April 11, 2022 4:11 am
POTTSVILLE, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say genetic material will be needed to positively identify the six people killed during an 80-vehicle pileup on a Pennsylvania interstate during a snow squall last month. Dr. David Moylan III, the Schuylkill County coroner, told The (Pottsville) Republican-Herald on Friday that “we need to get some DNA samples” from relatives of the four men and two women killed in the March 28 crash on I-81. Officials said earlier that the victims of the March 28 crash near the Minersville exit of I-81 were all between 40 to 70 years old and all burned beyond recognition. Two dozen people were injured.
April 11, 2022 2:57 am
CALIFORNIA, Pa. — Part of Route 88 is closed in Washington County because of a landslide. It happened on the portion of Route 88 that runs through California Borough Saturday morning. The busy road is closed between Mechanic Street and Highpoint Drive according to PennDOT. There is no word yet on when crews will be able to clear the scene and reopen the road.
April 11, 2022 2:27 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — The City of Washington hired a new city administrator this week. City Council approved the hiring of Donn Henderson to the position effective May 2nd. Henderson replaces Lynn Galluze who retired back in October of 2021. Henderson currently serves as the manager and treasurer in Sewickley Township, Westmoreland County. Before that role, he spent time as the borough manager in Wilkinsburg and Charleroi. The City of Washington advertised this position in January and selected Henderson out of three candidates.
April 10, 2022 10:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — After its striking post-invasion setbacks, Russia has appointed a new Ukraine war commander, a U.S. official said Sunday. Russia has turned to Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, 60, one of Russia’s most experienced military officers and — according to U.S. officials — a general with a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other war theaters. The senior official who identified the new commander was not authorized to be identified and spoke on condition of anonymity. But the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said “no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine.” “This general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians,” Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And the United States, as I said before, is determined to do all that we can to support Ukrainians as they resist him and they resist the forces that he commands.” The decision to establish new battlefield leadership comes as Russia gears up for what is expected to be a large and more focused push to expand Russian control in the Donbas and follows a failed opening bid to conquer Kyiv, the capital.
April 10, 2022 8:09 am
ATLANTA (AP) — Police are searching for at least one armed suspect in connection with the killing of the owner of a gun range in Georgia and his wife and grandson, authorities said Saturday. The Grantville Police Department said via Facebook that the robbery occurred Friday evening. When officers arrived at the scene around 8 p.m., they discovered the bodies of the owner of Lock Stock & Barrel Shooting Range, along with his wife and grandson. According to WSB-TV, Grantville Police identified the victims as the gun range owner, Thomas Hawk, 75; his wife, Evelyn, 75; and their grandson, Luke, 17.
April 10, 2022 8:08 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — In the days after a group of West Point cadets on spring break were sickened by fentanyl-laced cocaine at a South Florida house party, community activists sprang into action. They blitzed beaches, warned spring breakers of a surge in recreational drugs cut with the dangerous synthetic opioid and offered an antidote for overdoses, which have risen nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Street teams stood under the blistering sun, handing out beads, pamphlets and samples of naloxone, a drug known by the brand name Narcan, which can revive overdose victims. Teams pull up to Fort Lauderdale beach in a brightly colored mobile clinic van. They walk the sidewalks that run parallel to the beach, across the main drag from the bustling oceanfront clubs and restaurants.
April 10, 2022 8:06 am
PARIS (AP) — French citizens flocked to polling stations across the country Sunday to vote in the first round of the country’s presidential election, where up to 48 million eligible voters will be choosing between 12 candidates. Centrist President Emmanuel Macron is seeking a second five-year term, but faces a strong challenge from the far right. Polls close at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) in most places and an hour later in some larger cities. By noon, just over a quarter of France’s electorate had cast their ballot, slightly down from previous elections. France operates a manual system for elections: Voters are obliged to cast ballots in person, and they are hand-counted once voting closes. Unless someone gets more than half of the nationwide vote, there will be a second and decisive round between the top two candidates on Sunday, April 24. Bundled up against an April chill, voters lined up to cast ballots at one polling station in southern Paris on Sunday before it opened. Once inside, they placed their paper ballots into envelopes and then into a transparent box, many wearing masks or using hand gel as part of COVID-19 measures.
April 10, 2022 8:05 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis opened Holy Week Sunday with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.” Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis called for “weapons to be laid down to begin an Easter truce, not to reload weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to reach peace through real negotiations.” Francis did not refer directly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the reference was clear, and he has repeatedly denounced the war and the suffering brought to innocent civilians. During the traditional Sunday blessing following Palm Sunday Mass, the pontiff said leaders should be “willing to make some sacrifices for the good of the people.” “In fact, what a victory would that be, who plants a flag under a pile of rubble?” During his Palm Sunday homily, the pontiff denounced “the folly of war” that leads people to commit “senseless acts of cruelty.”
April 10, 2022 8:04 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia is targeting all of Europe with its invasion of Ukraine, and stopping Moscow’s aggression is essential for the security of all democracies, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as Russian forces prepared for battle in the east of his country. Addressing the “free people of a brave country,” Zelenskyy said in a late night video message to Ukrainians that Russia’s war aim “was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone” and the “entire European project is a target.” “That is why it is not just the moral duty of all democracies, all the forces of Europe, to support Ukraine’s desire for peace,” he said. ”This is, in fact, a strategy of defense for every civilized state.” His address came as civilians continued to flee eastern parts of the country before an expected onslaught and emergency workers searched for survivors in towns north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, that are no longer occupied by Russian forces.
April 10, 2022 8:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is endorsing Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s crowded Senate primary, ending months of jockeying for Trump’s support. Trump says in a statement that his decision is “all about winning elections” as he backs the celebrity heart surgeon best known as the host of daytime TV’s “The Dr. Oz Show.” Trump had previously endorsed Sean Parnell in the race, but Parnell withdrew amid allegations of abuse from his estranged wife. Oz was competing for Trump’s endorsement against former hedge fund CEO David McCormick, whose wife, Dina Powell, served in Trump’s administration. Trump is calling Oz “smart” and “tough.”
