April 8, 2023 4:42 am
BEIJING (AP) — Taiwan’s government says China has sent warships and dozens of fighter jets toward the island claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. The exercise on Saturday was in retaliation for a meeting between the U.S. House of Representatives speaker and the president of the self-ruled island democracy. The Chinese military announced the start of three-day “combat readiness patrols” as a warning to Taiwanese who want to make the island’s de facto independence permanent. Speaker Kevin McCarthy held talks with President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday in California, adding to a series of foreign lawmakers who have met Tsai to show support in the face of Chinese intimidation.
April 8, 2023 4:39 am
SOUTH FAYETTE TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WPXI) — A troubled contractor is now facing more charges. Sean Hein is accused again and charged with home improvement fraud in the area. This time, in South Fayette Township where police put out an arrest warrant for him. Last month, our news partners at Channel 11 said Northern Regional Police charged Hein, who owns the company Forward Home Enhancements. Police said two people in the Heights of North Park, hired Hein and paid him in total, more than $185,000 for work that they said was never completed. And someone living along Farmview Drive in South Fayette Township also hired Hein for three projects: to put in a porch, patio and fence. Investigators said the victim paid Hein more than $40,000 and reached out to police after the victim lost contact with Hein. Pittsburgh, Sharpsburg Borough and Baldwin Borough police filed charges against Hein last year including receiving advance payment for services and failing to perform. Police said there may be more potential victims. Hein is also a former part-time West View police officer. Back in 2015, he allegedly robbed a bank in Shaler. He told us then that he started using drugs after being shot twice while off duty with his own gun. South Fayette Township police also charged Hein with theft by deception and fraudulent business practices.
April 8, 2023 4:35 am
The former embattled Boise, Idaho, police chief Ryan Lee appears to be in line to become the next Pittsburgh police chief according to our news partners at Channel 11. Lee spent years with the Portland, Oregon department before becoming the chief in Boise. However, while he was chief, Lee allegedly broke a sergeant’s neck during a tactical demonstration. Channel 11 obtained a letter from prosecutors to state police and Boise police last year saying it wasn’t an easy decision, but they had decided not to charge Lee. The letter also said Boise officers who were there told prosecutors Lee bragged about the number of hands-on use-of-force incidents he experienced in Portland and was even involved in a violent incident with a co-worker in Portland. Channel 11 spoke with Alex Duggan, an investigate reporter at the NBC affiliate in Boise, who covered Lee’s time as chief. She said there have also been multiple complaints of low morale in the Boise police department. Duggan said Boise’s mayor asked Lee to resign after the complaints about him were made public. (Photo: WPXI)
April 8, 2023 4:30 am
CARROLL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Multiple fire departments were called to the scene of a large brush fire in Carroll Township Friday evening. Reports say that fire broke out just before 5:00 p.m. along State Route 837 in the township. Carroll Fire crews were assisted by Valley Inn, Fallowfield and Gallatin Sunnyside Fire Departments on scene. There is no word on what started that fire. No injuries were reported.
April 7, 2023 8:53 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added a solid 236,000 jobs in March, reflecting a resilient labor market and suggesting that the Federal Reserve may see the need to keep raising interest rates in the coming months. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, not far above the 53-year low of 3.4% set in January. Last month’s job growth was down from February’s gain of 326,000. Friday’s government report suggested that the economy and the job market remain on solid footing despite nine rate hikes imposed over the past year by the Fed.
April 7, 2023 4:19 am
The Washington City Council meeting on Thursday night was brief but they did authorize an update to their citywide alarm system. The update calls for the phasing out of the current Gamewell alarm system that has been in use for about 100 years. Now businesses in the city will transition to a monitored system. That phase in period will take place over the next three years. According to Fire Chief Chris Richer, now that the ordinance is adopted, business owners will be notified of the change and the process for transition in their next bill. City Offices will be closed on April 7 for the observance of Good Friday. A Bicycle Safety Fair will take place on April 15 from 12-4 at the 7th Ward Playground. The City will take part in a Spring Clean Up Saturday on April 22 from 9-2. The Washington Park Cash Bash will be held on April 22 at Julian’s Banquet Hall. Tickets are $25 each and may be purchased at the Washington Park Office, The Keystone Club and the City Hall Finance Department.
April 7, 2023 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are deeply opposed to cutting into Medicare or Social Security benefits, and most support raising taxes on the nation’s highest earners to keep Medicare running as is. The new findings, revealed in a March poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, come as both safety net programs are poised to run out of enough cash to pay out full benefits within the next decade. Few Americans would be OK with that: 79% say they oppose reducing the size of Social Security benefits and 67% are against raising monthly premiums for Medicare.
April 7, 2023 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans have subpoenaed one of the former Manhattan prosecutors who had been leading a criminal investigation into Donald Trump before quitting last year in a clash over the direction of the probe. House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan is demanding that Mark Pomerantz testify before the committee by April 30. The subpoena, reviewed Thursday by The Associated Press, is the latest escalation by Republicans as they probe Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, days after a grand jury charged Trump with a 34-count felony indictment in a hush money scheme involving a porn actor.
April 7, 2023 4:16 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s GOP-dominated House has expelled two of three Democratic members for their roles in a demonstration in favor of gun control following the Nashville school shooting. The chamber’s split votes to oust Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones on Thursday while narrowly sparing Rep. Gloria Johnson also have drawn accusations of racism. Pearson and Jones are Black, while Johnson is white. Republican leaders deny that race was a factor, however. Expulsions are an extraordinary move that the chamber has used only extremely rarely since the Civil War. They came a week after the trio chanted back and forth from the chamber floor with gun control supporters in the gallery days afer six people died in the school shooting.
April 7, 2023 4:13 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has launched rare strikes in southern Lebanon and pressed on with bombing targets in the Gaza Strip. Friday’s strikes marked a widening escalation in the region following violence this week at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site. The cross-border fighting erupted during a delicate time. Jews are are celebrating the Passover holiday and Muslims are marking the Ramadan holy month. Similar tensions spilled over into an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers in 2021. Israeli strikes in Lebanon carry the risk of drawing Lebanon’s heavily armed Hezbollah militia into the fighting. Iran-backed Hezbollah is viewed by Israel as a bitter foe and holds sway over much of southern Lebanon.
