April 15, 2024 5:48 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — The historic hush-money trial of Donald Trump got underway Monday with the arduous process of selecting a jury to hear the case charging the former president with falsifying business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life. The day ended without any jurors being seated. The selection process was to resume Tuesday. The first criminal trial of any former U.S. president began as Trump vies to reclaim the White House, creating a remarkable split-screen spectacle of the presumptive Republican nominee spending his days as a criminal defendant while simultaneously campaigning for office.
April 15, 2024 5:45 pm
A Washington man was killed in a motorcycle accident on Amity Ridge Road in Amwell Township Monday afternoon. Authorities say twenty-year-old Noah Polites was riding a motorcycle when he lost control and struck a guardrail just before three o’clock. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Polites was not wearing a helmet, according to the Washington County coroner’s office. State police are investigating the crash.
April 15, 2024 12:38 pm
(AP) – A stretch of the Ohio River near Pittsburgh remains closed to maritime traffic as crews equipped with sonar look for a barge believed to have sunk over the weekend. The barge is one of more than two dozen barges that broke loose and floated down the river, striking a bridge and causing extensive damage to a marina. No injuries were reported and officials say no hazardous materials spilled into the river. Cmdr. Justin Jolley of the Coast Guard marine safety unit in Pittsburgh says he’s hopeful the river can reopen this week.
April 15, 2024 5:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first criminal trial facing former President Donald Trump is also the one in which Americans are least convinced he committed a crime, a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds. Only about one-third of U.S. adults think Trump did something illegal in the hush money case for which jury selection began Monday, while close to half think he did something illegal in the other three criminal cases pending against him. Still, about half of Americans would consider Trump unfit to serve as president if he is convicted of falsifying business documents to cover up hush money payments to an adult film actor.
April 15, 2024 5:16 am
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli leaders are crediting an international military coalition with thwarting Iran’s direct attack and calling the coordinated response a starting point for a “strategic alliance” of regional opposition to Tehran. But an official says Israel’s War Cabinet has met without apparent decision on next steps as a nervous world waits for any sign of further escalation of the former shadow war. The military coalition is led by the United States, Britain and France and appears to include a number of Middle Eastern countries. It shot down the vast majority of about 350 drones and missiles Iran launched overnight.
April 15, 2024 5:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Today is Tax Day and the IRS is promoting the customer service improvements the agency rolled out since receiving tens of billions in new funding dollars through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act. From cutting phone wait times to digitizing more documents and improving the “Where’s My Refund” tool to show more account details in plain language, agency leadership is trying to bring attention to what’s been done to repair the agency’s image as an outdated and maligned tax collector. The promotion also in part is meant to quickly normalize a more efficient and effective IRS before congressional Republicans threaten another round of cuts to the agency.
April 15, 2024 5:13 am
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed six people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said on Monday detectives would question the family of assailant Joel Cauchi in a bid to find his motive. She said CCTV footage from the mall shows Cauchi targeted women. Police shot Cauchi dead during the knife attack in the Westfield Bondi Junction mall on Saturday near world-famous Bondi Beach. Police have ruled out terrorism and said the 40-year-old had a history of mental illness. Only one man was killed. Webb says most of the 12 victims who survived their wounds are also women.
April 15, 2024 5:10 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The union that represents a Pittsburgh newspaper’s truck drivers, one of five unions that have been on strike for 18 months, has approved a new contract with the paper’s owners. But four other unions, including one representing the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s journalists and other newsroom employees, have not settled. The newspaper said the remaining members of Teamsters Local 211/205 voted unanimously to accept a labor dispute settlement agreement and dissolve their union at the newspaper. Details of the agreement were not disclosed. Four other unions — including the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which represents reporters, photographers and other newsroom employees — remain on strike. Their representatives said they were disheartened by the Teamsters’ settlement.
April 15, 2024 5:09 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A missing Fayette County man has been found dead. On Saturday morning, Pennsylvania State Police Belle Vernon alerted the public that they were searching for Anthony Dicenzo, 83, of Brownsville, who left his home to look at real estate properties on Friday and had not returned. Police tried to ping his phone but were unsuccessful. Fayette County Coroner Bob Baker said Dicenzo was found deceased in German Township around 10:36 a.m. Saturday. The coroner’s office, Fayette County District Attorney’s Office and Pennsylvania State Police are investigating. In a news release, Pennsylvania State Police clarified that Dicenzo was found dead from an apparent gunshot wound and that his death is being investigated as a homicide. Anyone with information should contact Pennsylvania State Police Uniontown.
April 15, 2024 5:04 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An election this month in Pittsburgh and some of its suburbs is emerging as an early test of whether Israel’s war with Hamas poses political threats to progressive Democrats in Congress who’ve criticized the conflict. First-term Rep. Summer Lee is facing a primary challenge from Bhavini Patel, a municipal councilwoman. Lee has accused Israel of committing “war crimes,” called for a cease-fire and demanded an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. That’s veered from the stand taken by President Joe Biden and most Democrats when it comes to the war If Lee is defeated in the April 23 contest, she’d be the first Democratic incumbent to lose a primary this year.
