March 25, 2024 5:09 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court has agreed to hold off collection of former President Donald Trump’s more than $454 million civil fraud judgment — if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If Trump does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing his assets while he appeals. Monday’s order is a significant victory for Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee defends the real estate empire that vaulted him into public life. The development came just before New York Attorney General Letitia James was expected to initiate efforts to collect the judgment. Trump’s lawyers had pleaded for a state appeals court to halt collection, claiming it was “a practical impossibility” to get an underwriter to sign off on a bond for such a large sum.
March 25, 2024 5:08 am
MOSCOW (AP) — Four men accused of staging the Russia concert hall attack that killed more than 130 people have appeared before a Moscow court showing signs of severe beatings. All four were charged with terrorism. One appeared to be barely conscious during Sunday’s hearing. Court statements say two of the suspects accepted their guilt in the assault, though the men’s condition raises questions about whether they were speaking freely. The authorities formally charged the men with committing a group terrorist attack resulting in deaths. The offense carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ordered that the men, all of whom are citizens of Tajikistan, be held in pre-trial custody until May 22.
March 25, 2024 5:05 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A man’s body was recovered from the Allegheny River on Sunday. Allegheny County dispatchers say emergency crews were called to the area of the Rachel Carson Bridge at around 2:20 p.m. Police say they received reports of a man in the water on the Downtown side of the river. Two River Rescue boats responded to the scene. A team of three divers found the man on their fourth attempt. The man was pronounced dead at 3:50 p.m. Police are investigating what led up to the incident. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner is investigating the cause and manner of the man’s death.
March 25, 2024 5:02 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Six Powerball tickets purchased in Pennsylvania won significant prizes in Saturday night’s drawing. According to the Pennsylvania Lottery, three tickets bought in the state that used Power Play won $100,000. Three tickets without Power Play won $50,000. The numbers for the grand prize worth $750 million on Saturday were 6-23-25-34-51 and the Powerball was 3. The Power Play was 2X. There was no grand prize winner in Saturday night’s Powerball drawing. The jackpot is now worth an estimated $800 million for Monday’s drawing — the sixth-largest prize in the promotion’s history.
March 25, 2024 4:58 am
BENSALEM, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania teen charged in a 12-year-old girl’s death after another teen reported receiving a video asking for help cleaning up and getting rid of the body has been sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison as part of a plea deal. Ash Cooper, who formerly went by Joshua Cooper and is now 18, pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree murder and other charges in the November 2022 death of 12-year-old Morgan Connors in Bensalem. Cooper’s attorney says his client feels “significant remorse and sorrow.” Police said Cooper told officers the shooting was “an accident.” Prosecutors said the defendant has never revealed a motive for the crime.
March 25, 2024 4:57 am
CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say the search for a 6-year-old girl swept away in a rain-swollen southeastern Pennsylvania creek has become a recovery mission rather than a rescue mission. Authorities in Chester County said the child was reported missing Saturday evening after she slipped and fell into fast-moving Chester Creek. Fire companies searched for hours and the Coast Guard continued the effort through the night. But the county’s fire commissioner said the search moved into a recovery mode Sunday. Chester Mayor Stefan Roots said it was unclear how the girl and her friends ended up beside the creek swollen by recent rains.
March 25, 2024 4:54 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has scheduled former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial to begin April 15. Judge Juan M. Merchan made the ruling Monday. The judge earlier had scolded the ex-president’s lawyers as he weighed when to reschedule the trial after a last-minute document dump caused a postponement of the original date. Merchan bristled at what he suggested were baseless defense claims of “prosecutorial misconduct,” appearing unpersuaded by Trump team arguments that prosecutors had until recently concealed tens of thousands of pages of records from a previous federal investigation. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee arrived in court Monday for the hearing scheduled in place of the long-planned start of jury selection.
March 25, 2024 4:48 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Police investigating the killing a pregnant Amish woman in rural Pennsylvania say they seized six guns, a variety of ammunition and a pair of sneakers that may match tread marks left at the crime scene during searches of the suspect’s home and vehicle. Search warrant documents released over the weekend say 23-year-old Rebekah Byler suffered “multiple sharp force wounds” to her neck and was shot in the head during last month’s attack . Truck driver Shawn Cranston of Corry is charged with two counts of homicide. In a newly released search warrant affidavit, a state trooper says Rebekah Byler’s 3-year-old son told investigators that a man wearing sneakers killed his mother.
March 25, 2024 2:22 am
The Penguins say that a shipment of Jaromir Jagr bobble-heads that was stolen earlier this month has been located and secured. As a result, officials say the bobble-heads will now be distributed at the team’s home game planned for April 6th. The team issued a statement saying that they were notified last week that a special cargo recovery team negotiated the return of the stolen property to a secure warehouse located in Ontario, California. They said the truckload arrived in Pittsburgh Monday and is expected to be delivered to PPG Paints Arena within the next week. Fans with a bobble-head voucher from the originally scheduled distribution will be able to redeem those vouchers on April 6th and 7th.
March 24, 2024 7:38 am
LONDON (AP) — Kate, the Princess of Wales, and her husband, Prince William, are said to be “extremely moved” by the public’s warmth and support following her shocking cancer announcement as tributes continued to pour in from around the world. After weeks of frenzied speculation on social media about her health and well-being, Kate said in a candid video message on Friday that she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer following major abdominal surgery. The 42-year-old princess said the cancer discovery was a “huge shock” and she was now in the early stages of preventative chemotherapy. Criticism of those jumping to sometime-outlandish conclusions continued to be voiced over Sunday.
