June 27, 2022 10:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has sided with a football coach from Washington state who sought to kneel and pray on the field after games. The court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines for the coach. The justices said Monday the coach’s prayer was protected by the First Amendment. The case forced the justices to wrestle with how to balance the religious and free speech rights of teachers and coaches with the rights of students not to feel pressured into participating in religious practices. The outcome could strengthen the acceptability of some religious practices in the public school setting. The decision is the latest in a line of Supreme Court rulings for religious plaintiffs.
June 27, 2022 4:21 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Songwriter Kenneth “Ken” Williams, who wrote or co-wrote hundred of tunes for a vast array of performers, including Donny Hathaway, The Four Tops and Peaches & Herb, including The Main Ingredient’s hit “Everybody Plays the Fool,” has died. He was 83. Williams, along with Rudy Clark and J.R. Bailey penned the-now classic song “Everybody Plays the Fool,” originally recorded in 1972 and covered by numerous artists. In recent years, Williams’ output has been sampled by artists like Alicia Keys and Lil’ Wayne. In 2004, “You Don’t Know My Name” recorded by Keys won a Grammy and so did Williams since it sampled a 1975 song co-written by Williams.
June 27, 2022 4:19 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russia has shattered weeks of relative calm in Ukraine’s capital with a missile attack as Western leaders meeting in Europe prepared to reaffirm their support for Ukraine and condemnation of Russia. President Volodymr Zelenskyy said a 37-year-old man was killed and his daughter and wife injured when missiles hit an apartment building. A railroad worker was also reported killed. Kyiv’s mayor speculated the airstrikes were “a symbolic attack” before a NATO summit starting Tuesday. A former U.S. commander in Europe said they also were a signal to Group of Seven leaders meeting Sunday. The Ukrainian air force says planes launched the missiles from over the Caspian Sea, more than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away.
June 27, 2022 4:17 am
LONGMONT, Colo. (AP) – Police are investigating a weekend fire at a Christian pregnancy center in north-central Colorado as a possible arson. Police in Longmont responded to a fire at 3:17 a.m. Saturday. The Life Choices building sustained fire and heavy smoke damage. The front door was broken and the front of the building had been spray painted with the words, “if abortions aren’t safe neither are you.” Life Choices’ website says it offers free services related to pregnancy and sexual health, information on reversing the effects of abortion pills and post-abortion support for guilt, shame, anxiety and depression. Life Choices executive director Kathy Roberts said the center is devastated and stunned, and that the attack affects people who need support in their pregnancies.
June 27, 2022 4:16 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Sean “Diddy” Combs spoke about his own dream like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. while accepting the highest honor at the BET Awards. The music mogul said his “new dream” involves Black people being free and unified after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Combs’ honor comes on the night when a few other big stars Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae and Jazmine Sullivan strongly criticized the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strip away women’s constitutional protection for abortion. Silk Sonic came away with two awards including album of the year for “An Evening with Silk Sonic.”
June 27, 2022 4:13 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI)- One man is dead and another is in critical condition after overnight shootings. According to Pittsburgh police, two males with gunshot wounds went to a local hospital by private means at around 12:15 a.m. Both were in critical condition and one, identified as 39-year-old Joseph Mitchell from Pittsburgh, later died. Detectives from the Violent Crime Unit are working to figure out where the shootings happened. The investigation is ongoing.
June 27, 2022 4:09 am
YARDLEY, Pa. (AP) – Democratic officials across the nation hope to harness their party’s collective outrage and sadness to improve their political outlook this fall after the Supreme Court’s stunning decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Abortion was an afterthought for much of the year for many voters. It was overshadowed by record gas prices, surging inflation and President Joe Biden’s low popularity. But on Friday, a Supreme Court majority of conservative justices ensured that abortion would be a central issue in U.S. politics for the foreseeable future. Polling shows that relatively few Americans wanted to see Roe overturned.
June 27, 2022 4:07 am
Praise and lament for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned abortion rights filled sacred spaces this weekend. Clergy across the U.S. rearranged worship plans or rewrote sermons to provide their religious context — and competing messages — about the historic moment. Abortion is a visceral issue for deeply divided religious Americans in the wake of the seismic Dobbs v. Jackson decision. In Pittsburgh on Sunday, one Catholic priest called Friday “a day of great joy” because of the ruling, although a few people left during his homily. A minister in New York City mourned the decision, saying, “We are reeling.”
June 27, 2022 2:16 am
BELLE VERNON, Pa. — (WPXI) – Multiple people are hurt after a shooting early Sunday morning in Belle Vernon. According to Westmoreland County 911, the shooting took place at Sweeney’s Steakhouse on Rostraver Road. Dispatch said the call came in around 2:20 a.m. for shots fired at the restaurant. Police said they found two victims when they arrived on scene. Two people were taken into custody that police believe are behind the shooting. They arrested 26-year-old Darius Hunter and 28-year-old Diamond Jackson. Officers believe Hunter was shooting from a vehicle that Jackson in an attempt to get away. According to court documents, police received a Snapchat video that showed Hunter involved in an altercation with one of the victims. Police said that the two suspects led state police on a highs-peed chase before crashing into a pole and going over an embankment. Hunter and Jackson were taken to the Westmoreland County Jail. They will be charged with multiple felonies including attempted murder, aggravated assault and fleeing officers. The victims of the shooting were taken to the Allegheny General Hospital and are last reported in stable condition.
June 26, 2022 8:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The end of Roe v. Wade started in the Senate. It was the Senate Republican partnership with President Donald Trump to confirm conservative judges, and transform the federal judiciary, that paved the way for the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell set the strategy in motion, engineering the Supreme Court’s makeover by blocking President Barack Obama’s 2016 nomination of then-Judge Merrick Garland and changing the Senate’s rules to easily confirm Trump’s picks. It was a long game that sought to lock in a conservative court majority for decades to come. Trump and McConnell, R-Ky., couldn’t have accomplished it alone, needing the backing of almost all Republican senators to reshape the bench. Now, Republicans are heading into a November midterm election that is poised to swiftly become a referendum on the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, as voters decide which party should control Congress. With the nation polarized, Democrats are vowing legislation to protect abortion access and Republicans want to impose further limits, including a nationwide ban on abortions.
