May 11, 2022 12:42 pm
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Air traffic controllers in Florida got an urgent call from a passenger in a small plane. The man used cockpit radio to communicate after realizing the pilot was too sick to handle the controls. “I’ve got a serious situation here,” the man said. He said the pilot was incoherent and he had no idea how to fly a plane. Controllers kept the man calm. Asked for the plane’s position, he said he didn’t know. Eventually they spotted the Cessna 280 heading north over Boca Raton. Controllers then guided him Tuesday to a safe landing at Palm Beach International Airport, where a controller told him “Kudos to the new pilot.”
May 11, 2022 8:52 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Inflation slowed in April after seven months of relentless gains, a tentative sign that price increases may be peaking while still imposing a financial strain on American households. Consumer prices jumped 8.3% last month from 12 months earlier. That was below the 8.5% year-over-year surge in March, which was the highest rate since 1981. On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.3% from March to April, a still-elevated rate but the smallest increase in eight months. Consumer prices had spiked 1.2% from February to March, mostly because of a sudden jump in gas prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
May 11, 2022 7:26 am
Two men facing multiple charges of access device fraud and identity theft will face trial. Two men with identifications from the Czech Republic had their preliminary hearings on Tuesday. One of the men, Filip Honza appeared via video in a nearly two hour hearing. He is facing 123 charges of access device fraud and possession of an instrument of crime and identity theft. He is accused of using fraudulent debit cards at Walgreens, CVS and a BP gas station to get cash from those ATMs in Peters Township. Police testified that they were alerted to several acts of fraudulent charges to credit cards on April 11. One week later they apprehended Honza and his accomplice Robert Pokorny while Pokorny was trying to withdraw cash from an ATM. Honza requested a hearing. Pokorny waived his charges directly to court. Charges for Honza were held for trial. The identity of both men is still in question. Additional identification was found that identify both men of being from Romania. Both men are in the Washington County Jail without bond. Both will be formally arraigned on June 30.
May 11, 2022 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has failed in an effort toward enshrining Roe v. Wade abortion access into federal law. Wednesday’s 51-49 negative vote almost along party lines provided a stark display of the nation’s partisan divide over the landmark court decision and the limits of legislative action. The afternoon roll call promised to be the first of several efforts in Congress to preserve the nearly 50-year-old court ruling. President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass legislation that would guarantee the constitutional right to abortion services after the disclosure of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. But Democrats in the split Senate lacked the votes to overcome a Republican-led filibuster. (Photo: ABC)
May 11, 2022 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has emphatically approved a fresh $40 billion Ukraine aid package that beefs up President Joe Biden’s initial request. The measure signals a magnified U.S. commitment to thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody three-month-old invasion. The bill won wide bipartisan support. It contains $7 billion more than Biden’s plan from last month, evenly divided between defense and humanitarian programs. The bill would give Ukraine military and economic assistance, help regional allies, replenish weapons the Pentagon has shipped overseas and provide $5 billion to address global food shortages caused by the war’s crippling of Ukraine’s normally robust crop production.
May 11, 2022 3:34 am
(WPXI) – Pittsburgh Police Violent Crime Unit detectives asked this week, for the public’s help to identify a man in photos related to the mass shooting on Pittsburgh’s North Side on Easter Sunday. Two 17-year-olds – Jaiden Brown and Mathew Steffy-Ross – were killed in the shooting. Nine other people were shot. In their Wednesday update, police say they have identified the man in the picture, but did not publicly release the his name, nor did they say if he was a suspect or person of interest in the mass shooting. Cara Cruz with the Department of Public Safety said the man “is someone police would like to speak with.”
May 10, 2022 3:48 am
BOSTON (AP) – Celebrity chef Mario Batali has been cleared of sexual misconduct following a criminal trial in Boston. A woman had accused Batali of forcibly kissing and groping her while taking a selfie at a restaurant in 2017. Batali’s lawyer argued that the Boston assault never happened and said the accuser has a financial incentive to lie. The judge found him not guilty on Tuesday. The chef had waived his right to a jury trial. Batali had faced indecent assault and battery charges, which carried up to 2 1/2 years in prison. Batali’s accuser has filed a lawsuit that’s pending. The career of the 61-year-old former Food Network fixture crumbled amid sexual misconduct allegations from four women in 2017. (Photo: Wikipedia)
May 10, 2022 3:47 am
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – The Gulf Clan drug cartel in Colombia has shut down dozens of towns for four days in reaction to its leader being extradited to the U.S. for trial. Businesses closed, schools stayed shut, bus service was suspended and a professional soccer match couldn’t be played amid warnings by the cartel that anyone not staying at home would be attacked. The action appeared to be winding down Monday, according to reports from human rights groups and the Roman Catholic Church, but it underlined that the cartel is still a major security threat despite the highly publicized arrest last year of its leader, Dairo Antonio Usuga. The cartel decreed the stoppage a day after his extradition Wednesday to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S.
May 10, 2022 3:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Washington is seeking to portray a united front against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Joe Biden has signed a bipartisan measure to reboot the World War II-era “lend-lease” program to bolster Kyiv and Eastern European allies. The signing comes as Congress is poised to unleash more resources to fight the war. The House could vote as soon as this week on a $40 billion military and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are urging Congress to act before May 19, when the existing drawdown funds run out.
May 10, 2022 3:45 am
BEIJING (AP) – Teams in white protective suits are going into the homes of coronavirus-infected people to spray disinfectant as Shanghai tries to root out an omicron outbreak under China’s strict “zero-COVID” strategy. Shanghai also suspended service on the last two subway lines that were still operating Tuesday, marking the first time the city’s entire system has been shut down. The latest measures come as Shanghai has ordered people in some districts to stay in their homes again after letting some out for limited shopping in recent weeks. The latest steps have further frustrated residents, who were hoping a more than month long lockdown was finally easing as the number of new cases in the city falls.
