October 4, 2022 4:27 am
(AP) – The tumultuous saga of Elon Musk’s on-again off-again purchase of Twitter has taken a turn toward a conclusion. The mercurial Tesla CEO proposed to buy the company at the originally agreed-on price of $44 billion. Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter that the company disclosed in a filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It comes less than two weeks before a trial between the two parties is scheduled to start in Delaware. In a statement, Twitter said it intends to close the deal at $54.20 per share. Trading in Twitter’s stock had been halted for much of the day pending release of the news. It resumed trading late Tuesday and soared 22% to close at $52.
October 4, 2022 4:25 am
BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) – Nearly a week after Hurricane Ian smashed into Florida and left carved a path of destruction that reached into the Carolinas, more than half a million statewide residents are facing another day without electricity. More than 500,000 homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday in Florida and it will be the weekend before most power is restored. And Ian still is not done. Officials warned there still was the potential of coastal flooding from Long Island south to North Carolina’s Outer Banks where the only highway to the barrier islands was closed by sand and seawater. Seventy-eight deaths have been blamed on Ian, with 71 of them reported in Florida.
October 4, 2022 4:23 am
(AP) – Russia’s retreat from a key Ukrainian city over the weekend elicited outcry from an unlikely crowd – state-run media outlets that typically speak glowingly about Moscow’s war. A series of embarrassing military losses for Moscow has presented a growing challenge for prominent hosts of Russian news and political talk shows scrambling to find ways to paint Kyiv’s gains in a way that is still favorable to the Kremlin. The less conciliatory tone from state-run media comes as President Vladimir Putin faces more than just battlefield losses; there is widespread Russian discontent about his partial mobilization of reservists and officials are struggling to explain plans to annex Ukrainian regions while they are being retaken by Kyiv’s forces.
October 4, 2022 4:21 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea has fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years, forcing Japan to issue evacuation notices and suspend trains during the flight of the nuclear-capable weapon that could reach the U.S. territory of Guam and beyond. The launch early Tuesday was the most provocative weapons demonstration by North Korea this year as it ramps up missile tests in its push to build a full-fledged nuclear arsenal that viably threatens U.S. allies and the American homeland and earns the country recognition as a nuclear state. The United States said it strongly condemns North Korea’s “dangerous and reckless decision” to launch what it described as a “long-range ballistic missile” over Japan.
October 4, 2022 4:17 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A judge’s ruling has cleared the way for the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue from Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. Common Pleas Judge John T. McVay Jr. issued an opinion finding that the plaintiff in the case, the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, could not point to any case law supporting its position that it can limit the mayor on what to do with city-owned monuments on city-owned land. The group sued two years ago to try to keep the 13-foot-tall statue after the Pittsburgh Art Commission decided to remove it. A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said they are considering next steps. The judge found that the plaintiff’s position was not supported by law, and said the lawsuit “is an improper interference with the (City of Pittsburgh’s) right to speech.” In summer 2020, as government entities across the country reconsidered the display of statues they felt connoted systemic racism, the Columbus statue in Pittsburgh was targeted. A petition filed with the city asked that it be removed. Within weeks, former Mayor Bill Peduto recommended the removal of the statue. It was wrapped to protect it from further damage after it was vandalized several times.
October 4, 2022 4:13 am
Washington City Council met Monday night for their agenda meeting and received the results from the 2021 financial audit of the city’s finance. The auditors complimented the city for their efforts to keep finances in line telling them that their opinion is that there are no significant deficiencies or weaknesses. The city grew their assets by $1.6 million, much of that from grants from The American Rescue Plan and the state. The city did pay down $1.6 million in long term debt as well. About $8.1 million of long term debt remains and is due to be paid off in 2026. Mayor Scott Putnam also answered a question about concrete boxes appearing on city street corners. According to Putnam, they are concrete inlet boxes turned upside down to protect electrical connections for light poles that have been knocked down by drivers. Several of them are around the city replacing fiberglass boxes that the electric company used and have been found to be too flimsy. The poles are on back order for more than a year. Putnam asks motorists to put down their phones and pay attention so that the new poles will not suffer the same fate.
October 4, 2022 4:10 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – There’s one word that comes to mind when you mention Dalton Keane’s name and that’s loved. “It’s hard to find people with a good heart,” said Jimmy Harding with Steamfitters Local 449. This 27-year-old father devoted his life to his two-year-old daughter and his job as a welder at McCarl’s.“We are shocked and saddened to hear about Dalton’s accident on Sunday. He joined McCarl’s in 2014 and was highly regarded by our employees. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” said Ken Burk CEO of McCarl’s LLC. On Sunday, Keane went to a Steelers game with his fellow Steamfitters who can’t believe that he’s now gone. “The thing I remember most about Dalton: he was always in a good mood, he was always a happy kid and he enjoyed what he did and going to work,” Harding said. It was at that game where Pittsburgh police said he fell from an escalator, later dying at a hospital. As for what exactly happened, the Steelers said they won’t be releasing any more details until its internal investigation is complete. The family is hopeful anyone who saw what happened comes forward to help give them some answers and want the public to know Keane was a wonderful son and man. (PHOTO: WPXI)
October 4, 2022 2:17 am
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) – State police say remains found a decade ago have been identified as those of a teenage girl who went missing in northeastern Pennsylvania more than a half-century ago. State police in Wilkes-Barre said Tuesday that the remains were identified as those of 14-year-old Joan Marie Dymond of Wilkes-Barre, who vanished from a park in June 1969. Police said the remains were found in November 2012 in Newport Township. New genetic tests provided possible relatives, which included the family of Dymond, and tests concluded that the remains were hers. Police are now asking for help from the public to find the person responsible for her death.
October 3, 2022 4:30 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Prosecutors are saying at the opening of the most serious case to reach trial in the attack on the U.S. Capitol that the founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group and four associates planned for an “armed rebellion” to stop the transfer of presidential power. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler delivered his opening statement Monday in Washington’s federal court in the trial of Stewart Rhodes and others charged with seditious conspiracy. They are accused of a weekslong plot to stop the transfer of power from Republican Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. An attorney for Rhodes argued that prosecutors built their case on cherry-picked evidence like messages and videos and Oath Keepers were not involved with violence during the riot.
October 3, 2022 4:29 am
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Days after Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction from Florida to the Carolinas, the dangers persisted, and even worsened in some places. It was clear the road to recovery from the storm will be long and painful. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing Monday. And Ian still is not done. Officials warned there still was the potential of severe flooding along Virginia’s coast and coast flooding was possible from the North Carolina Outer Banks to Long Island on Monday. Ian was one of the strongest storms to make landfall in the United States.
