February 21, 2024 5:21 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump could be at risk of losing some of his prized properties if he can’t pay his staggering New York civil fraud penalty. With interest, he owes the state nearly $454 million — and the amount is going up by $87,502 each day until he pays. New York Attorney General Letitia James told ABC News on Tuesday that she will seek to seize some of the former president’s assets if he’s unable to cover the bill from Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 ruling in her lawsuit against Trump, his company and top executives.
February 21, 2024 5:17 am
LYMAN, Ukraine (AP) — When the Russian army invaded two years ago, Ukrainian men zealously rushed to recruitment centers to enlist, ready to die in defense of their nation. Today, with Russia in control of roughly one-quarter of Ukraine and the two armies virtually deadlocked along the front line, that spirit to enlist has faded: Many Ukrainian men are evading the draft by hiding at home or trying to bribe their way out of the battle. As the war enters its third year, the most urgent and politically sensitive challenge pressing on Ukraine is whether it can muster enough new soldiers to repel an enemy with far more fighters at its disposal.
February 21, 2024 5:13 am
Israeli police say three gunmen opened fire on the road near a checkpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, killing one Israeli and wounding at least eight, as violence persists in the territory. On Wednesday, a member of Israel’s War Cabinet said new attempts are underway to reach a cease-fire deal that could pause the war in Gaza. However, Benny Gantz repeated his pledge that unless Hamas agrees to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, Israel will launch a ground offensive into the southern city of Rafah. Around 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have crowded into the city. The war erupted after Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 attack into Israel. Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed.
February 21, 2024 5:10 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Prosecutors say a former FBI informant charged with making up a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company had contacts with officials affiliated with Russian intelligence. Prosecutors said that in a court filing urging a judge to keep Alexander Smirnov behind bars while he awaits trial. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts allowed Smirnov to be released from custody on electronic GPS monitoring. He is charged with falsely reporting to the FBI in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million each in 2015 or 2016.
February 21, 2024 5:06 am
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 67 Palestinians overnight and into Wednesday, including in areas where civilians have been told to seek refuge. The aid group Doctors Without Borders also says two people were killed when a shelter housing staff in the Gaza Strip was struck during an Israeli operation in an area where Palestinians have been told to seek shelter. The group said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that at least two family members of colleagues were killed and six others wounded. The war, which erupted after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, has displaced around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, with most people heeding Israeli orders to flee to southern Gaza.
February 21, 2024 5:04 am
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New figures from the gambling industry show America’s commercial casinos won more than $66 billion from gamblers in 2023, the industry’s best year ever. The American Gaming Association says that was 10% higher than in 2022, which itself was a record-setting year. When revenue figures from tribal-owned casinos are released later this year, they are expected to show that overall casino gambling brought in close to $110 billion to casino operators in 2023. In-person gambling remains the bread and butter of the industry: Slot machines brought in over $35 billion, up 3.8%, and table games brought in over $10 billion, up 3.5%.
February 21, 2024 4:59 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court must decide if Pennsylvania voters who put the wrong date on the envelope containing their mail-in ballots should have their votes thrown out. The case argued Tuesday in Philadelphia could be significant in this year’s presidential contest. The NAACP and several voter groups call the mistakes “meaningless” and want them counted. They say that more than 10,000 ballots in the state were rejected in 2022 over mistaken dates. Republican groups are challenging a federal court ruling last year that the votes should count if they are received in time.
February 21, 2024 4:51 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors held a public meeting Tuesday to take comment on a text amendment to their zoning ordinance governing permitted uses in an R-3 zoning district. Officials from Allegheny Health Network and Canonsburg Hospital requested a zoning ordinance change that would make hospitals, medical clinics and medical offices permitted uses in the R-3 zone. Currently the hospital is operating in the zoning district as a non-conforming entity. According to testimony, the current Canonsburg Hospital is 40 years old and AHN would like to completely rework the hospital to modernize it and make it a more effective unit. Hospital officials would like to have township officials rework the ordinance so that the hospital could remain in its current location. Testimony indicated that they are not asking for any type of variance or special exceptions. They simply want to have the ordinance line up with the work that is already being done at the location. Supervisors intend to vote on the measure at their March legislative meeting. In other township business, supervisors will look to schedule a conditional use hearing for the Collective At Peters Lake. It is a 41 unit single home development that is proposed for North Spring Valley Road near Peters Lake Park.
February 21, 2024 1:20 am
(AP) – Federal investigators say the city of Pittsburgh did not adequately maintain or repair a bridge, leading to the corrosion of the structure’s steel legs and its collapse into a ravine more than two years ago. The city-owned Forbes Avenue bridge fell down in January 2022, plunging a bus and four cars about 100 feet into the Fern Hollow Creek. Another vehicle drove off the east bridge abutment and landed on its roof. National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Wednesday that the collapse shouldn’t have happened, blaming “repeated failures to act” on extensive corrosion to the weathering steel. A new bridge at the site has since opened to traffic.
February 20, 2024 5:17 pm
(WPXI) – The case against a mother and father accused of locking their 6-year-old daughter naked in a dog cage, beating her and denying her food will head to trial. Jacob Weight and Mimi Frost had their preliminary hearing in magistrate court Tuesday afternoon. The district attorney called on two firefighters who responded to the home in January when their child went unresponsive, two state troopers, a county Children and Youth Services case worker, and Weight and Frost’s nephew.
