May 30, 2024 5:10 am
HONG KONG (AP) — Fourteen pro-democracy activists have been convicted in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case by a court that said their plan to effect change through an unofficial primary election would have undermined the government’s authority and created a constitutional crisis. After a 2019 protest movement that filled the city’s streets with demonstrators, authorities have all but silenced dissent in Hong Kong through reduced public choice in elections, crackdowns on media and the Beijing-imposed security law under which the activists were convicted.
May 30, 2024 5:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A string of security, logistical and weather problems has battered the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a U.S. military-built pier. Broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational, the project faces criticism it hasn’t lived up to its initial billing or its $320 million price tag. U.S. officials say, however, that the pier is being repaired, then will be reinstalled and working again soon. Aid groups have mixed reactions, welcoming the aid yet calling the pier a distraction that takes pressure off Israel to open more land routes. The Biden administration has said from the start that the pier wasn’t meant to be a total solution.
May 30, 2024 5:07 am
The Israeli military says two soldiers have been killed in a car-ramming attack in the occupied West Bank. Violence in the West Bank has surged throughout the war in Gaza as Israel raids Palestinian towns in the territory to crack down on militancy, with incursions resulting in the deaths of more than 500 Palestinians. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians in the border city of Rafah reported heavy fighting Wednesday. Israel’s military said it seized control of the entire length of Gaza’s border with Egypt. Fighting in Rafah has already spurred more than 1 million Palestinians to flee. They now seek refuge in other war-ravaged areas. The United Nations says they lack shelter, food, water and other essentials for survival.
May 30, 2024 5:06 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has been convicted in his New York hush money trial, a landmark jury verdict making him the first former American president to be found guilty of felony crimes in the nation’s nearly 250-year history. The jury’s judgment Thursday caps a trial centered on lurid claims of sex and financial coverups and exposes Trump to prison time. The verdict represents a stunning courtroom reckoning for Trump, who was indicted in three other felony cases but wasn’t convicted until now. Coming six months before the presidential election in which Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, the verdict will test voters’ willingness to elect for the first time a candidate with a criminal record related to hush money payments to a porn star. Sentencing has been set for July 11th.
May 30, 2024 5:03 am
A federal court jury in Pittburgh has awarded the family of a Washington County man $21 Million for the State Police shooting death of 34 year old Anthony Gallo. The jury of eight found that Trooper Chad Weaver used excessive force after police were called to Gallo’s Canton Township mobile home in 2017 for a report that he was having a mental health crisis. Gallow was shot ten times with an AR-15 rifle from a short distance. The family filed the suit in 2019. The jury deliberated for less than three-hours before returning the verdict Wednesday. Neither Weaver, nor his attorney’s have commented. He is still employed by State Police and reportedly works for the Bureau of Gaming Enforcement. State Police say they are reviewing the verdict and have not commented.
May 30, 2024 4:59 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. Trump sat stone-faced while the verdict was read as cheering from the street below could be heard in the hallway on the courthouse’s 15th floor. He is being sentenced on July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention. Manhattan prosecutors did not say whether they would seek prison time for Trump.
May 30, 2024 2:44 am
Pennsylvania State Police are looking for a missing 15-year-old boy from Washington County. Jordan Elm was last seen in Fallowfield Township, state police said. Jordan is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 145 pounds. He has blue eyes and brown/dirty blond hair and was last seen wearing a black Metallica t-shirt, dark shorts and black military style boots. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call 724-929-6262.
May 30, 2024 2:13 am
A Charleroi man has been sentenced in federal court to 10 years of prison on his convictions for possession with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of a mixture containing heroin and fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of that drug trafficking crime. United States District Judge William S. Stickman IV imposed the sentence on 28-year-old Rashawn Ford. Authorities say a trooper with the Pennsylvania State Police initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Ford in Westmoreland County and during the stop, the trooper recovered packaged heroin and fentanyl, in addition to a loaded handgun. Law enforcement subsequently learned that Ford was staying at a Westmoreland County hotel, where Ford was keeping additional controlled substances in his room. On March 14, 2021, law enforcement executed a search warrant upon that hotel room, resulting in the seizure of packaged heroin and fentanyl, a handgun loaded with 27 rounds of ammunition, and over $8,600. Following these seizures, federal and state law enforcement opened a joint investigation into Ford, which culminated in the execution of several search warrants on properties associated with Ford in August 2022. Those searches resulted in the seizure of packaged heroin, a loaded handgun, and over $200,000. As part of his sentence, Ford forfeited approximately $273,979 that was seized from him during the investigation.
May 30, 2024 1:43 am
(WPXI) – A construction worker has died after falling off of scaffolding in Oakland. It happened around 8 a.m. in the 400 block of Melwood Avenue. A man was found with significant injuries and pronounced dead at the scene, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety. Witnesses say he was working on the exterior of the building and fell nine stories. Melwood Avenue was closed at Baum Boulevard.
May 30, 2024 1:31 am
(WPXI) – A Fayette County woman is facing charges for allegedly chaining her adopted 22-year-old daughter to a bed. Marylou Dewitt is charged with neglect of a care-dependent person, endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person, neglect of a care-dependent person, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, harassment, false imprisonment, unlawful restraint and tampering with evidence. Troopers received a call at around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday from a female who said she found her adopted sister, who police say is intellectually disabled, screaming from a bedroom. She saw her chained and locked to the bed frame, with chains around her waist, neck and hands, Pennsylvania State Police in Belle Vernon said. After the girl was freed, the chains, locks and keys were put into a box. Dewitt, whose daughter said she locked the adopted sister to the bed frame, took the box and drove away from the scene in Upper Tyrone Township, state police said. Dewitt was found near the Pittsburgh area. She was taken into custody near the Fort Pitt Bridge. The investigation is ongoing.
