June 27, 2023 5:15 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York City is set to hear arguments Tuesday over whether the state criminal hush money prosecution of former President Donald Trump can be moved to federal court. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein will preside over the hearing. He’s unlikely to immediately rule. Trump’s lawyers sought to move the case to Manhattan federal court soon after Trump pleaded not guilty in state court in April to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide 2016 hush money payouts to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters. They say his alleged criminal conduct occurred while he was president. Prosecutors say he can’t invoke official immunity for unofficial actions.
June 27, 2023 5:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of different e-cigarette devices sold in the U.S. has nearly tripled to over 9,000, despite a three-year effort by the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on kid-friendly flavors. The rise in electronic cigarettes has been almost entirely driven by a wave of cheap, disposable devices imported from China. That’s according to sales data obtained by The Associated Press. Most are sold in fruit and candy flavors that can appeal to teenagers. All are technically illegal, but they continue to flow into U.S. ports with little threat of retaliation. The trend underscores the FDA’s inability to control the tumultuous vaping market previously dominated by Juul and other reusable e-cigarettes.
June 27, 2023 5:10 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities have confirmed that British actor Julian Sands died while hiking on a Southern California mountain. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday that remains found by hikers have been identified as the 65-year-old Sands, who went missing in January. Sands starred in many acclaimed films of the 1980s and 90s, including the 1985 British romance “A Room With a View” opposite Helena Bonham Carter. He also appeared in the films “Arachnophobia,” “Naked Lunch,” “Boxing Helena” and “Leaving Las Vegas.” Sands made regular guest appearances on television series including “24,” “Dexter” and “Smallville.” (Photo: ABC)
June 27, 2023 5:07 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jurors who convicted the gunman in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history are hearing arguments on whether he should be put to death. The sentencing phase of Robert Bowers’ trial is expected to last at least four weeks. Bowers killed 11 worshippers and injured others in the 2018 attack at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. Prosecutors are trying to show there are aggravating factors that make Bowers deserving of death. The defense is trying to persuade jurors to spare his life. A defense lawyer told the jury on Monday that Bowers had psychotic, delusional and paranoid symptoms that made him unable to make appropriate decisions.
June 27, 2023 5:05 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Spurred on by train derailments, some states crisscrossed by busy freight railroads aren’t waiting for federal action to improve safety. Instead, they’re pursuing their own remedies amid questions about whether states even have that authority. The Feb. 3 derailment along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border of a train carrying toxic chemicals has prompted new legislation and revived long-stalled efforts as backers voice skepticism that the federal government can help. Legislatures in at least a dozen states have advanced measures in recent weeks. Some of the new requirements include provisions long resisted by the railroad industry. It says it’s capable of making improvements and that its growing efficiency is not compromising safety.
June 27, 2023 5:04 am
PITTSBURGH — Gas prices have dipped in western Pennsylvania ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. According to AAA, the average price in the region is $3.642, which is down more than $1 from this time last year. Last week, the average price was $3.655. On June 27, 2022, the average price was $4.979. Here in Washington the average is a little lower at 3.60 per gallon
June 27, 2023 4:59 am
Peters Township School directors have unanimously approved a new, more-than $80 million budget. It does include a 0.3 mill tax increase but Business Manager Brad Rau say it could have been more. According to Rau , the approved increase was only half of the base index allowable by the state. He says that base index was 4.1% but the approved increase was just two-percent. The millage rate in the district will increase to 15.37 mills.
June 27, 2023 1:47 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania state court has rejected the latest Republican effort to throw out the presidential battleground state’s broad mail-in voting law. Tuesday’s decision is the latest of several refusals by a state court to invalidate Pennsylvania’s 2019 mail-in voting law. In the lawsuit filed last year, 14 Republican state lawmakers contended that two different court decisions triggered a clause in the law requiring it to be rendered void. But the Commonwealth Court unanimously found that the court decisions did not trigger the provision. Greg Teufel, the lawyer for the 14 Republican lawmakers, said he expects to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
June 26, 2023 5:19 am
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The person who killed five people and pleaded guilty in a 2022 mass shooting at a LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs has been sentenced to life in prison. Authorities said Anderson Lee Aldrich walked into Club Q just before midnight on Nov. 19 and began indiscriminately firing an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. The attack came a year after Aldrich, who is nonbinary and uses they and them pronouns, had been arrested for threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer.” Charges were ultimately dropped in that case. Victims in last year’s attack called Aldrich a “monster” who hunted down LGBTQ+ patrons. Aldrich pleaded guilty during a Monday court hearing.
June 26, 2023 5:17 am
Losing significant amounts of weight may soon be as easy as taking a daily pill. New research released Sunday shows high-dose oral versions of the medication in the blockbuster drugs Ozepmic and Wegovy may work as well as the popular injections — even in hard-to-treat people with diabetes. Drugmaker Novo Nordisk said it intends to seek approval for a weight-loss pill in the U.S. later this year. The company didn’t say how much the new pills would cost or how widely available they’ll be.
