December 6, 2022 5:43 pm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Five women who accuse Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting them decades ago have filed a new lawsuit against the 85-year-old comedian – and this one calls NBC Universal, a studio and a production company complicit in the abuse. The lawsuit comes more than a year after Cosby left prison after his 2018 sexual assault conviction in Pennsylvania was overturned. Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a teenager in 1975. NBC says it won’t comment on legal issues. (Photo: AP)
December 6, 2022 3:50 pm
(AP) – A panel is calling for changes at the federal agency that oversees most of the nation’s food supply, saying revamped leadership, a clear mission and more urgency are needed to prevent illness outbreaks and to promote good health. But the report released Tuesday stopped short of recommending specific steps to take, instead offering several scenarios. The Reagan-Udall Foundation, a group separate from but closely tied to the federal Food and Drug Administration, said in a report that the agency leadership and culture must be restructured to better respond to food safety crises and chronic public health problems.
December 6, 2022 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Top House and Senate leaders have bestowed Congress’ highest honor on law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Congressional Gold Medals were presented Tuesday in a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, which was overrun that day nearly two years ago by supporters of then-President Donald Trump in a brutal and bloody attack. Four medals will be placed at the U.S. Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution. President Joe Biden said a medal will be placed at the Smithsonian “so all visitors can understand what happened that day.”
December 6, 2022 4:14 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Kirstie Alley, a two-time Emmy winner who starred in the 1980s sitcom “Cheers” and the hit film “Look Who’s Talking,” has died. She was 71. Her death was announced Monday by her children on social media and confirmed by her manager. The post said their mother died of cancer that was recently diagnosed. She starred as Rebecca Howe on the NBC sitcom “Cheers” from 1987 to 1993, after the departure of original star Shelley Long. She had her own sitcom on the network, “Veronica’s Closet,” from 1997 to 2000. John Travolta, who starred with Alley in two “Look Who’s Talking” films, was among the stars who paid tribute to her online.
December 6, 2022 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is actively searching for ways to safeguard abortion access for millions of women. But those efforts are bumping up against a complex web of strict new state laws enacted in the months after the Supreme Court stripped the constitutional right. After midterm elections there’s a renewed purpose at the White House to find ways to help women in states have virtually outlawed or limited the treatment, and to enforce policies already in place. But the administration is shackled by a ban on federal funding for most abortions, a conservative-leaning Supreme Court and a split Congress.
December 6, 2022 4:11 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia voters are deciding the final Senate contest in the country. They’re choosing whether to reelect Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock or opt for Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Tuesday’s contest concludes a four-week runoff blitz that’s drawn a flood of outside spending to an increasingly personal fight. The outcome will determine whether Democrats have a 51-49 Senate majority or control a 50-50 chamber based on Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote. In last month’s general election, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast but fell shy of a majority, triggering the runoff. As polls opened Tuesday morning, a 40-degree wind chill and steady rain greeted voters in the Atlanta area.
December 6, 2022 4:06 am
There is an old saying that states, “If it is not broke, don’t fix it”, and at its annual reorganization meeting Monday night, that is exactly what the Peters Township School Board did. The board returned Thomas McMurray to the post of president for the eighth consecutive year. Rebecca Bowman was elected vice-president. McMurray indicated that all the building and renovation projects are now complete and the board’s total focus will be on education. McMurray said that one of the challenges facing the district and in fact all area school districts is the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. He hopes that it stays in check and they do not have to revert to practices from earlier years. McMurray indicates that the district is in good shape with its buildings with the ongoing housing construction that is going on in the district. The board also kept all committee assignments from last year in place.
December 6, 2022 4:05 am
WORTHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Remains found in Armstrong County are believed to be missing Frazer Township woman Darlene Harbison, according to police. Allegheny County police said on Monday a hunter observed a motorcycle over a hillside along Nichola Road in Worthington Township, Armstrong County. The hunter gave the plate number to state police in Kittanning. The license plate was registered to Harbison, who has been missing for nearly three months. State police responded to the area and located human remains near the motorcycle. County police detectives and the Allegheny County Mobile Crime Unit responded to the area. The remains will be taken to the medical examiner’s office for formal identification. Harbison was last seen on Sept. 11. Harbison’s daughter made several attempts to contact her mother with no success, she then requested a welfare check through the Frazer Township Police Department. Police said Harbison was in a volatile relationship with 57-year-old Eric Gibbs, whom officials believe is responsible for her disappearance. Gibbs was found dead from an apparent suicide by hunters on Sept. 17 in West Deer Township.
December 5, 2022 5:28 pm
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – Incarcerated lawyer Michael Avenatti has been sentenced in Southern California to 14 years in federal prison for cheating his clients out of millions of dollars. The judge on Monday also ordered him to pay $7 million in restitution. Avenatti had pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and a tax-related charge. áHe was accused of negotiating and collecting settlement payments on behalf of his clients and instead funneling the money to accounts he controlled. The judged said the sentence should run consecutively to the five-year prison term he is currently serving for separate convictions in New York. (Photo: AP)
December 5, 2022 4:19 pm
(AP) – Pfizer is asking U.S. regulators to authorize its updated COVID-19 vaccine for children under age 5. The youngest tots already are supposed to get three extra-small doses of the original vaccine as their primary series. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said Monday that if the Food and Drug Administration agrees, the updated vaccine would be used for the third shot. The FDA already has cleared COVID-19 vaccines tweaked to better target omicron as boosters for everyone 5 and older.
