March 12, 2024 5:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has reviewed transcripts of President Joe Biden’s interviews with special counsel Robert Hur before they were turned over to Congress by the Department of Justice. Hur is set to testify Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigation into the handling of classified documents by the Democratic president. Biden repeatedly told the special counsel that he never meant to retain classified information after he left the vice presidency. But Biden was at times fuzzy about dates and the paper trail for sensitive documents. Hur concluded in his report Biden should not face criminal charges over his mishandling of documents but also impugned his age and competence.
March 12, 2024 5:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump hope to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations with dominant victories in a slate of low-profile state primaries as the 2024 fight for the White House lurches into a new phase. Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, don’t face any significant opposition in Tuesday’s primary contests across Georgia, Washington State, Mississippi and Hawaii. The question is whether they will earn the necessary delegates in each state to hit the 50% national threshold necessary to become their party’s presumptive nominees. Whether it happens Tuesday night or later, the 2024 presidential contest is on the verge of a crystallizing moment as it becomes clear that a general election rematch between Biden and Trump is happening.
March 12, 2024 5:02 am
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An aid ship loaded with some 200 tons of food set sail from Cyprus to Gaza. The shipment, which departed Tuesday, is a test for the opening of a sea corridor to supply aid to the territory, where starvation is spreading five months into the Israel-Hamas war. Associated Press live footage showed it being towed out of a harbor. The United States also plans to construct a sea bridge near Gaza to deliver aid, likely to take weeks. The war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel has killed over 30,000 Palestinians. The U.N. says a quarter of the population is starving.
March 12, 2024 4:58 am
ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Yukon Deputy Fire Chief, John Stants is now facing four new felony charges out of Westmoreland County, in addition to the felony charges he’s facing out of Fayette County. All of the charges are related to services he was paid for as a contractor that allegedly were never completed. Detectives say Stants entered into a contract with the Rostraver/West Newton Ambulance Company on Aug. 9, 2021, to replace two garage doors and put in one, large, single door instead. Court documents say Stants asked for an $8,500 deposit for the $9,820 project and he was paid. Court documents say as of January 2024, no work had been done and no materials had been purchased for the work at the station. Detectives say they talked to Stants, who agreed on Jan. 22, 2024, to pay back the money within 30 days. Detectives say the money was never repaid. On March 7, Stants was booked into the Westmoreland County Prison. His lawyer, Jill Devine, said her client was under the impression he had until the end of March to pay back the $8,500.
March 12, 2024 4:53 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities in Philadelphia say they have arrested two 18-year-olds in the shooting of eight Philadelphia high school students at a bus stop last week. Police said Monday they also recovered a fully loaded, fully automatic weapon that matches casings found at the scene. Authorities say two more suspects are being sought. The shooting Wednesday was the fourth in four days involving the public transit system. Officials identified the suspects as Jamaal Tucker and Ahnile Buggs of Philadelphia. They offered no motive. Mayor Cherelle Parker says she will focus on “prevention, intervention and enforcement” to address a spate of transit violence in the city.
March 12, 2024 4:51 am
Canonsburg Council unanimously approved a measure Monday night to provide Houston Borough with police service. This process has been in the works for several weeks. A posting on Houston’s website states that proposals from Canonsburg and Chartiers Township were under consideration to provide 24 hour a day, 7 days a week police protection. Canonsburg approved first, a memorandum of understanding with Houston and secondly approved a resolution adopting an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement to provide police service. Canonsburg Mayor David Rhome calls the decision an historic moment. They are in the works of hiring a new police officer to aid in the additional responsibility. Houston Borough Council will meet Wednesday to vote on the cooperative agreement. Houston is currently being policed by its current police force and the Pennsylvania State Police.
March 12, 2024 1:23 am
The Washington County Commissioners have announced the hiring of a new Department of Human Services Director. John Tamiggi will begin work on March 18. Tamiggi is a lifelong resident of southwestern Pennsylvania. Most recently Tamiggi was the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity. He received his doctorate from Point Park University where he also served as a professor. He will oversee a department that includes four agencies, three units and a housing and homeless coordinator.
March 11, 2024 5:21 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump is seeking to delay his March 25 hush money trial until the Supreme Court rules on the presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases. The Republican former president’s lawyers on Monday asked Manhattan Judge Juan Manuel Merchan to adjourn the New York criminal trial indefinitely until Trump’s immunity claim in his Washington, D.C., election interference case is resolved. Merchan did not immediately rule. Trump contends he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. His lawyers argue some of the evidence and alleged acts in the hush-money case overlap with his time in the White House and constitute official acts.
March 11, 2024 5:16 pm
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — President Joe Biden has issued a budget proposal for a second term aimed at getting voters’ attention with tax breaks for families, lower health care costs, smaller deficits and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations. The proposal for fiscal 2025 is unlikely to pass the House and Senate and become law. It’s an election year blueprint sketching what the future could hold. If it became law, deficits could be pruned $3 trillion over a decade. Parents could get an increased child tax credit. Corporate taxes would jump upward. Billionaires would be charged a minimum tax of 25%. It also has a $2,000 cap on drug costs. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the proposal a glaring reminder of the administration’s “insatiable appetite for reckless spending.”
March 11, 2024 5:14 pm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A law enforcement official says the driver and a suspected gunman are in custody in the shooting of eight Philadelphia high school students at a bus stop. The official on Monday says police continue to look for two juveniles who were also seen jumping out of the car last week and running toward the bus stop with the 18-year-old suspected shooter. The official is not authorized to discuss the case publicly and is speaking to The Associated Press with a grant of anonymity. The shooting Wednesday was the fourth in as many days on the public transit system.
