May 23, 2023 12:36 pm
(WPXI) – Larry Scirotto is the city of Pittsburgh’s new police chief. In a unanimous vote, city council approved Mayor Ed Gainey’s nominee Tuesday morning. Scirotto says the bureau’s primary mission now is to get more manpower back in patrol and out on the streets. “We’re working toward preventing the next shooting and being visible, being available, being accessible so we have that community calming effect,” said Scirotto. Scirotto, a Monessen native, is a former assistant chief in the Pittsburgh Police Bureau. He was selected over former Pittsburgh Police Commander Jason Lando, who’s the police chief in Frederick, Maryland, and Ryan Lee, the former chief in Boise, Idaho, who sources said was the mayor’s top choice.
May 23, 2023 8:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man police believe intentionally crashed a U-Haul truck into a security barrier at a park across from the White House has been identified as a 19-year-old suburban St. Louis resident. A Secret Service spokesman says the box truck’s driver smashed into the barrier near the north side of Lafayette Square late Monday. No one was injured. Secret Service and Metropolitan Police Department officers searched the truck. Video posted by WUSA-TV shows a police officer picking up and inventorying several pieces of evidence from the truck, including a Nazi flag. The Secret Service says investigators believe the crash may have been intentional. U-Haul is based in Phoenix.
May 23, 2023 4:20 am
NEW YORK (AP) — An advice columnist who won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation award against former President Donald Trump has filed an amendment to a second lawsuit against him, asking for another $10 million for remarks he made after the verdict. The amended lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court Monday by lawyers for E. Jean Carroll. Carroll defamation claims against Trump have proceeded in two separate lawsuits, one decided in a trial that just concluded, and another that previously dealt only with derogatory remarks that Trump made in 2019 while he was still president. That lawsuit, which has been tied up in still-unresolved legal appeals, is the one to which Carroll has added her new claims.
May 23, 2023 4:19 am
DENVER (AP) — The parents of a 22-year-old Colorado man killed by a sheriff’s deputy while suffering a mental health crisis will get $19 million from state and local agencies and changes to how officers are trained under a settlement. The shooting of Christian Glass after his SUV became stuck in a mountain town last year drew national attention and prompted calls to change how authorities respond to people with mental health problems. Under the deal announced Tuesday, the county where the shooting took place will establish a crisis response team and its sheriff’s office will train all deputies in crisis intervention.
May 23, 2023 4:17 am
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Pope Francis has sent one of his top sex crimes investigators to Bolivia at a time when the Andean nation is being shaken by an escalating pedophilia scandal involving priests. Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, a leading member of the church’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, arrived in Bolivia on the same day as a former Jesuit seminarian also landed in the country vowing to reveal more information about alleged cases of abuse. The Bolivian Episcopal Conference said Bertomeu’s visit is not directly related to the recent sex abuse allegations but had been planned earlier to analyze “the progress made in the field of the culture of prevention” promoted by the Vatican.
May 23, 2023 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy say they and their lead negotiators have had a productive meeting at the White House on the impasse over the government’s debt ceiling. Yet there was no agreement Monday as Washington races to strike a budget compromise and raise the nation’s borrowing limit in time to avert a potentially devastating federal default as soon as next week. Despite the lack of movement toward a possible agreement, both men appeared upbeat as they face a deadline, as soon as June 1, when the government could run out of cash to pay its bills.
May 23, 2023 4:12 am
CALIFORNIA, Pa. — (WPXI) – An historic elementary school in Washington County that was built in the early 1900s was nearly destroyed by flames on Saturday night. Officials say a portion will have to be completely torn down. Investigators believe this could be arson. Eight fire departments worked for several hours to battle the fire before getting the flames out. The historic school was built in 1910, with an addition added in 1916. While it was empty at the time of the fire, it was rich with history and design. We asked the chief will the building be torn down. He said that’s up to the owners. California Borough Police are investigating, and charges may be forthcoming.
May 23, 2023 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Authorities could temporarily seize firearms and background checks would be expanded for gun buyers, under two bills passed in the Pennsylvania House. The two measures were both approved Monday, and now go to the Republican-controlled Senate. Democrats are using their razor-thin majority in the House to back gun-control measures after a yearslong standstill in the politically divided state government. The party describes the bills as relatively moderate measures to cut down on gun trafficking, suicide deaths, accidental shootings and day-to-day violence. Republicans oppose them, saying they punish law-abiding gun owners.
May 23, 2023 2:53 am
Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) and elected officials broke ground today signifying construction is underway for the Mon/Fayette Expressway PA Route 51 to I-376 Project’s southern section. Decades ago, Pennsylvania state legislators entrusted the PTC with building the Mon/Fayette Expressway (PA Turnpike 43) and in 1988 the first section of the Mon/Fayette Expressway got underway. For 35 years, the Mon Fayette Expressway has been part of the landscape leading into the Mon Valley. As funding became available, sections of the Mon/Fayette Expressway were completed creating the current 54 miles of expressway from I-68 near Morgantown, West Virginia to Jefferson Hills Borough in Allegheny County. With the passing of Act 89 in 2013, a funding stream was made available to move ahead with the next section of the Mon/Fayette Expressway. “As a native of the Mon Valley, I’m excited to see the final leg of this project moving forward,” said Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis. “This construction will support thousands of jobs right here in southwestern Pennsylvania.”
May 22, 2023 1:04 pm
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has launched his presidential campaign. At an event in his hometown of North Charleston on Monday, Scott offered an optimistic message he hopes can contrast the two figures who have used political combativeness to dominate the early GOP primary field: former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Scott is the Senate’s only Black Republican. His team acknowledges the challenge but notes that the political environment can change, that Scott won reelection by a commanding 20 points in November and that Scott has more money to start his campaign than any presidential candidate in history. (Photo: AP)
