March 21, 2022 4:21 am
BEIJING (AP) – Shanghai Disney has closed as the city tries to control its biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure. Meanwhile, the cities of Changchun and Jilin in the northeast began more citywide virus testing following a surge in infections. Jilin tightened anti-disease curbs, ordering its 2 million residents to stay home. China’s case numbers in its latest infection wave are low compared with other major countries, but authorities are enforcing a “zero tolerance” strategy that has suspended access to some major cities.
March 21, 2022 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate Judiciary Committee has kicked off Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated for the nation’s highest court. At Monday’s hearing, Democrats sought to preemptively rebut Republican criticism of her record on criminal matters as a judge and before that, as a federal public defender and a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Barring a significant misstep by áJackson, Democrats who control the Senate by the slimmest of margins intend to wrap up her confirmation before Easter. Jackson is expected to answer questions from the committee’s 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans beginning Tuesday.
March 21, 2022 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has added a stop in Poland to his upcoming trip to Europe for urgent talks with NATO and European allies. The trip comes as Russian forces concentrate their fire upon cities and trapped civilians in their nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine. White House officials say Biden will first travel to Brussels, and then travel to Poland, where he will meet with leaders there. Poland neighbors Ukraine and has taken in more than 2 million refugees from the fighting. It’s been one of the most vocal countries in asking fellow NATO members to consider getting more involved to rein in the bloodshed.
March 21, 2022 4:17 am
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian officials have defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags in exchange for safe passage. Russian troops have surrounded and are barraging the strategic southern port city. Ukrainian officials say the Russian military hit an art school sheltering some 400 people only hours before offering to open two corridors out of Mariupol in return for the capitulation of its defenders. Fighting for Mariupol has been intense, even as the Russian offensive in other areas has floundered to the point where Western governments and analysts see the broader conflict grinding into a war of attrition. Shelling also continued in Kyiv as Russian forces work to surround the Ukrainian capital.
March 21, 2022 4:15 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A man was killed after being shot in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood late Saturday night. Officers arrived at the 1000 block of Freyburg Street around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night and found one male victim with gunshot wounds to his chest. The victim has been identified as 29-year-old Adam Cloud of New Kensington. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A Pittsburgh Public Information Officer says the shooting stemmed from an altercation outside of a skate club. Police were talking to people who were inside the skate club at the time of the shooting, to see if they witnessed anything. Police have not made any arrests yet.
March 21, 2022 4:05 am
DENVER (AP) – The surprising advantage Democrats gained during the torturous process of rewriting the nation’s congressional maps may be short lived. Two major states – North Carolina and Ohio – are already poised to redraw their maps in the next few years. Several cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, meanwhile, could dramatically alter the rules that govern mapmaking nationwide. Those twists could ultimately transform the redistricting process from a once-a-decade process into a regular political brawl that consumes state capitals already gripped by partisan tensions.
March 21, 2022 2:27 am
The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources stopped by Rolling Hills Park in Peters Township to officially deliver a grant announced last December. DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn detailed to the group of state and local officials the criteria the department considered in awarding Rolling Hills Park and its aquatic facility the $631,000 Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund grant. Dunn said that the department is looking to try and achieve park availability within a 10 minute walk or bicycle ride from every residence in Pennsylvania. The open and green design of the park and aquatic facility lends itself to residents enjoying a climate friendly activity and teaching youngsters how to swim. The aquatic facility has yet to be authorized by township officials. Bids for the project have come in over budget and redesigns and revenue projections have been restudied. If approved, the aquatic center is expected to open on Memorial Day weekend 2024.
March 21, 2022 2:22 am
The Washington County District Attorney’s office has announced the arrests of three individuals in connection with an investigation of suspected heroin/fentanyl by 47 year old John Beebe III of Fallowfield Township. Members of the District Attorney’s Drug Task Force and Charleroi Regional Police served the arrest warrant and search warrant on Saturday. Beebe was taken into custody without incident. Also, 26 year old Jobe Franks and Donald Franks of Charleroi were both arrested as being fugitives on outstanding felony drug warrants, which were the result of a previous investigation. All three were arraigned before District Justice Kelly Stewart and lodged in the Washington County Jail after failing to post bond. Preliminary hearings are scheduled for March 31. Task Force detectives seized a large bulk quantity of suspected fentanyl/heroin, repackaging material, numerous firearms and more than $40,000 in cash. Additional charges are expected to be filed in the near future.
March 20, 2022 8:01 am
DUMAS, Ark. (AP) — At least one person was killed and 20 others wounded, including children, in a shooting outside a car show in southeast Arkansas on Saturday evening, local police said. Dumas Police Chief Keith Finch provided the number of casualties but said it wasn’t immediately clear how many kids had been hurt. Additional information, including conditions of the wounded, wasn’t immediately available. One person was in custody, although there may have been multiple shooters, Finch told reporters. State troopers were dispatched at around 7:25 p.m. to Dumas, located about 90 miles south of Little Rock, following a report of gunfire outside a local business where the car show was underway, Arkansas State Police spokesperson Bill Sadler said. The car show is part of a community event held each spring to raise funds for scholarships and school supplies, according to the website of the Delta Neighborhood Empowerment Youth Organization.
March 20, 2022 8:00 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired suspected artillery pieces into the sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, days after the North’s latest missile launch ended in failure amid the country’s recent burst of weapons testing activity. There is speculation that North Korea could soon try to launch its developmental longest-range ballistic missile to bolster its arsenal and dial up pressure on the United States to wrest concessions as negotiations remain stalled. South Korea’s military suggested North Korea’s midair missile explosion last Wednesday involved parts of the Hwasong-17 missile, its biggest weapon. On Sunday, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it detected firings likely from multiple rocket launch systems off North Korea’s west coast. The ministry said the military closely monitors North Korean moves and maintains its readiness. South Korea’s presidential office said in a separate statement it held an emergency national security council meeting to discuss what it called the North’s “short-range projectile launches.”
