April 5, 2022 4:10 am
BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the U.N. Security Council that the Russian military must be brought to justice immediately for war crimes. The Ukrainian leader made his plea via video Tuesday as grisly evidence continued to emerge of civilian massacres carried out by Russian forces on the outskirts of Kyiv. The images, particularly from the town of Bucha, have stirred global revulsion and led to demands for tougher sanctions and war crime prosecutions against Russia.
April 5, 2022 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The process for inmates and ex-convicts in Pennsylvania to apply for clemency should go fully online by year’s end in an effort to improve access to a cornerstone of the nation’s criminal justice movement and to reduce the wait by years. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman said Monday that his goal is for the state Board of Pardons to use the online system to turn around an application for a pardon or commutation in a year or less. The process often takes several years currently under what Fetterman calls an inefficient and paper-based system. April is recognized as Second Chance Month. Fetterman as lieutenant governor chairs the five-member Board of Pardons.
April 5, 2022 4:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature has failed in a last-ditch effort to block the centerpiece of Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to fight climate change, a regulation requiring fossil fuel-fired power plants to pay a price for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit. A 32-17 vote Monday in the state Senate failed to reach a two-thirds threshold to block a regulation written by Wolf’s administration that could make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon pricing policy. It still could face a legal challenge in the courts from opponents. Otherwise, the compliance obligation on power plants that are subject to the regulation could start July 1.
April 5, 2022 4:05 am
Canonsburg Council has been presented with a petition signed by 259 residents that want changes made to the borough’s parking ordinance. Calvin Griffin initiated the petition on Change.org to suggest parking lot and parking meter enforcement hours be changed to 8AM to 6PM Monday through Saturday. Eric Chandler, President of Canonsburg Council indicates that the current ordinance states that the hours that street meters are monitored are 8AM to 6PM. Parking lots are monitored 24 hours a day. Both are enforced 7 days a week. Chandler further states that this ordinance has been in effect since the early 1990’s. Residents recently became upset when enforcement officers were out ticketing cars when they were not used to seeing meter use being enforced. Mayor David Rhome says borough officials conducted a study by ticketing cars in parking lots when all surrounding businesses were closed. Evidence pointed to residents moving cars into vacant parking lots after enforcement officers ended their days so they could avoid paying for residential permit parking. This practice upset business owners who possibly lost business because the lots were full of cars but no one was in any of the establishments. Council is continuing to study the concerns of both residents and business owners.
April 5, 2022 2:36 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A former handyman has pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the death of a western Pennsylvania woman who went missing three years ago. Fifty-year-old Douglas Berry of McKeesport also pleaded guilty to burglary and other charges Monday as part of an agreement with Allegheny County prosecutors. Prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of 17 to 40 years in state prison. Sixty-seven-year-old Elizabeth Wiesenfeld was reported missing to Whitehall police in April 2019. Remains later identified as hers were found nearly a year later. Authorities said Wiesenfeld had told her family she was afraid of Berry. The Tribune-Review reports that he apologized in court and said he had “learned to pray for forgiveness.”
April 4, 2022 5:42 pm
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Opening arguments have taken place in a West Virginia lawsuit accusing several drugmakers of misrepresenting the risks and benefits of opioids. The bench trial started Monday in Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s lawsuit against Janssen, Teva, Allergan and their family of companies. The defendants are accused of engaging in strategic campaigns to deceive prescribers. That led to opioids becoming a common treatment for chronic pain and fueled substance abuse in West Virginia. The state has the nation’s highest rate of drug overdose deaths. The lawsuit alleges violations of the state Consumer Credit and Protection Act. The trial in Charleston is expected to take up to two months.
April 4, 2022 5:41 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is calling for a war crimes trial against Russian President Vladimir Putin and says he’d seek more sanctions after reported atrocities in Ukraine. Biden said Monday that Putin “is a war criminal.” His comments to reporters came after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha, one of the towns surrounding Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say the bodies of civilians have been found. Zelenskyy called the Russian actions “genocide” and called for the West to apply tougher sanctions against Russia. Biden, however, stopped short of calling the actions genocide. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. had warned that Russia would seek to imprison or kill dissidents or others it viewed as threats to its attempted occupation of Ukraine.
April 4, 2022 4:18 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Jury selection in the deadliest U.S. mass shooting ever to go to trial has begun. A judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys began screening the first candidates on Monday for the 12-member panel that will decide if Nikolas Cruz is executed or gets life in prison. Cruz has already pleaded guilty to the 2018 murders of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Court officials say 1,500 candidates or more could be screened over the next several weeks. To be selected, candidates must say they can judge Cruz fairly and vote for the death penalty if the evidence requires it. (Photo: AP)
April 4, 2022 4:17 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Sacramento police have announced an arrest connected with the shooting that killed six people and wounded a dozen others in the heart of California’s capital city as multiple shooters fired more than 100 rounds and people ran for their lives. Police said Dandre Martin, 26, was booked Monday as a “related suspect” on assault and illegal firearms charges. Detectives and SWAT team members found one handgun during searches of three homes in the area. The arrest came as the six victims killed were identified Monday in the shooting that occurred Sunday around 2 a.m. as bars were closing and patrons filled the streets near the state Capitol.
April 4, 2022 4:14 am
BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) – Foreign outrage is mounting over evidence of possible executions and other atrocities by Russian forces in Ukraine. Germany’s defense minister reacted to the new evidence by saying Europe must consider stepping up penalties for Moscow by boycotting its gas exports, an economically painful step European leaders previously avoided. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned attacks on civilians after bodies were found with signs of torture in areas abandoned by Russian forces. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called reports of rape and other atrocities by Russian soldiers “beyond reprehensible.” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed in a video shown during the Grammy Awards for musicians and other artists to help tell the story of Russia’s invasion.
