August 15, 2023 5:06 am
(AP) – Videos showing downed power lines apparently sparking some of the early blazes in the Maui wildfires have become key evidence in the search for a cause. Hawaiian Electric Co. faces criticism for not shutting off the power amid high wind warnings. A class-action lawsuit has already been filed seeking to hold the company responsible for the deaths of at least 99 people. The lawsuit cites the utility’s own documents from last year showing it was aware that preemptive power shutoffs such as those used in California were an effective strategy to prevent wildfires but never adopted them.
August 15, 2023 5:02 am
HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – The Hempfield Area School Board members voted Monday night and decided certain books can stay and others can ultimately be removed from the district’s libraries. The meeting got fiery at times with parents passionately speaking on both sides of the debate. With the start of school just 10 days away, students will be walking into classrooms with a new policy about the books they can check out. In a 7-to-1 vote, school board members decided to move forward with a revised book challenge policy that would allow community members to express concern with a list of books 30 days before the district’s librarians buy them. The policy sets guidelines to keep books with sexually explicit content off Hempfield’s school library shelves. The board claims they’ve spent the last 18 months carefully and thoughtfully revising the policy, adding they didn’t have to vote on this but did for transparency and to get public input. Board members say they will continue to review the policy going forward and can adjust and go back to the drawing board if it’s not working.
August 15, 2023 4:56 am
PLUM BOROUGH, Pa. — (WPXI) – Two Plum Borough employees died when a house exploded on Saturday. Sources tell our news partners at WPXI that Michael Thomas, the borough manager, lived one home over from where the explosion happened, but he was inside the home that exploded at the time. Heather Oravitz, community development director for the borough, lived in the house that exploded and was killed, the mayor confirms. Her husband remains in the hospital in critical condition. Thomas’ wife, daughter and their dog were next-door at their home at the time of the explosion. His wife was able to escape through a window, his daughter was able to run out with the dog, and the two of them are physically OK after being released from the hospital. The Allegheny County Fire Marshal’s office has confirmed the house that exploded in Plum on Saturday had hot water tank issues. The tank was located in the basement of the home along Rustic Ridge Drive. The fire marshal said in an update that they will investigate that information, as well as any other possibilities that may explain what happened.
August 15, 2023 4:51 am
Often times with improvements come new problems. That is what Peters Township Council addressed with a new stop sign. Longvue Drive had been a substandard road in the township for many years. This year the road was totally reengineered for width, cul de sac installation and storm drain improvements that brought the road up to current township standards. With those improvements, speed and sight distance issues presented themselves. Council adopted an ordinance creating a three way stop on Longvue Drive with its intersection with Jomat Drive because of limited sight distance. Public comment also spoke of speeding that is now occurring on the road since the improvement. Council will also look into installing speed limit signs.
August 15, 2023 2:22 am
A Canton Township man has reached a plea deal for his role in a shooting last year. Melvin Ringer, 41 will spend 7-14 years in state prison on a single aggravated assault felony charge. In April of 2022, the victim, Everett Miller and Ringer’s wife Amanda Ringer were departing Ringer’s home after Amanda told her husband that she had begun a romantic relationship with Miller. Melvin Ringer shot at both of them as they departed striking Miller with a shot. An earlier plea deal on July 20 was delayed as Miller objected to the sentence, stating that it is too short. Judge Valarie Costanzo delayed the hearing to Monday to review the case. The judge found the sentence to be appropriate despite Miller’s objection. Miller is facing retail theft charges himself and indicated to prosecutors that he would accept the plea deal if those charges were dropped. Prosecutors denied the request calling it inappropriate. Ringer had a previous probation sentence revoked for unauthorized use of a vehicle. He was re sentenced to 1-2 years in state prison on that charge and it will be served concurrently to the aggravated assault sentence.
August 14, 2023 5:27 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden’s attorneys are pushing to keep part of a plea deal they reached with the prosecutor whose new status as special counsel has intensified the tax investigation into the president’s son. As House Republicans continue their own investigations, Hunter Biden’s attorney argued in court documents late Sunday that an agreement sparing him prosecution on a felony gun charge still is in place even though the plea agreement on misdemeanor tax offenses largely unraveled during a court appearance last month. It’s unclear whether prosecutors agree that the gun agreement remains valid. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika ordered them to respond by Tuesday.
August 14, 2023 5:19 am
MARION, Kan. (AP) — A small central Kansas police department is facing a torrent of criticism after it raided the offices of a local newspaper and the home of its publisher and owner. Marion County Record Publisher and Editor Eric Meyer said police raided the newspaper’s office on Friday, seizing the newspaper’s computers, phones and file server and the personal cellphones of staff, based on a search warrant investigating alleged identity theft. Police simultaneously raided Meyer’s home, seizing computers, his cellphone and the home’s internet router. Meyer blames the stress of the home raid for the Saturday death of his 98-year-old mother. Press freedom watchdogs condemned the raids.
August 14, 2023 5:18 am
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Parishioners mourned the dead and prayed for the missing Sunday in Hawaii churches as communities began looking ahead to a long recovery from last week’s wildfire that demolished a historic Maui town and killed more than 90 people. Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina was spared from the flames that wiped out most of the surrounding community, but with search-and-recovery efforts ongoing, its members attended Mass about 10 miles up the road, with the Bishop of Honolulu, the Rev. Clarence “Larry” Silva, presiding. Silva later told The Associated Press that the community is worried about its children, who have witnessed tragedy and are anxious. Meanwhile, Hawaii officials urged tourists to avoid traveling to Maui as many hotels prepared to house evacuees and first responders. About 46,000 residents and visitors have flown out of Kahului Airport in West Maui since the devastation in Lahaina became clear Wednesday, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
August 14, 2023 5:13 am
ATLANTA (AP) — Just one month after Donald Trump’s January 2021 phone call to suggest Georgia’s secretary of state could overturn his election loss, district attorney Fani Willis announced she was looking into possibly illegal “attempts to influence” the results. As she built her case, she called a parade of witnesses before a special grand jury, presiding over an investigation that was so public it seemed she would become the first prosecutor in U.S. history to indict a former president. She is instead poised to become the third person to levy criminal charges against Trump. But the expected indictment could be the most sprawling case against the former president.
August 14, 2023 5:12 am
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — After two years in power, the Taliban are entrenched as rulers of Afghanistan, facing no significant opposition that could topple them. They have avoided an internal split by falling in line behind their ideologically unbending leader and have kept a struggling economy afloat, even as the international community refused to recognize them as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Girls and women pay the price, with the Taliban barring them from jobs, education and virtually every aspect of public life. Prospects for a change toward moderation are slim as the Taliban mark the second anniversary of its takeover of Afghanistan this week.
