July 25, 2022 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – About 2 in 3 Americans say they favor term limits or a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices. That’s according to a new poll that finds a sharp increase in the percentage of Americans saying they have “hardly any” confidence in the court. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 67% of Americans support a proposal to set a specific number of years that justices serve instead of life terms, including 82% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans. The poll was conducted just weeks after the high court issued high-profile rulings stripping away women’s constitutional protections for abortion and expanding gun rights.
July 25, 2022 4:20 am
MASKWACIS, Alberta (AP) – Pope Francis has apologized for the Catholic Church’s cooperation with Canada’s “catastrophic” policy of Indigenous residential schools. The pontiff says the forced assimilation of Native peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, severed their families and marginalized generations in ways still being felt today. Francis spoke Monday near the site of the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School, on lands of four Cree nations south of Edmonton, Alberta. He said, “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples.” The long-awaited apology opens Francis’ week long “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada, which is meant to help the church on its path of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and help victims heal.
July 25, 2022 4:18 am
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) – Tens of thousands of people who evacuated from Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region are returning to homes close to the front line because they can’t afford to live in safer places. They are risking their lives. One woman was killed by a missile outside her home just two days after returning. Ukrainian authorities are frustrated as some civilians remain in the path of war, but the region’s residents are frustrated, too. Some described feeling unwelcome as Russian speakers among Ukrainian speakers in some parts of the country. But more often, the problem is the lack of money to start anew. The mayor’s office in one small Donetsk city estimates that 70% of evacuated residents have come back.
July 25, 2022 4:16 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI)- A woman is in critical condition after a shooting in Stowe Township. Police said they responded to reports of a shooting at the 1100 block of Race Street at around 9:26 p.m. Once they arrived at the scene, they found a woman inside of a vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head. The woman was taken to the hospital in critical condition. A second woman was also taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries she sustained from broken glass.
July 25, 2022 4:13 am
PERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Police have identified a man who was found in a river Saturday in Fayette County on Saturday. Authorities said they responded just after 5 p.m. to a reported drowning at the Youghiogheny River in Perry Township near Layton Road. State troopers believe that 29-year-old David Koker, of Dillsburg, drowned while swimming in the river. Medical examiners have not released an official cause of death. Multiple departments and crews were at the scene, including the Perry Township Fire Department, Dawson Fire Department, Westmoreland County units, Fayette County EMS and Pennsylvania State Police. The Murrysville Medic One Diving team was called to the scene after emergency crews were unable to locate Koker. His body was recovered from the river at approximately 8:22 p.m.
July 25, 2022 3:56 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Severe thunderstorms moved through our area Saturday afternoon, leaving behind damage and knocking power out to tens of thousands of people in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As of 10 a.m. Monday morning, West Penn Power is reporting more than 570 customers still without power. These outages are widespread throughout the county. According to the company’s outage website, they are dispatching crews but it is possible some customers may not have their power restored until Tuesday night at 11 p.m. A Cooling Center has been established for Cecil Township residents located at the Cecil Township VFD station #10 along Millers Run Road. Check current outage information here.
July 25, 2022 2:43 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Sen. Joe Manchin has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms. The 74-year-old Democrat from West Virginia tweeted Monday that he had tested positive that morning. He is fully vaccinated and boosted. He said he plans to isolate and follow CDC guidelines while working remotely. Manchin’s absence could impact voting in the Senate later this week. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are able to vote remotely by proxy, but members of the U.S. Senate are not. Lawmakers are expected to take a final vote on a bill to boost semiconductor production in the United States this week. The bill making its way through the Senate is a top priority of the Biden administration.
July 25, 2022 2:30 am
A Hopewell Township man will face trial on felony involuntary deviate sexual intercourse charges and several others. Briar Chase, 24 waived all charges to court at his preliminary hearing on Monday. The criminal complaint alleges that Chase assaulted a minor at a home in Independence Township multiple times between 2019 and February of 2021. Police found multiple explicit images of the victim on his cell phone and several text messages discussing them in detail. Chase was 21 when the assaults began and the victim was 14. Chase also faces felony charges of statutory sexual assault, aggravated assault, child pornography and corruption of minors. He will be arraigned August 25.
July 24, 2022 8:14 am
NEW YORK (AP) — T- Mobile has agreed to pay $350 million to customers affected by a class action lawsuit filed after the company disclosed last August that personal data like social security numbers had been stolen in a cyberattack. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday, the mobile phone company said the funds would pay for claims by class members, the legal fees of plaintiffs’ counsel and the costs of administering the settlement. It also said it would spend $150 million next year and in 2023 to fortify its data security and other technologies. T-Mobile said the settlement contains no admission of liability, wrongdoing or responsibility by any of the defendants. The company said that it expects court approval of the terms of the settlement as early as December 2022. Nearly 80 million U.S. residents were affected by the breach. In addition to Social Security numbers, other information breached included names and information from driver’s licenses or other identification.
July 24, 2022 8:13 am
WAWONA, Calif. (AP) — A fast-moving brush fire near Yosemite National Park exploded in size Saturday into one of California’s largest wildfires of the year, prompting evacuation orders for thousands of people and shutting off power to more than 2,000 homes and businesses. The Oak Fire started Friday afternoon southwest of the park near the town of Midpines in Mariposa County and by Saturday had grown to nearly 19 square miles (48 square kilometers), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. It erupted as firefighters made progress against an earlier blaze that burned to the edge of a grove of giant sequoias in the southernmost part of Yosemite park. Evacuation orders were put in effect Saturday for over 6,000 people living across a several-mile span in the sparsely populated, rural area, said Daniel Patterson, a spokesman for the Sierra National Forest. Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for Mariposa County on Saturday due to the effects of the Oak Fire.
