April 17, 2024 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson has pushed back against mounting Republican anger over his proposed U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies. He also rejected a call on Tuesday to step aside or risk a vote to oust him from office. Johnson said he is “not resigning,” after a testy morning meeting of House Republicans at the Capitol. The embattled Republican speaker pressed ahead for voting this week on the U.S. national security aid package, a situation that would force him to rely on Democrats to help pass it. But as night fell, Johnson’s resolve collided with GOP opposition, and he was meeting late into the night with lawmakers on other options.
April 17, 2024 5:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has dismissed all impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ending the House Republican push to remove the Cabinet secretary from office over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border and ending his trial before arguments even began. Senate Democrats argued that the articles were unconstitutional. The first article charged Mayorkas with “willful and systemic refusal to comply” with immigration law. The second article charged Mayorkas with a “breach of trust” for saying the border was secure. The votes were 51-48 and 51-49, both along party lines. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the House Republicans’ case failed to meet “the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
April 17, 2024 5:06 am
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The Chinese and Indonesian foreign ministers called for an immediate and lasting cease-fire in Gaza after a meeting in Jakarta on Thursday, condemning the humanitarian costs of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. Indonesia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi told reporters that the two countries share the same view regarding the importance of a cease-fire in Gaza and resolving the Palestinian problem through two a two-state solution. The two ministers also discussed their countries’ economic relationship and the South China Sea. Later Thursday, Wang is also scheduled to meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo and president-elect Prabowo Subianto, who is currently defense minister.
April 17, 2024 5:03 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Heavy thunderstorms have lashed the United Arab Emirates, dumping the heaviest rain ever recorded in the country in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and Dubai’s international airport. By the end of Tuesday, more 5.59 inches of rainfall had soaked Dubai over 24 hours. An average year sees 3.73 inches of rain at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for the long-haul carrier Emirates. The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.”
April 17, 2024 4:59 am
The U.S. Coast Guard has reopened the Ohio River in Pittsburgh to maritime traffic, nearly four days after 26 barges broke loose and floated away during flooding. The Coast Guard had barred vessels from a stretch of the river north of the city after dozens of barges got loose from their moorings late Friday, striking a bridge and smashing into a pair of marinas. One of the barges sank and was located by sonar Tuesday. The barge operator, Campbell Transportation Company Inc., has begun work to salvage the other barges. There were no injuries.
April 17, 2024 4:52 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – Human skeletal remains were found Tuesday in Fayette County. The remains were found in the area of Hogsett Lane in North Union Township, state police said. Police said the remains were found after investigators received information on a missing person. “I can confirm there is a missing person’s investigation out of Uniontown for a missing girl; it’s too early to tell the identity,” said Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele. The county DA said the house where the buried bones were found has been abandoned for at least five years. “The body was located about 50 feet from the house in an area close to the creek,” Aubele said. “The skeleton was partially exposed.” Aubele said DNA and forensic testing will have to be done to find out who the person was and how the person died. He said that will take some time, but they’ll have a better idea of just how long when the anthropologist goes out to the property Wednesday morning to examine the bones.
April 17, 2024 2:56 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — President Joe Biden has told an audience of cheering unionized steelworkers that his administration will block the acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japanese company, potentially. And he’s calling for a tripling of tariffs on Chinese steel. The Democratic president is seeking to use trade policy to win over working-class votes in Pennsylvania, an election-year battleground. He said Wednesday that U.S. Steel “has been an iconic American company for more than a century and it should remain totally American.” His administration is reviewing the proposed acquisition by Japan’s Nippon Steel. On the tariff front, Chinese imports account for only a small percentage of the steel products coming into the United States so the higher fees are largely symbolic. Washington Mayor Jo Jo Burgess was among those to attend the rally and was acknowledged by the President during the event. Burgess was also a guest of the President at his State of the Union Address (Photo: AP)
April 17, 2024 2:25 am
A Washington man will be sentenced in July for his role in the drug related deaths of two people. Thirty-seven-year-old Lorenzo Brian Lloyd pleaded guilty to two counts of drug delivery resulting in death, for helping to supply a deadly batch of fentanyl to the individuals in February of 2021. Lloyd was one of three men accused of helping to supply stamp bags of fentanyl to David and Nannette Dennick. They were found dead in their home in Canton Township. As for the other two men involved in the case, 22-year-old Zaeshown Jaheim Kimbrew of Aliquippa pleaded guilty two years ago to two counts of drug delivery resulting in death and was sentenced to six to twelve years in prison. The third man, 31-year-old Mitchell William Logan, of Washington, is free on bond while awaiting trial. Lloyd remains in the Washington County Jail on five-hundred-thousand-dollars bond.
April 16, 2024 4:16 pm
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden has begun three straight days of campaigning in Pennsylvania in his childhood hometown of Scranton. The president used the working class city of roughly 75,000 as the backdrop for his pitch for higher taxes on the wealthy on Tuesday. He also slammed his campaign rival, former President Donald Trump, as elitist. Biden’s travels overlap with the beginning of Trump’s first criminal trial in New York. The Republican former president faces charges over a scheme to suppress allegations of a sexual encounter with porn actor Stormy Daniels. Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground state Biden has repeatedly visited in his bid for a second term.
April 16, 2024 3:57 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Whitey Herzog, the gruff and ingenious Hall of Fame manager who guided the St. Louis Cardinals to three pennants and a World Series title and perfected an intricate, nail-biting strategy known as “Whiteyball,” has died. Herzog, affectionately nicknamed “The White Rat,” was a manager for 18 seasons, compiling an overall record of 1,281 wins and 1,125 losses. He was named Manager of the Year in 1985. Under Herzog, the Cardinals won pennants in 1982, 1985 and 1987 and won the World Series in 1982, when they edged the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games. Cardinals spokesman Brian Bartow said Tuesday the team had been informed of his death by Herzog’s family. He was 92. (Photo: AP)
