December 10, 2022 4:51 am
DENVER (AP) — A California woman who warned a judge last year about the danger posed by the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooter says the deaths could have been prevented if earlier charges against the suspect weren’t dismissed. Jeanie Streltzoff, who is related to suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich, urged Colorado Judge Robin Chittum in a letter last November to incarcerate Aldrich. She told The Associated Press on Friday that Aldrich should have been in prison and prevented from obtaining weapons after the suspect’s 2021 arrest uncovered a stockpile of more than 100 pounds of explosive materials, firearms and ammunition.
December 10, 2022 4:50 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer who held down George Floyd’s back as one of his colleagues kneeled on the Black man’s neck has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, and the state and federal sentence will be served at the same time. Kueng appeared at his sentencing via a video feed from a federal prison in Ohio. When given the chance to address the court, he declined.
December 10, 2022 4:48 am
PHOENIX (AP) — The challenges facing the Democratic Party heading into the next campaign have come into sharp relief just a few days after the party celebrated victory in the final Senate contest of the 2022 midterms. The decision by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to leave the Democratic Party on Friday raised the prospect of a tumultuous three-way race in one of the most politically competitive states in the U.S. It set off a scramble among potential Democratic and Republican candidates to assess whether they could win their party’s nomination. And it prompted difficult questions about whether Democrats might financially and politically support Sinema over their own nominee if she decides to seek reelection. (Photo: AP)
December 10, 2022 4:47 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The impacts of climate change hit communities across the country, yet voters in rural areas are the least likely to feel Washington is in their corner on the issue. Rural Americans and experts suggest there’s a disconnect between the way leaders talk about climate change and the way these communities experience it. AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of the 2022 midterm electorate, shows clear differences between urban and rural communities in voter sentiment on President Joe Biden’s handling of climate. Around 6 in 10 urban voters approve, but the figure drops to roughly 4 in 10 for rural voters.
December 10, 2022 4:46 am
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Chris Bullock has a lot to be grateful for as she decorates her new home for Christmas. One year ago Saturday, a massive tornado obliterated wide swaths of her Kentucky hometown of Dawson Springs. It left her homeless after a terrifying night of death and destruction. Things look much different now. In August, Bullock and her family moved into their new home. It sits on the same site where their home of 26 years was wiped out. The holiday season tragedy killed 81 people across Kentucky and turned buildings into rubble. On Saturday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will lead commemorative events. (Photo: AP)
December 10, 2022 4:45 am
LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Grant Wahl, one of the most well-known soccer writers in the United States, died early Saturday while covering the World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands. U.S. media seated near him said Wahl fell back in his seat in a section of Lusail Iconic Stadium reserved for journalists during extra time of the game. The organizing committee said Wahl received immediate emergency medical treatment on site, which continued as he was transferred by ambulance to Hamad General Hospital. Wahl was covering his eighth World Cup. He wrote Monday that he had visited a medical clinic while in Qatar and was given antibiotics and cough syrup for a possible case of bronchitis.
December 10, 2022 4:44 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Spending in Pennsylvania’s 2022 gubernatorial race blew past the record set eight years ago, topping $110 million largely because of Democrat Josh Shapiro’s powerhouse fundraising in a race that took on national significance. That beat the $82 million spent in the 2014 election in Pennsylvania. Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s two-term elected attorney general, won the election. He reported spending more than $73 million in the race, including donations of cash, goods and services. Campaign finance reports for the last two weeks of the campaign were due Thursday to the state elections office. Republicans spent another $37 million, mostly in a fractious primary.
December 10, 2022 4:10 am
Washington City Council wrapped up 2022 by approving a budget for 2023 with no tax increase. The budget comes in just shy of $15 million and is approximately $39,000 less than last year. Finance Chair Ken Westcott credits staff and their hard work for being able to close a deficit and return a balanced budget. Mayor Scott Putnam states that this will be the fourth year that the city has not seen a tax increase. Council tabled a first reading of 3 ordinances that were modified or created to keep blight at a minimum in the city. One ordinance would create a Quality of Life ordinance to help expedite the clean up of properties that have become overgrown with weeds or that suffer other maintenance issues. An ordinance regulating junk vehicles and accessories was also tabled. A third ordinance modification would be the inspection and monitoring of vacant properties. Additionally, council approved four properties to be demolished beginning in 2023.
December 10, 2022 2:26 am
SOUTH FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WPXI) – State police say someone stole fuel from a Washington County volunteer fire department over the weekend. An unknown person in a four-door pickup truck stole diesel fuel from the South Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Department on Jolly School Road some time from 2:35 a.m. on Dec. 3 to 3:35 a.m. on Dec. 4. The theft was captured on video surveillance. Anyone with information is asked to contact state police in Washington. (Photo: South Franklin VFD Facebook Page)
December 9, 2022 7:41 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona says she’s registered as an independent. But the first-term senator also says she doesn’t plan to caucus with Republicans and that will ensure Democrats retain their narrow majority in the Senate. Sinema has modeled her political approach on the renegade style of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and has frustrated Democratic colleagues at times with her overtures to Republicans and opposition to party priorities. She writes in a newspaper column that she’s “declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington.” Democrats were set to hold a 51-49 edge in the Senate come January after the victory Tuesday by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia’s runoff election.
