May 4, 2023 4:15 am
Antoinette Hodge, the treasurer of Uniontown who was charged last year by then-Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro for allegedly stealing $106,000 in taxpayer funds while in office, is now facing more charges. Fayette County District Attorney Richard Bower said Hodge “substantially depleted” the funds of the Youghiogheny Western Baptist Association, where she was a chair of the trustee board, with the first incident happening in July 2018 and continuing through the pandemic. The YWBA is an organization that represents some Baptist churches in Fayette, Westmoreland, Greene, and Allegheny Counties, as well as a church in Morgantown, W. Va. Bower announced 38 felony charges and one misdemeanor charge against Hodge Thursday morning after a complaint was filed with his office in February. Bower said while Hodge did not have authorization to sign checks, she reportedly wrote several fraudulent checks, forging the signatures of those who were authorized to sign them, writing them out to ‘cash.’ In all, Bower said Hodge stole more than $112,000, depleting the YWBA’s accounts, and putting them in debt. Bower said in a three-year period, Hodge gambled more than $144,000 at Lady Luck Casino at Nemacolin, but stopped gambling there after an apparent incident with an employee. The District Attorney added an employee of a local convenience store reported Hodge spent more than $1,000 a day on Pennsylvania Lottery games at her store alone. Hodge’s attorney said Hodge maintains her innocence. Despite this second round of charges, Hodge remains the treasurer of Uniontown. She is on the Democratic primary ballot for the May 16 election. Her attorney said she is still actively running for that office.
May 4, 2023 4:14 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s state Senate wants to pare back a Depression-era law that allows Philadelphia to impose a commuter tax on suburbanites. The bill passed Wednesday, 28-21, with every Republican and one Democrat backing it. However, it likely faces a chilly reception in the state House of Representatives, where Democrats have a one-seat slim majority. Under the bill, Philadelphia would lose the authority to impose a wage tax on people who work from home, even if they work for employers located in the city. For those who perform some of their duties outside the city, Philadelphia could only tax their earnings proportionate to the amount of work they performed in the city.
May 4, 2023 4:12 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A proposed workers’ rights constitutional amendment is advancing in the Pennsylvania Legislature. The narrowly divided Pennsylvania House on Wednesday approved it on a vote of 102 to 99, with nearly all of the “yes” votes being cast by Democrats. It’s the first step in a process that, if successful, will take years to complete. Pennsylvania constitutional amendments have to pass both chambers in two successive two-year sessions before going to voters for the final OK. The bill would add constitutional language that state workers have “the fundamental right to organize and bargain collectively” and that no state law can interfere with it.
May 4, 2023 4:08 am
The NAACP Washington Branch along with the League of Women Voters sponsored a candidate forum at the LeMoyne Community Center on Wednesday night. Nearly 200 community members attended the forum. The event invited candidates from both parties to participate in a question answer program so that community members could personally interact with candidates for county, city and school board offices. The bulk of the program was taken by the county offices. Eight of the nine candidates for commissioner participated, Electra Janis was the only commissioner candidate absent. Nearly all candidates running for county row offices were present. Both candidates for Mayor and ten of the twelve candidates for Washington School Board attended. All candidates were allowed 3 minutes to introduce themselves to the audience and offer their qualifications. Questions ran from the general, what will you do to improve the office, to the more specific such as staff treatment and negative media coverage of the office. During the Washington School Board presentation, questions of book banning were answered. David Gatling, Sr., President of the NAACP Washington Branch said he was pleased with the event’s turn out. He wished more city residents would have been on hand. He stated that “the most powerful tool that one can have as a human being is the right to vote.”
May 4, 2023 2:27 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The man charged in the deadliest attack on Jewish people in U.S. history has lost a bid to get the death penalty removed as a possible punishment. Robert Bowers is accused of gunning down 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. Jury selection is underway at his federal trial. Lawyers for Bowers argue the Justice Department is pursuing the death penalty against Bowers in an arbitrary manner. A federal judge ruled against the defense Tuesday, leaving the death penalty on the table. More than 100 potential jurors have been questioned by prosecutors and the defense, with a heavy focus on their views on a potential death sentence.
May 3, 2023 5:20 pm
(AP) – An Oklahoma sex offender shot six people in the head and then himself, an Oklahoma police chief Wednesday. Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice said that the victims all sustained between one and three wounds to the head. He said that Jesse McFadden, 39, then shot himself. “The evidence is that Jesse McFadden murdered six people and then killed himself. Beyond that, I don’t know what his thought process was,” Prentice said. “I’m not going to express a theory because I follow the evidence, and I don’t have any evidence about what the motive was. Earlier Wednesday, a woman whose daughter and three grandchildren were among the seven bodies found on a rural Oklahoma property said that sheriff’s investigators told her that her son-in-law, a convicted sex offender, shot all six victims in the head before killing himself. (Photo: AP)
May 3, 2023 1:22 pm
ATLANTA (AP) — Police say a shooter opened fire inside an Atlanta medical building, killing one and injuring four others as authorities swarmed the city’s bustling midtown neighborhood in search of the 24-year-old suspect. Atlanta police said the shooting occurred inside a Northside Medical building on Wednesday. Authorities identified the suspect as Deion Patterson and said he is considered armed and dangerous. In surveillance released by police, the suspect was wearing dark pants and a hoodie with the hood pulled up. He wore a mask on his face and appeared to be wearing a bag across their front. More than two hours after the shooting, police said they had no information indicating that Patterson was still in the area.
May 3, 2023 9:25 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Chaka Khan, “Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius and the late George Michael have all been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with Kate Bush also finally reaching the top of that hill. The Cleveland-based institution announced Wednesday the artists and groups entering the hall as the class of 2023, a list that includes The Spinners, Rage Against the Machine, DJ Kool Herc, Link Wray, Al Kooper and Elton John’s longtime co-songwriter Bernie Taupin. Elliott, the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, now becomes the first female hip-hop artist in the rock hall.
May 3, 2023 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve reinforced its fight against high inflation by raising its key interest rate by a quarter-point to the highest level in 16 years. But the Fed also signaled that it may now pause its streak of 10 rate hikes, which have made borrowing for consumers and businesses steadily more expensive. In a statement after its latest policy meeting, the Fed removed a sentence from its previous statement that had said “some additional” rate hikes might be needed. It replaced it with language that said it will weigh a range of factors in “determining the extent” to which future hikes might be needed.
May 3, 2023 4:18 am
ATLANTA (AP) — Police say they have apprehended a man who allegedly opened fire inside the waiting room of an Atlanta medical practice, killing one woman and injuring four others. Authorities had swarmed the city’s bustling midtown neighborhood in search of the suspect, who fled after the shooting. Police say the gunman was captured Wednesday evening. They identified him as 24-year-old Deion Patterson. Authorities did not immediately release additional information about where Patterson was found. A 39-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting. The four injured victims were also women, aged 25, 39, 56 and 71.
