September 28, 2022 1:45 pm
SHERWOOD, Ark. (AP) – One person is dead and one person has been taken into custody in connection with an active shooter event at CHI St. Vincent North hospital in Sherwood. During a news conference shortly after 12:30 p.m., Sherwood Police Department Chief Jeff Hagar reported that one person at the hospital had died of gunshot wounds, and one “person of interest” had been taken into custody. A spokesperson for the SPD said the call for police came at about 10 a.m., and officers were on the scene shortly thereafter. They immediately established a perimeter and entered the building, clearing the hospital.
September 28, 2022 6:16 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Pittsburgh police have confirmed three of their marked vehicles caught fire this morning in the department’s Training Academy parking lot and the fire is considered suspicious. The building is located at 900 N. Lincoln Avenue in the city’s North Side neighborhood and the parking lot is located behind the building on Maolis Way. The fire was first reported around 3 a.m. No one was injured and there was no damage to the building. Police plan to use privately owned surveillance cameras in the area to learn who set the fire and how. The Fire Investigation Unit and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating.
September 28, 2022 4:20 am
Activists say Iran’s current wave of protests are different from previous unrest. Unleashing their anger at the compulsory veil for women, protesters are targeting something central to the identity of Iran’s Islamic cleric-led rule. The protests are drawing from a long history of resistance among Iranian women. During the 1979 revolution, the hijab was a sign of breaking with the secular monarchy. But when the new Islamic Republic then made wearing it mandatory, thousands of women marched in protests. Woman have been challenging the rule ever since. The death of a woman arrested for wearing too loose a headscarf has sparked an eruption of anger.
September 28, 2022 4:18 am
Clergy in 33 states are exempt from laws requiring professionals such as teachers, physicians and psychotherapists to report information about alleged child abuse to police or child welfare officials. That loophole has resulted in an unknown number of predators being allowed to continue abusing children for years despite having confessed the behavior to religious officials. An Associated Press review finds that over the past two decades, more than 130 bills have been proposed in state legislatures to create or amend child sex abuse reporting laws. After intense opposition from religious groups, the clergy privilege remained unchanged. Often, legislative efforts to close the loophole run up against lawmakers who are also church members.
September 28, 2022 4:17 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian-installed officials in occupied regions of Ukraine say they will ask President Vladimir Putin to incorporate them into Russia, claiming their residents overwhelmingly supported such a move in Kremlin-orchestrated votes widely viewed as illegitimate. Pro-Moscow administrations of all four occupied regions of Ukraine said Tuesday night that their residents voted to join Russia. According to Russian-installed election officials, 93% of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87% in the Kherson region, 98% in the Luhansk region and 99% in Donetsk. The preordained outcome sets the stage for a dangerous new phase in Russia’s seven-month war, with the Kremlin threatening to throw more troops into the battle and potentially use nuclear weapons.
September 28, 2022 4:16 am
HAVANA (AP) – Cuba is in the dark after Hurricane Ian knocked out the power grid and devastated some of the country’s most important tobacco farms when it hit the island’s western tip as a major storm. Cuba’s Electric Union says authorities were working to gradually restore service overnight to the country’s 11 million people. Ian hit a Cuba that has been struggling with an economic crisis and has had frequent power outages in recent months. It made landfall as a Category 3 storm on the island’s western end, devastating Pinar del Río province, where much of the tobacco used for Cuba’s iconic cigars is grown.
September 28, 2022 4:15 am
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Hurricane Ian has made landfall in southwestern Florida as a massive Category 4 storm. About 2.5 million people had been ordered to evacuate the area before the storm hit the coast on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph). The storm was heading inland, where it was expected to weaken, but residents in central Florida could still experience hurricane-force winds. Before making its way through the Gulf of Mexico to hit Florida, Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane Tuesday, killing two people and bringing down the country’s electrical grid.
September 28, 2022 4:07 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors met Tuesday night and an item buried deep in the agenda was the authorization of a separation agreement between the township and its police chief Brian Hughes. No details were given during the meeting before supervisors voted unanimously 4-0 to enter into the agreement. Township Manager Andrew Walz would not comment on the item citing it as a personnel issue but he did indicate a right to know request can be filed at the end of the week. In other business supervisors granted the developers of Ashford Place their conditional use application adding several conditions to the application before the vote. The development is a single building multifamily construction. Some of those conditions required are a height restriction of not more than three stories, a 49 unit maximum for the building, a privacy fence and building line that will be measured from the nearest point of a right of way and not from the property line. Prior to the meeting a public hearing was held to review changes to the township’s zoning ordinance recommended by Planning and Zoning Director Anthony Asciolla. Items under consideration are an annual permitting process to regulate the operations of Air BnB and VRBO properties, less restrictive rules for keeping chickens and new regulations for beekeepers. Electric vehicle charging stations were also addressed in the proposed new ordinance. Citizens may view the changes for the next 30 days.
September 28, 2022 2:17 am
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh says a Pittsburgh man is facing multiple charges following an incident in Washington earlier this month. Walsh says 23-year-old Mark Kwiatkowski faces charges of simple assault, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct after he brandished a weapon following a verbal altercation near South Forrest and East Pine Avenues. Walsh says Kwiatkowski was visiting his brother at Washington and Jefferson College on September 10th and was exiting his vehicle when he overheard people making comments about his driving skills. A verbal argument ensued and Walsh says that’s when a witness claimed that Kwiatkowski pulled out a gun and waved it in the air. Walsh says he later admitted to having a gun concealed in the waistband of his pants and police later found an unloaded 9 MM semi-automatic pistol wrapped in a towel in his brother’s closet.
September 28, 2022 2:10 am
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. — (WPXI) – Kennywood Park has unveiled new security measures for the first weekend the park is open again after Saturday’s shooting that left three people hurt, including two teenagers. In a release from park officials, the new security measures are as follows:
- Increased Police Support: In addition to our security team, we are doubling the number of police officers contracted through local law enforcement agencies for each night of Phantom Fall Fest. There will be a more visible police presence at the entrance and throughout the park. Kennywood leadership will be more clearly visible in uniform red jackets, as well.
- Perimeter Enhancements: Park teams have cut down trees along the fence line bordering Route 837 to improve sight lines. New flood lights and security cameras are being installed for better monitoring, and ongoing security patrols in that area will increase significantly.
- Chaperone Policy Updates: Guests age 17 and under must be accompanied by an adult at least 21 years of age (with valid ID) to enter the park at all times during Phantom Fall Fest.
- Park Entrance Policies: With the weapons detection system working as designed since its installation this spring, the park’s prior screening system has been removed to eliminate guest confusion. New signage is being installed to inform guests they are entering a security screening area. Though the new system is able to screen bags and individuals via cameras and metal detection to identify those in need of further inspection, we will implement additional spot checking of bags as a precautionary measure.
- New Bag Policy: Only bags within the dimensions of 8″ x 5″ x 1″, as well as medical and diaper bags, are permitted.
- Facial Coverings: Masks that cover some or all of a person’s face are not permitted to be worn by any guest after 6 p.m. The only exceptions are surgical masks or N95/KN95 masks as recommended as a precaution against COVID-19. If masks of this nature are worn, they must be free from additional coverings including but not limited to fake blood, makeup or coloring.
Kennywood Park general manager Mark Pauls said there was weapons detection is effect on Saturday night and that the fence line was being patrolled by police and security. They also said they don’t know how the gun got in to the park. Investigators and park officials have not confirmed whether the gunman was able to bypass the new security system when he entered the park with a gun.
