September 7, 2023 5:52 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for the rapes of two women two decades ago. Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo handed down the sentence to the 47-year-old Masterson at a hearing on Thursday. Masterson was convicted of raping two women at his Hollywood-area home in 2003. Both women gave statements in court Thursday on the trauma they experienced and the suffering it brought them in the years since. Masterson maintains his innocence and his attorneys plan to appeal. The jury was deadlocked and a mistrial was declared on a third rape count involving Masterson’s former girlfriend.
September 7, 2023 9:52 am
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level in seven months, another sign that the labor market remains largely unaffected by higher interest rates. U.S. applications for jobless claims fell by 13,000 to 216,000 for the week ending Sept. 2, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 8,500 to 229,250. Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week. Overall, 1.68 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended August 26, about 40,000 fewer than the previous week.
September 7, 2023 5:07 am
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Biden administration has canceled the remaining seven oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, overturning sales held in the Trump administration’s waning days and angering Republicans. The administration also proposed stronger protections against development on 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The Department of Interior’s decision to cancel the leases comes after the Biden administration disappointed environmental groups earlier this year by approving the Willow oil project in the petroleum reserve. Litigation over the approval of that project is pending.
September 7, 2023 5:05 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Supreme Court has thrown out all federal criminal penalties for abortion. The sweeping ruling issued Wednesday declared that national laws prohibiting the procedure are unconstitutional and violate women’s rights. The decision extended Latin America’s trend of widening abortion access. The high court ordered that abortion be removed from the federal penal code. The decision will require the federal public health service and all federal health institutions to offer abortion to anyone who requests it.
September 7, 2023 5:01 am
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania prison officials say a murderer made a brazen escape from a suburban Philadelphia jail yard by scaling a wall, climbing over razor wire and jumping from a roof. Authorities gave details of the escape at a news conference Wednesday. The acting warden of the Chester County Prison said there a guard in an observation tower has been put on administrative leave. The fugitive Danelo Cavalcante has been spotted five times since he escaped from jail Thursday. He was awaiting transfer to serve a life sentence in state prison. A jury convicted Cavalcante of murdering his girlfriend in 2021. He’s also wanted in his native Brazil over a killing.
September 7, 2023 4:58 am
NORTH STRABANE, Pa. — North Strabane Township police say the driver involved in a 2021 crash who had not been showing up for court is now under arrest. The Department posted on Facebook that 29 year old Kyrsten McHenry of Pitcairn had been arrested. They say she drove her car while under the influence of narcotics and without a license or insurance in December 2021. She crossed the center line on Route 519, hitting another vehicle head-on and causing critical injuries. She’s facing several charges, including aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, accident involving death/injury while not licensed and driving under the influence of a controlled substance. The department said that since then, she hasn’t shown up to a single court date and was eluding police.
September 7, 2023 4:50 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Bruce Springsteen’s two concerts in Pittsburgh scheduled for next week have been postponed. According to a Facebook post, Springsteen has postponed eight shows scheduled for September due to medical issues. Springsteen is being treated for symptoms of peptic ulcer disease, and his doctors advised him to postpone his September shows. Ticketholders will receive information on the rescheduled dates for the Sept. 12 and Sept. 14 shows at PPG Paints arena.
September 7, 2023 2:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new indictment against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter could come before the end of September, according to court documents filed Wednesday. The exact charges the president’s son would face were not immediately clear, but appeared related to a gun possession charge in which he was accused of having a firearm while being a drug user. He has also been under investigation by federal prosecutors for his business dealings. U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss, newly named a special counsel in the case, referred to a seeking an indictment before Sept. 29 in a status report required by Judge Maryellen Noreika.
September 6, 2023 4:43 pm
ATLANTA (AP) — The judge overseeing the Georgia election subversion case involving former President Donald Trump has denied requests by two of the 19 defendants to be tried alone, instead saying the pair would be tried together starting next month. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell’s trial would begin Oct. 23 since both filed speedy trial demands. But he seemed skeptical Wednesday of prosecutors’ arguments that all 19 defendants could be tried together that soon. The hearing provided more provided some insight into how the sprawling case could play out, with prosecutors estimating a trial would take four months and that they’d call more than 150 witnesses.
September 6, 2023 5:11 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit, hours after Russia launched its first missile attack in a week against the Ukrainian capital. Blinken’s trip Wednesday aimed to assess Ukraine’s 3-month-old counteroffensive and signal continued U.S. support for Kyiv’s efforts to drive out the Kremlin’s forces after 19 months of war. Some of Ukraine’s Western allies have expressed concerns over the pace of the counteroffensive’s progress. Washington officials said possible alternative export routes for Ukrainian grain will also be discussed following Russia’s exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and its frequent bombardment of port facilities in the Odesa region from where most grain is transported abroad.
