September 20, 2022 4:08 am
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Hurricane Fiona is blasting the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 3 storm after devastating Puerto Rico, where most people remain without electricity or running water. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says hurricane conditions are slamming Grand Turk, the British territory’s capital island. The government had imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas. rom the center. Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph and was moving north-northwest at 10 mph early Tuesday. The Hurricane Center says the storm is likely to strengthen further into a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Bermuda on Friday. It’s forecast to weaken before running into easternmost Canada over the weekend.
September 20, 2022 4:06 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that the world is in “great peril.” And he says world leaders meeting in-person for the first time in three years at the U.N. General Assembly must tackle conflicts and climate catastrophes, increasing poverty and inequality, and divisions among major powers that have gotten worse since Russia invaded Ukraine. The U.N. chief also cited the “immense” task not only of saving the planet but of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric says Guterres’ “state of the world” speech will be “a sober, substantive and solutions-focused report card.”
September 20, 2022 4:04 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A man has died after a vehicle and a motorcycle collided in Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood Monday evening. Police, EMS and fire units responded to the collision on Saw Mill Run Boulevard shortly before 7:30 p.m. The male motorcycle rider was found on the road unconscious and not breathing, police said. An off-duty nurse was in the area at the time of the crash, and performed CPR on the man until medics arrived on scene. The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital in critical condition, and was later pronounced deceased. Police said the driver of the vehicle stayed on scene and cooperated with the investigation. No other injuries were reported. The investigation is ongoing.
September 20, 2022 3:59 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A trial date has been set for the man accused of killing 11 people and injuring six others in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting. According to court paperwork, Robert Bowers is set to go on trial starting April 24, 2023. The trial will begin with jury selection, followed by opening statements and testimony. Bowers faces 63 federal charges after the 2018 shooting, and the government is seeking the death penalty. A status conference hearing is set for Oct. 6.
September 20, 2022 2:47 am
An Allegheny County man has pleaded guilty to a felony charge for the role he played in the United States Capitol breach on January 6, 2021. The U.S. Department of Justice says thirty-one-year-old Kenneth Grayson of Bridgeville went to a rally at the Ellipse and then walked toward the Capitol where he illegally entered the grounds. Authorities say Grayson entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing doors around 2:20 p.m. and went to the Crypt. He also went to the Rotunda area where a mob of rioters started to stand in a row in front of law enforcement officers and then push against them to gain access to the adjoining hall where he then joined the mob. Officials say Grayson live-streamed a video on his Facebook page from inside the Capitol. He pleaded guilty to interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder and faces a statutory maximum of five years in prison and potential financial penalties. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. Grayson’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 19th. (Photo: WPXI)
September 20, 2022 2:20 am
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A woman who has helped hundreds of people in the recovery community is facing serious charges of DUI and child endangerment. Chartiers Township police arrested Michelle Africa Wednesday evening. According to the criminal complaint, they received several 911 calls about a woman driving erratically, who had hit a mailbox and kept going. One of the calls said it appeared like a young girl was trying to get out of the car. Investigators say that young girl also called 911, saying she was afraid and trying to get out of the car. The girl told police Africa stopped her from exiting the vehicle by pulling her hair and scratching her arm. Police stopped Africa’s car in an alley, saying she had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. The officer said she was unsteady on her feet and smelled like alcohol. Africa is a case worker at the Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission. Workers at Big Fellas bar in Canonsburg told us they gave police surveillance video that showed Africa had only 3 drinks and did not appear intoxicated when she left the building. Police say her blood alcohol levels were 2.5x the legal limit.
September 19, 2022 3:48 pm
MEXICO CITY (AP) – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake has shaken Mexico’s central Pacific coast, killing at least one person and setting off an earthquake alarm in the capital. There are no immediate reports of damage from the quake that hit at 1:05 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geologic Survey. Alarms for the new quake came less than an hour after a quake alarms warbled in a nationwide earthquake simulation marking major quakes that struck on the same date in 1985 and 2017.
September 19, 2022 4:27 am
BEIJING (AP) – President Joe Biden says U.S. forces would defend Taiwan if China tries to invade the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. Biden’s comment adds to displays of official U.S. support for the island democracy in the face of intimidation by the mainland’s ruling Communist Party. Biden said “yes” when asked in an interview on CBS News’s “60 Minutes” program whether “U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan” in the event of a Chinese invasion. CBS News said it was told by the White House after the interview that U.S. policy hasn’t changed. Washington doesn’t say whether it would send forces to defend the island.
September 19, 2022 4:25 am
HAVANA (AP) – Hurricane Fiona is bearing down on the Dominican Republic after knocking out the power grid and unleashing floods and landslides in Puerto Rico, where the governor said the damage was “catastrophic.” No deaths have been reported, but authorities in the U.S. territory said it was too early to estimate the damage from a storm that was still forecast to unleash torrential rain across Puerto Rico on Monday. Up to 30 inches was forecast for the island’s eastern and southern regions. Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Juan, said: “It’s important people understand that this is not over.” He said flooding has reached “historic levels.”
September 19, 2022 4:23 am
LONDON (AP) – Britain and the world said a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers. Crowds massed along the streets of London on Monday to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. In a country known for pomp and pageantry, the first state funeral since Winston Churchill’s was filled with spectacle. Ahead of the service, a bell tolled 96 times. That’s once a minute for each year of Elizabeth’s life. Royal Navy sailors used ropes to draw the gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey before pallbearers bore it inside the church. Atop the coffin sat a handwritten note from King Charles III. At the end of a committal service, her coffin was lowered into the royal vault.
