November 28, 2022 5:41 am
Some two-thousand customers throughout Washington County are still experiencing the effects of strong storms that rolled through the region Sunday afternoon and left behind damage in several municipalities. The National Weather Service says they received reports of golf ball sized hail that damaged homes and vehicles in California, Long Branch and Stockdale Borough (pictured). In Donora, fire officials reported several sheared off utility poles from wind damage and in Monessen their were reports of quarter-sized hail. The storms knocked out power to many locations and even though West Penn Power crews spent most of Monday making repairs, more than two-thousand customers remain without electricity and the company tells us that it may late Tuesday before it is restored. The hardest hit areas appear to be East Bethlehem Township and Centerville Borough. About 180 customers in Greene County and more than 170 In Fayette County were also without service. It’s unclear when those customers can expect to have their power restored. (PHOTO: Glady Beveridge)
November 28, 2022 4:31 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is in the fight of his political life as he seeks enough GOP backing to become the next speaker of the House. The California congressman is grinding through the promises and proposals, cajoling and deal-making necessary to win over reluctant colleagues. He needs at least 218 votes to become Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s successor. The overtures McCarthy is making include the symbolic and the substantive, but often come with a political cost. For example, he’s promised to restore the committee assignments of a far-right Republican, Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, and take them away from some high-profile Democrats. McCarthy remains confident of garnering enough support, saying that “we’ll get there.”
November 28, 2022 4:28 am
PHOENIX (AP) – Six Arizona counties will decide Monday whether to certify 2022 election results. Some Republicans are pushing officials not to officially approve a vote count that had Democrats winning for U.S. Senate, governor and other statewide races. Election results have largely been certified without issue in jurisdictions across the country. That’s not been the case in Arizona, which was a hotbed for efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the the 2020 election and push false narratives of fraud. Two Republican-controlled Arizona counties have voted not to certify. They deferred a final decision until Monday, the last day it’s allowed under state law.
November 28, 2022 4:26 am
KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) – Devastating Russian strikes in Ukraine have cut off power to many hospitals. Power outages have strained and disrupted the country’s health care system, already battered by years of corruption, mismanagement, the COVID-19 pandemic and nine months of war. Scheduled operations are being postponed; patient records are unavailable because of internet outages; and paramedics have had to use flashlights to examine patients in darkened apartments. The World Health Organization said last week that Ukraine’s health system is facing “its darkest days in the war so far,” amid the growing energy crisis, the onset of cold winter weather and other challenges.
November 28, 2022 4:25 am
BEIJING (AP) – Chinese authorities have eased anti-virus rules in scattered areas but affirmed their severe “zero-COVID” strategy after crowds demanded President Xi Jinping resign during protests against controls that confine millions of people to their homes. The protests are the most widespread display of opposition to the ruling Communist Party in decades. The city of Beijing announced it would no longer set up gates to block access to apartment compounds. That followed a deadly fire last week that set off demonstrations following angry questions about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other controls. The ruling party newspaper People’s Daily defended “zero COVID,” saying it has “withstood the test of practice.”
November 28, 2022 4:10 am
WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A car hauler caught fire on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Sunday morning. According to PennDOT, the vehicle fire was affecting traffic between Exit 67 and Exit 57 on the shoulder right lane. The blaze erupting from the middle of the carrier. Reportedly, five of the eight total cars on the carrier were completely destroyed. There’s no word on whether anyone was injured.
November 27, 2022 8:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is easing some oil sanctions on Venezuela in an effort to support newly restarted negotiations between the Venezuelan government and its opposition. The Treasury Department is allowing Chevron to resume “limited” energy production in Venezuela after years of sanctions that have dramatically curtailed oil and gas profits that have flowed to President Nicolás Maduro’s government. Earlier this year the Treasury Department again allowed the California-based Chevron and other U.S. companies to perform basic upkeep of wells it operates jointly with state-run oil giant PDVSA. Under the new policy, profits from the sale of energy would be directed to paying down debt owed to Chevron, rather than providing profits to PDVSA.
November 27, 2022 8:04 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is drawing criticism for dining with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. The meeting came days after Trump launched his third campaign for the White House. Trump had dinner Tuesday evening at his Mar-a-Lago club with West, who is now known as Ye, as well as far-right activist Nick Fuentes, who has used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric. Ye has also made a series of antisemitic comments in recent weeks. Trump says he gets along great with Ye and didn’t know Fuentes or his views.
November 27, 2022 8:02 am
MONTREAL (AP) — There has been a surge in the number of Mexicans seeking asylum in Canada this year. The reasons for the big jump include the relative ease for Mexicans to obtain refugee status in Canada compared to the U.S., visa-free travel between Mexico and Canada, and the threat of violence back home. More than 8,000 Mexican nationals have applied for asylum in Canada since the start of the year. That is six times as many as last year and more than twice as many as in 2019, which was the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that accompanied it. The majority of the asylum seekers are flying into Montreal. The city has many direct flights between the two countries.
November 27, 2022 8:01 am
KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Officials say shelling by Russian forces has hit several areas in eastern and southern Ukraine overnight as utility crews continue a scramble to restore power, water and heating from widespread strikes in recent weeks. With persistent snowfall blanketing the capital, Kyiv, Sunday, analysts predicted that wintry weather could have an increasing impact on the direction of the conflict that has been raging since Russian forces invaded Ukraine more than nine months ago. State power grid Ukrenergo said electricity producers are now supplying about 80% of demand. That’s an improvement from Saturday’s 75%, the company says.
