March 22, 2024 5:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers have introduced a $1.2 trillion spending package that sets the stage for avoiding a partial government shutdown for several key federal agencies this weekend. The bill unveiled Thursday comes nearly six months into the current budget year and would allow Congress to complete its work in funding the government through September. Democrats were able to swat back scores of policy mandates and some of the steeper budget cuts that House Republicans were seeking to impose on nondefense programs. Among the policy wins that House Speaker Mike Johnson is highlighting for Republicans is a nearly 24% increase in detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country.
March 22, 2024 5:01 am
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel, on the final stop in his sixth urgent trip to the region since the start of the war. Blinken says he will share alternatives to Israel’s planned ground assault into the southern Gaza town of Rafah during his talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet. Later Friday, the United Nations Security Council will vote on a U.S.-sponsored resolution declaring “the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire.” It also emphasizes the urgent need for aid in Gaza. The World Health Organization says so little food has been allowed in that up to 60% of children under 5 are now malnourished.
March 22, 2024 5:00 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia has attacked electrical power facilities in much of Ukraine, including the country’s largest hydroelectric plant, causing widespread outages and killing at least three people. Ukraine’s energy minister says the nighttime drone and rocket attacks were the largest on the country’s energy sector in recent times. He says the goal was to cause a large-scale disruption of the energy system. The attacks caused a fire at the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station, which supplies electricity to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power installation. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the main 750-kilovolt power line to the plant was cut off but a lower-power backup line was working.
March 22, 2024 4:56 am
JEANNETTE, Pa. — Jeannette Police Chief Derek Manley says investigators are treating Wednesday’s devastating fire as arson until they can safely rule it out. He said that is standard procedure for a fire of this magnitude. “The way we’re handling it is as an arson until we determine otherwise just because of the nature of what occurred, we don’t want to be lackadaisical and not cover our bases if it turns out to be one,” Manley said. “We won’t know that until we get the report from the fire marshal.” The fire Wednesday tore through one home along Guy Street, killing a dad and four of his kids. That fire also destroyed the house next door. The mother and two other children were able to escape the blaze.
March 22, 2024 2:23 am
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Biden administration has announced up to $475 million in federal funding for clean energy projects on current or former mine land sites. The U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday that the projects will be in five states. They include the political battleground states of Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada. Kentucky and West Virginia are also benefiting. They are solidly Republican and have been hit hard by the downturn in the coal sector. The projects will involve solar power, geothermal energy, hydroelectricity and batteries. The administration says the clean energy projects will strengthen the country’s energy security while helping ensure mining communities continue playing a role in the energy economy.
March 22, 2024 2:15 am
Washington County Commissioners put to rest an issue that has had county residents in an uproar by adopting a recommendation to grant LSA funding for a homeless women’s shelter. In February, the Local Share Account Committee recommended 50 projects to be funded with $8.7 million of a possible $9.2 million. Notably absent from the list was a Washington City Mission request for $500,000 for a homeless women’s shelter. The recommendation for $8.7 million in grant allocations and the carryover of $500,000 to next year was adopted by commissioners. Community outcry and accusations of political influence caused the commissioners to adopt a measure to have the LSA committee reconvene to consider the allocation of the remaining $500,000 to all projects denied funding. The LSA Committee met Wednesday and considered only the City Mission project and unanimously approved the measure to fund the City Mission’s request. Commissioners unanimously approved the recommendation and the City Mission will receive their women’s shelter funding. Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman says that commissioners have met and will continue to meet with the LSA Committee to refine the process for grant allocations. He disagrees with Commissioner Larry Maggi who says that the recent events have given the selection process a “black eye.” Sherman did say that he was happy that the City Mission received their grant allocation.
March 21, 2024 3:32 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Sweet Easter baskets will likely come at a bitter cost this year for consumers as the price of cocoa climbs to record highs. Cocoa futures have roughly doubled in 2024 after surging 61% overall in 2023. Rising temperatures and weather conditions have stressed and damaged crops in West Africa, which produces more than 70% of the global cocoa supply. Big chocolate companies like Hershey’s and Mondelez have been passing those costs on to consumers. That has helped bolster profit margins. Both companies reported shrinking sales volumes for their most recent quarters as consumers grow tired of paying higher prices. (Photo: AP)
March 21, 2024 3:23 pm
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The last of six former law enforcement officers who tortured two Black men outside Mississippi’s capital has been sentenced. Former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield was given an approximately 10-year federal prison sentence on Thursday. The six white officers were fired and pleaded guilty to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous acts of racist torture in January 2023. The so-called “Goon Squad” broke into a home where a neighbor complained that the Black men were staying with a white woman. Hartfield tried to destroy evidence of the torture. The sentences for the six ex-officers ranged from about 10 years to 40 years.
March 21, 2024 3:21 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Apple says a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit accusing it of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones in the U.S. is “wrong on the facts and the law.” The lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in New Jersey. The suit alleges Apple uses its control over the iPhone to engage in an “illegal course of conduct.” The lawsuit is the latest example of the Justice Department’s approach to aggressive enforcement of federal antitrust law that officials say is aimed at ensuring a fair and competitive market. Apple has defended the digital fortress known as its walled garden as a feature prized by consumers who want to protect their personal information. (Photo: AP)
March 21, 2024 3:18 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers have introduced a $1.2 trillion spending package that sets the stage for avoiding a partial government shutdown for several key federal agencies this weekend. The bill unveiled Thursday comes nearly six months into the current budget year and would allow Congress to complete its work in funding the government through September. Democrats were largely able to swat back scores of policy mandates and some of the steeper budget cuts that House Republicans were seeking to impose on nondefense programs. Among the policy wins that House Speaker Mike Johnson is highlighting for Republicans is a nearly 24% increase in detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country.
