January 31, 2023 5:38 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Rep. George Santos of New York has told GOP colleagues he is temporarily stepping down from his two congressional committees. The move comes amid a host of ethics issues and a day after he met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Santos has faced numerous calls for his resignation and is facing multiple investigations by prosecutors over his personal and campaign finances and lies about his resume and family background. Santos was assigned to the House Committee on Small Business and to the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma said the decision was well-received from the GOP conference. In a prepared statement, Santos said he wanted to focus on serving his constituents “without distraction.”
January 31, 2023 4:25 pm
DETROIT (AP) – The U.S. government’s road safety agency is investigating complaints that windshield trim panels can fly off of Ford Explorers while they’re traveling at highway speeds. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has 164 complaints about the trim pieces detaching on 2011 through 2019 Explorer SUVs. The probe covers about 1.86 million vehicles. The parts could hit the windshield of following vehicles or even a motorcycle rider, possibly causing loss of control and a crash, the agency said. The agency doesn’t have any reports of crashes or injuries.
January 31, 2023 3:57 pm
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – A Santa Fe district attorney has filed involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced that her office filed the charges Tuesday. She previously had said the charges would be forthcoming. Halyna Hutchins died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe in October 2021. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at her when the gun went off. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who supervised weapons on the set, also is charged with involuntary manslaughter.
January 31, 2023 9:30 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Justice Department has been scrutinizing a controversial artificial intelligence tool used by a Pittsburgh-area child protective services agency following concerns that it could result in discrimination against families with disabilities, The Associated Press has learned. The interest from federal civil rights attorneys comes after an AP investigation revealed potential bias and transparency issues about the opaque algorithm. The Allegheny Family Screening Tool is designed to assess a family’s risk level when they are reported for child welfare concerns. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. An Allegheny County Department of Human Services spokesman said the agency had not heard from the Justice Department.
January 31, 2023 7:36 am
Snow overnight led to some slick road conditions Tuesday morning. There were reports of numerous accidents including a tractor trailer that jackknifed along Interstate 70 Westbound just after 4 a.m. It happened near the Beau Street exit. The trucks fuel tank ruptured in the crash and reports were that some 75 to 100 gallons of deisel fuel spilled. HazMat crews were called to the scene. Washington County 9-1-1 says no one was transported from the scene. The slick road conditions led numerous area schools to delay classes by two-hours.
January 31, 2023 4:20 am
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Memphis police say two more officers involved in the arrest, beating and death of Tyre Nichols have been disciplined. Five Memphis officers already had been fired and charged in the Jan. 7 arrest of Nichols, who was Black. Police said Monday that officer Preston Hemphill was relieved of duty shortly after Nichols’ Jan. 7 arrest. The department said later that another officer has been relieved of duty. In total, seven officers have been disciplined for the arrest of Nichols, who died Jan. 10. Also Monday, two Memphis Fire Department emergency medical workers and a lieutenant were fired in connection with the case.
January 31, 2023 4:17 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Cindy Williams, who played Shirley opposite Penny Marshall’s Laverne on the popular sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” has died. Williams’ family said in statement Monday that she died in Los Angeles Wednesday after a brief illness. She was 75. Williams credits included the films “American Graffiti” and “The Conversation.” But she was by far best known for playing the straitlaced Shirley Feeney on the ABC sitcom “Laverne & Shirley.” The show, a spinoff of “Happy Days” was one of the most popular shows on television in its prime. It ran from 1976 to 1983.
January 31, 2023 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has informed Congress that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared. The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations will formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities. It comes as lawmakers have already ended elements of the emergencies that kept millions of Americans insured during the pandemic.
January 31, 2023 4:12 am
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistani officials say the death toll from a suicide bombing at a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar has risen to 88. Mohammad Asim, a government hospital spokesman, says more bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the mosque overnight and early on Tuesday, and several of those critically injured died in hospital. He says most of the victims were policemen who were praying when the bomber struck on Monday morning. The bombing also wounded more than 150 people. It was not clear how the bomber was able to slip into the walled compound in a high-security zone with other government buildings and reach the mosque. Also on Tuesday, mourners were burying some of the bombing victims.
January 31, 2023 4:07 am
Ira “Bob” Born, a candy company executive known as the “Father of Peeps” for mechanizing the process to make the marshmallow chicks, has died. He was 98. Born’s father, Sam Born, was a Russian immigrant who founded Just Born Quality Confections, a small candy company, in 1923. The family later moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Bob Born served in the U.S. Navy during World War II before joining the family business. In the early 1950s, he came up with a machine that mechanized the process for making marshmallow chicks, reducing the time to make them from 27 hours to six minutes.
