August 3, 2023 5:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress responded to the fiery train derailment in eastern Ohio earlier this year with bipartisan alarm at railroad crashes causing potential disasters. Yet six months after life was upended in East Palestine, lawmakers are deadlocked on new safety regulations. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing for new safety regulations on railroads. But they have met hesitance from top GOP leaders in Congress, as well as the railroad industry. Longtime East Palestine resident Jami Wallace says lawmakers would be “fools” if they don’t seize the example of her hometown’s suffering to pass reforms.
August 3, 2023 4:57 am
GREENSBURG, Pa. — (WPXI) – If you ever head to Greensburg to eat downtown or shop, you may have found it difficult to find parking. You either park on street with a meter or in a parking lot that’s not always near your destination. Now, the city is looking at potentially getting rid of the requirement for businesses to provide off-street parking. Les Mlaker is an attorney who works nearly every day in Greensburg. He said the city has a parking problem. “Lack of the ability to park,” Mlaker said. “Especially for elderly people because of the hills.” The city currently requires businesses to provide off-street parking. City planning Director Jeff Raykes said they want to remove that barrier to hopefully spur development. The city’s planning commission is working on a proposal to eliminate that off-street parking requirement. That doesn’t mean the off-street parking lots that currently exist are going anywhere. It just means the city wouldn’t be dictating how many spaces each business has to provide. The planning commission may make that proposal to the city council this month. The council could approve it in October.
August 3, 2023 2:50 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The gunman who stormed a synagogue in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community and killed 11 worshipers has been formally sentenced to death. A federal judge imposed the sentence Thursday. That’s one day after a jury determined that capital punishment was appropriate for the perpetrator of the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Robert Bowers ranted about Jews online before carrying out the attack at Tree of Life synagogue. The 50-year-old truck driver also wounded two worshipers and five police officers in the 2018 shooting.
August 3, 2023 2:27 am
A local defense attorney accused of wiretap charges entered a guilty plea to lesser charges on Wednesday. Kimberly Furmanek, 35 of Greene County faced felony intercept of communications and conspiracy charges. The charges that she pleaded guilty to were amended to misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges. Furmanek was accused of allowing her former client John Lazear to listen in on a phone call she was having with his new attorney James Jeffries from inside the Washington County Jail back in May of 2022. It was alleged that Furmanek and Lazear were romantically linked. Lazear pleaded guilty to a terroristic threats charge for a phone call that he made to Jeffries’ office. Furmanek received 12 months of probation for her sentence.
August 2, 2023 1:47 pm
(WPXI) – People who contributed to a GoFundMe campaign set up by a Westmoreland County couple now charged in the death of their adopted son can request a refund. Lauren Maloberti and her husband, Jacob Maloberti, a corrections officer at Fayette State Correctional Center, are charged with criminal homicide in the death of five-year-old Landon. Police said the boy had multiple bruises on his body, could not breathe on his own and had rotational head trauma consistent with severe child abuse. After Landon’s death, the family raised more than $5,000 on GoFundMe.
August 2, 2023 1:33 pm
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, say they are separating after 18 years of marriage. The two said in statements posted on Instagram on Wednesday that they made the decision after “many meaningful and difficult conversations.” The couple were married in a ceremony in Montreal in 2005. They have three children, 15-year-old Xavier, 14-year-old Ella-Grace and 9-year-old Hadrien. A statement from Trudeau’s office said, “They remain a close family, and Sophie and the prime minister are focused on raising their kids in a safe, loving and collaborative environment.” (Photo: ABC)
August 2, 2023 5:57 am
The Mega Millions jackpot increased to an estimated $1.25 billion after no one beat the odds and won the massive lottery prize. The winning numbers drawn Tuesday night were: 8, 24, 30, 45, 61 and the yellow ball: 12. No one has won the Mega Millions jackpot since April 18, allowing it to grow larger and larger. The $1.25 billion prize for Friday’s drawing is one of the largest in U.S. history. The chance of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is 1 in 302.6 million. The new $1.25 billion jackpot is for a sole winner who chooses to collect through an annuity, with annual payments over 30 years. A sole winner who opts for a lump sum payment would receive an estimated $625.3 million.
August 2, 2023 5:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge assigned to the election fraud case against former President Donald Trump stands out as one of the toughest punishers of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol. Judge Tanya Chutkan often has handed down prison sentences in Jan. 6, 2021, riot cases that are harsher than what Justice Department prosecutors recommended. An Associated Press analysis of court records shows Chutkan has sentenced at least 38 people convicted of Capitol riot-related crimes. And all 38 of them received prison terms, ranging from 10 days to over five years. Chutkan is a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama.
August 2, 2023 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has been indicted on felony charges for working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol. The Justice Department’s four-count indictment Tuesday accuses the former president of assaulting the underpinnings of democracy in a frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power. Special counsel Jack Smith says the Capitol attack “was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation’s process of collecting counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.” Trump is due in court Thursday.
August 2, 2023 5:00 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Teachers are leaving jobs in growing numbers, state reports show. The turnover in some cases is highest among teachers of color. A major culprit is stress — from pandemic-era burnout, low pay and the intrusion of politics into classrooms. But the burdens can be heavier in schools serving high-poverty communities that also have higher numbers of teachers of color. Nationally, about 80% of American public school teachers are white, even though white students no longer represent a majority in public schools.
