May 28, 2022 10:33 am
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) – Local officials say Russian and Ukrainian troops are engaging engaged in close-quarter combat in an eastern Ukraine city. They reported that Russian forces were “storming” the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk on Sunday and that the fighting has knocked out power and cellphone service and terrorized civilians who haven’t fled. Sievierodonetsk has emerged as an epicenter of Russia’s quest to conquer Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region. Russia also stepped up its efforts to take nearby Lysychansk, where Ukrainian officials reported constant shelling. The two cities are the last major areas under Ukrainian control in the Luhansk province, which together with neighboring Donetsk makes up Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region.
May 28, 2022 10:23 am
HOUSTON (AP) – Nearly 10 years ago, the slaughter of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School looked like it might break through the United States’ political stalemate on guns. That evaporated a week later when National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre gave a defiant speech. Now, Republicans are making similar points as the nation reels from a massacre that left at least 19 children at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas dead Much has changed since Sandy Hook and the NRA is not the powerhouse it once was, but an expansive view of gun rights is woven so tightly into the fabric of conservatism it might not matter.
May 28, 2022 10:21 am
The actions of a school district police chief and other law enforcement officers moved swiftly to the center of the investigation into this week’s shocking school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Authorities acknowledged Friday that children and teachers repeatedly begged 911 operators for help while the police chief told more than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway at Robb Elementary School. The delay in confronting the shooter – who was inside the school for more than an hour – could lead to discipline, lawsuits and even criminal charges against police.
May 28, 2022 10:19 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) – Agatha, the first tropical storm of the 2022 hurricane season in the Pacific, has formed off Mexico’s southern coast. The National Hurricane Center says Agatha is expected to become a hurricane and head towards land. On Saturday, the center of the tropical storm was located about 175 miles (280 kilometers) southwest of Puerto Angel, with winds of 60 mph (95 kph). The storm was moving north-northwest at 5 mph (7 kph), but was expected to take a turn further northward. A hurricane watch was issued for parts of the coast of the southern state of Oaxaca, where Agatha could make landfall by Tuesday.
May 28, 2022 4:07 am
ELIZABETH TOWNSHIP, Pa.-(WPXI) – An investigation is underway to find out what caused a small plane to crash in Elizabeth Township on Friday evening. Officials told ours news partner WPXI the plane was taking off from a runway less than half of a mile from where it crashed. The plane was reportedly doing a touch and go maneuver when it lost altitude and went down. The plane was headed to the Finleyville Airport in northern Washington County at the time of the crash. The crash was reported in a wooded area along Skillet Hill Road, off of Route 136 just before 7 p.m. Elizabeth Township Police Chief Kenneth Honick told WPXI that area residents helped first responders find the aircraft. “We entered the wood line and found the plane that was crashed,” Honick said. “It’s a small Cessna. It had a single occupant. The occupant was conscious and alert at the time.” The pilot was taken by life flight to Allegheny General Hospital for life-threatening injuries. The Federal Aviation Administration Reconstruction Team has been called to investigate the crash.
May 28, 2022 3:57 am
(WPXI) – A Pennsylvania State Police trooper in Washington County is facing charges, including DUI, after investigators said he was found intoxicated with an open bottle of rum in his patrol unit.
According to authorities, Trooper Jared Johnson was on duty on May 12th when he was dispatched to reports of a deer in a section of Interstate 70 in Buffalo Township. Johnson marked himself at the scene and is said to have told dispatch that the deer was gone. The dispatcher had trouble understanding Johnson and asked him to repeat his information, with Johnson repeating that the deer was gone. But after continuing to receive calls about the deer – his supervisor went to find Johnson. He says Johnson had slurred speech, glassy eyes, and had trouble standing, and when he went to secure Johnson’s unit, he noticed a bottle of rum on the front passenger seat in a brown paper bag. Johnson was then taken to Washington Hospital where he refused to sign a consent form for a chemical blood test. He was then taken to PSP Washington and released. It was later discovered through his dashcam that he had been involved in an accident on Jefferson and Tyler Avenue while responding to the deer call. Johnson has since been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the case.
May 28, 2022 3:55 am
After two years, the swimming pool in Washington Park will be open. DeAnna Martin, the city’s parks and recreation director said on Friday that the pool will reopen for the Memorial Day Weekend, although on a limited basis. martin says the pool will have limited hours and staffing this weekend, but will open for the season on June 4th, when five to seven new lifeguards will be certified and ready to work. As for the holiday weekend, Martin says the pool will be open from noon to five on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, although some areas may have to be shut down because of what she calls a “skeleton crew.” Martin says the new lifeguards are all fifteen to twenty-year olds who are high school and college students. The pool has been closed for the past two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic and maintenance and electrical issues. Admission is six-dollars for residents, seven-dollars for non-residents.
May 27, 2022 4:18 am
UVALDE, Texas (AP) – Authorities say children repeatedly called 911 from inside a Texas elementary school where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers, including a girl who told the dispatcher “Please send the police now.” Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a news conference Friday that teachers and students repeatedly called 911 during Tuesday’s attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. He says police were at the scene for at least an hour before U.S. Border Patrol agents used a master key to open a locked classroom door. He says the agents then killed the gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, at about 12:50 p.m.
May 27, 2022 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A bipartisan group of senators is trying to find a compromise on gun legislation. That’s after Democrats’ first attempt at responding to the back-to-back mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, failed Thursday in the Senate. Republicans blocked debate on a domestic terrorism bill that would have opened debate on hate crimes and gun policy. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he will give negotiations about two weeks while Congress is in recess. The bipartisan group of senators met after the vote and focused on background checks for guns purchased online or at gun shows, red-flag laws designed to keep guns away from those who could harm themselves or others and school security measures.
May 27, 2022 4:13 am
HOUSTON (AP) – The National Rifle Association begins its annual convention in Houston on Friday, and leaders of the powerful gun-rights lobbying group are gearing up to “reflect on” – and deflect any blame for – the deadly shooting earlier this week of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Former President Donald Trump and other leading Republicans are scheduled to address the three-day gun industry marketing and advocacy event, which is expected to draw protesters. Some scheduled speakers and performers have backed out, including two Texas lawmakers and “American Pie” singer Don McLean, who said “it would be disrespectful” to go ahead with his act.
