June 12, 2023 5:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Associated Press analysis found that fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. Combined, the loss represents 10% of the $4.2 trillion the U.S. government has disbursed in COVID relief aid. Fraudsters used Social Security numbers of dead people to get unemployment checks. Cheaters collected benefits in multiple states. And federal loan applicants weren’t cross-checked against a Treasury Department database that would have raised red flags about sketchy borrowers. All of it led to the greatest grift in U.S. history.
June 12, 2023 5:10 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian military officials say their troops have retaken another southeastern village from Russian forces. It is among the first — small — successes in stepped-up counteroffensive operations against Moscow’s more than 15-month invasion of Ukraine. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram that Ukraine’s flag was again flying over the village of Storozhov, She predicted the liberation of “all Ukrainian land” would be the final outcome. A day earlier, Ukrainian officials said three other small villages clustered together south of the town of Velika Novosilke in eastern Donetsk region had been liberated.
June 12, 2023 5:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump and his allies are escalating efforts to undermine the criminal case against him and drum up protests as the former president braces for a history-making federal court appearance this week on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified information. Trump’s Tuesday afternoon appearance in Miami will mark his second time in as many months facing a judge on criminal charges. But unlike a New York case some legal analysts derided as relatively trivial, the Justice Department’s first prosecution of a former president concerns conduct that prosecutors say jeopardized national security and that involves Espionage Act charges carrying the threat of a significant prison sentence in the event of conviction.
June 12, 2023 5:06 am
(ABC News) – Pennsylvania State Police have confirmed one death in the I-95 highway collapse through Philadelphia. They say a body was discovered in a vehicle, trapped beneath the fallen concrete and steel eight lane roadway. The driver of the tanker truck that crashed and burst into flames has been identified as Nathaniel Moody, an experienced truck driver, considered missing and unaccounted for. The highway is expected to be closed in both directions for months.
June 12, 2023 5:03 am
UNIONTOWN, Pa. — (WPXI) – A 14-year-old facing criminal homicide charges in relation to a fatal shooting that happened in Uniontown on Tuesday has been arrested. An arrest warrant was issued for Antonyo Owens on Thursday. Fayette County District Attorney Richard Bower said Owens was arrested at around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Bowers would not say where Owens was caught. The arrest was the result of a joint operation that was in the works since Saturday. Bower said Uniontown Police, Connellsville Police, Pennsylvania State Police and the Fugitive Task Force were all involved in the operation. There were no injuries.
June 12, 2023 5:00 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Pittsburgh Police have announced that they have located a missing Charleori man and he is safe. Police said they were concerned about Michael Hanley, 28, because of an unspecified medical condition. He had last been seen on the North Shore at around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday. At this time, no other information is being released.
June 11, 2023 7:14 am
LONDON (AP) — Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has left chaos in his wake after quitting Parliament and accusing fellow lawmakers of ousting him in a “witch hunt.” Johnson unexpectedly stepped down as a lawmaker late Friday. He had faced suspension from Parliament for misleading lawmakers about rule-breaking government parties during the pandemic. Johnson insists he never deliberately lied over “partygate.” His departure left the Conservative government absorbing the shock of yet another Johnson earthquake. The committee investigating Johnson said he had “impugned the integrity” of the House of Commons with his attack. Meanwhile, a band of loyal supporters insisted Britain’s divisive ex-leader could still make a comeback.
June 11, 2023 7:13 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that counteroffensive and defensive actions are underway against Russian forces. Zelenskyy said Saturday that his top Ukrainian commanders were in a “positive” mindset as their troops engaged in intensified fighting on parts of the front line. The Ukrainian leader spoke at a news conference while hosting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Zelenskyy responded to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comment a day earlier that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was underway and that Ukrainian forces were taking “significant losses.” Zelenskyy said that “I am in touch with our commanders of different directions every day … everyone is positive. Pass this on to Putin.”
June 11, 2023 7:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. He was 81. A spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons tells The Associated Press that the man branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI died at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina. He was found unresponsive in his cell early Saturday morning and was pronounced dead around 8 a.m. A cause of death was not immediately known. He admitted committing 16 bombings from 1978 and 1995, permanently maiming several of his victims.
June 11, 2023 7:10 am
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is blasting his historic federal indictment as “ridiculous” and “baseless.” His comments come in his first public appearances since the charges were unsealed. In appearances at Republican state conventions in Georgia and North Carolina, Trump tried to frame the 37 criminal charges he’s facing as an attack not just on him but also on his supporters. The strategy is a well-worn one for Trump, who remains the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination despite his mounting legal woes. In the indictment unsealed Friday, Trump is accused of willfully defying Justice Department demands to return classified documents, enlisting aides in his efforts to hide the records and telling his lawyers that he wanted to defy a subpoena.
