May 22, 2022 7:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rudy Giuliani, who as a lawyer for then-President Donald Trump pushed bogus legal challenges to the 2020 election, met for hours with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a person familiar with the interview said Saturday. The interview with Giuliani took place virtually and lasted for much of the day on Friday, according to the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment. Giuliani had been scheduled to meet with the committee earlier this month, but a spokesperson for the panel said that meeting was rescheduled. The former New York mayor is seen as a critical aide for the committee, which has interviewed nearly 1,000 witnesses, including family members of Trump and advisers in his inner circle. The panel plans a series of hearings in June. In January, the committee subpoenaed Giuliani and other members of the Trump legal team who sought to overturn election results in battleground states through lawsuits that made unsupported claims of vast election fraud. Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, has said there were no widespread irregularities that could have affected the outcome of the race won by President Joe Biden, and judges across the country have dismissed the allegations.
May 22, 2022 7:55 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Republican primary for an open U.S. Senate seat is too close to call and is likely headed for a statewide recount to decide the winner of the contest between heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick. A recount would mean that the outcome of the race might not be known until June 8, the deadline for counties to report their results to the state. Oz, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, led McCormick by 1,079 votes, or 0.08 percentage points, out of 1,340,248 ballots counted as of 5 p.m. Friday. The race is close enough to trigger Pennsylvania’s automatic recount law, with the separation between the candidates inside the law’s 0.5% margin. The Associated Press will not declare a winner in the race until the likely recount is complete. Both campaigns have hired Washington-based lawyers to lead their recount efforts, and both have hired Philadelphia-based campaign strategists who helped lead the operation to observe vote-counting on Election Day for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2020. The two campaigns combined already had hundreds of lawyers and volunteers fanned out around the presidential battleground state as election workers and election boards toiled through the remaining ballots.
May 22, 2022 4:27 am
BUFFALO TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A multi-vehicle accident with injuries closed the Interstate 70 westbound lanes early Saturday morning on the border of Buffalo and North Franklin Township. According to reports on scene, two vehicles rolled over and a victim was ejected from a car around 3:00 a.m. Other injuries were reported. Washington County 911 requested medevac services to airlift a patient from the scene, which landed on the interstate to get to the incident and the victim was reportedly flown to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. Claysville Fire Department was joined by North Franklin Fire crews while responding to the accident along with the Pennsylvania State Police. There is no word on what caused the crash.
May 22, 2022 4:21 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Multiple crews were called to the scene of a house fire in the City of Washington early Saturday morning. Reports say the flames broke out on the first floor of a house along Campbell Avenue off of Maiden Street. Crews were alerted to the call just before 2:00 a.m. City of Washington Fire was joined by North Strabane, Canton and Peters Township on scene. South Strabane was added on the 2nd alarm just before 3:30 a.m. There is no word on what caused the fire, and no injuries were reported.
May 21, 2022 4:46 am
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Vote counting has started in Australia’s election that will decide whether Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government can defy odds and rule for a fourth three-year term. Opposition leader Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor Party is a favorite to win its first election on Saturday since 2007. But Morrison defied the opinion polls in 2019 by leading his coalition to a narrow victory. The closely watched Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper on Saturday put Labor ahead with 53% of voter support. The split of votes between the government and Labor in 2019 was 51.5% to 48.5%. That’s the exact opposite of the result that Australia’s five most prominent polls including Newspoll had predicted.
May 21, 2022 4:44 am
GAYLORD, Mich. (AP) – A rare northern Michigan tornado that hammered a small town has killed at least one person and injured more than 40. Munson Healthcare spokesman Brian Lawson said Friday that he had no details about the person who was killed or the conditions of those who were hurt by the tornado that rushed through Gaylord, a city of about 4,200, at about 3:45 p.m. Mike Klepadlo, who owns a car repair shop in Gaylord, says he and his workers took cover in a bathroom, and that he feels lucky to be alive because it blew the back off the building. A National Weather Service forecaster said extreme winds are uncommon in that part of Michigan because the Great Lakes suck energy out of storms, especially in spring when the lakes are very cold.
May 21, 2022 4:43 am
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) – Russia claims to have captured Mariupol in what would be its biggest victory yet in its war with Ukraine. A spokesman said the Russian defense minister reported the “complete liberation” of the Azovstal steel plant – the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance – and the city as a whole. The announcement followed a nearly three-month siege that reduced much of the strategic port city to a smoking ruin. More than 20,000 civilians are feared dead. There was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine. A Russian state news agency quoted the ministry as saying that more than 2,400 Ukrainian fighters who had been holed up at the steelworks had surrendered since Monday, including over 500 on Friday.
May 21, 2022 4:42 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – The $40 billion U.S. package of assistance for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s aggression is hitching a ride on a commercial flight to South Korea so it can be signed by President Joe Biden. The Senate voted Thursday to finalize new military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine as Biden was making his way to the South Korean capital. A White House official says the bill is being flown to Seoul by a U.S. government official who was already planning to travel to the region on a commercial flight.
May 21, 2022 4:41 am
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – Boeing’s astronaut capsule has arrived at the International Space Station in a critical repeat test flight. Only a test dummy was aboard the capsule for Friday’s docking, a huge achievement for Boeing after years of false starts. The only other time Boeing’s Starliner flew in space, it never got anywhere near the station. This time, the overhauled Starliner made it to the right orbit following Thursday’s launch from Florida. With Starliner’s arrival, NASA finally realizes its longtime effort to have crew capsules from competing U.S. companies flying to the space station. SpaceX already has a running start.
May 21, 2022 4:40 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – The head of the U.S. Forest Service is suspending planned burning operations to clear out brush and small trees at all national forests while his agency conducts a 90-day review of protocols and practices. Forest Chief Randy Moore made the announcement Friday. He cited the hot and dry weather and extreme winds that have led to explosive fire behavior across the Southwest. Nearly 6,000 firefighters are battling fires in New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and California. Crews at the biggest fire in northern New Mexico worked to reinforce fire lines as winds gusted to 40 mph. Forecasters say several days of cooler, moister conditions beginning Saturday should provide some relief.
