May 9, 2024 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hardline Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has tried and failed to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson. But the resounding rejection by Democrats and Republicans does not end the political chaos. One of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters in Congress, Greene stood on the House floor and read a long list of “transgressions” she said Johnson had committed as speaker. Colleagues booed in protest, and Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise quickly countered by calling for a vote to table Greene’s motion. An overwhelming majority, 359-43, kept Johnson in his job, for now. But any lawmaker can try to remove the speaker, and Trump said at some point there “may very well be” another bid to do so.
May 9, 2024 5:05 am
COLUMBIA, Tenn. (AP) — Severe storms are tearing through the southeast U.S., spawning damaging tornadoes, producing massive hail, and killing two people in Tennessee and another in North Carolina. Forecasters warn that the wave of storms could march toward parts of the South early Thursday. The storms continue an outbreak of torrential rain and tornadoes that have cut across the country this week, from the Plains to the Midwest and now the southeastern U.S. Officials say at least four people have died in storms since Monday.
May 9, 2024 4:58 am
SOUTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A man was arrested after an alleged domestic abuse kidnapping attempted at the Giant Eagle in South Strabane Township. Witnesses say the incident happened just before 10 a.m. on Monday when they heard a woman screaming for help. Police say Jose Zaragoza was attempting to pull a woman from her vehicle, choking her and covering her nose and mouth with his hands. Witnesses told police he approached her vehicle with a roll of duct tape in his hands, which was later seen on top of the vehicle. Multiple people tried to intervene and Zaragoza ran away. He was caught at a traffic stop hours later and arrested. “It’s not just scary to be in an abusive situation, it’s scary to intervene,” said Alexandra Brooks, of the Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern PA, which offers free services to women. Brooks gave advice to anyone who finds themself a bystander to a domestic violence situation. “Being direct is anything from stepping in saying, ‘Is everything okay here?’ A lot of time that at least gets the violence to deescalate, and the person who is being violent a lot of times will leave the situation.”
May 9, 2024 4:52 am
Cecil Township Supervisors heard another three hours of public comment from a standing room only crowd on Wednesday on updates to their oil and gas ordinance. The first meeting held in April brought some of the suggestions made by residents to life. Supervisors worked hard studying ordinances from many areas looking to find something that added restrictions but also held up to court challenges from the fracking industry. The ordinance that they are currently patterning their ordinance around comes from Murrysville, PA. Supervisor Cindy Fisher stated that their ordinance has had court challenges and survived. Supervisors are working with engineers to develop a map that uses increasingly restrictive criteria to determine the best places available for future drilling. Supervisors also hired an engineer to study the noise and vibration aspects of the ordinance. The engineer stated that fracking operations were in compliance with the current ordinance but used loopholes to get around low frequency noise and vibrations not typically heard in the normal range of hearing. He offered suggestions to tighten up those loopholes. Public comment centered on having supervisors implement stricter air, water and noise protections. Over two dozen residents spoke and the vast majority spoke of well pad set back limits of 2500 feet or more from any adjacent structures. An attorney speaking on behalf of the Traditions of America development suggested that supervisors look less to current surface operations like well pads and consider sub surface operations that will accomplish the same goal. In other words, instead of granting new well pad applications, have existing operations drill under areas from existing pads to gain the natural gas desired. Questions of conflict of interest arose. Supervisor Darlene Barni admitted to the group that she has gas leases on land she owns. Residents did not fault her for taking advantage of the opportunity that those leases provide. They demanded that she recuse herself from any vote taken regarding oil and gas regulation. Supervisor Chairman Tom Casciola said that the question would be forwarded to an ethics commission. Another public hearing is scheduled for June 5.
May 9, 2024 2:51 am
(WPXI) – A confirmed tornado touched down in Allegheny County during Wednesday’s early morning storms. The tornado hit near the Marriott at Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township. The National Weather Service said most of the damage was along Aten Road. The tornado was rated an EF1 and had 105 miles per hour winds that snapped at least fifteen to twenty trees as the tornado traveled .2 miles southeast. A nearby building lost a metal roof;, with a portion of it falling on the interstate.. This is the third confirmed tornado that hit the Pittsburgh area during Wednesday’s morning storm system. A tornado that was at least an EF2 hit Hancock County in West Virginia and an EF1 tornado touched down in Ligonier Township in Westmoreland County. Washington County 911 tells WJPA there were no weather-related damages or injuries in the county. (Photo: Hancock County, W.Va.)
May 8, 2024 5:27 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plead guilty to bank and tax fraud in a sports betting case. Prosecutors alleged Ippei Mizuhara stole nearly $17 million from the Japanese baseball player to pay off debts. Mizuhara’s scheduled arraignment Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles was postponed earlier Tuesday. The scandal shocked baseball fans from the U.S. to Japan when the news broke in March. Mizuhara was initially charged with one count of bank fraud. Authorities say there was no evidence that Ohtani was involved in or aware of Mizuhara’s gambling, and the player is cooperating with investigators.
May 8, 2024 5:26 pm
PAVILION TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — At least eight tornadoes have touched down in Ohio and three have been confirmed in Michigan as severe storms barreled through the central U.S., killing one man in Tennessee when a tree toppled onto a vehicle he was in. The National Weather Service says confirmed tornadoes touched down Tuesday in Ohio, including five in Warren County in the state’s southwest region. Weather service meteorologist in Michigan Nathan Jeruzal says Wednesday that the tornadoes there touched down one each in Kalamazoo, Cass and Branch counties — all in the southwestern part of the state. Tornadoes were first reported after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch. (Photo: AP)
May 8, 2024 5:24 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are welcoming a police crackdown that cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University and led to the arrests of 33 protesters. But one of the students arrested in Washington, Moataz Salim, says authorities merely “destroyed a beautiful community space that was all about love.” Police broke up the gathering Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson said it should not have required “threatening to haul D.C.’s mayor before Congress” for police to end the protest. Mayor Muriel Bowser says city officials acted because the situation was becoming more volatile. She was to testify to a House panel about her handling of the protest but the hearing was canceled after the crackdown.
May 8, 2024 5:08 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, as the defense tries to undermine the credibility of the porn actor’s salacious testimony about an alleged sexual encounter and the money she got to keep quiet. Defense attorneys will get another chance on Thursday to question Daniels, whose account is central to the prosecutors’ case accusing Trump of scheming to illegally influence the 2016 presidential campaign by burying unflattering stories. Trump looked on in the courtroom as Daniels for hours on Tuesday described an unexpected sexual encounter she says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign. Trump denies they ever had sex.
May 8, 2024 5:00 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. The key terminal for the entry of humanitarian aid was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby. An Israeli tank brigade seized the nearby Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt early Tuesday, and it remained closed. But that limited incursion does not appear to be the start of the full-scale invasion of the crowded southern city that Israel has repeatedly promised. The looming operation threatens to widen a rift between Israel and its main backer, the United States. Israel has linked the decision over launching a full-scale offensive to ongoing talks over a cease-fire and hostage release.
