October 12, 2023 9:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The acting Social Security commissioner says a 3.2% increase in benefits next year “will help millions of people keep up with expenses.” The increase announced Thursday is far less than this year’s historic boost and reflects moderating consumer prices. The Social Security Administration says the average recipient will get more than $50 more per month. The AARP estimates $59 per month. About 71 million people including retirees, disabled people and children receive Social Security benefits. This year’s cost-of-living adjustment was 8.7%, triggered by record-high inflation pushing up costs of consumer goods. The cost-of-living adjustments have a big impact for people like 83-year-old Louisiana resident Alfred Mason, who says “any increase is welcomed.”
October 12, 2023 5:56 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — While revealing new details about one of the most famed CIA operations of all times — the spiriting out of six American diplomats who escaped the 1979 U.S. Embassy seizure in Iran — the intelligence agency for the first time has acknowledged something else as well. The CIA now officially describes the 1953 coup it backed in Iran that overthrew its prime minister and cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as undemocratic. While other American officials have made similar remarks in the past, the acknowledgment by the CIA in a podcast about the agency’s history comes as much of its official history of the coup still remains classified 70 years after the putsch.
October 12, 2023 5:12 am
As the auto workers strike approaches the one-month mark, more Americans sympathize with the striking workers than with the three big car companies that employ them. That’s one of the findings in a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll finds that more than half of Americans sympathize with the workers or support the workers and the car companies equally. Only 9% favor the automakers over the workers. Workers went on strike Sept. 15 against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which owns the Jeep, Dodge and Ram brands.
October 12, 2023 5:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican colleagues call Steve Scalise a fighter, but the nominee for House speaker may be in for a brawl. The affable Louisiana congressman was nominated by his colleagues to replace ousted Kevin McCarthy. First elected in 2008, Scalise has climbed the leadership ladder. Some call him an “American hero” after surviving a 2017 shooting when a gunman opened fire at a congressional baseball game practice. He recently underwent treatment for blood cancer. Scalise has been working to shore up support from Republican holdouts ahead of a House vote.
October 12, 2023 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the weekend attack by Hamas militants on Israel was the deadliest against Jews since the Holocaust and called it a “campaign of pure cruelty.” Biden made the remarks while speaking Wednesday with Jewish leaders at the White House. The State Department says the number of U.S. citizens killed during the Hamas-Israel war has risen to 22, and at least 17 more Americans remain unaccounted for in a war that has already claimed more than 2,200 lives on both sides. In a sign of U.S. support for Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was traveling there for meetings.
October 12, 2023 5:09 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians in Gaza spent the night in pitch darkness, surrounded by the ruins of pulverized neighborhoods. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas, with the support of a new war cabinet that includes a longtime opposition critic. The death toll on both sides climbed to at least 2,400 early Thursday. Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters Thursday that forces are preparing for a ground assault but that the political leadership has not yet ordered one. A ground offensive in Gaza, the first since the 2014 war, would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.
October 12, 2023 5:07 am
An unidentified Washington teenager is facing terroristic threats and firearms violations after he was found at Washington County Ambulance & Chair along West Chestnut Street, in Canton Township with a gun. State Police Washinton say they were called to the location around 8 p.m. Tuesday night. When troopers arrived, they found the 15 year old male on the ground and being resrtained by three victims. The juvenile was found with a loaded 9mm pistol and was taken into custody. He was then transferred to Juvenile probation. There are no reports of any injuries.
October 12, 2023 5:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Steve Scalise has ended his bid to become House speaker after failing to secure the votes to win the gavel. Scalise told GOP colleagues at a closed-door meeting late Thursday of his decision. Next steps are uncertain as the House is essentially closed while Republicans try to elect a speaker after ousting Kevin McCarthy from the job. Scalise says the Republican majority “still has to come together and is not there.” He had been working furiously to secure the votes after being nominated by a majority of his colleagues, but after hours of private meetings over two days it was clear many other Republican lawmakers were not budging from their refusal to support him.
October 12, 2023 4:55 am
FINLEYVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI) – An alleged road rage ramming in Finleyville was caught on camera. Surveillance video shows a driver slam into the back of a woman’s car three times before speeding off Saturday afternoon. Lexi Novak told WPXI, “The lady in Trax might come forward because he almost hit her child not her the child was still on the road. He almost hit her because he went to pass me on the double yellow and almost hit that child,” Novak explained. Two miles down the road, police said the driver rammed into Novak’s car repeatedly. In the video, you can see the van ram Novak’s car three times before leaving the scene. The suspect, William Kupecz, was arrested later Saturday. Police said he did not give an explanation as to why he left the scene.
October 12, 2023 4:54 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – Pennsylvania state police are investigating after an inmate died at the State Correctional Institution at Fayette on Oct. 7. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, James Jarzenski, Jr., 43, was found unresponsive in his cell. Officials said prison staff and medical personnel immediately performed life-saving measures until EMS arrived, but Jarzenski was pronounced dead at the scene. Jarzenski was serving a 13 to 30 year sentence for a conviction in Venango County of robbery with serious bodily injury. Officials said Jarzenski had been at SCI Fayette since January 2021. Jarzenski’s official cause of death will be determined by the Fayette County Coroner’s Office.
