August 27, 2024 7:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says senior Biden administration officials pressured Facebook to “censor” some COVID-19 content during the pandemic. He vowed that the social media giant would push back if it faced such demands again. Zuckerberg sent a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Zuckerberg alleges that the officials, including those from the White House, “repeatedly pressured” Facebook for months to take down “certain COVID-19 content including humor and satire.” In response, the White House said in a statement that it was confronted with a deadly pandemic, and the administration was encouraging “responsible actions to protect public health and safety.”
August 26, 2024 2:40 am
A Code Orange Air Quality Alert will be in effect Tuesday for Washington, Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Armstrong, Westmoreland and Fayette counties. This means that there is unhealthy air quality for people with asthma, lung disease, heart disease, young children, and older adults. If you are in this group, you may want to limit your time outside. The humidity will increase overnight, and the heat turns up Tuesday. You are urged to make sure to find a way to stay cool – with highs expected to be in the low to mid-90’s.
August 27, 2024 2:51 am
On Friday, Washington County Common Pleas Court Judge Brandon Neuman handed down his decision on a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and the Public Interest Law Center against the Washington Count Board of Elections, that asked the court to allow voters that use mail in ballots to be allowed to be notified of deficiencies on their ballot and afford them the right to vote provisionally. Neuman granted that request and said notice must be given and provisional ballot voting must be allowed. He did not allow the practice of ballot curing that had been in place as late a 2023. Mimi McKenzie, Legal Director of the Public Interest Law Center says that they are pleased with the decision. She encouraged the Washington County Board of Elections to revert back to their practice of ballot curing, but is pleased that voters will be notified so that they can vote provisionally. She said that voting should not be a “gotcha” kind of practice. Efforts to get a response from the Washington County Special Counsel David Berardinelli have gone unanswered. It is not known at this time if the county will file an appeal. If an appeal is filed, the order to notify voters could be reversed.
August 27, 2024 4:44 am
Peters Township Council approved a measure that will remove No Parking signs on Meredith Drive and Bruni Drive in Peterswood Park. The Peters Twp. Junior Football Association was the main driver behind the decision. They state that there is not enough parking for teams that play their games on Hofbauer Field and lifting those restrictions will help immensely. Because of concerns for emergency vehicle access, there will still be parking restrictions in place. There will be no parking on a grass circle adjacent to Hofbauer Field and on Meredith Drive for the length of road immediately in front of Hofbauer Field. Those restrictions will only be in effect during football season. In other township business, council approved a preliminary land development plan for The Courtyards At Valleybrook. It is a 12 unit townhome development located at 350 Valleybrook Road.
August 26, 2024 2:53 am
Officials with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources say a Fayette County man drowned in West Virginia’s Cheat Lake while boating with his wife and dog on Sunday. 61-year-old Jeffrey Gerhardt of Smock, Pennsylvania, went into the water to get a dog toy but started to struggle on his way back. Gerhardt then went under and didn’t resurface. Police with the Division of Natural Resources got a call about the possible drowning around 12:30 yesterday afternoon and divers were sent to the lake in the area of Morgan Run Road. After a several-hours search, a diver found Gerhardt’s body around 5 o’clock.
August 27, 2024 5:00 am
BOONE COUNTY, W.Va. — (WPXI) – A West Virginia boy died after getting hurt at football practice over the weekend. NBC affiliate WSAZ reports Cohen Craddock, an eighth-grader at Madison Middle School in Boone County, suffered a head injury during practice on Friday. Cohen was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. He died Saturday. WSAZ reports that Madison Middle School and the district have received an outpouring of support from surrounding communities after Cohen’s death. “The staff, students and football team at Madison Middle School would like to express our heartfelt thanks for the outpouring of love, support, kindness and caring that has been expressed from so many across the state, region, and nation,” said Shann Elkins, the principal of Madison Middle School. “It has been overwhelming and comforting in this time of heartbreak. We would like everyone to know that Cohen was a wonderful, polite, and smart young man who was an important part of our school family.”
August 27, 2024 4:56 am
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — (WPXI) – Former President Donald Trump is holding a rally in Johnstown on Friday afternoon. The rally will be held at 4:30 p.m. at 1st Summit Arena at Cambria County War Memorial. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. Friday’s rally will mark Trump’s fourth time back to Pennsylvania since the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler. The former president plans to return to Butler in October. An exact date has not been set yet.
August 27, 2024 4:52 am
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in Texas has issued a temporary pause on the Biden administration’s new protections that would allow immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens a path to citizenship. The order Monday by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker comes after 16 states, led by Republican attorneys general, challenged the program in a lawsuit filed last week. President Joe Biden launched the program in June and the application process has been open for a week. The policy offers spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status, who meet certain criteria, a path to citizenship by applying for a green card and staying in the U.S. while undergoing the process.
August 26, 2024 4:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith has asked a federal appeals court to reinstate the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump after it was dismissed by a judge last month. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case, one of four prosecutions of Trump, after concluding that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional. Smith’s team then appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal is the latest salvo in a prosecution that many legal experts consider a straightforward criminal case but has been derailed by delays, months of hearings before Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, and ultimately a dismissal order that brought the proceedings to at least a temporary halt.
August 27, 2024 4:53 am
BEIJING (AP) — A top White House official has arrived in China for talks on a relationship that has been severely tested during President Joe Biden’s term in office. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, will be in China from Tuesday to Thursday. He’s been Biden’s point person for often unannounced talks with the Communist Party’s top foreign policy official to try to manage the growing differences between Washington and Beijing. Sullivan’s trip is meant to maintain communication in a relationship that broke down for the better part of a year in 2022-23. His meetings could lay the groundwork for a possible final summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping before Biden steps down in January.
