September 8, 2023 5:01 am
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Lee is whirling through open waters toward the northeast Caribbean becoming the first Category 5 storm of the Atlantic season. Lee was not expected to make landfall although forecasters said tropical storm conditions are possible on some islands. Meteorologists said it was too early to provide details on potential rainfall and wind gusts. The Category 5 hurricane was located about 705 miles (1,135 kilometers) east of the northern Leeward Islands. It had winds of up to 160 miles per hour (260 kilometers per hour) and was moving west-northwest at 14 mph (22 kph).
September 8, 2023 4:59 am
The fate of abortion rights in Florida will be at stake when the state Supreme Court is expected to take up a challenge to a law banning the procedure in most cases after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That will determine whether an even stricter six-week ban signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis can take effect. The seven justices are set to hear oral arguments Friday morning in the lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and others. They claim the Florida Constitution’s privacy clause for more than 40 years has explicitly protected a right to abortion in the state. State lawyers claim the privacy clause is wrongly applied to abortion.
September 8, 2023 4:58 am
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian authorities are holding local elections this weekend in occupied parts of Ukraine in an effort to tighten their grip on territories Moscow illegally annexed a year ago and still does not fully control. The voting for Russian-installed legislatures in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions begins Friday and concludes Sunday. It has already been denounced by Kyiv and the West. Ukrainian lawmakers urged other countries not to recognize the results of the vote. One analyst said it is important for Russia to go on with the voting to maintain the illusion of normalcy.
September 8, 2023 4:56 am
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — The hunt for an elusive murderer who escaped a Pennsylvania prison has stretched into a second week. Residents of the Philadelphia suburbs where he’s believed to be hiding say they’re on edge but comforted by the police presence. Hundreds of heavily armed searchers are scouring roads, neighborhoods and dense woodlands. Danelo Souza Cavalcante, a 34-year-old from Brazil, got a life sentence last month for killing his ex-girlfriend in 2021. He escaped a county jail on Aug. 31 while awaiting transfer to state prison. His breakout mirrored an earlier escape there in May and wasn’t detected by guards for a full hour
September 8, 2023 4:54 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A Fayette County father found guilty in his toddler’s death is getting a rare retrial. Michael Wright has been in prison for seven years after he was found guilty of third-degree murder in the death of his 2-year-old daughter, who police say was malnourished and weighed just 10 pounds. Prosecutors said that Wright’s daughter, Lydia, was strapped into a car seat for 13 hours before her mother rushed her unresponsive body to the hospital in February 2016. Wright’s new lawyer presented the judge with new evidence showing the autopsy results were inaccurate and Lydia did not weigh 10 pounds. A letter from forensic pathologist, Dr. Cyril Wecht says in part: “It’s clear that Lydia’s documented weight is far more than the 10 lbs. as documented in the autopsy.” The letter goes on to say it could have been a scale malfunction. Wright’s mother, Kimberly Vega, says Wecht’s testimony during the trial was damaging to her son’s case when he stated Lydia weighed 10 pounds, and the public defender didn’t question it or put any medical experts on the stand for the defense. Last week a Fayette County judge overturned the conviction and granted the new trial, citing in a 22-page report the weight inaccuracy and failures by the public defenders assigned to his case. The Fayette County public defender’s office said no comment.
September 8, 2023 2:56 am
A Washington man convicted in a drive by shooting in July of 2022 received his sentence on Thursday. Russell Porter, 27 was sentenced on one count of felony aggravated assault and two misdemeanor reckless endangerment charges. He will spend the next 12-24 years in jail. He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years on the aggravated assault charge and 1-2 years on each of the two reckless endangerment charges. Porter was acquitted of two attempted homicide charges and one aggravated assault charge by a jury in May. Porter was accused of shooting out of the window of a vehicle in the 100 block of East Wylie Avenue allegedly aiming at Nasstylejah “Styles” Wilkerson.
September 7, 2023 5:54 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump White House official Peter Navarro has been convicted of contempt of Congress charges for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Thursday’s verdict came after a short trial for Navarro, a trade adviser under President Donald Trump who later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of 2020 election voter fraud. Navarro was charged with two misdemeanor counts, both punishable by up to a year behind bars. A defense attorney said Navarro didn’t ignore the congressional subpoena. Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress and was sentenced to four months behind bars, but he has appealed.
September 7, 2023 5:52 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for the rapes of two women two decades ago. Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo handed down the sentence to the 47-year-old Masterson at a hearing on Thursday. Masterson was convicted of raping two women at his Hollywood-area home in 2003. Both women gave statements in court Thursday on the trauma they experienced and the suffering it brought them in the years since. Masterson maintains his innocence and his attorneys plan to appeal. The jury was deadlocked and a mistrial was declared on a third rape count involving Masterson’s former girlfriend.
September 7, 2023 9:52 am
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level in seven months, another sign that the labor market remains largely unaffected by higher interest rates. U.S. applications for jobless claims fell by 13,000 to 216,000 for the week ending Sept. 2, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 8,500 to 229,250. Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week. Overall, 1.68 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended August 26, about 40,000 fewer than the previous week.
September 7, 2023 5:07 am
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Biden administration has canceled the remaining seven oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, overturning sales held in the Trump administration’s waning days and angering Republicans. The administration also proposed stronger protections against development on 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The Department of Interior’s decision to cancel the leases comes after the Biden administration disappointed environmental groups earlier this year by approving the Willow oil project in the petroleum reserve. Litigation over the approval of that project is pending.
