May 10, 2024 1:51 pm
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. says heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 110,000 people to flee north. A U.N. official says the World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday. The United States is deeply opposed to Israel’s plans for a full-scale invasion of Rafah and is stepping up pressure by threatening to withhold arms to Israel. But even a more limited incursion earlier this week could worsen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe. Heavy fighting was underway Friday in northern Gaza, where Hamas appears to have again regrouped in an area where Israel had already launched punishing assaults.
May 10, 2024 1:48 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the criminal conviction of Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday rejected Bannon’s challenges to his contempt of Congress conviction. Bannon had been sentenced to four months in prison, but the judge overseeing the case had allowed him to stay free pending appeal. Bannon’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
May 10, 2024 5:04 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — (WPXI) – A McMurray man who worked in the Washington County probation department has been arrested on child pornography charges. 24 year old Zachary Nee was arrested after a lengthy investigation that started in Ohio. Parents of a 13-year-old girl contacted police after Nee allegedly sent their daughter sexual items in the mail. Police say the two had been communicating over Snapchat. In one exchange the teen mentioned their age gap and Nee allegedly said, “I know I said I’m sorry. I need you though, I want to be with you until I die.” Police in Peter’s Township confiscated electronic devices from Nee’s home and filed nearly 100 child pornography charges. Police say Nee worked in adult probation and was set to transfer to juvenile probation shortly before this investigation began. Nee is free after posting $150,000 bond. He is to face a preliminary hearing May 22.
May 10, 2024 5:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania will join the majority of states that ban motorists from handling a cell phone for almost any purpose while driving as state lawmakers hope to reduce distracted driving accidents. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office said Thursday he’ll sign the bill. The ban takes effect a year after he signs it. The bill also includes a provision long sought by the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus as a bulwark against racial profiling. That provision requires many police departments to collect and report data on traffic stops, including a driver’s race. The bill passed the Legislature this week. Currently, Pennsylvania’s restriction on cell phone use while driving applies only to texting.
May 10, 2024 5:08 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania election officials say the rate of mail-in ballots rejected for technicalities saw a significant drop in last month’s primary election. That is after state officials tried anew to help voters avoid mistakes that might get their ballots thrown out. Pennsylvania’s top election official, Secretary of State Al Schmidt, said counties reported a 13.5% decrease in mail-in ballots that were rejected for reasons the state had tried to address with a redesigned ballot envelope and instructions for voting by mail. That is compared to the 2023 primary election. The success of the mail-in vote could be critical to determining the outcome of November’s presidential election in Pennsylvania.
May 10, 2024 5:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have long managed a complicated relationship. But now they find themselves running out of space to maneuver as their interests diverge and their political futures hang in the balance. Their ties have hit a low point this week: Biden confirmed he ordered the suspension of delivery of heavy bombs to Israel as Netanyahu resists White House pressure to scrap plans to move forward with a widescale operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Netanyahu has grown increasingly resistant to Biden’s public charm offensives and private pleading, prompting the president’s more assertive pushback in the past several weeks.
May 10, 2024 5:14 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Some universities are vowing to provide information about how much university endowment money is invested in companies profiting from the Israel-Hamas war amid calls from pro-Palestinian protesters. As part of that effort, the University of Minnesota disclosed this week that about $5 million of its $2.27 billion endowment investments are tied to Israeli-based companies or U.S.-based defense contractors. To protesters it is a first step. A meeting with the university’s Board of Regents is scheduled for Friday. But Jewish leaders have concerns, and endowment experts stress that the potential fallout from disclosure is hard to predict.
May 10, 2024 5:13 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The third week of testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial is drawing to a close. It comes after jurors heard the dramatic, if not downright seamy, account of Stormy Daniels’ alleged sexual encounter with the former president. Meanwhile, prosecutors are gearing up for their most crucial witness: former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. Daniels’ story was a necessary building block for prosecutors. They are seeking to show that Trump and his allies bought up and buried potentially damaging stories in the waning weeks of the 2016 presidential election in an effort to illegally influence the race. Trump denies any wrongdoing, telling reporters Thursday, “I’m innocent.”
May 10, 2024 5:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a $105 billion bill designed to improve air safety and customer service for air travelers, a day before the law governing the Federal Aviation Administration expires. The bipartisan bill now goes to the House, which is out of session until next week. The Senate has also passed a one-week extension that would give the House time to pass the bill while ensuring the FAA isn’t forced to furlough around 3,600 employees. The bill stalled for several days this week after senators from Virginia and Maryland objected to a provision that would allow an additional 10 flights a day to and from the heavily trafficked Reagan Washington National Airport.
May 9, 2024 5:27 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s defense attorney accused Stormy Daniels of slowly altering the details of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump. Attorney Susan Necheles is trying to persuade the jury in Trump’s hush money trial that the key prosecution witness cannot be believed. But Trump’s case doesn’t rise or fall on Daniels’ account. It’s a trial about money changing hands in business transactions and whether those hush money payments were made to illegally influence the 2016 election. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records.
