May 4, 2022 5:28 am
BEIJING (AP) – Beijing is closing some 10% of the stations in its vast subway system as an additional measure against the spread of coronavirus. The subway authority in a brief message said only that the measure to shut 40 mostly downtown stations was being taken as part of epidemic control measures and would take effect from Wednesday. No date for resumption of service was given. Beijing has been on high alert for the spread of COVID-19, with restaurants and bars limited to takeout only, gyms closed and classes suspended indefinitely. City residents are required to undergo three tests throughout the week. Authorities aim to detect and isolate cases without imposing the sort of sweeping lockdowns seen in Shanghai and elsewhere.
May 4, 2022 5:27 am
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) – Russian forces have unleashed artillery fire on towns in eastern Ukraine, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, and began storming the bombed-out steel mill in Mariupol. Scores of people were evacuated from the steelworks after enduring weeks of shelling against the city’s last pocket of resistance. The governor of the eastern Donetsk region says Russian attacks left 21 dead on Tuesday, the highest number of fatalities in almost a month. Thanks to the evacuation effort over the weekend, 101 people emerged from the bunkers under Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks. U.N. and Ukrainian officials are hoping to organize more evacuations if the security situation allows it. The EU leader meanwhile called on the 27-nation bloc to ban Russian oil imports.
May 4, 2022 5:24 am
A Los Angeles protest over the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion that would throw out Roe v. Wade briefly turned into a skirmish with police, who say one officer was injured. A citywide police tactical alert was declared after a Tuesday night confrontation downtown. Authorities say about 250 people had been marching peacefully for abortion rights before the clash. LAPD Chief Michel Moore says some demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at officers. The crowd later mostly dispersed. It was the only violence reported among protests held around the country. The largest, in Washington D.C., drew about 1,000 people to a rally in front of the Supreme Court.
May 4, 2022 4:26 am
Two people are dead following that crash on Interstate 70 Westbound Tuesday near the border with West Virginia. According to WTRF Television, a truck pulling a trailer slammed into a vehicle that was stopped behind a tractor trailer. The truck pulling the trailer went on top of the vehicle killing two people inside. The Ohio County Sheriff’s office says a male and a female from Pennsylvania were killed but no identities have been released. The investigation into the crash continues.
May 4, 2022 4:16 am
BETHEL PARK, Pa. (WPXI) – Police say they have arrested the man they believe struck a police officer Tuesday night. Bethel Park police say they had a driver stopped along South Park Road when another car going by hit one of the officers. A different officer pursued that car and when the driver stopped and the door opened, the officer said the smell of alcohol hit him. Authorities subsequently then arrested 67-year-old Richard Caporal. The officer was treated at the hospital and is now recovering at home. Police say Caporal’s DUIs date back to 1974. In 2011, a judge called him a “highway terrorist” after his 14th DUI. After that, he was not eligible to get his license back until 2043. If convicted, this would be his 15th DUI.
May 4, 2022 2:14 am
The National Weather Service says the damages in the Houston area from the powerful storms that slammed the region on Tuesday were not caused by a tornado. Crews from the NWS were out in full force Wednesday afternoon, working to determine whether the extensive damages were the result of a tornado, but after close examination, officials say the damages were the result of straight line winds with estimated speeds of between sixty and seventy miles an hour. Numerous trees were uprooted, tree branches were snapped and there was minor damage reported to several homes and a garage at Racetrack Road and Pike Street used by First Transit. Several other areas around the county reported damages as well, including North Strabane, Hickory, McMurray, Finleyville and Washington. There were no serious injuries reported. Power outages are still a concern though. At the height of the storm, more than nine-thousand West Penn Power customers were without electricity. By late Wednesday afternoon, that number was down to just over eight-hundred. (Photo of First Transit Garage courtesy of Wilbur White)
May 3, 2022 3:35 pm
No one was seriously injured Tuesday afternoon when a car slammed into a barn in West Pike Run Township just after noon. Bentleyville Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief Dominic Sicchitano tells WJPA News that the incident is under investigation by West Pike Run Township Police. He says there were minor injuries stemming from the crash but no one was transported. Sicchitano says the car plowed into a barn on Grange Road. (Photo: Bentleyville Fire and Rescue Facebook Page)
May 3, 2022 1:53 pm
Authorities in West Virginia have confirmed that two people were killed in a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 70 westbound in West Virginia Tuesday afternoon. It happened just past the Claysville Exit across the state line. The Ohio County Sheriff has reportedly confirmed that the victims are a male and female from Pennsylvania. No names or ages were released at this time. At least one tractor-trailer was involved. I-70 westbound remains shut down in that area and is expected to be closed for a long period of time. Traffic is being detoured off of the Claysville Exit of I-70 onto Route 40. (Photo: Facebook)
May 3, 2022 1:20 pm
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia University is receiving $11 million in federal dollars for research on treating and slowing the progression of incurable eye diseases. West Virginia has the second-highest rate of visual disability in the U.S. A visual disability is a disability that cannot be treated with corrective glasses. The university is the second in the U.S. to receive a grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund a visual-sciences Center of Biomedical Research Excellence. The $11 million was awarded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a program of the National Institutes of Health.
May 3, 2022 10:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden says the “basic fairness and the stability of our law demand” that the U.S. Supreme Court not overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. In a statement Tuesday, Biden said he would work to codify the right to abortion into federal law. Politico released a draft opinion that suggested the court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case. A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states and could have huge ramifications for this year’s elections. It’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter – opinions often change in the drafting process.
