August 5, 2022 4:20 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Records show a 54-year-old man jailed in the killing of one person and wounding of two others during a family argument in a Las Vegas Strip hotel room has felony convictions dating to 1987 and served several years in Nevada state prisons. Billy Hemsley remained jailed Friday following his arrest in a southeast Las Vegas neighborhood in the Thursday evening shooting that killed a man and left two women wounded at The Mirage resort. It wasn’t immediately clear if Hemsley has an attorney. He’s due in court Saturday. The shooting prompted a lock-down for more than two hours at the iconic casino and hotel on Las Vegas Boulevard.
August 5, 2022 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – America’s hiring boom continued last month as employers added a surprising 528,000 jobs despite raging inflation and rising anxiety about a recession. July’s hiring was up from 398,000 in June. The unemployment rate slipped to 3.5%. The U.S. economy shrank in the first two quarters of 2022 – an informal definition of recession. But most economists believe the strong jobs market has kept the economy from slipping into a downturn. The American job market has repeatedly defied skeptics this year. Economists had expected only 250,000 new jobs this month.
August 5, 2022 4:16 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones bulled through the first trial that could decimate his personal fortune and media empire in his usual way: Loud, aggressive and talking about conspiracies both in and out the courtroom. It’s business as usual for the gravelly voiced, barrel-chested Jones. But by courtroom standards, his erratic and, at times, disrespectful behavior is unusual – and potentially complicated for the legal process. Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, were ordered to pay $4.11 million in compensatory damages by the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was killed with 19 other first graders and six educators in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. And punitive damages could be more.
August 5, 2022 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Democrats say they have reached an accord on changes to their marquee economic legislation, clearing the major hurdle to pushing one of President Joe Biden’s leading election-year priorities through the chamber in coming days. Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, (pictured) a centrist who was seen as the pivotal vote, says she is ready to “move forward” on the bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York says lawmakers have achieved a compromise that will receive the support of all Democrats in the chamber. His party needs unanimity and Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote to move the measure through the Senate over certain solid opposition from Republicans.
August 5, 2022 4:12 am
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that China’s military exercises aimed at Taiwan including missiles fired into Japan’s exclusive economic zone represent a “significant escalation” and that he has urged Beijing to back down. China launched the drills following a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan that infuriated Beijing, which claims the self-governed island as its own territory. Blinken told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia that Pelosi’s visit was peaceful and did not represent a change in American policy toward Taiwan, accusing China of using it as a “pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait.”
August 5, 2022 4:10 am
PETERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Neighbors say they’re on high alert after police say two windows were shattered in Peters Township. Police have ramped up patrols. “We don’t know what the real intent was,” police Chief Douglas Grimes said. “Was it just to cause damage to the property? Or was it to gain entry to the property?” Police are saying the suspects shattered a window on Bethany Drive and then drove off and ended up on Trotwood Drive more than three miles away, where they shattered another window. Neighbors on Bethany Drive tell our news partners at Channel-11 this happened while it was still daylight. Officers said at least one of the suspects was masked. While our officers were there investigating that, we got a second call,” Grimes said. Police say the family was also home at the other house when their window was shattered. Police believe these cases are linked and are looking for a Honda Pilot. Police are reminding neighbors to be on the lookout. “If you see something in your neighborhood that looks out of place, call 911, by all means call 911, report it,” Grimes said. “Let’s get an officer over there and let us check it out.” At this time police are saying these suspects could face criminal mischief charges.
August 5, 2022 2:48 am
Washington County Clerk of Courts, Brenda Davis, will serve 15 days to six months in the Washington County Jail and pay a $5,000 fine after being found guilty of criminal contempt of court. Judge John DiSalle found Davis guilty Thursday after her refusal to turn over juvenile court records and appear in his courtroom back in November. DiSalle also called her actions that day, “the most undignified display of behavior he ever witnessed.” Davis’ attorney, Charles Gallo, said Davis has been complying with DiSalle’s orders but was not surprised by the ruling. Davis is lodged in the Washington County Jail and will follow all rules of probation following her prison time. Gallo plans to file an appeal.
August 5, 2022 2:38 am
Canonsburg Town Park has added new fitness equipment to an already long list of activities to do in the area with the help of brothers and Canon-McMillan graduates Bill and Bob Schmidt. Bill, who was a bronze medalist javelin thrower in the 1972 Olympics for Team USA, was contacted by the Canonsburg Borough and Friends of the Park to help contribute a fitness cluster near the Yoney Pavilion. He along with his twin brother Bob were happy to help their hometown with the donation. Both of the brothers live out of state now, but visit the area frequently to see friends and family. After the dedication, members of the Canon-McMillan Track and Field Team took part in breaking in the new equipment. This is not the first donation from the Schmidt Family to Town Park, as Bill was a donor for the recently constructed pickle ball courts near the new fitness cluster.
August 4, 2022 5:54 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. has declared a public health emergency to bolster the federal response to the outbreak of monkeypox that already has infected more than 6,600 Americans. The announcement Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services frees up federal funding and resources to fight the virus, which may cause fever, body aches, chills, fatigue and pimple-like bumps on many parts of the body. Xavier Becerra is the head of HHS. He says the agency is ready to take the U.S. response “to the next level.”
August 4, 2022 11:44 am
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – The U.S. Justice Department has charged four Louisville police officers involved in the deadly Breonna Taylor raid with civil rights violations. Federal charges against former officers Joshua Jaynes, Brett Hankison and Kelly Goodlett, along with Louisville police Sgt. Kyle Meany were announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday. Garland says federal officials “share but cannot fully imagine the grief” felt by Taylor’s family. He said “Breonna Taylor should be alive today.” Taylor, a 26-year-old Black medical worker, was shot to death by Louisville officers who had knocked down her door while executing the search warrant.
