May 1, 2024 5:52 pm
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature has approved a repeal of a long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions. The vote to undo the 19th century law will send the bill to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Two Republicans joined with 14 Democrats in the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to give final legislative approval to the repeal, which narrowly won approval a week ago from the Arizona House and is expected to be signed by Hobbs once it arrives at her office. The near-total ban permits abortions only to save the patient’s life and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest.
May 1, 2024 5:04 am
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with Israeli leaders in his push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying that “the time is now” for an agreement that would free hostages and bring a pause in the nearly seven months of war. He has said that Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to get a deal off the ground. Blinken is on his seventh visit to the region since the war erupted, seeking to secure what’s been an elusive deal between Israel and Hamas that could avert an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering.
May 1, 2024 5:03 am
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump will use a one-day break from his hush money trial to rally voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan. The visits on Wednesday come a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order. Judge Juan M. Merchan has said that if Trump continued to violate his orders, he “will impose an incarceratory punishment.” The former president is trying to achieve a balancing act unprecedented in American history by running for a second term as the presumptive Republican nominee while also fighting felony charges in New York.
May 1, 2024 5:00 am
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy has gone into effect, and some doctors are concerned that women in the state will no longer have access to needed health care. Fertility specialist Dr. Leah Roberts says the anti-abortion laws being enacted by Florida and other red states are being vaguely written by people who don’t understand medical science. Many women don’t even know they are pregnant by six weeks. The ban that went into effect Wednesday affects not just women who want to terminate viable pregnancies because of personal choice, but also nonviable pregnancies for women who want to have babies.
May 1, 2024 4:59 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion. Police carrying riot shields burst into a building late Tuesday that protesters took over the previous night and made dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between dueling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles. A university spokesman said New York City officers entered Columbia’s campus after the school requested help. A tent encampment on the school’s grounds was cleared, along with Hamilton Hall. Protesters calling on the Ivy League university to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza seized the hall about 20 hours earlier.
May 1, 2024 4:55 am
BROWNSVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI) – Students in the Brownsville Area School District will learn remotely on Wednesday as police investigate a possible threat. A note to parents said the district received a Safe2Say report of a possible threat at the high school. District leaders do not have enough information to determine if the threat is credible, prompting the switch to remote learning. State police and Redstone Township police were notified.
May 1, 2024 4:53 am
North Strabane Supervisors approved a 41 home development that is to border Peters Lake Park. Laurel Communities requested and received approval for a conditional use application for the project on Tuesday night. Before supervisors voted, public comment continued mostly from Allegheny County residents that enjoy the lake that is owned by neighboring Peters Township. The comment was sometimes emotional and when it came time to vote on the measure, it took nearly a minute for anyone to move to vote on the measure. In the end, supervisors approved the application 4-0 with supervisor Harold Close absent. A group formed on Facebook, Friends of Peters Lake, were on hand to express their disappointment with the vote. They challenged supervisors to make sure that they do all that they can to make sure no harm comes to the lake. Terry Bove, developer for Laurel Communities that wants to build The Collective at Peters Lake says that they will do everything in their power to be good stewards of the lake. Supervisors did add 11 conditions to the application. Some of the biggest were traffic sight distance studies at each new intersection with North Spring Valley Road and at the intersection of North Spring Valley Road and Waterdam Road. An operational study for emergency vehicles and school buses is required, as is a water quality study, pre and post construction of all private wells and streams along North Spring Valley Road. Supervisors Emily Holmes and Neil Kelly addressed the group after the meeting, indicating that they empathize with the group and thanked them for their concerns.
May 1, 2024 2:50 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is advancing legislation long sought by counties seeking help to manage huge influxes of mail-in ballots during elections in the presidential battleground state. The bill passed on party lines Wednesday, 102-99, as Democrats backed it and Republicans opposed it, warning that it would open the door to fraud. Under the bill, county election workers could start processing ballots up to seven days before election day. Nearly every state allows time before Election Day for workers to process mail-in ballots. Currently, Pennsylvania doesn’t let counties begin before Election Day. It faces long odds in the Senate, where the GOP majority insists that Pennsylvania first toughen voter identification requirements.
May 1, 2024 2:15 am
Police from all over the area gathered Wednesday morning at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 47 to honor Pennsylvania State Troopers and all other police officers that were killed in the line of duty. The ceremony, hosted by Pennsylvania State Police Troop B also commemorated the founding of the Pennsylvania State Police on May 2, 1919. According to Troop B Commander, Captain Jeremy Barni, in the 115 year history of the Pennsylvania State Polce, 104 members of the state police have tragically lost their lives. Of that 104 total, 13 have come from Troop B. Guest Speaker, Retired Captain Roger Waters of Troop B offered his thoughts of being a state police trooper and his feelings when he got two phone calls as commander alerting him to the deaths of two of his troopers. Troopers were honored with a rifle firing salute, the playing of taps and a walk off honor of bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace”. Troops were further honored with a helicopter flyover by Aviation Patrol Unit 5 from Latrobe.
May 1, 2024 2:01 am
In just a couple of days – Reggie will be famous – or – almost famous. Reggie is a four and a half-year-old Springer Spaniel owned by Judy and Dennis Krivacek of North Strabane Township and on Sunday night, he’ll be making his television debut on American’s Funniest Home Videos. Dennis Krivacek tells WJPA that Reggie became infatuated with a stair-lift chair in their home and would jump on the seat, waiting for a ride up or down the stairs. Dennis says it was cute and funny at first, as they would send him up or down the stairs for a ride, but after a while, he said it was like, enough is enough, no more rides. That wasn’t good enough for Reggie, who wanted more rides. So, somehow, Reggie learned how to operate the stair-life chair himself and they found him putting the seat down on the device and using his nose to get it moving – so he can enjoy a ride whenever he feels like it. Dennis tells us his wife suggested filming Reggie’s rides and sending it to America’s Funniest Home Videos. Much to their surprise, he says they were contacted and told that Reggie had made it into the final three and was in line to win several thousand dollars, depending on the final outcome. The final show will air at Sunday evening at seven o’clock on WTAE. Dennis tells us they have a big watch party planned so family and friends can enjoy the outcome. Dennis says they already know how it turns out for Reggie, but they are not allowed to reveal the results.. The episode is called, “Doggy Don’t Do Stairs.”
