May 10, 2024 5:13 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The third week of testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial is drawing to a close. It comes after jurors heard the dramatic, if not downright seamy, account of Stormy Daniels’ alleged sexual encounter with the former president. Meanwhile, prosecutors are gearing up for their most crucial witness: former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. Daniels’ story was a necessary building block for prosecutors. They are seeking to show that Trump and his allies bought up and buried potentially damaging stories in the waning weeks of the 2016 presidential election in an effort to illegally influence the race. Trump denies any wrongdoing, telling reporters Thursday, “I’m innocent.”
May 10, 2024 5:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have long managed a complicated relationship. But now they find themselves running out of space to maneuver as their interests diverge and their political futures hang in the balance. Their ties have hit a low point this week: Biden confirmed he ordered the suspension of delivery of heavy bombs to Israel as Netanyahu resists White House pressure to scrap plans to move forward with a widescale operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Netanyahu has grown increasingly resistant to Biden’s public charm offensives and private pleading, prompting the president’s more assertive pushback in the past several weeks.
May 10, 2024 5:08 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania election officials say the rate of mail-in ballots rejected for technicalities saw a significant drop in last month’s primary election. That is after state officials tried anew to help voters avoid mistakes that might get their ballots thrown out. Pennsylvania’s top election official, Secretary of State Al Schmidt, said counties reported a 13.5% decrease in mail-in ballots that were rejected for reasons the state had tried to address with a redesigned ballot envelope and instructions for voting by mail. That is compared to the 2023 primary election. The success of the mail-in vote could be critical to determining the outcome of November’s presidential election in Pennsylvania.
May 10, 2024 5:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania will join the majority of states that ban motorists from handling a cell phone for almost any purpose while driving as state lawmakers hope to reduce distracted driving accidents. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office said Thursday he’ll sign the bill. The ban takes effect a year after he signs it. The bill also includes a provision long sought by the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus as a bulwark against racial profiling. That provision requires many police departments to collect and report data on traffic stops, including a driver’s race. The bill passed the Legislature this week. Currently, Pennsylvania’s restriction on cell phone use while driving applies only to texting.
May 10, 2024 5:04 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — (WPXI) – A McMurray man who worked in the Washington County probation department has been arrested on child pornography charges. 24 year old Zachary Nee was arrested after a lengthy investigation that started in Ohio. Parents of a 13-year-old girl contacted police after Nee allegedly sent their daughter sexual items in the mail. Police say the two had been communicating over Snapchat. In one exchange the teen mentioned their age gap and Nee allegedly said, “I know I said I’m sorry. I need you though, I want to be with you until I die.” Police in Peter’s Township confiscated electronic devices from Nee’s home and filed nearly 100 child pornography charges. Police say Nee worked in adult probation and was set to transfer to juvenile probation shortly before this investigation began. Nee is free after posting $150,000 bond. He is to face a preliminary hearing May 22.
May 9, 2024 5:38 pm
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s transport minister says a Boeing 737 plane carrying 85 people caught fire and skidded off a runway at an airport near the country’s capital, Dakar, and that 10 people were injured. The minister says the Air Sénégal flight operated by TransAir was headed to Bamako, in neighboring Mali, late on Wednesday with 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew. The injured were being treated at a hospital. A Malian musician says he “saw my life flash before my eyes” and that he thought about his mother, wife and kids. He also described “complete panic during the evacuation” out of the plane.
May 9, 2024 5:37 pm
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The World Video Game Hall of Fame has inducted its 10th class of honorees. The games Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, SimCity and Ultima were recognized Thursday for their impacts on the video game industry and popular culture. This year’s inductees debuted across decades, advancing technologies along the way and expanding not only the number of players, but the ages and interests of those at the controls. Anyone can nominate a game to the World Video Game Hall of Fame online. The final selections are made by members of an international committee, along with public votes. (Photo: AP)
May 9, 2024 5:27 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s defense attorney accused Stormy Daniels of slowly altering the details of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump. Attorney Susan Necheles is trying to persuade the jury in Trump’s hush money trial that the key prosecution witness cannot be believed. But Trump’s case doesn’t rise or fall on Daniels’ account. It’s a trial about money changing hands in business transactions and whether those hush money payments were made to illegally influence the 2016 election. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records.
May 9, 2024 12:36 pm
Reggie is a four and a half-year-old Springer Spaniel owned by Judy and Dennis Krivacek of North Strabane Township and on Sunday night he made his television debut on American’s Funniest Home Videos. Dennis Krivacek tells WJPA that Reggie became infatuated with a stair-lift chair in their home and would jump on the seat, waiting for a ride up or down the stairs. Dennis says it was cute and funny at first, as they would send him up or down the stairs for a ride, but after a while, he said it was like, enough is enough, no more rides. That wasn’t good enough for Reggie, who wanted more rides. So, somehow, Reggie learned how to operate the stair-life chair himself and they found him putting the seat down on the device and using his nose to get it moving – so he can enjoy a ride whenever he feels like it. Dennis tells us his wife suggested filming Reggie’s rides and sending it to America’s Funniest Home Videos. Much to their surprise, he says they were contacted and told that Reggie had made it into the final three and was in line to win several thousand dollars, depending on the final outcome. The episode – called, “Doggy Don’t Do Stairs,” was the grand prize winner and Reggie (the Krivacek’s) won the grand prize of twenty-thousand-dollars.
May 9, 2024 8:23 am
A Freedom Transit bus crashed Thursday morning in Charleroi. Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers say two people were transported by ambulance to Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital. We have no word on the severity of their injuries. It happened just before 7 a.m. at 11th Street and upper Crest Avenue. Charleroi Fire Chief Robert Whiten says there were ten people on the bus at the time. He says the bus was coming down Upper Crest Avenue and crossing 11th Street when it went into the storage building. He says the bus may have lost its brakes or something was happening on the bus that caused the crash. Freedom Transit Executive Director Sheila Gombita tells WJPA News that the bus was “operated by Freedom Transit’s contractor Tri County Access.” She says an investigation into the accident is ongoing.
