June 20, 2024 5:13 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Snapchat Inc. will pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by California’s civil rights agency. The California Civil Rights Department accused the company of discriminating against female employees, failing to prevent workplace sexual harassment and retaliating against women who complained. The department announced Wednesday that the settlement covers women who worked for the company in California between 2014 and 2024. It is subject to court approval. The bulk of the settlement will pay compensation to employees who faced discrimination at the company. The company says it disagrees with the agency’s claims but that it decided to settle to avoid costly and lengthy litigation.
June 20, 2024 5:12 am
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday signed the bill mandating the displays. The GOP-drafted legislation requires a poster of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities. Opponents question the law’s constitutionality. Civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union promised a lawsuit. Proponents say the purpose of the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance. Classrooms must display the Ten Commandments by the start of 2025.
June 20, 2024 5:10 am
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia is intensifying its use of cheap glide bombs to lay waste to cities in eastern Ukraine. The latest generation of the retrofitted weapons have devastated Kharkiv, Avdiivka, Chasiv Yar and Vovchansk. Russia has nearly unlimited supplies of the bombs, which are adapted from Soviet-era stockpiles. They are dispatched from airfields just across the border that Ukraine has not been able to hit. An Associated Press analysis of drone footage, satellite imagery, Ukrainian documents and Russian photos shows that Russia has used the explosives to accelerate its destruction of front-line cities this year on a scale previously unseen in the war.
June 20, 2024 5:09 am
TAMPICO, Mexico (AP) — Tropical Storm Alberto, the season’s first named storm, has weakened as it moves inland over northeast Mexico — but not before bringing heavy rains to the parched region and leaving at least three dead. The storm weakened rapidly over land, but carried several inches of desperately needed rain inland to Mexico’s Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila states, as well as south Texas. Alberto had spurred tropical storm warnings covering most of the western Gulf of Mexico’s coastline from Texas to Veracruz. Schools were closed across Tamaulipas state where Alberto came ashore and would be through Friday. Shelters were prepared across the state to receive residents trying to escape high water.
June 20, 2024 5:06 am
SQUAM LAKE, N.H. (AP) — A heat wave is moving closer to the breaking point from the Midwest to New England, but there’s no immediate relief in sight for much of the rest of the country. The National Weather Service says the heat and humidity could send heat index readings above 100 degrees in many locations, possibly breaking all-time records. At one campground in New Hampshire, guests were keeping cool using blocks of ice harvested months earlier from a frozen lake. They were packed in sawdust until now, a tradition workers have kept for more than a century. The Weather Service predicts another scorching weekend elsewhere, with triple-digit highs in California and Arizona.
June 20, 2024 5:03 am
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a series of deals with his Vietnamese counterpart To Lam during a state visit that comes as Moscow is seeking to bolster ties in Asia to offset growing international isolation over its military actions in Ukraine. The two signed agreements to further cooperation on education, science and technology, oil and gas exploration and health. Following the Thursday afternoon talks, Putin said that the two countries share an interest in “developing a reliable security architecture” in the Asia-Pacific Region based on not using force and peacefully settling disputes with no room for “closed military-political blocs.”
June 20, 2024 5:00 am
PETERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A Peters Township family lost their home in what may have been an electrical outlet fire. Patrick Cullen told Channel 11 he opened up his door Tuesday night to smoke and tried to put out the flames himself. “I came home and opened the front door, and there was a bunch of smoke and I ran to my truck and got a fire extinguisher, and came around the back to try and put it out but it was too smokey,” Cullen said. An indoor camera caught the flames going up the wall. Patrick said there was nothing plugged into that socket. “We are assuming it was an electric outlet. That’s where the fire came from… luckily we had video from inside the house,” Cullen said. Medics treated him for smoke inhalation. The state police fire marshal is still investigating.
June 20, 2024 4:47 am
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has forecast a Code ORANGE Air Quality Action Day for ozone for Friday, June 21st in the Pittsburgh area, which includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. In addition, an Air Quality Action Day has also been declared for the Indiana county area with respect to ozone. Mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the middle 90s will create conditions for robust ozone development and formation into the code ORANGE range during the afternoon hours. Any afternoon or evening thunderstorm activity is expected to be isolated in nature, and only affect a small fraction of the area. On air quality action days, young children, the elderly, and those with respiratory problems, such as asthma, emphysema, and bronchitis, are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollution and should limit outdoor activities. Residents and businesses within the Air Quality Action Day area(s) are strongly encouraged to voluntarily help reduce air pollution by: Conserving electricity by setting air conditioning to a higher temperature; combining errands to reduce vehicle trips; limiting engine idling; and refueling cars and trucks after dusk.
June 20, 2024 2:28 am
The North Strabane Township Police Department has announced that two individuals wanted in connection with the robbery, on June 5th, at the First National Bank on Route Nineteen, have been arrested and are in custody. Police say Brandon Scerri and Kayla Pruett, both of Wellsburg, West Virginia, were arrested on Thursday near New York City. they say Scerri was taken into custody after robbing another bank there. Police say the arrest was made possible by working together with the FBI, The U.S. Marshals Service, Washington City Police, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office and other local police departments.. Authorities have said that they believe Scerri was the one who entered the bank and demanded money. They say the two were identified using their tattoos and driver’s license photos, along with the description of their car, a blue-colored Ford Focus. Scerri got away with more than seventy-four-hundred-dollars in the robbery. Scerri has also been named as a suspect in the robbery, two days earlier, of the Washington Financial Bank on Wiley Avenue in Washington. (Photo: North Strabane Township Police)
June 20, 2024 2:15 am
The 2024 Pony League World Series has a new title sponsor. Southpointe-based Printscape has put its name on the annual tournament that brings teams from across the country and from around the world to Washington County. It replaces Dicks Sporting Goods. Printscape owner John Dziak called the move a “no-brainer”. The company has been a long supporter of the tournament for years. World Series Tournaments, Inc President and Chairman Nathan Voytek only half-jokingly said the deal is especially great given all the signage needed at Lew Hays Pony Field. Voytek says they are “ecstatic to have Printscape on board”. He cited their “commitment to our community and athletics”. Printscape also has the naming rights to the Arena in Southpointe. The Pony League World Series will be played from August 9 through the 14th. Washington County Chamber of Commerce President Jeff Kotula says the annual event means some $6 million in economic impact for the County with 30,000 people visiting each year.
