June 13, 2022 3:44 pm
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a bill into law allowing school districts the option of arming employees. The Republican governor also said he’s directing the Ohio School Safety Center to require the maximum 24 hours of training spelled out by the law, as well as the maximum eight hours of annual training. The center must approve all training programs. DeWine also announced the hiring of 28 additional staff members at the center to work with schools. The governor’s announcement came as mayors from some of Ohio’s biggest cities planned to highlight the impacts of gun violence on their communities.
June 13, 2022 4:28 am
Country music star Toby Keith says he has been undergoing treatment for stomach cancer since last fall. The multi-platinum-selling singer said Sunday on Twitter that he underwent surgery and received chemotherapy and radiation in the past six months. The Oklahoma native turns 61 on July 8. He said in the post that he looks forward to spending time with his family. The status of Keith’s performances for the remainder of this year wasn’t immediately clear. His next performance is scheduled for June 17 in Wheaton, Illinois. His publicist, Elaine Schock, says some tour dates will be canceled.
June 13, 2022 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A review by federal health officials says that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine appears safe and effective for children under 5, the only group not currently eligible for vaccination. The review from the Food and Drug Administration is a key step toward an expected decision to begin vaccinating babies, toddlers and preschoolers as soon as June 21. Parents have been waiting months to protect America’s youngest children, who number roughly 18 million. On Wednesday the FDA will ask an outside panel of experts to vote on whether to recommend the shots.
June 13, 2022 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate bargainers have announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last month’s mass shootings. It’s a noteworthy but limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, Biden embraced the deal, and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of stalemate in Congress. Twenty senators, including 10 Republicans, are calling for passage. That’s potentially crucial because at least 10 GOP votes will be needed in the Senate.
June 13, 2022 4:20 am
After the arrest of more than two dozen members of a white supremacist group near a northern Idaho pride event, including one identified as its founder, LGBTQ advocates said Sunday that polarization and a fraught political climate have put their community increasingly at risk. Police say the 31 Patriot Front members were arrested with riot gear came after a tipster reported seeing people loading up into a U-Haul at a hotel parking lot in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Among those arrested was Thomas Rousseau of Grapevine, Texas, who has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as the 23-year-old who founded the group.
June 13, 2022 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s closest campaign advisers, top government officials and even his family were systematically dismantling his false claims of 2020 election fraud ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But the defeated president was becoming “detached from reality” clinging to outlandish theories to stay in power. That’s the assessment from former Attorney General Bill Barr testifying at Monday’s House hearing investigating the insurrection. The panel is delving deeper into what it calls the “big lie,” the defeated Republican president’s false claims of voter fraud. The panel says Trump’s falsehoods provoked a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol.
June 13, 2022 4:15 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A former Pennsylvania lawyer who pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Democrats in the U.S. Senate has been sentenced to time served and a $10,000 fine. Seventy-two-year-old Kenelm Shirk III of Lebanon pleaded guilty in March to a charge of threatening to murder a U.S. official. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Wilson took his age and health into account. Authorities said Shirk had weapons in his car when state police arrested him at a gas station near Shippensburg the day after President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021. He apologized before sentencing, saying “I am not a terrorist. I have no excuse. I should never have said what I said.”
June 13, 2022 4:12 am
MUNHALL, Pa. — (WPXI) – A man is in critical condition and another is in police custody after a stabbing in Munhall. According to Allegheny County police, Munhall police were called to Longfellow Drive for a report of a stabbing around 1:54 a.m. Police said first responders found an adult man with a stab wound to the abdomen. The unidentified victim was taken to an area hospital and is listed in critical condition. Munhall police requested the investigative assistance of the Allegheny County Police Homicide Unit. Detectives responded and initiated an investigation. According to Allegheny County police, 36-year-old Robert Siegel of East Pittsburgh was determined to be the person responsible for the stabbing. Siegel is in custody and is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person. Siegel is currently held in the Allegheny County Jail.
June 13, 2022 4:07 am
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) – The youngest defendant convicted in the torture death of a mentally disabled woman a dozen years ago is appealing the new sentence of 60 years to life imposed last month. The Tribune-Review reports that 29-year-old Angela Marinucci argues in an appeal filed Friday that the judge ignored evidence that she has matured during the 12 years she has spent in prison since her arrest in the stabbing death of 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty of Mount Pleasant. An appeals court rejected Marinucci’s original life without parole sentence because she was a few months shy of her 18th birthday at the time of the February 2010 slaying in Greensburg.
June 13, 2022 2:59 am
Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire that broke out just before seven o’clock Monday morning in an apartment building at 681 McKean Avenue in Donora. Authorities say seven apartments were damaged in the blaze but no one was injured. They say the fire forced twelve adults and four children out of their apartments. Officials say the Red Cross will be helping the displaced families. Authorities say they were still looking for several pets reported missing. (Photo: WPXI)
