April 25, 2022 5:22 pm
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power are seeking a rate increase that would add $18.41 to the average monthly residential bill. News outlets cited a statement from Appalachian Power that says the request was submitted on Tuesday to the West Virginia Public Service Commission. If approved, the nearly 12% hike would take effect beginning Sept. 1. Appalachian Power president Chris Beam says the increase is necessary due to the “steep and rapid rise in energy and fuel costs over the past several months.” Kanawha County commissioners are objecting to the request. They say customers are not able to afford constant rate increases.
April 25, 2022 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A coach who crosses himself before a game. A math teacher reads the Bible aloud before the bell rings. A coach who hosts an after-school Christian group in their home.Those were some of the scenarios Supreme Court justices discussed Monday while hearing arguments about a former football coach from Washington state who wanted to kneel and pray on the field after games. The justices were wrestling with how to balance the religious and free speech rights teachers and coaches with the rights of students not to feel pressured into participating.
April 25, 2022 4:22 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Jury selection in the trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz must start over after the judge declared her own mistake requires it. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer ruled Monday that she should have questioned potential jurors who said they would not follow the law before she dismissed them. The decision nullifies two weeks of work by lawyers for the prosecution and defense. Jury selection will begin anew on Monday. The jury that is chosen at the end of the process will decide whether Cruz is executed for murdering 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in 2018. (Photo: AP)
April 25, 2022 4:20 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A New York judge has found former President Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to adequately respond to a subpoena issued by the state’s attorney general as part of a civil investigation into his business dealings. Judge Arthur Engoron on Monday ordered Trump to pay a fine of $10,000 per day. New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, had asked the court to hold Trump in contempt after he missed a March 31 court-imposed deadline to turn over documents. Trump, a Republican, has been fighting James in court over her investigation, which he has called a politically motivated “witch hunt.” Trump spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
April 25, 2022 4:20 am
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill to create a police force dedicated to pursuing voter fraud and other election crimes. The Republican governor signed the bill into law Monday. The law creates an Office of Election Crimes and Security under the Florida Department of State to review fraud allegations and conduct preliminary investigations. DeSantis is required to appoint a group of special officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement who would be tasked with pursuing the election law violations. Voter fraud is rare, typically occurs in isolated instances and is generally detected.
April 25, 2022 4:16 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – More than two years after he started work on it, Gov. Tom Wolf is set to enact the centerpiece of his plan to fight climate change. It’ll make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon-pricing policy. But it might be a short-lived victory. One lawsuit is already challenging Wolf’s regulation, and the term-limited Democratic governor might be replaced in eight months by a successor who opposes it. On Saturday, a legislative agency is set to publish Wolf’s carbon-pricing rule on power plants. Mark Szybist of the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council says it’s the farthest-reaching step being taken in Pennsylvania to fight climate change.
April 25, 2022 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – As voters get ready for hundreds of elections of local and national importance this year, officials and voting rights advocates are bracing for a repeat of the misinformation that overwhelmed the 2020 presidential election. This year, the voting advocacy group Common Cause hopes to rely on thousands of volunteers to identify misinformation floating around online and push for social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to take down the most egregious falsehoods. One official in Ohio says that “2020 changed everything” and that fighting election misinformation “has got to be a part of our job now.”
April 25, 2022 4:12 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Authorities say three children and one adult were found dead after an early morning fire in a north Philadelphia row home. Fire crews were called to the two-story residence in the Kensington neighborhood shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday and found heavy fire coming from both floors. Officials say three children were found dead and a man reported unaccounted for was also later found deceased. The names of the victims and other details about them weren’t immediately released. One person who jumped to safety was taken to a hospital.The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
April 25, 2022 4:09 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Another violent weekend in Pittsburgh, with police responding to multiple shooting calls throughout the area in just a matter of hours. One week after the mass shooting on Easter Sunday, city leaders are calling for a change. “What this incident brought to light was a problem,” said Isaac Faldey, president of Community Alliance of Spring Garden. “That was a big problem, and it’s not just what the police need to solve, it’s what the community can do.” Faldey led a round-table discussion on how to respond to Easter Sunday’s mass shooting. “We want to try to get something going for the entire North Side, even if it’s just a start,” Faldey said. Just hours beforehand, police around the Pittsburgh area were once again busy, responding to calls of violence. Around 10:30 Saturday night, a man was found on Wylie Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Hill District with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition. At 2 a.m. Sunday, emergency crews were notified of a female on St Clair Avenue in Clairton who was shot in the stomach. The woman was also taken to the hospital in critical condition. Around the same time, another shooting. This time in Duquesne, where a man was taken to the hospital after being shot in the shoulder. Faldey said that right now, the group is focused on the youth and finding ways to target that age group to start curbing the violence they’re currently seeing.
April 24, 2022 8:10 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Russian military says it has struck a Ukrainian explosives factory, several artillery depots and hundreds of other targets. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that the Russian military used precision-guided missiles to destroy a factory making powder and explosives near Pavlohrad in the Dnipro region in central Ukraine. Konashenkov said Russian forces also struck several depots with artillery munitions and rockets in the Kharkiv region. He added that the Russian artillery hit 423 Ukrainian targets overnight, including fortified positions and troops concentrations, while Russian warplanes destroyed 26 Ukrainian military targets.
