May 5, 2025 4:55 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The fan who fell from a 21-foot-high wall onto the warning track at PNC Park during a Pittsburgh Pirates game is awake and alert. The organizer of a GoFundMe page for Kavan Markwood, the 20-year-old who slipped off a railing and onto the field during the seventh inning Wednesday, said Markwood is improving. Jennifer Phillips, who is organizing the fundraiser, says Markwood has made significant progress since being admitted to the trauma center at Allegheny General Hospital in critical condition. The team’s internal investigation into the incident says Markwood did not purchase any alcohol, but that one of the people who attended the game with him did legally buy a handful of alcoholic beverages.
May 5, 2025 2:53 am
(WPXI) – A consultant paid to review security at the official residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro after it was firebombed by a late-night intruder said Friday that his team’s findings will not be made public. Retired state police Col. Jeffrey Miller said in a statement that the “sensitive nature” of the findings he has given to Shapiro and state police “precludes their release to the public for obvious reasons.” The dangerous breakdown in protection has raised questions about how the intruder was able to elude state police security as he climbed a 7-foot (2-meter) fence and smashed two windows, then crawled inside and ignited destructive fires with two gasoline-filled beer bottles. “I am confident that if fully implemented, the key recommendations that we have made will prevent an attack of this nature from succeeding in the future,” Miller said. His San Diego-based security consulting firm is being paid more than $35,000 for the work. Paula Knudsen Burke, the Pennsylvania lawyer with the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said portions of the report could be released even if the full report isn’t. “It seems we’re spending taxpayer dollars to review taxpayer paid employees working in a taxpayer owned building,” Burke said. “It seems taxpayers should have some visibility into what their money is used for.” A Harrisburg man, Cody Balmer, 38, has been charged with attempted homicide, arson and other offenses for the attack on the state-owned Harrisburg residence about 2 a.m. on Sunday, April 13. The fire caused an estimated millions of dollars in damage but no one was hurt.
May 5, 2025 5:10 am
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump is circumspect about his duties to uphold due process rights laid out in the Constitution, saying in a new interview that he doesn’t know whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike deserve that guarantee. He also says he doesn’t think military force would be needed to make Canada the “51st state.” And he’s downplaying the possibility that he’d look to run for a third term in the White House. The comments came in a wide-ranging and at time combative interview with Kristen Walker that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
May 5, 2025 5:48 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army is pausing helicopter flights near a Washington airport after two commercial planes had to abort landings last week because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was flying to the Pentagon. The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion directed the unit to pause flight operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following Thursday’s close calls, two Army officials confirmed to The Associated Press. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not publicly announced. The unit is continuing to fly in the greater Washington, D.C., region. The pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport.
May 4, 2025 5:06 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the U.S. Trump said Sunday night that he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” It wasn’t immediately clear how any such tariff on international productions could be implemented. It’s common for both large and smaller films to include production both in the U.S. and other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” for instance, are shot around the world.
May 4, 2025 5:07 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is directing his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on a California island that has been closed for more than 60 years. In a message on his Truth Social site Sunday evening, Trump wrote that, “For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering.” He said, “That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
May 5, 2025 5:12 am
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett shocked an arena full of his shareholders by announcing that he wants to retire at the end of the year. Buffett said he will recommend to Berkshire Hathaway’s board that Greg Abel should become CEO at the end of the year. Previously the 94-year-old investor has always said he had no plans to retire. But Abel has been his designated successor for years, and Abel has already been managing all of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses. He will now take on the responsibility for running Berkshire’s insurance businesses and investing its cash. Able said he was “humbled and honored to be part of Berkshire as we go forward.”
May 5, 2025 5:08 am
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Two Israeli officials says ministers have approved a plan to capture the entirety of the Gaza Strip and remain in the territory for an unspecified amount of time. If carried out, the move would vastly expand Israel’s operations in the Palestinian territory and likely bring fierce international opposition. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing military plans. Israeli Cabinet ministers approved the plan in an early morning vote Monday, hours after the Israeli military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers. The new plan would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, what would likely exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis.
May 4, 2025 8:04 am
(AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said there has been no need to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine and expressed hope that such a scenario will not arise. In a preview aired Sunday of a state TV interview, Putin said Russia has the strength to bring the conflict to a “logical conclusion.” His remarks come amid competing Russian and Ukrainian ceasefire proposals and continued fighting. Ukrainian officials said 11 people, including two children, were wounded in a Russian drone strike on Kyiv overnight. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 13 Ukrainian drones.
May 4, 2025 8:09 am
(AP) – International students in the U.S. are reconsidering their travel plans this summer after a wave of student status terminations and visa revocations. Even before students suddenly began losing permission to study in the U.S., some colleges were encouraging international students and faculty to postpone travel, citing government efforts to deport students involved in pro-Palestinian activism and worries of potential travel bans. As the scale of the status terminations emerged in recent weeks, more have cautioned against non-essential travel abroad for international students. University of California, Berkeley has issued an advisory saying upcoming international travel was risky due to “strict vetting and enforcement.”