday night. A federal official says the that plane wasn’t being used for flights to Hawaii after a warning light that could have indicated a pressurization problem lit up on three different flights. Alaska Airlines decided to restrict the aircraft from long flights over water so the plane could land quickly if the warning light reappeared. Aviation officials also have found the chunk of the fuselage that was expelled from the aircraft.
January 8, 2024 5:29 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS has announced January 29 as the official start date of the 2024 tax season, and expects more than 128.7 million tax returns to be filed by the April 15 tax deadline. The announcement comes as the agency undergoes a massive face-lift, attempting to improve its technology and customer service processes with tens of billions of dollars allocated to the agency through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August 2022.
January 8, 2024 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on overall spending levels for the current fiscal year that could help avoid a partial government shutdown later this month. House Speaker Mike Johnson is hailing the agreement in a letter to colleagues as “the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade.” President Joe Biden says the agreement is one step closer “to preventing a needless government shutdown and protecting important national priorities.” Lawmakers needed an agreement on overall spending levels so that appropriators could write the bills that set line-by-line money for agencies. Funding is set to lapse Jan. 19 for some agencies and Feb. 2 for others.
