August 4, 2022 3:16 am
The United States Attorney out of Pittsburgh announced on Thursday that a resident of Washington and Duncansville, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court for three counts of production and attempted production of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor. United States District Judge Robert J. Colville sentenced 29-year-old Jacob Kolonis, a former Washington & Jefferson College intern coach, to 240 months’ imprisonment (20 years) followed by 10 years of supervised release and ordered that he pay restitution totaling $9,000 to his minor victims. During Kolonis’ plea hearing on February 9, 2022, Kolonis admitted to threatening seven minor females with the intent to extort them for nude and sexually explicit images. On three of these occasions, Kolonis threatened the minors to create and send videos of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct over Snapchat. He also admitted to extorting the minors for his own sexual gratification. Prior to imposing sentence, the judge acknowledged that Kolonis had engaged in exceptionally serious conduct and recognized the immense impact of Kolonis’ crime on his victims.
August 3, 2022 4:22 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order aimed in part at making it easier for women seeking abortions to travel between states to obtain access to the procedure. One of the directives will allow states that have not outlawed abortion to apply for Medicaid waivers that would help them treat women who’ve traveled from out of state. The order will also call on health care providers to comply with federal nondiscrimination laws and streamline the collection of key maternal health data. The order falls short of what many Democratic lawmakers and abortion advocates have demanded of Biden since the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe vs. Wade.
August 3, 2022 4:18 am
(AP) – The NFL is appealing a disciplinary officer’s decision to suspend Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson for six games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The move gives Commissioner Roger Goodell or someone he designates authority to impose a stiffer penalty. The players’ union has two days to respond in writing, and a hearing is supposed to be scheduled within 10 days. The union could then challenge the appeal ruling in federal court, setting the stage for a prolonged battle. Former federal judge Sue L. Robinson issued her ruling Monday after Watson was accused by two dozen women in Texas of sexual misconduct during massage treatments while he played for the Houston Texans.
August 3, 2022 4:17 am
BEIJING (AP) – China has blocked imports of citrus and fish from Taiwan in retaliation for U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island but avoided disrupting one of the world’s most important technology and manufacturing relationships. Sanctions on Taiwanese processor chips for Chinese assemblers of smartphones and other electronics could send shockwaves through the global economy. Beijing has announced military exercises including artillery fire in waters near Taiwan following the Pelosi’s arrival in Taipei. That might delay or disrupt shipping. The potential disruption to trade and manufacturing adds to concern global economic growth might be weakening. Asian stock markets rose after there was no immediate sign of Chinese military action.
August 3, 2022 4:16 am
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas voters have sent a resounding message about their desire to protect abortion rights by rejecting a measure that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten abortion restrictions or ban the procedure outright. The vote Tuesday in a conservative state with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement was the first test of voters’ feelings about abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in late June. Voters rejected a change in the Kansas Constitution to ensure that it does not grant a right to an abortion, overturning a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision protecting abortion rights. Opponents predicted a ban would be coming if the measure had passed.
August 3, 2022 4:14 am
NAPPANEE, Ind. (WPXI) – U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was one of four people killed in a crash in northern Indiana on Wednesday, authorities said. She was 58. Walorski, a Republican who has represented Indiana’s 2nd congressional district since 2013, was a passenger in an SUV traveling southbound in Nappanee at about 12:40 p.m. EDT when the vehicle collided with a northbound vehicle that veered left of the center line, according to a news release from the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office. All three occupants in the southbound vehicle died as a result of their injuries, and the driver of the northbound vehicle died at the scene, the sheriff’s office said. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted a statement “with a heavy heart” from Walorski’s office. “Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers,” the statement read, adding that there would be no further comment from the representative’s office.
August 3, 2022 4:11 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania third-party candidates for governor and U.S. Senate have filed paperwork ahead of a Monday deadline to get on the Nov. 8 general election ballot, potentially making a crucial difference in the high-stakes races. Three parties — the Keystone Party, the Libertarian Party and the Green Party — all have candidates who filed voter signatures for governor and U.S. Senate, according to the state’s online candidate list. Pennsylvania’s threshold for third-party candidates to qualify for the ballot is 5,000 signatures of registered voters. A third-party candidate’s draw in a general election, while usually very small, could help tilt a close race between the major party candidates.
August 3, 2022 3:44 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A wide expansion of mail-in voting in Pennsylvania has survived a legal challenge brought by some of the same Republican state representatives who voted for the legislation nearly three years ago. The state Supreme Court upheld the law 5 to 2 on Tuesday, with both “no” votes coming from the court’s two Republican justices. Millions of state voters have chosen to cast ballots by mail in recent elections, although Democrats have used it in far greater numbers. The law fell out of favor with Republicans as former President Donald Trump attacked it during his losing 2020 reelection campaign.
August 3, 2022 3:37 am
The National Weather Service has confirmed that two tornadoes touched down during Monday evening’s strong storms. Parts of Washington County were affected with reports of numerous trees down. Greene and Fayette Counties were especially hard-hit. The National Weather Service says the first tornado tracked near the intersection of the counties of Ohio and Marshall, West Virginia and Washington, near West Finley. They say that tornado, which caused extensive damages but no injuries, has been rated as an EF2 tornado with maximum winds of 110 to 120 mph. The second tornado touched down near Graysville in Greene County. That tornado, which also did not cause any injuries, was rated as an EF0, with maximum winds of 85 mph. The National Weather Service says these are the second and third tornadoes of the year so far in this area. (Photo: WPXI)
August 3, 2022 3:15 am
A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh has indicted a Fayette County used car dealer and one of his employees. Authorities say they defrauded the federal government by filing bogus COVID-19 loan and benefits applications. Thirty-six-year-old Joshua DeWitt, the owner of RC Auto Sales in Connellsville, and 45-year-old Terrence Newmeyer Jr., a salesman for DeWitt, were named in a five-count indictment handed up Tuesday charging them with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail and bank fraud. The men, both Connellsville residents, are accused of filing a series of fraudulent applications for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and Paycheck Protection Program loans on behalf of the dealership’s customers, misrepresenting the nature of the applications, and in some cases, telling them the application was for money to buy a car from RC. When customers received debit cards in the mail loaded with pandemic relief funds, DeWitt and Newmeyer told them to bring them to the dealership and turn the cards over to the two of them for their control.
