April 30, 2024 11:49 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has been held in contempt of court and fined $9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush money case. The judge warned that Trump could be jailed. Prosecutors had alleged 10 violations, but New York Judge Juan M. Merchan found there were nine. Still, the decision Tuesday is a rebuke for the Republican former president, who had insisted he was exercising his free speech rights. The ruling came at the start of the second week of testimony in the historic case.
April 30, 2024 4:48 am
Washington City Council was visited by Sheila Gombita, Executive Director of Freedom Transit. She was there to encourage the authorization of $110,709 in funding for matching funds provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Each year Freedom Transit is required to provide a funding match of 15% for its transportation funding and they reach out to the city, county and several surrounding communities to reach that goal. Gombita did warn council that this may not be the last time they hear from her this year. Public transportation is funded by a 4.4% portion of state sales taxes. Under a proposal from Governor Josh Shapiro, that portion would increase by 1.75% to 6.15% of state sales tax revenue. If that scenario were to pass the legislature, that would cause Freedom Transit to have to come up with approximately $70,000 in additional match funds to qualify for the more than $450,000 anticipated. Gombita said that she wanted to warn council that she could return to seek additional match funds from the current list of funding partners if necessary. She says Freedom Transit is “one of 5 transit agencies across the Commonwealth that are required to provide 15% local match (which includes PRT and SEPTA). However, our agency, and our agency alone, has meetings scheduled with local legislators to discuss our concern with coming up with these additional funds and for language to assist us with managing the level of local match funding. PRT and SEPTA are not looking to eliminate this discrepancy”. Council will vote on the funding request Thursday.
April 30, 2024 4:56 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Protesters are packing up at Pitt and tents are coming down after a nearly weeklong demonstration at Schenley Plaza. Demonstrators in Oakland say their fight isn’t over, still demanding the university divest from companies profiting from the Israel-Hamas War. “We want Pitt to stop working with any organizations that support Israeli military with weapons, arms and technology,” Elyanna Sharbaji said. Students set up the encampment in Schenley Plaza last week. The movement, sparked by Columbia University, is now happening at college campuses nationwide. Pittsburgh police say these protesters have been peaceful. Protesters say they’ve had some conversations with the university about cutting ties with Israel but haven’t come to an agreement. Until they do, they plan on keeping the pressure on the administration.
April 30, 2024 5:12 am
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Four officers trying to serve a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and four other officers were wounded in a shootout in North Carolina. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said the officers killed the suspect outside the Charlotte home Monday after he fired on them. Jennings says officers who rushed to rescue the downed officers were themselves wounded by a second shooter firing from inside the home. Armored vehicles smashed into the home, tearing down doors and shattering windows. A woman and a 17-year-old male were taken away for questioning after the three-hour standoff ended. Police also say a high-powered rifle was seized from the home.
April 30, 2024 5:07 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Standoffs between pro-Palestinian protesters and U.S. college administrators appear to be coming to a head. Columbia University in New York limited campus access after protesters took over a building early Tuesday. The school promised that they would face expulsion. Police moved to clear an encampment at Yale University in Connecticut. But at Northwestern University, near Chicago, school officials and protesters have reached agreement to allow demonstrations through the end of spring classes. Protesters on campuses nationwide are angry about the Israel-Hamas war and its mounting death toll. Cease-fire negotiations appear to be gaining steam, but it’s unclear if that could inspire protesters to ease their efforts.
April 30, 2024 5:05 am
Officials from Hamas have left Cairo after talks with Egyptian officials on a new proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza. Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News satellite channel said Tuesday that a Hamas delegation will return to Cairo with a written response to the cease-fire proposal, without saying when. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in Israel in his seventh diplomatic mission to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war began. The conflict was sparked Oct. 7 by a raid into southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities, and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine.
April 30, 2024 5:00 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Stranded on the tracks, a Pittsburgh-bound train was stopped for hours late Sunday night. One of the many passengers on the trail told WPXI that he didn’t arrive at Union Station until after 12:30 a.m. John Ayers told Channel 11 News that he boarded his train at noon in Philadelphia and said he, along with others, were stuck inside the train while it sat for more than six hours unable to move. Ayers, along with nearly 200 other Amtrak passengers traveling from New York or Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, were stranded near Greensburg, miles away from their destination. “What [the conductor] was saying was that something happened up ahead on the tracks. He told us the tracks had overheated, and we were going to be really delayed, but he wasn’t sure how long it would be before we got to Pittsburgh,” Ayers explained. It would be more than six hours before help would arrive in the form of busses. But as Ayers and others waited on those busses, he said things on the train seemed to be out of sorts; first, the power went out, and then the motor blew. Channel 11 News reached out to both Norfolk Southern and Amtrak and they confirmed it was not the tracks, but a mechanical issue with the train. Ayers was scheduled to get in around 8 p.m. but didn’t arrive home until nearly 3 a.m. “I haven’t heard from them haven’t called texted nothing no apology,” he said. Ayers told us he isn’t surprised he hasn’t received any compensation because, during that entire ordeal, they only handed out a 4 oz bottle of water and a bag of cookies.
April 30, 2024 4:51 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Late this year, Aurora Innovation Inc. plans to start hauling freight on Interstate 45 between the Dallas and Houston areas with 20 driverless trucks. Within three or four years, Aurora and its competitors expect to put thousands such self-driving trucks on America’s public freeways. The goal is for the trucks, which can run nearly around the clock without any breaks, to speed the flow of goods, accelerating delivery times and perhaps lowering costs. But the vehicles have drawn skepticism from safety advocates, who warn that with almost no federal regulation, it will be mainly up to the companies themselves to determine when the semis are safe enough to operate without humans on board.
April 30, 2024 5:16 am
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — One of the winners of a $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot this month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week. Cheng “Charlie” Saephan told a news conference held by the Oregon Lottery on Monday that he and his wife would take half the money, and the other half would go to a friend who chipped in $100 to buy a batch of tickets with them. Saephan said he’d buy a house and find a good doctor for himself. Saephan said he was born in Laos and moved to Thailand in 1987, before immigrating to the U.S. in 1994.
April 29, 2024 2:02 am
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. (WPXI) — Two men who are facing charges in relation to a deadly double shooting that happened in Washington County are now in custody. Pennsylvania State Police filed homicide charges against Karon Whitlock, 20, and Windale Barfield Jr., 19, on Monday. State troopers said the two turned themselves in on Sunday. Annalaya Wilkerson, 18, was killed and another 17-year-old girl was hurt in a shooting on a rural road in South Franklin Township around 11 p.m. on April 13th. Both men are being held without bond in the Washington County jail and are to face preliminary hearings May 10th.
