October 6, 2022 5:56 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Twitter is asking a Delaware court to proceed with an upcoming trial against Elon Musk. The social media platform says the billionaire refuses to accept the contractual obligations of his April agreement to buy the company for $44 billion. Twitter attorneys sent a letter Thursday to the Delaware Chancery Court’s head judge. It came not long after Musk’s legal team asked her to call off the trial while he works on a renewed bid to buy the company. Twitter disputed Musk’s claim that Twitter is refusing to accept the new bid, which Musk told the company about earlier this week after trying to terminate the deal over the summer.
October 6, 2022 5:54 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to plotting with other members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group to violently stop the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election. Jeremy Joseph Bertino is the first Proud Boys member to plead guilty to a seditious conspiracy charge. Bertino also pleaded guilty on Thursday to a charge of unlawfully possessing firearms. Bertino has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation of the role that Proud Boys leaders played in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Former Proud Boys national chairman Henry “Ënrique” Tarrio and four other group members also have been charged with seditious conspiracy.
October 6, 2022 5:14 pm
(WPXI) – Police at the University of Pittsburgh have reported their third sexual assault near the university campus within a month. According to university police, a woman was sexually assaulted in a stairwell at the campus’s Cathedral of Learning. In a crime alert Thursday, police said they were notified of Monday afternoon’s assault on Wednesday. Police said the victim was approached in the stairwell by an unknown man who pushed her against a wall and sexually assaulted her. The suspect then ran in an unknown direction, police said. Investigators ask anyone with information to call 412-624-2121 and reference #22-02874.
October 6, 2022 4:54 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law, as his administration takes a dramatic step toward decriminalizing the drug and addressing charging practices that disproportionately impact people of color. He is also calling on governors to issue similar pardons for those convicted of state marijuana offenses, which reflect the vast majority of marijuana possession cases. Biden says the move reflects his position that “no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.” He says his action will ease the consequences for “people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result.”
October 6, 2022 4:33 pm
(WPXI) – If you didn’t get your Pittsburgh Post-Gazette delivered to your home Thursday morning, that’s because workers from multiple unions walked off the job early Thursday. These employees include mailers and typographers represented by the Communications Workers of America along with members of the Teamsters and Pressmen’s Union. The employees – who are protesting outside of their production building in Clinton, decided to go on strike at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. A release from the Communications Workers of America said in part, “The workers, who are responsible for designing, printing, distributing, advertising sales and accounts receivables at the newspaper, have been working without a collective bargaining agreement since March 2017. Despite extensive negotiations, Post-Gazette management has refused to engage in good faith bargaining, and the workers have not had a pay raise in 16 years.” The Post-Gazette also eliminated the employees’ health insurance this past weekend, according to the CWA. “The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has offered the unions several options that would ensure the continuation of the affected union employees’ healthcare. One of these proposals included a 9% wage increase and enrollment in the company’s healthcare plan, which currently covers 2,600 Block Communications employees, including several unions, company executives and staff at the PG.”
October 6, 2022 9:15 am
UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand (AP) – A former police officer facing a drug charge burst into a day care center in Thailand, killing dozens of preschoolers and teachers and then shooting more people as he fled. At least 36 people were killed Thursday in the deadliest rampage in the nation’s history. The assailant, who was fired earlier this year, took his own life after killing his wife and child at home. The attack took place in the rural province of Nongbua Lamphu in northeastern Thailand, in one of the country’s poorest regions. A witness said the assailant shot his way in.
October 6, 2022 9:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but the labor market remains strong even in the face of persistent inflation and a slowing overall U.S. economy. Jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 1 rose by 29,000 to 219,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Last week’s number was revised down by 3,000 to 190,000. The Federal Reserve, determined to bring down decades-high inflation by raising its main borrowing rate, takes labor force data into consideration when making its rate decisions. But the more important data comes Friday in the form of the September jobs report.
October 6, 2022 4:27 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The sheriff of Merced County in California says a baby girl and three other family members who were kidnapped at gunpoint from their business two days ago have been found dead. Sheriff Vern Warnke announced Wednesday that the bodies were found in a Merced County orchard and told reporters: “Our worst fears have been confirmed.” The announcement came after authorities released surveillance video of a man kidnapping 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her parents and uncle from their business Monday in Merced in the San Joaquin Valley southeast of San Francisco. Authorities earlier said the four were taken by a convicted robber who tried to kill himself a day after the kidnappings.
October 6, 2022 4:24 am
FORT MYERS, Florida (AP) – President Joe Biden has surveyed the devastation of hurricane-ravaged Florida, promising to marshal the power of the federal government to help rebuild. Biden comforted local residents alongside Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 foe. Biden praised DeSantis’ handling of the storm recovery as both men – who have battled over pandemic protocols and migration as the governor mulls a presidential bid – put aside politics for a few days. The state is struggling to recover from the wreckage of Hurricane Ian, which tore through southwestern Florida last week and left dozens dead.
October 6, 2022 4:20 am
(AP) – At least 66 clinics have stopped providing abortions in 15 states since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. That’s according to a Guttmacher Institute analysis released Thursday. The institute is a research group that supports abortion rights. The analysis examines the impact of state laws on access to abortion in the 100 days since that landmark decision on June 24. As of October 2, there were no providers offering abortions in 14 of these 15 states. The number of clinics providing abortions in the 15 states dropped from 79 to 13.
