June 14, 2024 5:04 am
BARI, Italy (AP) — Pope Francis has challenged leaders of the world’s wealthy democracies to keep human dignity foremost in developing and using artificial intelligence. He warned that human relations themselves could be reduced to algorithms. Francis brought his moral authority to bear on the Group of Seven. In doing so, he became the first pope to attend the G7, offering an ethical take on an issue that is increasingly on the agenda of international summits, government policy and corporate boards alike. The final G7 communique largely reflected his concerns. The leaders pledged to better coordinate the governance and regulatory frameworks surrounding AI to keep it “human-centered.”
June 14, 2024 2:16 am
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh announced Thursday that they now believe a Wellsburg, West Virginia man who is wanted in connection with the robbery last week of the First National Bank on Route Nineteen in North Strabane Township is the same man who robbed the Washington Financial Bank on East Wylie Avenue in Washington two days earlier. Walsh said earlier this week that warrants had been issued for the arrest of Brandon Scerri and Kayla Pruett for the hold up of the First National Bank and now, investigators believe Scerri is also the man who robbed the Washington Financial Bank on East Wylie Avenue in Washington two days earlier.. Authorities say say the two were identified using their tattoos and driver’s license photos, along with the description of their car, a blue-colored Ford Focus. Walsh says Scerri got away with more than seventy-four-hundred-dollars in the North Strabane robbery, but only a little over one-hundred and fifty-dollars in the Washington hold-up. Police did not include Pruett in the arrest warrant for the Washington bank robbery. (Photo: North Strabane Township Police)
June 14, 2024 1:56 am
CANONSBURG, Pa. — (WPXI) – A Canonsburg man is facing charges after he allegedly used a drone to stalk teenage girls. According to police, the situation started when Michael Brackman, 44, used a drone to follow a 13-year-old neighbor. Brackman allegedly used his drone at least 120 times to stalk girls, following them when they left their house, jumped on trampolines and at the playground. Brackman allegedly flew the drone outside some of their bedroom windows. Officers say more underage victims and their parents came to the police station with sexual notes that they say Brackman left for their child on their porch, as well as flyers he put up around the neighborhood using actual photos he took of kids with his drone. Brackman was taken to the Washington County Jail.
June 13, 2024 5:22 pm
FASANO, Italy (AP) — President Joe Biden says he will not use his presidential powers to lessen the eventual sentence that his son Hunter will receive for his federal felony conviction on gun crimes. Biden, following the conclusion of a news conference held Thursday at the Group of Seven summit of the world’s wealthiest democracies, responded he would not when asked whether he plans to commute the sentence for his son. Hunter Biden’s sentencing date has not been set, and the three counts carry up to 25 years in prison, though that’s unlikely as a first-time offender.
June 13, 2024 10:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has preserved access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year. It’s the court’s first abortion decision since conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. The justices ruled Thursday that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and the FDA’s subsequent actions to ease access to it. The case had threatened to restrict access to mifepristone across the country, including in states where abortion remains legal. It’s one of two abortion cases at the high court this term.
June 13, 2024 6:27 am
Emergency crews were called to the Town and Country mobile home park in Canton Township early Thursday morning. Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers tell WJPA News that they received numerous calls about an explosion just after 5 a.m. According to dispatchers, fire crews discovered a shed on fire upon their arrival in the 300-block of Beacon Avenue. We are told a nearby trailer was also damaged. One person was transported from the scene for smoke inhalation. No other details are currently available.
June 13, 2024 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials said inflation has fallen further toward their target level in recent months but signaled that they expect to cut their benchmark interest rate just once this year. The policymakers’ forecast for one rate cut was down from their previous projection of three cuts, because inflation, despite having cooled in the past two months, remains persistently above their target level. The scaled-back estimate for rate cuts came as something of a surprise, given that the government reported that inflation slowed in May more than most economists had expected. Financial markets took encouragement, though, from the statement the Fed issued after its latest meeting, which underscored that it sees progress in its fight against high inflation.
June 13, 2024 5:08 am
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla shareholders have voted to restore CEO Elon Musk’s record $44.9 billion pay package that was thrown out by a Delaware judge earlier this year. Vote totals were not immediately announced. The favorable vote doesn’t mean CEO Musk will get the all-stock compensation anytime soon. The package is likely to remain tied up in the Delaware Chancery Court for months as Tesla appeals the rejection. The court ruled in January that Musk essentially controlled the Tesla board when it approved the package in 2018, and that it failed to fully inform shareholders who approved it the same year. Tesla has said it would appeal, but asked shareholders to reapprove the package at Thursday’s annual meeting.
June 13, 2024 5:08 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Eight former employees sued SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk, alleging that Musk ordered them fired after they challenged what they called rampant sexual harassment, a hostile “Animal House”-style work environment at the company and Musk’s role in creating that atmosphere. The employees, who filed suit in a California state court, detailed their complaints in a 2022 open letter to management they shared via a company intranet. The next day, four of the plaintiffs were fired, they alleged; others were terminated later after an internal investigation. In January, the federal National Labor Relations Board filed its own complaint against SpaceX on behalf of the fired employees.
June 13, 2024 5:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court unanimously upheld access to a drug used in the majority of U.S. abortions, though abortion opponents say the ruling won’t be the last word in the fight over mifepristone. The narrow decision on Thursday came two years after the high court overturned the nationwide right to abortion. Rather than fully dive into the issue, the high court found that anti-abortion doctors lacked the legal right to sue. That could leave an opening for anti-abortion states or other opponents to keep up the legal fight.
