June 30, 2022 4:15 am
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – New Zealand’s government has declared that American far-right groups the Proud Boys and The Base are terrorist organizations. The two groups join 18 others including Islamic State that have been given the official terrorist designation, making it illegal in New Zealand to fund, recruit or participate in the groups, and obligating authorities to take action against them. The U.S. groups are not known to be active in New Zealand, although the South Pacific nation has become more attuned to threats from the far right after a white supremacist shot and killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in 2019.
June 30, 2022 4:14 am
YAHIDNE, Ukraine (AP) – As the war grinds on in Ukraine, communities that were badly damaged early in the invasion are starting to rebuild. Villages such as Yahidne in the northern Chernihiv region are gradually returning to life a few months after Russian troops retreated. Now people are repairing homes, and the sound of construction tools fills the air. Volunteers from all over Ukraine, and from other countries, are coming to help because there is so much to do before another winter approaches. One volunteer rebuilding group is called Dobrobat – a name that combines “dobro,” or kindness, with “bat” for battalion.
June 30, 2022 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Last week Clarence Thomas achieved two long-sought goals: expanding gun rights and overturning Roe v. Wade’s nationwide protection for abortion. And he called on his colleagues to do more, to revisit the Supreme Court’s cases acknowledging rights to same-sex marriage, gay sex and contraception. After 30 years on the court, Thomas’ influence has never been greater, and yet he remains a lightning rod for controversy. That includes recent questions about his wife’s role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election and his decision not to recuse himself from cases that involved it. Thomas has given no indication the criticism bothers him, or that he’s going anywhere.
June 30, 2022 4:12 am
JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel’s parliament has voted to dissolve itself, sending the country to the polls for the fifth time in less than four years. The Knesset voted on Thursday in favor of disbanding, just over a year after the government was formed. Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister and architect of the outgoing coalition government, will become the country’s caretaker prime minister at midnight. He will take over from Naftali Bennett, whose ideologically diverse government ousted longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 years in power. The coalition of ideologically diverse parties was the first to include an Arab faction.
June 30, 2022 4:11 am
LAS VEGAS, Honduras (AP) – As families of the 67 people packed into a tractor-trailer and abandoned in Texas began to confirm their worst fears and talk of their relatives, a common narrative of pursuing a better life took shape from Honduras to Mexico. Children set out hoping to earn enough to support their siblings and parents. Young adults who sacrificed to attend college thinking it would lead to success left their country disillusioned. A man already working in the U.S. who returned to visit his wife and children decided to take a cousin on his return to the U.S. More than 50 of those migrants left in the sweltering heat on the outskirts of San Antonio on Monday have died, while others remain hospitalized.
June 30, 2022 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new poll shows that about half of Americans say former President Donald Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in what happened on Jan. 6. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 48% of U.S. adults believe Trump should be held accountable for what happened during the deadly Capitol attack. The poll was conducted after the first five public hearings from the House committee investigating Jan. 6 and before Tuesday’s surprise hearing with former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. The explosive testimony proved to be the committee’s most damning evidence yet to link the former president to a federal crime.
June 30, 2022 4:06 am
GREENE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A Greene County 911 dispatcher is facing charges after allegedly refusing to send an ambulance to a severely ill woman. According to a release from the Greene County district attorney’s office, Leon Price was charged with involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person, official oppression and obstructing administration of law or other government function. The charges arose after the death of Diania Kronk. Kronk passed away in 2020, after her daughter, Kelly Titchenell, contacted Greene County 911 and requested an ambulance for her mother. The release said Kronk died within the next 24 hours. She was 56 years old. Investigation revealed that 911 services violated protocol and their own procedures by refusing to dispatch an ambulance to Kronk’s aid. The release said it is alleged that her death is a direct result of 911’s violation of the policies. “According to the investigation, she was denied medical services when all three ambulances were available for dispatch,” said District Attorney Dave Russo. Price was the operator who handled the call. According to a lawsuit filed last week, Price said sending an ambulance to Kronk was a “waste of resources.” The lawsuit said that Titchenell told Price her mother was jaundiced, incoherent and bleeding from the rectum, and that Titchenell had to watch her mother suffer a slow death because she was denied public emergency services. “The investigation is being expanded to 911 management to see if this was a result of a potential unwritten 911 management policy in Greene County. No one should be denied emergency services in Greene County or anywhere else. Everyone should have equal protections and access to medical treatment,” Russo said.
June 30, 2022 3:25 am
A Burgettstown man who shot his father and killed him during an argument pleaded guilty on Wednesday. Twenty-four-year-old Joseph Warrick aced a criminal homicide charge and others but had his charges reduced to one charge of voluntary manslaughter. Warrick was sentenced to 4-8 years in state prison followed by 12 months of reentry supervision. The plea deal comes nearly two years after the July 3, 2020 incident where Warrick shot his father Joseph Warrick Sr. during an argument over a missing vape pen.
June 30, 2022 2:09 am
A Claysville teenager who is accused of shooting water pellets out of a car will not face criminal charges. Maddix Ganster, 18 appeared for his preliminary hearing and faced several misdemeanor charges for his role in what charging documents called a TikTok Challenge. Ganster and a second juvenile were accused of shooting “Orbeez” liquid pellets from a car at the Burger King in Canton Township. Ganster was later accused of shooting two people at the Wild Things stadium. The case was settled and charges were decreased to a single summary charge of disorderly conduct. Ganster was ordered to pay a $300 fine.
June 29, 2022 5:47 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The first Black woman confirmed for the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, is officially becoming a justice. Jackson will be sworn as the court’s 116th justice at midday Thursday, just as the man she is replacing, Justice Stephen Breyer, retires. Breyer says in a letter to President Joe Biden that his retirement will take effect at noon, after nearly 28 years on the nation’s highest court. Earlier in the day the court is expected to issue its final opinions in a momentous and rancorous term that included overturning Roe v. Wade’s guarantee of the right to an abortion.
