March 15, 2023 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a frenetic weekend of round-the-clock briefings, U.S. policymakers took the audacious step of guaranteeing all the deposits of the failed Silicon Valley Bank — even those exceeding the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s $250,000 limit. The hope is that it will restore confidence in the financial system after the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. The plan came together as the government was unable to sell off the defunct institution on time. But the FDIC may try to auction it off again. Meanwhile, policymakers and lawmakers are starting to look ahead for ways to prevent the next crisis.
March 15, 2023 4:13 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — As part of a yearlong investigation, The Associated Press obtained the data points underpinning several algorithms deployed by child welfare agencies to understand how they predict which children could be at risk of harm. They offer rare insight into the mechanics driving these emerging technologies. Among the factors they use to measure a family’s risk, whether outright or by proxy: race, poverty rates, disability status and family size. The tool’s developers say their work is transparent and that they make their models public. The AP has learned that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating one Pennsylvania county’s child welfare system to determine whether its use of an algorithm discriminates against people with disabilities or other protected groups.
March 15, 2023 2:39 am
The suspect in a California Borough car theft waived his charges to court on Tuesday. Antwane Cunningham, 30 of Monongahela is accused by California Borough Police of taking a car out of a convenience store parking lot on March 1. He is charged with felony counts of robbery of a motor vehicle, criminal mischief and flight to avoid an officer among others. According to the criminal complaint, Cunningham led police on a car chase from California through Elco, Roscoe, Stockdale, Allenport and Dunlevy before crashing the car just outside of Speers. Cunningham attempted to flee on foot before officers tazed him to arrest him. Cunningham is being held in the Washington County Jail without bond. He is on probation from an earlier conviction and has an arrest warrant out on him from Georgia. He will be arraigned on April 27.
March 15, 2023 2:28 am
(AP) – Ohio has filed a lawsuit against railroad Norfolk Southern to make sure it pays for the cleanup and environmental damage caused by a fiery train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border last month. The state’s attorney general said Tuesday that the federal lawsuit also seeks to force the company to pay for groundwater and soil monitoring in the years ahead and economic losses in the village of East Palestine and surrounding areas. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost says the fallout from the Feb. 3 derailment will reverberate for many years. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has apologized for the impact the derailment has had on East Palestine.
March 14, 2023 4:22 am
HONG KONG (AP) — China will reopen its borders to tourists and resume issuing all visas Wednesday after a three-year halt during the pandemic as it sought to boost its tourism and economy. China is one of the last major countries to reopen its borders to tourists. In February, China had declared a “decisive victory” over COVID-19. The move announced Tuesday would “further facilitate the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel,” according to the notice. China had stuck to a harsh “zero-COVID” strategy involving sudden lockdowns and daily COVID-19 testing to try to stop the virus before abandoning most aspects of the policy in December amid growing opposition.
March 14, 2023 4:21 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says North Korea has launched two ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters in its second show of force this week.The launches Tuesday morning came a day after the United States and South Korea began military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff say the missiles were launched from the southwestern coast, flew across North Korea and landed in its waters. Japan’s prime minister said no damage was immediately reported in Japanese waters. North Korea earlier test-fired two cruise missiles from a submarine. Pyongyang could further escalate its weapons tests in a tit-for-tat response to the U.S. and South Korea holding their largest drills in years.
March 14, 2023 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer price increases eased slightly from January to February but still pointed to an elevated inflation rate that is posing a challenge for the Federal Reserve at a delicate moment for the financial system. The government said Tuesday that prices increased 0.4% last month, just below January’s 0.5% rise. Yet excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose 0.5% in February, slightly above January’s 0.4% gain. The Fed pays particular attention to the core measure as a gauge of underlying inflation pressures.
March 14, 2023 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is confronting a significant challenge as his administration grapples with the fallout from the second- and third-largest bank failures in history. He’s doing so amid significant stakes for both the U.S. economy and his political future. Privately, Biden has been adamant that the government’s intervention would not be like that of 2008, when Congress authorized billions in taxpayer cash to rescue banks deemed too big to fail, a senior White House official says. But officials knew they had to act, given the economic risks and the potential impact on bank customers who did nothing wrong.
March 14, 2023 4:09 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Federal authorities say dozens of artifacts stolen in the 1970s from museums in several states, dating back as far as the French and Indian War, have been returned to the institutions. The FBI announced Monday at a ceremony at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia that 50 items had been repatriated to 17 institutions in five states. The artifacts returned Monday included an 1847 Mississippi rifle, a World War II battlefield pickup pistol belonging to General Omar Bradley and 19th century Pennsylvania rifles. They also included a French and Indian War-era powder horn stolen from a museum in Massachusetts.
March 14, 2023 4:05 am
A large procession arranged to pay respects to the two Washington teenagers who were killed in a Saturday night automobile accident on E. Maiden Street took place on Monday evening. Justin Crawford, 17 and his girlfriend Nevaeh Sheets also 17 were honored by more that 100 people in approximately 70 cars that paraded from the park and ride lot on E. Beau Street to the accident scene. Cars lined both sides of the road in the 3000 block of E. Maiden Street as family and friends placed flowers and other memorabilia around the tree that the two teens crashed into at about 11:15 PM on March 11. Emotions ran deep as many family members and friends embraced in tears as they struggled to find words to comfort each other. Blayr Brown, the stepfather of Navaeh Sheets said that he lost his star. Friends Cheyenne Eckels and Jaylin Smith spoke of how well liked both people were. The gathering lasted about twenty minutes before the group disbursed to go home. The coroner is still studying the cause and manner of death. South Strabane Township Police continue to investigate the accident. South Strabane Township’s Fire Department is also set to host a Bingo fundraiser on Saturday, March 18 at 172 Oak Spring Road in Washington. Doors will open at 4 p.m.
